Verizon Wireless Navigator Service - Performance Review

I'm writing this review on my personal experience using the VZ Navigator Service otherwise known has GPS.

In evaluating the VZ Navigator service I used a Samsung sch-u740 phone. Verizon Wireless offers many phones that can be used with their VZ navigator service and just recently their blackberry phones can also now be used.

Getting down to the meat of VZ navigator's service; you never have to update the maps on your VZ phone. Whenever you plan a trip or just want directions going from point A to point B you can be assured that the information is accurate.

Your phone is downloading your trip information from VZ servers which are updated every three months with the latest changes and additions for all US cites. The fact that your phone downloads information that is only 3 months old at any time is a great advantage over the conventional GPS units which you have to update once a year and most of the time pay for the updates.

There can be a disadvantage when your VZ phone needs to recalculated directions when you make a wrong turn. If you don't have a signal your recalculation will be delayed until you are back in a service area. I have not experience this problem yet but it can happen.

Whenever your phone is downloading a trip, getting a map, looking up places or just recalculating, you are using airtime. I have found that airtime is kept to a minimum since downloading information is fairly quick.

VZ navigator offers many of the features found on expensive GPS units. The monthly fee for their service is $9.99. You can also get service for one day for $2.99. You never have to worry about downloading updates for your VZ Navigator phone and the VZ Navigator software is always updated, over the air, with the newest release.

Verizon Wireless also has a web interface that is accessible to their Verizon Wireless customers who have registered at the Get It Now site. A username and password will then be required when you want to access the web interface.

Once you have logged on to the web interface you can look up local places and view them on the map and also saved them to your favorites (My Places). Your favorites and recent searches can be synced to your phone so you do not have to repeat the operation from your Verizon Wireless phone.

The one thing you can not do from the web interface is plan a trip and then download it to your phone. However if you have point A and point B in your favorites then it's only a two step process of selecting them from your phone when you are planning the trip.

Overall on a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate VZ Navigator service an 8. Giving the fact that you have a GPS unit built right into your phone and who leaves home without their phone? You also have the option of using VZ Navigator in pedestrian mode. You will never be lost again whether you are just taking a walk or driving.

To obtain more details on the VZ Navigator service and all its features just visit the VZ Navigator website here where you can view and print the 4 page manual.