Route 66 Mobile 8 sat-nav software

Once over the installation hurdle (entering the licence code on our test phone was unnecessarily fiddly), Route 66 Mobile 8 is simple to use.

It features a highly configurable display for driving, allowing as much or as little information as you like, even changing the transparency of the info bar that overlays the map. There are Scottish and Irish voices included alongside English, and some Landmarks (favourites) we’d stored in Nokia Maps were picked up by Route 66 as well.

Other nice touches include the ability to search for points of interest near the start or end of the trip, as well as en route – so you can make sure you arrive well fed, for example. You can save the map as an image, too, or even plot a route and send the directions by email.

However, we also felt that, while the directions were largely OK and the screen display clear, there wasn’t enough spoken information to tell you which lane you should be in, which can sometimes cause problems at difficult junctions.

As well as installing onto a memory card, the desktop software includes a sync application, which makes it easy to back up information from your phone and to browse the Route 66 shop for additional mapping.
A big on-screen splash makes much of free Lonely Planet Guides that you can download, but when we looked at the one for London, it seemed superficial. There are paid-for guides, too, but the integration isn’t quite as slick as with Nokia’s offering.

With versions for both Symbian Series 60 and Windows Mobile, this is a decent package that can be recommended to most users – though if you have a Nokia phone the included software gives it a good run for the money.