Being the Apple fanboi many believe me to be I was keen to get sucked into Apple’s iPhone hype, part of the fun in doing so has been the ability to mix some iPhone loving with some automotive related Apps. There are currently two free speedometer Apps on available through iTunes, the first simply called Speed (pictured left) is from Steven Troughton-Smith, while the second, SpeedBox, has been coded by Hans Schneider.
Speed wins on the graphics and ease of use, in fact there are no options or settings, just fire up the App and tap the screen to switch between km/h and mph. Mind, SpeedBox is pretty straightforward too, although you do need to press a Start button to get things happening. It also provides metric and imperial support, accessible through the small “i” button on the lower right of screen.
Both Apps make claims as to being “near-accurate” and I have tested these over a couple of days on my daily drives to and from work. In the case of Speed (version 1.0.1 tested) it’s not too bad. It will generally keep up with changes in speed without too much bother, and if not deadly accurate the speeds shown are generally close enough. Although, this morning, it dropped out in the last kilometre or so of my commute and left a big 0km/h reading. Speedbox (version 0.1 tested) on the other hand can be very sporadic. It does give an indication as to how strong the signal strength to the iPhone is, but that still doesn’t greatly affect accuracy in my experience. The readings often fluctuate wildly, especially when slowing down, for a corner, or to stop. Slowing from 60km/h to 25km/h, for example, can see the readings displayed go as high as 190km/h. While a few seconds later the reading could be 22km/h. It tends to work best when travelling at a constant speed, and at times it does seem to work quite well. But as much as SpeedBox tries to convince me that my car can accelerate from 30km/h to 289km/h in a matter of seconds, as it did on one drive, I know that’s just not possible! Good thing these are both currently free Apps as both seem suitable only for mildly amusing purposes, although Speed does have the edge.
Note: You can see from my screen captures that signal strength to my iPhone wasn’t great. Keep in mind this may have affected the results I have experienced, and your experience with these Apps may be different.
Coming soon, a comparison between Dynolicious and gMeter.
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