CoPilot Live for the Motorola Q

I’m no stranger to GPS software. Between the Nokia 770, i-mate SP5m, and Ultra-Mobile PC, I’ve tried quite a few. This time, I am giving taking a spin with CoPilot Live for the Motorola Q. After several weeks of testing, I think that this would be a great solution for fleet management. Below, you’ll find why. Thanks to ALK for providing me with this unit for review. While the information below is very heavily tilted toward the Motorola Q, identical software is available through ALK for most PDAs and Smartphones.

In the box, you’ll find a 1GB MiniSD card with the software pre-loaded, a CD with a backup of the entire application, a Bluetooth GPS module, and a standard 12V socket charger for charging the GPS module in your car. A button type dash mount for your phone is included as well as an adhesive hook-and-loop strip for the GPS, but I chose to not use them.

Nice thought, but not for the Q.

Also included is a neat little splitter cable that plugs into the included car charger and both charges the Bluetooth GPS and has a standard Mini-USB plug for charging your phone. At least, that’s the theory. Sadly, Motorola likes to use the non-standard fifth pin in Mini-USB for charging. This cable, while thoughtful for ALK to include, does nothing when plugged into the Motorola Q. I am sure that most other phones would work fine with it, but not Motorola’s.

That's all of the US and Canada, there.

Don’t expect to use that MiniSD card for much other than CoPilot, however. After all is installed, the card has only 62.7 MB remaining. That’s good for a few pictures or Email attachments, but carting around a selection of music and video will require an investment in a 2GB card. You can find those cards on sale for as little as $30. There are no issues with copying the entire contents of the included card on to a larger card.

Installation has never been this easy.

Installation was literally a snap. Snap the card into the MiniSD slot and the application installs. On first execution, it will ask for Product Activation which is simply a matter of entering a number included in the CD case. You are then greeted by a friendly “Welcome to CoPilot voice.”

Satellite lock indoors? Nice!

The GPS module is impressive in several ways. There is no need to dig through the phone’s menus to pair the receiver with the device. On start, CoPilot Live looks for the GPS receiver and automatically starts pulling information from it. It is surprisingly sensitive, too: After recording one of the videos for this review, I realized afterward that I left the Bluetooth GPS switched on and in my camera bag on the passenger seat floor. Even down there, I had no problems getting a satellite lock. Most GPS receivers error out indoors, but this one pierced the roof of my third story apartment and provided me with my location.

Most of the time, however, I keep the GPS unit in the upper glove compartment behind my steering wheel in my Yaris. Sensitivity is a non-issue there and it is safely out of the way. To mount my phone to my dash, I use products from ProClip USA. Their device and vehicle solutions are second to none. You can see my entire related article here.

Now that we’re done with paragraph upon paragraph of introduction, how does it work? Quite well. The software and voice prompts were a bit too late in their concept of “just ahead,” but that was easily adjustable in settings. The maps are very accurate in street addresses and intersections, but the point of interest database is a little behind the curve. I attribute this to the fact that the entire map database is on a single card. Competing products either go online to get POIs or only load a few states at a time on to the card.

There are several modes (guidance, walking, and planning) and six views (Safety, Next Turn Map, Where Am I Map, Next Stop Map, 3-D Map, and Itinerary) from which to chose when operating CoPilot Live. It takes a few minutes to realize what each view is telling, but they all have times during which they are useful. I generally stay at the 3-D map. Like most GPS programs, there are backlight settings and a selectable day/night color scheme. If there was a way to manually edit colors, I could not find it. If I could change something about the display, I would give it a “full screen” view where the soft keys are implied. Also, the 3-D map alternates information displayed in the bar above the menu titles. It will show the next turn for a couple seconds, then the upcoming street name, then the distance and ETA of the trip. I would prefer it display it all at once so as not to steal the driver’s focus from the road while waiting for the desired information to display.

Dispatch to Car 54. Car 54, where are you?

The most exciting feature of this is the “Live” service. Users create a profile at live.alk.com and set an option in their phone to allow them to report their location to the Live tracking server. This service would be of great help to fleet managers. If companies like Best Buy’s “Geeks on Wheels” or Circuit City’s “Firedog” (or any livery service, for that matter) issued each of their servicepersons a Smartphone and copy of CoPilot Live, their dispatcher can always check in on them and route their tasks accordingly.

The software itself is rock-solid. I did not experience a single crash or error while using it. The menus and locations of features aren’t always intuitive, but once familiar with the interface, it is easy to use while on the road. ALK could have improved this by setting certain keyboard buttons as “hotkeys” during operation. There are about 40 buttons on the front of the Motorola Q. Why not have several always have the same function?

Voices are clear and sharp. The Motorola Q’s built-in speaker is loud enough for me to hear alerts with music on and my window open. Even if I cannot hear the exact language of the alert, I hear enough to take a look at the screen and see what’s coming.

While driving, I noticed that the moving map only updates about once per second. Some comparable products update much more often and give a smoother looking ride. After using it for a while, however, I realized that once per second is enough for driving. After all, I’m not supposed to watch the screen the entire time.

The video above is in three parts: A little bit of driving and hearing it automatically re-route for missed turns, a start-up and example of trip planning, and a bit of navigation through the built-in interactive demo. Sadly, it was impossible to get a close-up video of the sofware in action. Phoenix streets are a bit too bumpy to allow for that. The video, while a bit long, shows real user experience of the software.

CoPilot Live is available as "software only" pre-loaded on a MiniSD card or, for $100 more, with the bluetooth GPS receiver. That extra $100 not only gets you the GPS, but also includes car mounting hardware and the charger cable. As of this writing, ALK is also offering deep discounts on these products when you chuck your old GPS software and switch.

In short, I think that CoPilot Live is a worthy and stable GPS program. For recreational drivers or people in unfamiliar areas, it’s a handy thing to have. For people who happen to own a Smartphone and find themselves entirely lost, they can purchase CoPilot Live and be running in minutes without having to go to a PC for installation. For fleet managers and livery services, it can be an extremely valuable tool.