ALK CoPilot Live Smartphone Edition

One of the more innovative GPS products on the market, the ALK CoPilot Live Smartphone edition, uses a Bluetooth link to turn a Windows Mobile Smartphone into a rather sophisticated navigation system. It gives spoken turn-by-turn directions through your speakerphone while displaying maps on your cell phone's screen. Reflecting the fact that squinting at your cell phone while driving is probably not that great of an idea, the CoPilot's software allows both traditional 2D mapping views, 3D mapping views, and a "Safety View" that just offers large, bold basic directions.

The CoPilot GPS antenna is a small 12-channel puck with its own internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery-we've used this device in the past and it has worked admirably. We've also used ALK's CoPilot software and have been notably impressed. It navigates well and has a nicely designed interface-you even get your choice of male and female voice prompts.

We conducted our test on an Audiovox SMT5600. On our first test, we were stymied by software that froze halfway through installation. We contacted ALK and the company attributed the problem to a faulty installation disc and sent us another one. The second time, the installation went as planned. We managed to create a Bluetooth bond between the two devices, but for whatever reason, the Audiovox phone simply couldn't read the GPS data off the Bluetooth antenna. Finally, an ALK representative talked us through the process, telling us to reset the Bluetooth connection. (ALK promises that it will have simplified the installation by the time you read this.)

This worked, and when we tested the device, it provided accurate, clear directions. However, the CoPilot antenna's reception was spotty in metropolitan areas-not that unusual, but the software never makes it clear that the system has lost contact with the satellites. CoPilot's software attempts to predict your path, which can sometimes lead to confusing results-it once indicated that we were driving five blocks ahead while we were actually sitting at a stoplight.

Also, when using this device, we quickly realized that we either needed to plug the phone into a car charger or significantly reset its power-saving features. Smart phones have a curious habit of shutting their screens down after a few seconds to save power, and that can be quite a pain with this kind of application.

Nevertheless, when it worked, it worked well. The CoPilot's interface and guidance instruction is one of the best in the business, and we had no problem navigating on our smart phone's smaller display. We think there are quite a few glitches still left for ALK to work out, but once it does, this should be quite a product.