Hands-on Review: TeleNav GPS Navigator 5.0

I took a look at some of the newest GPS portable navigation systems available last week, including the $499 Tom Tom One Robin wrote about. But I'm sure there are families who would like to get some navigation help in the car or while on a trip without buying another expensive gadget.

Here's another option: GPS navigation via a cell phone—something most of us already carry everywhere we go.

TeleNav offers a $9.99 monthly subscription service that provides driving directions, 3-D maps, and other features, including Fuel Finder, a Wi-Fi hotspot finder, and a business directory with more than 10 million businesses. It's available on most Sprint and Nextel phones, and will soon be launching with another major U.S. carrier. The service comes with no contract, so it can be turned on one month, and off the next, which makes it ideal for people who want to use navigation occasionally or when they are traveling.

I tested TelNav's service on a Sanyo Katana. It's easy to use. To get driving directions, you click on "Drive To" and it takes you to a menu that includes "My Favorites," "Recent Places," "Address," and "Intersection." Click on "Businesses" and it takes you to the same place as "Directory" on the main menu; there you can look up restaurants (by cuisine type), banks, hotels, movie theaters—you get the idea.

You can enter an address three different ways: Type it in with the phone keypad. Speak it through a feature that dials an 800-number where a voice recognition program finds the address you ask it to find so you won't be fiddling with a phone in the car. The third way you can do from your computer at home; plug in an address on the TeleNav web site and it appears in the "My Favorites" folder on the phone.

My biggest concern is that constantly looking at your cell phone while driving may be even more unsafe than checking an in-car or portable navigation system. (You read this disclaimer before firing up TeleNav: Do not maneuver this application while driving. You assume all risks of using this application in your vehicle.)

Obviously, a phone screen, even on a smart phone, is smaller than the LCD display on a portable navigation unit. But the voice that tells you the turn directions—with the names of streets—is clear and easy to understand. Even on the highest volume, however, it is difficult to hear at times if you're not using a headset.

The test unit came with a windshield mount, but I had a hard time finding a convenient and safe spot on my deep van windshield where it could be easily viewed and heard without being a distraction. Placing it on the console next to my seat seemed the better option.

But the car is not the only place for TeleNav, a server-based GPS service that runs on Java. There's a pedestrian feature that provides walking directions.

Some other nice features: It holds up to 200 "Recent Places" so you can access locations not saved in favorites. You can also record points of interest, or waypoints, such as where you parked your car, so you can navigate back to them later. I'd like to see a reverse route feature, but you can retrace your route by entering home and other starting points in the favorites file or recording your starting point as a waypoint.

For Sprint and Nextel phone users who want an affordable entrée to GPS navigation, TeleNav is worth a try.