The Interface
One part of the applications I really enjoyed from the start was the app’s interface. It was well built, easily navigable, and not too hard to understand. When getting directions, the main screen shows the map. The bottom area shows the ETA, your current street, and more. The very bottom gives you options for search, sharing options, and more. The more section allows you to make adjustments in terms of what to avoid on the way. For example, if you are like my grandmother and want to avoid interstates, you can set to avoid those freeways and more. The searching features is very smart and we will get into that in just a second.
Features We Liked
We think that this app excels in the searching department. Due to it being regularly updated, searching was not only fast and up-to-date, but also smarter the more we used it. I was able to refer back to the trips I searched for and used just previously. I was able to easily change up the route a bit, especially when someone in the car wanted to take a “quick” stop for dinner on our route. Even though that diversion from our trip lasted almost two and a half hours, we were able to easily hop back on the road and get moving. Other features we expected and performed quite well were the alerts, hazards, and such. They all worked brilliantly, allowing us to even meander around a road block that caused some minor congestion. Lastly, the Foursquare integration made finding some of our favorite spots along the way faster to do.
Directions Made Easy
Before leaving, getting the directions was pretty easy and fast experience. I entered the address, the third suggested location was our actual location we wanted to go to. This was due to the fact that the search tool was able to take the street, find out popular landmarks that are most likely to be visited, and it was presented right there. From there, I was able to add or edit any type of things we want to avoid in our route and we were off. Directions are made easy on Mireo DON’T PANIC Navigation App for iOS.
Subscriptions: A Necessary Evil?
There had to be a point when we ran into a part that we didn’t like, we expected this to happen because I haven’t met an app that is perfect. One fault I disliked was the whole map In-Store subscriptions features. The live traffic alerts costed, the same price as the application, which is a strong feature overpriced. While this is expected for maps, just like how we see with Tom-Tom, having features up for a cost is something I wasn’t expecting. However, without knowing about live traffic information, it sort of made the feature a necessary evil, an expensive necessary evil.
Final Opinion
Overall, the Mireo Navigation application is a very strong app. It allows you to do many of the same things you’d expect from an application costing way more than the $14.99 price tag. The ability to add specifications that made for a safer, easier, and faster trip was great. The Foursquare integration was also a great plus. I dislike the whole in-app subscriptions thing, especially for an application that already costs $15. However, aside from the live traffic add-on, other costly add-ons aren’t necessarily needed and are more of something to make the drive fun like celebrity voices etc. Overall, I give Mireo DON’T PANIC Navigation App two thumbs up and I recommend purchasing. Plus, if you’re on Android, DON’T PANIC is available for free with a one-week free trial. Mireo DON’T PANIC Navigation App (iTunes link)
