Recently HTC have released a couple of new phones based on the Android platform – the Vodafone Magic and the Hero (available on Orange or Sim Free as the Hero and on T-Mobile as the G2 here in the UK). Other manufacturers are also rushing to release Android based devices but the only other one available in the UK currently is the Samsung Galaxy which is available on O2 contract or Sim Free from companies like Expansys. For the Hero HTC have used the latest Cupcake (1.5) release of Android and added the own custom interface called Sense UI. This is an evolution of the TouchFlo interface HTC have used on their Windows Mobile phones for a number of years. This provides a multi screen interface which can have different widgets and application shortcuts added to it to provide a totally unique interface for each user.

In use Android is very slick with responsive actions to all finger presses. The current capacitive screens provide a finger friendly touch interface but do not support the use of a stylus. Personally I prefer to use a stylus as I find it more accurate and faster to type with but the current consumer market is demanding stylus free devices. For new users they probably are easier to learn and use.

Software wise Android comes with the Android Market (the Android version of Apple’s AppStore). This contains many thousands of applications and games, some for free and some which require a payment from a few pence to £30-40 for the latest SatNav applications. Some of these are useful and like all application stores, some are just for fun. My current favourites are Facebook (a Google written facebook app), KeePassDroid (for password management), Daily Dilbert (gives me my daily Dilbert fix), Handcent SMS (a replacement SMS application – miles better than the bundled versions) and Meridian (for playing music). Helpfully all these applications are also currently free of charge.

Using the Hero as a phone is also easy. Sense UI has a phone link always present at the bottom of the screen, which provides a large finger friendly keypad for typing numbers. This also searches your contacts as you type (so to bring up contacts called Paul all you type is 7285 and then pick from the contact list. Also helpfully these contacts can be automatically syncronised with your Google account, along with the Google calendar and email. Call quality on the phone is very good and in my experience the phone holds the call very well as you move between cells (both 2G and 3G).

Battery life on smartphones is typically quite poor and a common cause for complaint. Experiences users of them will know not to expect much more than a day or so without recharging but new users who are used to not having to recharge a phone for over a week are often surprised and annoyed by this . The HTC Hero is not uncommon with a battery life of a day under quite heavy use and a couple of days with average use. To increase battery life it is possible to turn off unwanted radio services (switch to 2G when not in a 3G signal area, turn of GPS and WiFi etc, turn off automatic updating/syncronising of software) which can substantially increase battery life but still not to the week standard phone users expect.

In conclusion I would suggest that users who are not looking for applications stick to a standard phone, but for existing smartphone users or those who are looking for smartphone features should actively look at the Android platform. It has matured well from the initial release and is now a very capable operating system. Like most though it is not for everyone so trying out the interface and usability in a shop would be a good idea.

Portions of this page (the Android images) are reproduced from work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.

The first thing most people will notice about the application is how similar some of the functions are to TomTom Navigator, which has been largely abandoned for the aftermarket. This helps people migrate from the aging TTN6 with its very out of date maps without a steep learning curve. Since TomTom also own TeleAtlas it can also be assumed that TomTom are probably going to be using McGuider as the replacement. Navigating using McGuider is simple and routes can be chosen from postal addresses, post codes (in supported countries) , points of interest (custom ones are supported as well as the built in ones), points on a map and full co-ordinates. Route calculation speed is not the fastest and long distances can take 2-4 minutes to calculate, but once calculated there is no noticeable lag between current position and listed map position. McGuider gives a highest priority to major roads meaning many minor road shortcuts are missed.  This is good for local residents but does mean you sometimes drive further following McGuider routes than you would with other satnavs. The eta timings are also very ambitious as they appear to use the speed limit of the road instead of more realistic speeds. From experience I now add about 15% to the listed times to get a more accurate eta.

McGuider fully supports custom Point of Interest files using its own proprietary UPI format and a converter is available from Sygic to convert tab delimited text files into this format. There are also a number of third party converters available to convert from other formats like TomTom’s OV2 files. Care needs to be taken with these though as Sygic changed the UPI format slightly when they released McGuider 2009, and older files no longer work. The Sygic converter does have an option to change these older UPI files into the newer UPI format though. For users of PocketGPSWorld speed camera database it is now possible to download newer releases in correctly formatted txt files to be converted easily using Sygics converter. Care does need to be taken with the icons to display on the maps as the only supported formats are 8bit (256 colour) and 32bit bmp files – most graphics applications save as 24bit by default. It is also possible to add custom voice/sound alerts to points of interest, using files in ogg format. PocketGPSWorld have a number available for their speed camera database.

To keep the application up to date there is a McGuider Assistant application provided on the SD card. This requires the card to be inserted into a card reader or the phone to be set to use a mass storage driver. Simply using ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center will not work as the device does not show in MGA. TeleAtlas have recently released both a free map update and application update which should be run as they improve both post code lookups and application usability. For Symbian devices the application update is actually a necessity as it fixes a program crash when using custom POIs.

To conclude McGuider 2009 should be high on the list of potential sat nav software for Windows Mobile and Symbian based devices. It is not only cheap but also well featured. My mgsupport.co.uk is also available for answering any support questions you may have.