by Mitch Wagner

The iPhone this week got a new entry in the fast-moving category of GPS software: MotionX-GPS Drive is by far the least expensive of the half-dozen alternatives, with a “holy cow!” low price of $2.99, with an annual subscription of $25. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the alternatives.

A half-dozen vendors, including TomTom and AT&T, have come out with iPhone nav apps. These are relatively big-ticket purchases; the subscription-based AT&T app is $10 per month. Other apps have one-time purchase prices ranging from $35 for CoPilot NA to $100 for the TomTom app.

Like the AT&T app, the MotionX-GPS Drive (iTunes store link) is a networked app, it doesn’t store maps on the device. That has several advantages, chief among them that all the map information and points of interest are up-to-date. If a street recently got made one-way, or a new restaurant opened nearby, the MotionX-GPS is more likely to know about it faster than an app that stores its data on the iPhone.

Also, the MotionX app is likely to be much faster and more responsive than competitors that store their data on the device; I have used the others and they’re all slow, as they access enormous maps.

Likewise, the MotionX app will take up less space on your device; the competitors take up around 1.5 gigabytes, and require twice that to install, the MotionX app requires just a few megabytes.

Read the full article on: www.informationweek.com