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Pros

• Portrait / Landscape twist assisted
• Loud speaker
• Easy Bluetooth pairing
• GPS antenna works on GPS software
• Works with most skins and case while on iPhone
• Mount should work on iPhone 4

Cons

• Mount is awkward and difficult
• Footprint a big large
• Mount blocks camera
• Mic quality issue

The Bottom Line
The Magellan Premium Car Kit secures your iPhone in a grip-type fashion which requires two hands to safely attach and remove your iPhone from the mount. Most may not even find this a concern and outside of the back plate blocking your cameras view, really this is one strong mount for your iPhone or iPod touch. With compatibility for skins and cases, a good sounding speaker and the easy twist orientation, this may be your mount for your car, if you can find it under three figures.

Recommended
Yes

Full Review
Magellan is well known for its car all-in-one units and thus has had some experience with mounting these units. Magellan has taken that engineering thinking and know how and come up with a mount for the iPhone 3G/S and iPod touch. Enhancing GPS with a built-in antenna and placing a loud speaker into the car kit, Magellan hopes you’ll over look, um, Tom’s mount for the Premium Car Kit. But should you?

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Pros

• Compact with small footprint
• Easy to mount and dismount iPhone
• Holds iPhone steady while driving

Cons

• Built-in antenna seems non-effective
• Built-in speaker insufficient for phone calls
• Pairing requires phone to be mounted
• Lack of Bluetooth calls through line-out

The Bottom Line
TomTom has made a mighty fine car kit that mounts easily and securely. The iPhone never bobs or bounces while driving and the mounting method is the easiest of all mounts we’ve seen. Sadly, the speaker is weak and useless and the built-in antenna does not seem to boast your reception in any way. Yet even with its faults and bit high price tag, the small footprint and easy mount makes it a winner.

Recommended
Yes

Full Review
The iPhone has brought GPS to millions of phones with a simple and easy download from the App Store. Not so simple has been finding a way to mount that phone for viewing the GPS while driving. With many options for a mount, how does one decide which is the best? TomTom hopes that its car kit mount will be a choice that ends up on your windshield.

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Pros

• Best map interface we’ve seen
• Info Bar wealthy on information
• User configurable Voice prompting at turns
• Contact search for addressing
• iPod pausing during voice instructions
• Facebook integration

Cons

• Lackluster iPod interface and controls
• Generic highway badges
• Limited POI database
• No Internet look-up for POIs

The Bottom Line
With a slew of GPS offerings for the iPhone it is becoming difficult to find the right navigation software for your Apple device. CoPilot’s expertise and years of experience is evident in its mobile app version. While odd routing issues crept up during the review, CoPilot Live proved itself to be a nice offering with some rough edges. With a free 30-day fully functioning version to try before you buy, CoPilot is something every traveler should download to their iPhone.
Recommended
Yes

Full Review
CoPilot has been around for years and it’s version 8 number boldly indicates this. I still remember the first version it released for laptops almost a decade ago and now, it’s been shrunk down to the little iPhone screen. CoPilot Live handles the reduced screen real estate quite well placing important information in clear and easy to read parts of the screen while never cluttering it up. Of all the navigation applications I have reviewed, iPhone or stand-alone, I would say CoPilots map interface is the best. But does it get you to your destination the best?

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Pros

• Pleasant looking interface
• Excellent iPod player
• Google Maps integration for POIs
• On-screen speed limit indicator
• Logo-based POIs for easy identification
• Superb traffic alerts and up-to-date information

Cons

• Pop-up notifications takes GPS off-line
• No Google or Internet search integration
• Lack of podcast support in Music Player
• Does not support suite numbers in Contacts and mis-routes

The Bottom Line
Magellan RoadMate ignores the iPhones sleek user interface in favor of its own look-and-feel which will help owners of Magellan’s dash mount PNDs jump right into the iPhone application. For first time Magellan users, the simply layout will be a quick learn for any experienced GPS user. Once on the road, RoadMate wraps up its well defined experience into a tightly knit package that will get your to your destination quickly, easily, and accurately.

Recommended
Yes

Full Review
Magellan went a, um excuse the pun, different route with its iPhone navigation application. Instead of using many of the familiar iPhone menu items and other common iPhone attributes, Magellan stuck with its interface from its Personal Navigation Device (PND) units found on the windshields of thousands of vehicles across America. This twist helps those going from the PND to the iPhone to minimize the learning curve while keeping the user experience satisfying.
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