CoPilot Live

by Jason Norment Sep 2, 2010 7:01 AM – 119 Comments

Install

CoPilot Live is a fully-featured GPS system for your Android device. It includes turn-by-turn directions, live traffic, local gas prices, various route options, and more.

Price: $19.99 – $59.99

We’re giving away 2 full licenses of CoPilot Live (North America) at random to those who comment below! Contest ends on Sunday, October 12th, 2010. The CoPilot Live Contest has ended! Thank you for all that have participated. See the winner annoucement here.

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

(Tested using an HTC Evo running Android 2.2)
Pros & Cons:

Pros

Maps are downloaded directly onto your SD card so navigation features work even without a wireless connection as long as GPS in enabled
Multi-stop trips
Lane assist eliminates confusion in unfamiliar multi-lane high traffic areas
Additional maps are available for other countries such as Europe, UK, Australia, and more
Route recalculation is quick and seamless

Cons

HUGE download. The North America region download for this app is almost 2GB stored to your SD card
No voice search feature. One of the most used functions on my Evo with the 2.2 upgrade.

Features:

CoPilot Live is a great app for anyone who finds themselves using GPS navigation often. This, of course, coming from someone who uses Google Maps often, having the offline capability was a huge plus! CoPilot sets itself apart from other navigation softwares by simply offering many services you would normally find only on a dedicated GPS device. Even better, you have more than one voice to choose from rather than the standard TTS voice (which on long trips can get annoying and causes use of the mute button) your given using Google Maps. This application is available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Mobile. On your desktop, you can customize a variety of features for CoPilot Live using the free Windows software called CoPilot Central, also available from ALK.

There are several versions you can buy of this app (All available in the Android Market): North America, South Africa, UK + Ireland, Europe, and Australia. Using this app I only tested the North American maps in their most current form.

Key Features:

Accurate navigation to either house number or street level
Quick re-routing when needed. I’m no longer nervous about missing a turn! Pre-loaded maps allows on the SD this to be possible.
Several different views for navigation to choose from (2D, 3D, and Driver Safety)
Enhancements such as speed limit indicator and lane indicator display just makes using this app that much safer
Works in either landscape or portrait mode
Thousands of POIs available for North America (almost too much to handle!)
Share location via SMS. Cool feature to let your loved ones know where you are.
Navigation available either by car, motorcycle, bicycle, RV, or walking. (I only tested the car method but feel free to send me a motorcycle or RV!)
Download maps for several areas on one SD card
Live Services (see below)

Live Services:

CoPilot offers a variety of different premium services that requires a data connection. Not all services are available in all areas. These are:

Live Weather: Choice of local weather, at destination, or in another city (either Fahrenheit or Celsius). Provided you with current and 5-day outlook including highs & lows with weather conditions for the day. Clicking any of the 5 days will send you externally to AccuWeather’s websites.
LiveLink: I was unfortunate enough not to get to try this out but it sounds very interesting. In theory, you would share you location with others either via their CoPilot Live application on-screen or via email to others through the CoPilot LiveLink website. I could see this being very useful amongst a group of travellers, only if everyone had the same application installed.
Live Traffic: Shows any traffic-related incident in the area. Throughout my usage, I typically found construction as the items it provided me with. It separates this in two formats: via Map or via list of major highways effected. You can choose to automatically avoid the incident or select it manually.
Live Fuel Prices: Shows the prices of nearby gas stations. Great information but no way to change whether the information is sorted by price or distance without going into the settings. Does allow you to be specific on the grade of fuel and the search radius.
Live Local Search: Find different items of interest either nearby or in another city. Google Search SPOILS me so I was not impressed with the functionality of this feature. Area of improvement for sure.

: CoPilot Live Start Screen

: CoPilot Live Turn-by-Turn Map Navigation

: CoPilot Live Choose Language

: CoPilot Live Turn-by-Turn Map Directions

: CoPilot Live Traffic Listing

: CoPilot Live Turn-by-Turn Map Directions

: CoPilot Live Battery Alert

: CoPilot Live Settings Menu 2

: CoPilot Live Settings Menu 3

: CoPilot Live Quick Stop

: CoPilot Live Menu 2

: CoPilot Live Menu 3

: CoPilot Live Map Styles

: CoPilot Live Services

: CoPilot Live Detour

: CoPilot Live Turn-by-Turn Map Directions

: CoPilot Live Turn-by-Turn Map Directions

Usefulness:

CoPilot is great for those who do a lot of traveling. This application feels like it wasn’t designed for just your average trip across town, however, it could easily be used for any destination no matter how far away it may be. Offline usage is a huge advantage and makes traveling in areas with limited cellular signal much easier. The additional services that CoPilot offers makes trips less of a headache and more enjoyable for you and your family.

Ease of Use:

Being used to Google Maps, this app takes on a different approach to how to use navigation software. It resembles a dedicated GPS device heavily so if your used to that platform, this should be a breeze.

Frequently Used:

If you need directions to an unfamiliar area, want up-to-date information on your common routes, or plan or traveling further than your own internal-brain-navigation can handle, this will be used often. Even though I know the route to work, I used it everyday just to keep updated on traffic.

Interface:

All icons and text is large and easily readable on the screen. Menus are a bit excessive at times but that can be viewed from a positive and negative standpoint. Lots of options and settings means lots of way to customize your experience with this app.

Battery Life (Updated):

This was one of my main concerns with this app (and all GPS nav apps for that matter). I’m happy to report that battery life with this application was minimal! During most trips, I saw about half the battery usage I normally see using Google Maps or Sprint Navigation. I guess it makes a big difference to not be connected to the internet the entire time. In fact, a couple of times I used this application turning my mobile internet off completely and had no issues aside from not being able to use Live Services. Very pleased with this app’s battery usage!

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapp.com Rating! (4.25 out of 5)

Should you Download CoPilot Live? For anyone who uses GPS navigation more than once a week, YES! The added features and offline capability alone are enough to justify getting this app. Skeptical at first but after a few days of use it’s definitely worth the money.

Developer: ALK Technologies

Tags: Android App, Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, cell phone GPS, COPILOT LIVE GPS, CoPilot Live North America, gas prices, GPS, Maps, Traffic and Maps, Turn by Turn Directions

Categorised in: Apps Blog, Travel

119 Comments

By John on September 6, 2010 at 11:21 pm:

How does it work on earlier versions of the Android OS? I checked the web site, and it says it will work from 1.5 onward. As there are a lot of phones back at 1.6, it would be nice to know whether this is as functional in those—one of which I have.

Nice thorough review!

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- By geni on September 7, 2010 at 5:33 am:
  
  looks really great – review came in perfectly because I was just looking for a navigation app with traffic information
  does anyone know if navigon has US maps, too, or only European maps?
  
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  - By Jason Norment on September 7, 2010 at 7:31 am:
    
    @geni: From what I can tell, it looks that Navigon’s software only supports all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Of course, I’m basing this off of the iPhone software since their Android product wasn’t available yet according to their website. Interesting how they break down their products. All of US & Canada is $59.99 but if you just want a certain region (East, Central, West) it’s only $29.99. CoPilot still beats them out including all of North America @ $19.99 in my book. The only features I saw that the iPhone Navigon software had that CoPilot Live didn’t is Facebook integration and a panoramic 3d view, neither of which I find essential or worth the extra $30.00.
    
    Reply
- By Jason Norment on September 7, 2010 at 7:33 am:
  
  @John: I’m not sure if any features for this app differ on 1.5 or 1.6. I did notice that this app is not compatible with Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / X10 Mini Pro. I’ll see if I can shoot that question to the Dev Team @ ALK and get an answer for you.
  
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By Zhenya on September 7, 2010 at 10:12 am:

This looks great for travelers who can’t afford data when across the pond. And since I’m going soon, I would LOVE a license

Thanks AndroidTapp!

Zhenya

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- By Jason Norment on September 9, 2010 at 9:06 am:
  
  @Zhena: Thank you for spending time with AndroidTapp!
  
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By Miguel Quinones on September 7, 2010 at 12:14 pm:

Hello to every body at ALK: I was the happy owner copilot 5 and 7 untill my sons saw them in use.
I just moved from Queens N,Y to Florida and don’t know my way around I would rearlly appreciate a license.
Yours truelly
Miguel Quinones

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By Ryan on September 7, 2010 at 3:33 pm:

Looks fantastic. I make trips to Canada and this would prove invaluable. Nice review.

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By Paul Barber on September 8, 2010 at 4:38 am:

Really liked co-pilot when I had a go on a mates phone. Up until now I’ve been using google navigation but needing a data connection is just too restrictive – think it may be time to upgrade…

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- By Jason Norment on September 9, 2010 at 9:05 am:
  
  @Paul Barber: It may be time indeed.
  
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By Cheryl Bobula on September 8, 2010 at 7:15 pm:

I have learned to love using the GPS on my Android. This program would be an awesome addition to my collection. Can’t wait to win a free copy of this app so I can get my friends to purchase one too !!!

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By Karri on September 9, 2010 at 1:53 am:

The offline mode is a major bonus for an app like this!

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- By Charlie on January 10, 2011 at 2:03 pm:
  
  I had a bad experience with Copilot Live. It required all of a sudden a data connection in order to check the google order number.
  The previous two days it worked without data link, ttherefore the order number ahd been already verified.
  I was on a business trip with my personal SIM and could not afford spending for a roaming data connection.
  As a result, I arrived late at a work meeting.
  I’m so happy … not.
  
  Reply
  - By Jason Norment on January 11, 2011 at 10:00 am:
    
    Did you activate the software on your initial run? CoPilot Live will allow you to run the software un-activated for a few days before it requires the activation to continue usage. I can’t remember the length of time it requires.
    
    Reply
By Derek on September 11, 2010 at 8:54 am:

sounds good what chance do I have of winning this

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By eoberman on September 11, 2010 at 8:03 pm:

Awesome app!!! Have used it since the early days on an old Compaq Pocket PC. Would love to get to chance to use it on my android device!!

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By Hector PA on September 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm:

Did someone say Navigon? I have a Navigon 5100 and the company abandoned the US market after 2 years, leaving us all without support, updates, or anything else unless we had happened to buy the map card. I just saw dozens of negative reviews on the Market. If Navigon’s behind this, stay away.

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- By Jason Norment on September 13, 2010 at 1:49 pm:
  
  @Hector: CoPilot Live is not a Navigon product. CoPilot is developed by ALK Technologies.
  
  http://www.alk.com/
  
  Reply
  - By Hector PA on September 14, 2010 at 4:21 pm:
    
    Jason: yes I see that now. I misread a previous comment. Navigon has left a bad taste. I may just give Copilot a try.
    
    Reply
By Danny Nguyen on September 13, 2010 at 9:09 pm:

This is an excellent app. I like it on my Samsung Vibrant s I was using 2 days only but right now I don’t have money buy the read one just used 30 days. I hope when I get the job I willing buy one license with it. Thanks Copilot/Android/Samsung Vibrand s very good to me right now.

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By Vic on September 15, 2010 at 4:49 pm:

This would double the usefulness of my Android.

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By android quintero on September 17, 2010 at 8:38 am:

Much better then NDrive

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By Dana on September 17, 2010 at 4:15 pm:

Sounds like a great program and a little less expensive an option than a dedicated unit

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By rinav savla on September 17, 2010 at 6:40 pm:

i can’t wait to try it. wish they had a trial license for at least a day.

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By jhdavis43 on September 18, 2010 at 9:18 am:

Looks like a great product. What about map updates? How often and what’s the cost?

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- By Jason Norment on November 14, 2010 at 6:18 pm:
  
  Updates to map are given fairly often. Users can even submit corrections to the map that CoPilot will verify and correct within 45 days.
  
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- By Jason Norment on November 14, 2010 at 6:21 pm:
  
  Oh and you only pay for the maps you want. Map upgrades aren’t given at cost however I believe if they were to introduce CoPilot Live v9 for example you could buy the upgraded version at a reduce price if you own v8.
  
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By Jeremy D on September 20, 2010 at 8:25 am:

Great review. For being such a full featured program the developers get an A+. You covered everything I was wondering about in the review. If I don’t win I will most probably add it to my apps anyway.

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By Rob on September 21, 2010 at 10:19 am:

This GPS is terrible screen keeps rotating no way to keep it locked

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- By Jason Norment on September 21, 2010 at 10:30 am:
  
  @Rob: I can’t say I had that issue when using the review, however, there is a way to keep it locked in one orientation. Go to “Settings” then “Screen Orientation”. By default, the program is set to “Use Device’s Settings” but you can switch to Portrait or Landscape mode.
  
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By TheaterPopcorn on October 29, 2010 at 7:56 pm:

I’ve read up pretty extensively on CoPilot and have been impressed by what I’ve seen, but have a few quick questions. Does anyone know:

Can I use CoPilot for GeoCaching? In other words, can I give it a GPS coordinate and have it navigate me to that spot (regardless of roads)? Sometimes a cache can be away from civilization.

Also, I do a lot of camping/hiking in the mountains (no roads). Can CoPilot track my path/route so I can easily find my way back to my starting point? Don’t care if there’s no map for where I’m at, just want to be able to follow my trail back to my campsite.

Does it provide basic GPS functions, like satellite status, compass, altitude, etc. (Altitude is important to me)?

And finally, what happens when I buy a new device? Am I able to move CoPilot to a new phone without having to buy it again?

Any insights you could give would be great! THANK YOU!!

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- By Jason Norment on November 14, 2010 at 6:14 pm:
  
  Sorry for the late reply.
  
  Technically, yes you can although it’s not a promoted feature. CoPilot Live allows you to use navigation whether it be walking, trucking, motorcycling, biking, or in a car. You can import a POI’s into CoPilot for your own usage and then navigate to them that way.
  
  CoPilot does have a GPS menu in the Settings section that does let you know specific navigation information such as elevation, satellite status, etc.
  
  Moving to a new device is simple. First, you must deactivate CoPilot on the first device and then use your Product Key on the new device. Simple! When you buy CoPilot, you get it for life.
  
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- By John on December 3, 2012 at 11:58 am:
  
  I don’t know about copilot, but there are a number of products that are aligned to what you want to do, and some of them are free. My favorite is sports-tracker from sports-tracker.com. This is one of the free ones.
  
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By Rzhevskii on December 23, 2010 at 8:29 am:

Above all, they sell CoPilot v8 ONLY for $29.99 !!! They say on the site “For Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.1, 6.5 and Android devices only.” – that means, the same app will work on Win Mobile and on Android phone. I got WinMobile 6.1 phone and my wife has Android. Are you kidding me? For $29.99 I can have all that? I was stupid enough to buy iGuidance, paid over $140 – the app is a crap, what a crap is this iGuidance! Anyway, I am going to buy CoPilot right now (Dec. 23, 2010) and let you know in about a week how it worked here in Canada.

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By Rod on January 11, 2011 at 11:25 am:

The same thing happened to me, Charlie. But Jason brings up a good point. When I used it the first several days, it worked great with no need for Google check-out info. I figured that somehow in the background all my payment info had been processed because, afterall, it was working, right? Then about a week later (I can’t remember exactly) when I used it, it suddenly asked for my receipt number. Like you, I thought it was an inconvenient bug, but had access to the check-out on my phone, so I entered it, and now months later I use it a few times a week without any trouble at all.

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- By Jason Norment on January 11, 2011 at 11:37 am:
  
  Absolutely. I had it happen to me while testing the app. CoPilot sent me the information I needed but I skipped by it the first time. Eventually, it locked me out and I had to find the key to activate the program.
  
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By Rzhevskii on January 12, 2011 at 8:25 am:

January 11, 2011. I know, this is Android review, but it doesn’t matter – we review the prog. I got it, and I really, really love it. Let’s start with the negative, as there are not many of those: 1.Keyboard layout is ABCD, they should add QWERTY as an option, but they didn’t. 2. There is not so many options inside of Copilot Central 2.0 – like, I can’t download different themes, map colors, car symbols, etc. the way I could do with TomTom Home.

BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST GREAT! I won’t waste time describing features, as they’re already described above. The POI along the road is great – the icons are big, easy to touch, and once you touch it, the menu opens up and shows you complete address with phone number. You can select to either call this POI or drive there, right on the road. The app is certainly worth more than they’re asking for it! No regret buying it at all.

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By Tree on January 25, 2011 at 2:50 am:

I bought this software because it seemed like an ideal alternative to using Google maps which requires a permanent data connection. On the whole it’s pretty good but I have a couple of issues.

1) I use the LG Android Optimus One P500 which uses the numeric keypad when in portrait mode, this causes a force close in Copilot. Switching to landscape mode and the QWERTY keyboard, it works fine.

2) A2DP bluetooth audio doesn’t seem to work through my Tevion car stereo. The LG’s music player appears to work okay, so I think it must be a Copilot issue.

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- By Matteo on February 26, 2011 at 4:28 pm:
  
  Hello, I have a P500 too and I am interested in buying CoPilot. Does it work well apart from the bugs you mentioned? Are you using it in the US or in Europe?
  Thanks!
  Matteo
  
  Reply
By Steve on February 13, 2011 at 12:24 pm:

Will this work on an Archos 5 internet tablet. I would like to test it but don’t want any surprises.

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By eaglewolf on April 11, 2011 at 5:14 am:

Having got a new smartphone, I thought it would be easier and cheaper to get a sat nav software rather than a dedicated sat nav device. How wrong I was! CoPilot does not have the features that TomTom or Garmin has, such as being able to plot the fastest route whilst avoiding motorways (if motorways are avoided, CoPilot chooses the shortest route which goes through busy urban centres and such). If you choose to have street names spoken, it sounds like a poorly impersonated Stephen Hawking, and difficult to understand!

The main problem is the difficulty in getting a GPS fix, which could take several minutes to never getting a fix. There are loads of people saying the same thing on ALK blogs, and it all comes down to the type of GPS in most smartphones. Dedicated sat navs have full GPS which connect to satellites to get a fix. However, most smartphones have Assisted-GPS which needs an internet connection initially in order for CoPilot to get an approximate location fix, and then it will connect to the satellites.

Assisted-GPS is designed to find your location faster, but in my experience, it slows CoPilot down. Now if you don’t want additional internet charges on your phone, then you may have your wi-fi or mobile data network turned off, and as a result, CoPilot cannot connect to the internet, and hence cannot get a GPS fix. And if you’re a PAYG user like me, connecting to the mobile data network means incurring charges from the mobile company.

Despite complaining to ALK, they are not interested which means I’ve wasted paying for CoPilot. I’ve also read many people saying how the ALK customer and technical support is very poor.

I would recommend getting a dedicated sat nav rather than a smartphone sat nav, or to get something other than the useless CoPilot.

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- By Jason Norment on April 13, 2011 at 11:25 pm:
  
  Depends on the device. I can get a GPS fix within seconds without the use of internet.
  
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  - By Mel on February 7, 2012 at 2:45 am:
    
    Hi Jason,
    Just wondering which device you own ? Would help me track down the type of GPS integrated into it.
    Cheers.
    
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By Mel on February 7, 2012 at 6:24 am:

Jason: Never mind, I see you’ve already mentioned your device as an Evo in the review. Silly me !
On a humorous note, your second sentence in the final “Battery Life” section – ” I’m happy to report that battery life with this application was minimal!” left me chuckling ) Maybe adding “the impact on”, after “that” & before “battery”, might make your intended meaning clearer.
Cheerio.

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