By Alexey Taranenko
To get Mireo DON’T PANIC navigation on your smartphone, you will need to download and install it from Google Play Store. The downloaded file takes about 7 MB, but the map is not included. The application itself is free of charge; you will only need to pay for the chosen maps. Having installed the application, go to the in-app store and choose the needed map. For most countries there is a free 7-day trial, so you can actually test the map before buying it. Both trial and full map versions are off-line and do not require Internet connection.
After the trial period expires, you will be offered to buy a full map version, unlimited in time. The map of Ukraine costs 250 UAH (about 25 EUR). A variety of payment options is available, including Google Checkout, PayPal, Privat24 online banking and cash payment via terminals. The map can also be bought in online and off-line retail stores, optionally in a gift box package. So, what exactly do you get for 250 UAH?
The first screen you’ll see after the app is launched shows the map and your current position. Provided that you are out of doors, the app will find the satellites very quickly – in fact, much faster than you decide where you would like to go. In the map mode, there are three quick access icons below the map itself: Search, Volume and the Last Page Accessed, in addition to the Main Menu button. Let’s start with Search, as it is one of the most important functions in GPS navigation software.
Intuitive all-in-one search is an important advantage of Mireo application over the available alternatives. There is no need to particularly specify the country, the city, the street, the house number and so on – you can just type anything you want to find in one line, and the app will understand you. The search is predictive and offers possible variants as you type. As soon as you are offered the needed street, you don’t even have to finish its name – you can enter the house number at once. Other great features are search for complicated house numbers with fractions or letters, and navigation via in-block passages. If you get several search results, they will be displayed as a list, with indication of a town/city (if searching for an address) or region (when searching for settlements). Then, you can view the search result on the map and calculate a route there, or add the location to an existing route, or set it as start. In addition, you can send the location as a text message, search for nearby Foursquare places, add it to favorites or set as home address.
The search is available in Ukrainian/Russian (Cyrillic) and in English (Latin), with a standard QWERTY keyboard.
In navigation mode the interface remains as simple and informative. The app shows your current location and your movement direction. In the bar below the map you can see the distance to the following maneuver and its direction, as well as the distance to your destination. In the status bar above the map your speed and current time are displayed, as well as the battery level indicator. In portrait screen mode, the status bar is moved to below the map. In addition, you can see the estimated arrival time, and at the top of the screen nearby POIs are displayed.
As for voice guidance, you can choose the guidance in any language you want and download it free of charge. By default, English voice guidance is used. Additional voice packages take about 5 MB each.
Guidance along the route is very decent. The app notifies you about all upcoming maneuvers beforehand, with voiced instructions as well as visual directions. The only thing it lacks is the second direction icon for complicated maneuvers, for example, when you need to turn left and then immediately merge through 3 lanes and turn right. In this case, you will have to rely solely on the voice guidance. The navigation works well in background mode, and continues the voice guidance while you can, for example, check the current traffic on a website. By the way, route calculation with live traffic is promised in one of the next app versions – at the moment this project is in progress. The guidance is smooth, route recalculation is fast and does not lead to absurd directions like ‘immediately turn back as soon as you can’.
Map quality is also almost perfect. The map of Ukraine is supplied by CarteBlanche, an established and successful mapping company. Having driven almost 3000 km with Mireo, I have not noticed any serious issues. Although the navigation app does not know about the most recent road changes in Kyiv yet, it already recognizes a bridge between Mykolaiv and Kherson built only 4 months ago. In addition, the app users will have free map updates for one year.
Mireo DON’T PANIC is a very recommendable product. It has a simple and convenient user interface, it works fast and has an excellent map coverage – what else could you ask for? One more thing, the price is quite affordable, especially as compared to the price of an average Android smartphone. For some users the available functions may not seem to be enough, but considering the price and the available alternatives there is no reason to look for faults in Mireo.
An extract from Mireo DON’T PANIC review on: огляд на Gagadget.com (in Russian).
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