The release of Garmin’s new smartphone app, Viago, gives fans a chance to utilize Garmin’s powerful GPS software on their smartphone. Available on both Android and iPhone, the basic Viago app costs only $2 and offers a range of features such as Worldwide maps, address search, turn-by-turn navigation in your region, realistic junction views, lane assistance, current speed limits and posted speed limits. The interface is clean and simple and looks sharp. But what makes this app both powerful and pricey is the ability to customize with premium add-ons which can cost anywhere from $5 to $20 depending on the add-on.
These add-ons include features such as offline maps around the world, live traffic updates and rerouting to avoid jams, Active lane guidance, real directions utilizing landmarks and audio instructions, 3-D maps, speed camera locations and spoken street names. Obviously, purchasing all of these could make for quite a chunk of change, but the ability to pick and choose what extras you want may win out over less powerful and cheaper apps.
However, not everyone seems to think it’s worth the price. Google Play users have only rated the app at 3 stars since its release last week and iPhone users only gave it 2 stars. We haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but it certainly looks promising–provided you’re willing to pay for the features you need.
Rather amusing. Their android video shows an iphone! There is no information on the website as to what the add ons are or how much they cost. You get no clue as to coverage – eg is Alaska, Sri Lanka or Singapore available? How much do all the addons for the US cost? BTW the app is 99c for Android.
Perhaps the biggest concern is them abandoning the app. Garmin already have several map applications including those from Navigon. The app depends on online services to function unlike standalone units, so all it takes is them losing interest or creating yet another app and everything stops working.
Or in other words Garmin is doing a terrible job communicating about this app and its addons. That leads to expectations that result in the many terrible android reviews.