CoPilot 8 for iPhone

Posted on 21 Jul 2010 at 16:00

VERDICT: Pre-loaded maps and brilliant motorway lane guidance, but let down by erratic journey planning

PRICE: £17 (£20 inc VAT)

RATING: 3/6

Until recently, CoPilot’s £20 software looked like a bargain compared to the £60 you’d pay for TomTom on the iPhone, or the even heftier price tag on dedicated devices. But with Google and Nokia queering the pitch, does CoPilot still represent value for money?

Unlike the freebies, CoPilot pre-loads UK and Ireland maps as standard, and at only 276MB it isn’t going to steal too much storage space on your iPhone. The maps are finely detailed, with relevant points of interest clearly marked. Maps are available in both 2D or 3D views, but its crowning glory is the motorway lane guidance, where the screen switches to an animation of the junction ahead, with mock road signs and arrows revealing exactly where to position your car.

Yet, CoPilot for iPhone has its problems. The software had real trouble locking on to a satnav signal at the start of journeys, meaning we often had to start driving before CoPilot would start spitting out accurate directions.

Plotting a journey is sometimes more difficult than it should be too. Postcode searches are erratic: a search for one address incorrectly told us house number 19 wasn’t listed under that postcode, but offered number 18, which was 500 yards away on the wrong side of the road. At other times, it failed to find entire streets. Route planning is also a little haphazard: CoPilot told us to take absent turnings on more than one occasion, including a route straight through a central reservation.

While speed camera alerts are thrown in, services such as traffic updates and petrol prices are £20 a year. And although features such as iPod integration and advanced trip planning elevate it above the freebies, it will be a hard sell if Google Maps Navigation arrives on the iPhone.