iGuidance v.3 - teaser picture(s) - Page 14

liquid_smoke · 07-22-2006, 04:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by psyrex

Two goofs:

1. In the "3.wav" sound clip, the girl breathes on the mike when saying "Three".

2. iGuidance v3, non-reshacked, using white color at night, 3D mode 1:

funny thing , the icon dosent change untill you start moving on the map.

psyrex · 07-22-2006, 07:04 PM

I just find it funny how they forgot to make that arrow with transparency, but the 3D #2 and #3 are fine. It's just silly. Incomplete QA.

thanatos106 · 07-22-2006, 08:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by liquid_smoke

but what does backup software have to do with anything were talking about here?
I dont know, i must be missunderstanding that whole post, not sure what message he was replying to.

What is so hard to understand?... you have file A (lets say iguidance.exe with the day changes) in location B (C:\igidance day) and you want to move to location C (C:\Program Files\iNav\iGuidance) right? so with this backup soft you do just that.

The soft that I'm talking about is really tiny and it doesn't consume big amounts CPU or memory like other backup software.

Thanatos.

Edit: ohh and of course that when doing the backup, it overwrites the one that is in location C.

Quattro · 07-23-2006, 01:04 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sonicxtacy02

re: change exe with skin changes...

Easiest way i can think to do this is to have a folder called UMPC or whatever, in that folder have subfolders named after the skins with an .exe in each subfolder for that particular skin, then have an autoit script that would read the current skin from rr.ini and copy the corresponding exe to the iguidance folder for use. i could whip this up on monday if interested

That would be awesome.

liquid_smoke · 07-23-2006, 03:50 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by thanatos106

What is so hard to understand?... you have file A (lets say iguidance.exe with the day changes) in location B (C:\igidance day) and you want to move to location C (C:\Program Files\iNav\iGuidance) right? so with this backup soft you do just that.

The soft that I'm talking about is really tiny and it doesn't consume big amounts CPU or memory like other backup software.

Thanatos.

Edit: ohh and of course that when doing the backup, it overwrites the one that is in location C.

i understand now, i think what was throwing me off was i thought you were replying to my post that was right above yours. I was asking about if anyone knew a way to reimport the modified bitmaps automaticly to the correct branch instead of doing it by hand one bitmap at a time (150+ in total). So, i thought your reply had something to do with that(my post) so it threw me way off.

liquid_smoke · 07-23-2006, 03:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by psyrex

I just find it funny how they forgot to make that arrow with transparency, but the 3D #2 and #3 are fine. It's just silly. Incomplete QA.

yeah, **** happens though. I can see how it slipped through, took me a sec to reproduce that screenshot cuz it dosnt show up till your being tracked and the map is moving. I entend to replace those jaggy icons anyway this just makes it more a priority. I wish they had png support for the images instead of crappy bitmaps with the color white for transparency. Would be cool and nicer looking to have a dropshadow on that icon.

Wiredwrx · 07-23-2006, 04:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Marvin Hlavac

Not too long at all. It was actually a very good summary of how many users feel about the changes in the new iG 3.0.

Also I feel the PC version is likely more appropriate even for UMPC's. The map "size" should have stayed as it was. The areas displaying next-street-name, current-street, and ETA/Dest/Rem/Speed are humongous. The intention to increase the size there was nice, but they over did it a bit.

IMHO I think what is good in the area of size for UMPC's is also good for CarPC's, so the above mentioned changes are equally imperfect for both platforms.

I think I am gonna try a CTHEME/THEME.INI file with the UMPC version that makes the roads and street names smaller. That way, I can keep the UI (which is definitely better on a TS then 2.X) and get some of the benefits of the laptop version??

If I come up with anything (might be a week or two) I'll post.

Michael

liquid_smoke · 07-23-2006, 05:37 AM

Mini review:

i just came back from a nice drive and testing out the umpc version while actually driveing etc, and compareing it to the laptop version on the way back home.

Third impressions:
This release really should be called iGuidance 2.5 or to be a little more fair, 2.7 but definately not 3.0
I'll have to take back some of what i said earlier about the laptop version being a better fit, even if mixed with elements from the umpc version.
When in the car the umpc version actually didnt seem to be too far off the mark as far as the size of elements. Some tweaking definately still needs to be done but the umpc version is the version that is the most useable in the car. I didnt have a problem reading anything onscreen. While some elements still could be just a tad bit smaller the umpc version definately is a better fit for us.
Which brings me to another point. What exactly did they do to the maps, because the first thing i noticed when i loaded the laptop version in the car was, wtf i cant read a damn thing!! The steet names are far to tiny to read and this was not the case with 2.x versions The new speed,eta, time display on the bottom is basicly useless as i couldnt easily read that either.
So i was a litte confused as to exactly what they had done to everything. I know everything in the umpc version is basicly 2x the size of the laptop version, but what i would like to know is how it compares to the size of things in IG2.x (which i cant compare as it forces you to uninstall the previous version).

I also tried using the ctheme.ini file which seems works but not fully. I think they have changed a few things around as it didnt recognize my settings for streetname font sizes, but it did use my road colors. An updated file should have been included with the install with the idea that people will tweak it. But seeing as how they got there panties all in a bunch when the file first started being passed around (a text file ) i can see a similar situation happening again.

So ill continue to mod the umpc version and basicly pretend the laptop version dosent exist.

Record track/play track:
2 features that will never be used and never have been simply because they can only be accessed through the file menu. The file menu and tool bar really have no place in the umpc version and should be removed. All features and settings should be configured through the bigger onscreen menus. I can see this being a problem even on an actually umpc unless you used a stylus.

Other thoughts on non UI features:

The routing seems to be better, a trip i normally take that IG2 would allways try to lure me off to various side streets cuz, it thinks thats the better way, now correctly routes me the exact way i normally drive. Which confirms what i knew all along, that this is the right way to go.

Rerouting when you make a wrong turn seems to be just a little bit slower than before. In earlier versions as soon as i made a wrong turn it would reroute me in 2-3 secs. Today it seemed like i drove halfway down the street (about 10sec) before it realised i wasnt going the right way anymore. Not a huge issue though, but on smaller blocks i can see it being a small problem.

Initially i had a problem with it actually getting a fix on my possition. Not sure what the issue is but it thought i was on the other side of the state for at least 20 minutes which left me stuck in the driveway till i could get it squared away. Looking at the gps info and it was recieveing data, said i had a 3d fix and as did the utilities that come with my gps device. But IG wouldnt budge and swore i was almost in another state. But being fare, this could of been caused by clouds in the sky, rain etc both of which were heavy at the time. More testing would be needed to honestly judge this aspect. After playing with comports and port speed settings it seemed to kick in and only gave me a slight delay at my position when making the trip home.

Position icons. although it can be considered a UI item, without it all you have is a picture of a map. This is the single most important item on screen and should seriously be looked at by the developers and improved apon.
No matter what the size of the applications window is, the position icon should never be obstruted by interface elements.
Move the zoom level status out of the way! it really isnt that important
I should allways be centered on the map
why does switching to north heading zoom the position icon to what seems 200%

Please oh please !! give us back the menu keyboard shortcuts, (am i beating a dead horse?) and let us define what the shortcuts should be.
I can see that there is code in the app to customize the shortcuts. But for the life of me i see not reason why this only exist for a pocket pc. I mean the damn thing is in the palm of my hand, and a few taps with the stylus is no big deal. I cant think of many ppc apps that do let you customize shortcuts (while some do, most dont). Where this feature really is needed is on the pc and umpc.
How hard can it be?
I even see a new super sized dialog for cutomizeing shortcuts in the umpc version, but sadly is not enabled and likely dosent function.
Along with this, i was really hopeing that the CONTACTS feature also present on the ppc version would make its way to the pc. Almost every pc at least has outlook express installed or can easily be added back in. I would love to see my outlook contacts and choose to navigate to a contacts address.

POI's
something i also was hopeing was going to be improved apon.
while im not argueing the accuracy or the size of the poi data nor do i want to. What does erk me is the size of the tiny poi icons, barely recognizeable on my 7inch screen. This is not a new problem, but one i hoped would have been fixed in this version.

last but not least,
why does the screen flicker so much by simply resizeing the window? No other windows app i can think of does this.

now with all things said, i still cant think of any other pc based gps app i would want to use, so there are a lot of things that are still being done the right way. So take that all you other gps apps.

********

Im toying with the idea of writeing up a real review with pictures and a more balanced opinion of the app instead of just the bad stuff and post it on a site instead of on a message board with the intent that the developers would take all this a little more serious.
maybe who knows.

theheel · 07-23-2006, 06:26 AM

im assuming u would take v3 over v2.0,v2.1,v2.1.1,v2.1.2,v2.13?

would u say the routing is on par with or better than the 2.1.1 with the recalc registry hack?

Sonicxtacy02 · 07-23-2006, 09:36 AM

i think the routing is definitely improved. Though i STILL question the maps update. Everything in my area is the same as it was in 2.1, and for anyone who knows northern va, DC, and suburban MD they'd know that ALL major roads are different. One thing i did notice has been improved is when ur taking an exit that runs parrallel to the highway it gives you the benefit of the doubt and forces you to take the exit instead of continuing on the highway. That always annoyed me. The stick-to-road feature seems to work with a smaller room for error. On an hour trip up to MD i heard "please get back on the road" probably 10 times. With 2.1 it never did it and i took all the same roads.

Marvin Hlavac · 07-23-2006, 10:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sonicxtacy02

On an hour trip up to MD i heard "please get back on the road" probably 10 times.

Yours at least says "Please"!

My version doesn't say that!

While not perfect, iG 3.0 is at least not as annoying as >>>this<<< product.

Marvin Hlavac · 07-23-2006, 10:17 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by liquid_smoke

Im toying with the idea of writing up a real review with pictures and a more balanced opinion of the app instead of just the bad stuff and post it on a site instead of on a message board with the intent that the developers would take all this a little more serious.
maybe who knows.

Excellent idea!

thanatos106 · 07-23-2006, 12:27 PM

Thanatos.

justintime · 07-23-2006, 03:24 PM

I would like to see them add a SOUND CLIP to every pushbutton. That way I know I hit the darn button on my touchscreen, like the rest of my frontend. A simple WAV file will do, thanks.

liquid_smoke · 07-23-2006, 04:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by theheel

im assuming u would take v3 over v2.0,v2.1,v2.1.1,v2.1.2,v2.13?

would u say the routing is on par with or better than the 2.1.1 with the recalc registry hack?

yes i would still take V3 over previous version, but i also have a disease that forces me to not use old software

the routing is on par or better i would say better than previous versions but that is allways a subjective answer and really depends on how it routes in your area. Same thing for map accuracy, while the roads i take all seem to be accurate there are allways people who have bad and or old data.

what is the recalc registry hack?