Can you imagine driving anywhere today without your cellular phone? Our cell phones have become such a fixture in our vehicles that it’s hard to believe we can survived without them. And now that smartphones are so prevalent, it’s not just about calls, texts, and emails on the go; we’ve got mobile apps, too. Many of these apps are aimed at making our daily driving activities more efficient and easier. Which ones are actually worth getting? For every legitimately helpful app, it seems like there are many cheesy imitations which just waste precious megabytes of storage space. We went on a downloading binge and compared the features of every mobile app we could locate. At the end, five apps were left standing. We’ve got the details on all of them below. (Note that while there are some identical features between the apps, our main interest is in what each app does best.)
1. Honk
Sales Pitch: Never forget to fill another parking meter – and never lose your vehicle in a parking lot.
Pro: Great graphics, fun and effective parking-meter timer, accurate GPS tracking.
Con: It costs money!
This is attractive and functional, Honk is one of the besslickest apps we tested. The main interface features a richly looking parking meter that you activate by dragging the timer portion at the top until it matches the time left on the actual parking meter. An alarm will sound at a user-selected number of minutes before the parking meter expires. It’s brilliant. And when you’ve found a parking spot in the mall parking lot, just hit the circular map button at the bottom of the parking meter; Honk records the GPS coordinates of your vehicle and guides you back if you forget where you parked it.
Platforms: Android, iOS
Price: $0.99
2. GasBuddy
Sales Pitch: Find the cheapest fuel prices near your location.
Pro: Search couldn’t be easier, prices sortable by fuel type and grade, easy-to-read results.
Con: There are banner ads.
Several apps include a gas-price function (including Waze, below), there’s something to be said for doing one thing and doing it well. Just press the big “Find Gas Near Me” button to get a list of local gas stations sorted by either price per gallon (the default) or distance. The prices are as legible on the phone as they are on the gas station sign, and you can even
sort by fuel type (gas or diesel) and grade (regular 87, midgrade 91 or premium 93). It’s a no-brainer download.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry
Price: Free
3. Waze
Sales Pitch: Get optimized turn-by-turn navigation based on real-time updates from near by motorists.
Pro: Detailed source for local traffic conditions, fun cartoon-like graphics of characters.
Con: Dynamic map screen can get busy, event icons aren’t always up to date.
Waze’s magic is in its ability to crowd source the flow of vehicles by relying on drivers who are actually on the scene, which means if you need to find the fastest way through downtown, say, Waze can be a serious time-saver. We noticed some
non-current reports in our testing, This makes us suspicious to rely on Waze as an all-in-one solution. As a backup app, however, it’s a winner on the strength of its robust community activity.
Platforms: Android, iOS
Price: Free
4. Trapster
Sales Pitch: User-generated alerts on local speed traps and traffic cameras.
Pro: Super-looking interface, deep user base, focused mission.
Con: None.
Trapster’s strength, like GasBuddy’s, is its laser-like focus on one thing at a time. “Drivers report traps,” i.e. traffic cameras and speed traps, and sounds an an alert.” Pretty straightforward. The Trapster community is fixated on a particular kind of road hazard – the one that put expensive tickets on your record – as opposed to the Waze community, which reports on a range of events. Trapster also tells you the posted speed limit at your location, plus it’s got a speedometer at the base
of the screen so you always know how fast you’re traveling. With over 20 million downloads as of this writing, Trapster has plenty of depth in its community.
Platforms: Android, iOs, Windows Phone, BlackBerry
Price: Free
5. Google Maps
Sales Pitch: This is Google Maps!
Pro: 3D driving map, accurate estimated driving times, natural-sounding voice guidance.
Con: Lacks any user interaction.
Google Maps is our default choice for getting from point A to point B. Just hook up your cell phone via Bluetooth and let Google handle the rest. The driving times are accurate, the voice sounds more like a human’s than just about any digitized voice on the planet, and the 3D map charts your progress in real time without any unnecessary clutter. It may not be “high tech” but for a navigation solution that really works, there’s Google, and then there’s everyone else.
Platforms: Android, iOS
Price: Free
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Marcus Simmons, ASE Certified
Simmons BOSS CREATIONS
Phone: (248) 461-6977
Email: ceo@simmonsbosscreations.com
http://www.simmonsbosscreations.com