[Review] CoPilot Live Premium for Android

Googles satellite navigation app for Android is pretty good. The price can't be beaten (it's free), the directions are spoken well in advance of when you need to take them and it does a good job at getting you from A to B, so can an app that you have to pay for, such as CoPilot, really compete?

The first note worthy difference between Googles offering and CoPilot is that CoPilot can navigate without needing a data connection, for many users this won't be an issue but for those with no mobile data connection or for those who travel in areas where a network signal is sometimes unavailable this will undoubtedly be a big tick in its favour.

The second note worthy difference is that CoPilot has a wide variety of very good voices to choose from so that you aren't stuck with just the voice, or voices, that you already have installed on your Android. It also has another very big advantage over its free Google rival, customisation.

You can customise the speeds for any type of road, set it to avoid specific types of road (such as motorways, dual carriage ways, toll roads, etcetera) and do so for specific vehicle types. So if you want to avoid motorways when riding a motorcycle but not when driving a car, you can.

Further customisation options include the ability to show specific points of interest, the ability to edit your route to either add or remove specific locations, being able to have the application automatically switch from showing a list of directions to showing a layout of the road ahead and highlight the exact turn you need to take (complete with a visual depiction of what lane you should be in), the ability to choose from a variety of different map styles as well as being able to change the units of measurement used (metric or imperial).

You can also tell the app how far in advance of turns you wish to be notified, enable or disable its ClearView feature which, if enabled, will show you the lane you need to be in before a turn or customise the view of the maps so that they adapt to the time of day, making them easier to navigate with whether it is day or night.

The amount of time it takes the app to lock on to the gps satellites will vary depending on the device you're using it on, but on an LG P920 it acquires a signal as quickly as Googles free application does, the first time the devices gps is switched on it will naturally take longer but even then it finds a signal within thirty seconds (on the P920) which is surprisingly quick.

Setting a destination is easy, however you have to enter a town or city name, then it will offer a list of streets and then a list of addresses so it is a little regimented although you can also navigate to any point of interest CoPilot finds or to coordinates that are found encoded in a photograph.

If you visit the Play store to buy the app you'll see a couple of comments referring to it being a drain on the battery. These comments were for an older version than the newest version being reviewed here and so I can't confirm or deny whether they are accurate or not, my own use has found that the battery does drain noticeably quicker than when using Googles navigation app and I would recommend that if you plan on using it for more than say two hours it would be a wise precaution to have a way of charging your Android.

However an hour long trip uses up approximately twelve percent of the battery, that's with the screen on all the time, you can set the application to not show the directions all the time or even just speak them to you which would significantly reduce battery drain however in reality if you are making a long journey and using the app to navigate it is likely you will also have a charging cable available for your device and so possible battery drain may not be a concern for you.

Accuracy is an important feature of any navigation app and having been updated with newer navteq maps CoPilot should guide you to your destination with a minimum of fuss and seems to know the right routes although it is always possible that some new local features such as a new bypass etcetera may not be included in maps for the area in which you wish to travel but in testing this has been fine.

The combination of customisation, offline navigation and useful features such as ClearView all add up to make the app an attractive proposition.

For those who do have a mobile data connection you can use CoPilots active traffic feature to reroute you should any traffic jams arise on your planned routes, it's a subscription service but free for twelve months although users have reported that it isn't always very reliable and in reviewing this app I haven't used it, preferring instead to test the features that are included in the price (yes you get twelve months free but after that it costs money and so for this review only features that do not incur any additional charge have been tested).

There are of course other offline features you can use for free including being warned when approaching speed traps (which works well although will also warn there is a speed trap in locations where speed traps are not always present, ie places with speed camera signs but no actual speed cameras).

There is also the option to navigate to gps coordinates that have been encoded into a photograph, something which may be useful if you see a photograph you like and want to get to where the picture was taken.

Rerouting is instant, another advantage of using an offline app that doesn't need to communicate with a server to check how to get you back on track.

Directions wise it gives them clearly and well in advance, annoyingly it doesn't tell you to turn left or right as expected but says keep left or keep right which could be confusing if you were meant to keep to one side of a road ready to take a turn later and mistakenly take a turn early.

Back to the maps and they are definitely more up to date than those of similar apps, easily identifying and routing through a local bypass which other navigation apps had problems recognising although the POI's (points of interest) are sometimes out of date, for example a local garage is shown which hasn't been open for a few years so while the maps themselves are fine the POI's are a little less up to date and so may not be as useful.

But back to that question of whether CoPilot can really compete with Googles app, and the answer is that yes it can, and does. At twenty pounds it may seem a little steep but is still cheaper than rivals such as Navigon which are less intuitive to use and is as good as (and of course cheaper than) a standalone sat nav system.

If you're looking for a good offline satellite navigation app with plenty of useful features and up to date maps CoPilot is certainly the best available although it does have its quirks such as the whole keep right instead of turn right thing.

That said however, and having tried most of the alternative apps, CoPilot has definitely become my sat nav of choice and is well worth a look. You can't get a free trial but there is a free CoPilot app on the Play store that gives an idea of what to expect from the premium version.