Note: To make this easy I have listed the apps below in order from my highest recommendation to lowest recommendation.

Google Maps Navigation

Google Maps with navigation is available for Android 1.6 and higher. This suite has proven itself and is currently the most popular GPS app for Android 1.6 users and above. It includes many features that no other GPS apps are able to provide, such as Street View and Satellite views. Another nice feature is that it integrated with Google Buzz, which allows you to view “Buzzes” right on the map, at the location they were posted. Google Maps also features reviews on many of the points of interest.

Pros:

• Most Points of Interest
• Live Traffic
• Offers a street view of your destination
• Satellite views
• Maps are very detailed and up to date
• Free

Cons:

• Maps are not stored on the device so if you lose cell phone reception and leave the route it caches, things can go very wrong.
• The text to speech engine can be hard to understand at times
• No way to display your current speed
• Can only navigate you to one place at a time, you cannot do multi-destination routing

CoPilot

If you do a lot of traveling and often travel off your planned routes CoPilot is for you. CoPilot’s software works on maps that are downloaded to the SD card on the phone. The larger storage of a SD card allows you to fit the maps for all of North America on the phone. CoPilot also has a nice interface that is easy to use while driving. If you are used to a conventional GPS system like a Garmin, CoPilot is the closest you will come in terms on interface. I also prefer the voice alerts much better on CoPilot than on Google Maps. Copilot does everything you need in a GPS app, even thought it may not include some of the fancier features like Street View.

Pros:

• Maps stored on SD card
• Live features such as weather, traffic and fuel prices
• Most driver rriendly UI
• Supports multi-destination routing

Cons:

• Price, the app costs $29.99 USD but is only a one time fee
• Requires an SD card with at least 2GB of free space

Waze

The best way to describe Waze is GPS mixed with Google Buzz and Twitter. People who use Waze are called “Wazers”. Every Wazer is shown on the app, so when you are driving you can see other people using the app near you. Wazers can post anything from speed traps to car crashes on the map (you can even include pictures). You also have the ability to message other people on the map inside the app. In areas with many Wazers the maps works great and sometimes even has more up to date traffic then Google Maps. The Waze app also turns driving into a game by letting you drive over virtual objects which give you points. There is even a leader board for this point system. Currently I wouldn’t trust the app to navigate me to places of importance, but it makes driving much more fun. I believe that in a few years time this app will be very popular and become more accurate as more people begin to use it.

Pros:

• A very social GPS app that can integrate into Twitter
• The ability to see other people around you using the app
• Report traffic and even take pictures of the incident and post it to the Waze Map
• Driving becomes a game, which makes trips fun
• Free

Cons:

• GPS maps are not very accurate in places with few or no Wazers
• Does not always take you on the best route
• UI needs improvement
• Occasionally crashes or lags
• Waze doesn’t allow routes longer than 200 miles

Wisepilot

WisePilot is another GPS app for Android. Honestly I feel this app doesn’t set itself apart from any of the other GPS apps enough to justify a $69.95 per year price tag. Yes, it does get you to point to point. It does have points of interest and voice alerts, but so do the free apps along with CoPilot. The one thing that it does do, is it lets you manage all your routes online. This can be a very nice feature if you are planning a trip. You can map out an entire trip from start to finish, including places to eat and the gas stations you will have to stop at, all on their website.

Pros:

• Manage trips and favorites on their site via MYWISEPILOT

Cons:

• Pricey, The app costs $69.95 per year
• UI not as polished as I would like
• Doesn’t set itself above any other GPS apps

Telenav

Telenav was the first big thing for GPS apps on Android. Many G1 users began to use this app before Google Maps integrated navigation. Telenav gives you access to over 10 million points of interest, gas prices, traffic and much more. Although it was once the most popular GPS app, it has now fallen to the bottom of the list. Due to its high price tag and lack to support all devices, Telenav has earned itself my least favorable GPS app of the group.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Audible directions that make sense

Cons:

• No support for more recent devices
• Most expensive app at $69.99 per year

Conclusion

Out of all the GPS apps I reviewed, I am still partial to Google Maps Navigation. For me this app does exactly what I need it to. It functions as my yellow pages and also gives me reviews on places I might go. I don’t travel much out of town, but if I did I could see how paying for CoPilot would benefit me and I would recommend this option to anyone who needs the maps to be stored locally. CoPilot also has several features Google Maps does not offer such as fuel prices and multi-destination routing.

Gallery

If you have never heard of Waze, check out their guided tour.

Waze’s latest contest is called the “Holiday High Points Challenge“. Road goodies have been added to the maps (clearly paying homeage to Pac-Man) in order to encourage users to help correct problem map areas. Winners of the contest will receive Amazon gift cards which should come in handy for the holiday shopping season.

From the Waze blog:

Holiday High Points Challenge

In parallel to the launch of this new ‘road goodie’ version, we invite you to participate in a ‘Holiday High Points Challenge’ between November 25-30, just in time for your Thanksgiving driving.

The top three users who rack up the most points from ‘road goodies’ during this timeframe will receive Amazon gift cards in the amounts of $500, $300 and $200, respectively, to help out with their holiday shopping. Wishing you luck…now get out there and get munchin’!

How to participate

• Find ‘road goodies ’in areas where the map needs improvement. (Make sure you’ve downloaded the newest waze version from the iPhone Appstore/Android Market or waze.com/download)
• Munch (drive over) as many goodies as you can between November 25-30.
• 3 users who rack up the most goodie-related points during this time win!

Thanksgiving for All is a non-profit, public benefit organization which raises funds to provide turkeys to community food pantries, homeless shelters and other charitable organizations. It’s a super easy opportunity to give to the less fortunate, and we wanted to encourage our readers to get involved.

All you need to do is retweet the following message on Twitter and make sure you are following @waze in order to hear about prize winners and see how many turkeys you’ve helped buy for the hungry.

Provide 500 turkeys 4 the hungry + win a Flip videocam! Simply follow @waze & RT this msg. http://bit.ly/M7MLo #wazeSocialGPS

For full rules and details you can visit the waze blog

Waze is currently available in the Android Market and it has been receiving regular updates. The service provides free turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance and real time traffic updates. They recently released clients for iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Symbian which has resulted in a major increase of people using the service. If you are unfamiliar with Waze, check out their guided tour.

I am a big fan of Waze because they are actively involved with the community and they routinely host fun contest. Check out their latest challenge to win a $100 iTunes giftcard.

Give Waze another look if you tried out the early beta.

Goblins and monsters and pumpkins, oh my! It’s Halloween time and what better way to celebrate than to offer something sweet to our favorite trick-or-treaters out there? How about a $100 iTunes giftcard and an awesome candy goodiebag? Interested? Well, read on…

How to Participate:

1. Downloaded waze to your phone – you can do so on our download page.
2. Enter your Twitter account info by visting waze’s ‘Profile’ section, under ‘Settings” in the app once it’s on your phone. Make sure that the feature is turned to ‘on’.
3. Send a road report by clicking ‘Report’ on the bottom of the main waze screen and following directions from there. Road reports can be anything you’d like to report from the road – hazards, speed cams, police traps, etc.
4. Done! Your report will be tweeted automatically to your followers, entering you one time in the contest.

The contest begins immediately and the first winner will be picked from road tweets happening from the time of posting until 4am PST on Thursday morning. Each additional winner will be chosen for the following 24 hour periods – 4am PST on Thursday, October 29 through 4am PST on Friday, October 30, and so on, through 4am PST on Sunday, November 2, 2009.

We will announce the winners on Twitter, so make sure you’re already a follower of @waze. For complete details, see the Waze blog.

If you are in the Halloween mood, don’t forget about our scary Android wallpapers.

“We cannot ignore such a successful platform as Android. HTC is an important partner of ours and Android is becoming increasingly important too.”

It appears the relationship between Google and TomTom is growing.  Tele Atlas, who was taken over by TomTom in 2007,  recently signed a 5 year extension with Google to provide map data for Google Maps.  The agreement gives Tele Atlas access to updates and corrections made by the Google Maps community.  When you put the pieces together it looks like we might see a service similar to Waze.

When questioned about support for BlackBerry devices the TomTom VP responded, “I do not question the opportunity that RIM might offer but we know that a satnav device needs to have a large touchscreen and voice commands to be able to work for turn-by-turn navigation. We come from a PDA background and we know what will work.”  RIM has offered some touchscreen phones like the BlackBerry Storm, but the majority of their devices feature smaller QVGA displays.

When questioned about a possible TomTom phone, no comment was offered.  It will be interesting to see what they do with their rival Garmin about to launch an Android phone(made by Asus) later this year.

Check out this video of the iPhone version of TomTom to see what is in store for Android users.

Could TomTom be making an apperance on Android soon?

[via Pocket-lint]

Free voice turn-by-turn directions

One of the big complaints with the free GPS service was the lack of voice directions while driving.  A recent blog post reveals that Waze will soon be adding this feature and sponsoring a “voice-off” contest to allow the community to submit their voices.  Look for this contest over the coming weeks.

Waze coming to new platforms

All the maps and traffic information found in Waze is generated by the community.  When there are more people wazing in your area, the application becomes more useful.  It is exciting to read that Waze has plans to release clients across all major smartphone platforms.  The larger community will be a huge plus and help to offer more accurate and up to date information.  Platforms that are set to receive Waze include iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry.

Win a myTouch 3G phone

“Waze across America” is a new contest that launched today to encourage more people to try Waze.  All you have to do is download Waze and submit a road report to be entered into the contest.  Winners will be selected from 1 out of the first 100 road reports for each state.  For complete contest information, visit the Waze blog.

Get involved

If you would like to get involved with the Waze community, there are a number of ways you can help.

• Visit the official forums to report bugs and request new features.
• Use the updated map editor to make corrections in your area and apply to become an area manager.
• Continue driving with Waze to help update their live maps
• Help spread the word about Waze to others by getting their latest updates from Twitter – @waze

Waze is constantly evolving which makes it one of my favorite GPS apps.