Following its
CDMA and
iDEN competitors headlong into the hot location-based services game, Cingular is finally poised mark their first wide-scale LBS deployment by hooking up with
TeleNav to offer turn-by-turn navigation to its customers. Though the service will be marketed mainly toward the carrier's business users, pretty much anyone with a lousy sense of direction stands to benefit, with both auto and pedestrian modes included in the box. It'll be offered starting at $5.99 a month for 10 uses or $9.99 for unlimited use on the
HP hw6920, Treo 650,
Cingular 8125, and the just-'round-the-corner
8525, though handsets without GPS receivers (that is, pretty much anything but the HP) will need to hook up to an external Bluetooth unit to make it all happen.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Miacol @ Oct 25th 2006 2:48PM
Just called Cingular, the devices that are avialable are the BB 8700c, the 7130c, the new HP iPaq 6900 series, Treo 650, Razr V3i, and the Slvr.
Shon @ Oct 25th 2006 2:55PM
Cingular is always just putting their big toe in the water of these other tech offerings (ie, PTT), where it never goes full fledged, decent, reliable, widely used service, limiting these features to specific phones.
Shon @ Oct 25th 2006 3:01PM
and for clarification, i know they are limited by the phones, but my point being GPS isnt as a common of a feature as Bluetooth is, and PTT is the same, so unless more phones come with built in GPS receiver, this is a waste.
How many of you have Cingular PTT and use it on a regular basis?
mikey b @ Oct 25th 2006 4:25PM
I have had it for about a month now, and It is a nice product, used on both a htc wizard 8125 and V3i, it makes the V3i a nice little device, but you have to use the branded rom to get the telenav software to work, thats my only complaint.
Mike Mckee @ Oct 25th 2006 5:43PM
The Telenav service also works on the 6515 without any additional hardware upgrade. It is available now and works well like the other carriers as long as you are in service area.
joshman @ Oct 26th 2006 10:08AM
Unfortunately the list of compatable phones isn't that great unless you are a business customer. Some Moto phones work with the TeleNav software like the V3i, L6, and the L7, but not the RAZR.
gps @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:53AM
i really like the sound of the new location services, but i'm unsure on the value for money aspect. i think the unlimited plan looks the best from the two presented here but aren't there other free services available?
David @ Jan 14th 2007 1:25PM
I signed up for Telenav trial version (1 month free) recently. Downloaded latest version (I have Nextel i870 phone), tried to navigate to our friends 30 miles away. This is what happened, judge it for yourself.
1. GPS wouldn't lock, though I live in the burbs, pretty open area. Well, that could be the hardware issue. Telenav, however, just said "no GPS" and stopped. Ha? No retrial?
2. The voice was very mechanical and of low quality, sounding like a grandma from a submarine. OK...
3. TN suggested to go straight on I-95, we decided to take alternative exit, which is almost as close and fast to the destination as their suggestion. Well, it took TN only 1.3 miles (!!!) to realize that we went off route, though the direction we went to was at 90 degree angle to I-95 - bummer. If I wouldn't know where to go, I'd get lost big time.
4. Finally, being close to our destination, TN announced "next left turn". If I wouldn't know the area, I would take next left turn which goes to a dead end. The proper turn was THREE (!!) streets down, approximately 300 ft from the announcement. So much for navigation from Telenav...
5. That's not all. When I tried to cancel their free and pretty much useless subscription, I had to call twice and spoke to reps, who asked me about my credit card number, address, etc. (like they don't already have it). At the end of each conversation, they said - "thanks, now call the escalation line to request a refund (of $10. which they charged me for the "free trial"). Well, I called, answering machine every time, left messages, nobody called back, CHARGEBACK TIME, BABY ;)
If you want real navigation, use QUALITY products, like Garmin, or [url]http://veripath.us[/url].
Bob @ Aug 29th 2007 12:10AM
I have 8800 Blackberry which is set up for Telenav in the US, is Telenav or any other GPS available or to coming available for Bangkok Thailand that I can run on my Blackberry?