Figure 38: Pocket LOOX Can Not Find Central Park West in NYC

Interestingly, the Pocket LOOX cannot find Central Park West at all. The closest I can get is "Central Park West Drive", although then I cannot enter a house number. I experiment with several different permutations of the name, trying "CPW", "CENTRAL PARK", and "PARK", all to no avail. Finally I try entering the house number first (135), but the Pocket LOOX still can only find 135 CENTRAL AVE.

Hmm... This isn't looking good.

For some reason tapping on "CENTRAL PARK" from the results list selects "CENTRAL AVE" in Brooklyn as the street name.

Next I try to input 74th Street as the street name by tapping 7-4 and waiting (around 4 second) for "74th St" to appear in the results list. But then when I tap on it, the name suddenly changed into 74th Avenue. After another 15 minutes or so of hunting around, I came to the sad conclusion that the only way I'm successfully able to input a street address is by using the zip code first, and then the street name.

Figure 39: Start Navigating To the Destination Address

Once the State, street, and house number have been input, we're ready to begin navigating to our destination address. Tap on "Start Navigation" and the Pocket LOOX begins calculating the route, figuring out the best way to get to the destination address.

Figure 40: Pocket LOOX's Route Calculation Screen

Before navigating to the destination address, Pocket LOOX displays the routing menu, shown above in figure 40. From here, you can view each turn along the trip, see the total distance and drive time, change routing options, or begin driving to the destination.

Figure 41: Viewing the Turn-by-Turn List on the Pocket LOOX N100

Tapping on the "Show Turn-by-Turn List" button (shown in figure 40) brings up the turn list, shown above. Each upcoming turn is displayed along side the distance to the turn, the direction of the maneuver, and the name of the street.

Figure 42: Excluding Certain Roads/Highways from the Trip

Navigon's software allows you to exclude any road(s) from the trip by tapping on the green checkbox displayed to the right of each turn. Tapping on the green checkbox changes the icon into a red X, indicating the GPS will avoid the selected road or highway.

Figure 43: Setting Route Options

Tapping on the Options button allows you to edit system settings or the route settings for the current trip.

Figure 44: Changing the Route Profile (Settings)

The Route Profile menu allows you to change certain aspects of how the Pocket LOOX will route you to your destination.

• Speed Profile determines your means of transport. Available options are: Fast Car, Standard Car, Slow Car, Motorcycle, Truck, Bicycle, and Pedestrian. I'm not sure what the difference between Fast Car, Standard Car, and Slow Car are, but in my testing all three options produced identical routing results.
• Type of Route determines the routing preference. Available options are: Fast route, Optimum route, Short route, and Scenic route.
• Consider Traffic Information specifies whether traffic information (TMC) should be considered when calculating the route. Traffic service requires a TMC-receiver (not included) and an annual service subscription of around $60.
• Highways specifies whether you want to avoid highways or not

Figure 45: Changing the Route Profile (Settings)

Page 2 of the Route Profile screen is home to the following route options:

• Toll Roads specifies whether you want to avoid tolls
• Ferries allows you to avoid ferries
• Calculate the Next Stage is only relevant if you are navigating a multi-stop (destination) route. After reaching each leg of the journey, this setting specifies whether or not the GPS will automatically start routing to the next destination.
• U-Turns enables or disables the use of U-Turns

Figure 46: Navigating with Pocket LOOX: The Map Screen

This is Navigon / Pocket LOOX's Map Screen. Whether navigating to a destination or POI (Point of Interest), or just driving around, most of the time will be spent looking at the map.

Figure 47: Navigon Pocket LOOX Map Screen Explained

Navigon does a nice job presenting lots of information on the maps screen without cluttering up the display. The color scheme is easy on the eyes, can still be seen in bright light, and the highlighted route is easy to discern. The 3D angle of the map is just right, and there are enough shape points in the map so that the roads don't appear jagged.

Let's take a closer look at the map screen's various elements:

1. Speed Limit - When driving on a highway, Pocket LOOX displays the posted speed limit in the upper-left corner of the map screen
2. Highlighted Route - This is the route that leads to your destination
3. Upcoming Turn Indicator - This box appears 1 mile before an upcoming maneuver. The arrow indicates the shape of the next turn. Notice also the vertical bar consisting of 9 small boxes -- each box represents 1/10th of a mile, and counts down as you approach the next turn
4. Current Road - Displays the name of the road you are currently driving on in the upper row, and the name of the next road you'll be driving on in the lower row
5. Back Button - Returns you to the Main Menu
6. Options - Accesses the system options and route options (when driving on an active route)
7. Volume - Tapping the volume icon displays a sliding volume bar and a mute button
8. Zoom - Zooms the map in or out
9. ETA - This box displays the remaining distance to the destination address, as well as the estimated time of arrival
10. POI Icon (Branded) - POI icons appear on the map, and can be routed to by tapping on the icon. Users can configure which POIs appear on the map in the system settings menu. Note that the Pocket LOOX makes use of Brand Icons, meaning that a Starbucks Coffee or McDonalds restaurant will display the company logo instead of the generic food icon.
11. Direction of travel - show the direction you are currently driving

Overall I liked Navigon's Map Screen. However, as with most of the Pocket LOOX, I found the text far too small to see from the driver's seat.