There is life beyond Maps and Waze: Google-owned navigation apps are the most popular for getting around by car. Google Maps is the official app, it’s free and comes pre-installed on Android phones. Waze is also free, has an attractive interface and features that are refined thanks to the community, such as radar detection. Both are ideal for Android Auto.
But there are free, tracker-free, ad-free alternatives as interesting as Magic Earth. But Magic Earth has a version for Android Auto: I took advantage of it to I installed and used Magic Earth on Android Auto for my vacation trips this summer and this has been my experience.
What is Magic Earth and how does it work?
The presentationsMagic Earth is a maps and navigation application that can be used for car, foot or bicycle routes. Among the most interesting functions of Magic Earth within navigation are the display of the current speed and that of the road, radar and road hazard warnings, points of interest, different viewing modes and there are two that I find particularly attractive: downloading offline maps and turning your mobile into a dashcam if you wish.
In the first case, it allows you to download complete maps (in Google Maps you download areas) of autonomous communities or even entire countries. In the second, it allows you to record the video during the route. So it is quite complete and the best thing is that it does not save data from your activity, taking care of privacy.
As the Magic Earth team details, “We don’t track you, we don’t create a profile, we don’t sell your personal information. In fact, we don’t own it.s”. Magic Earth is based on OpenStreetView maps, a collaborative and open projectit’s free, there are no subscriptions or micropayments to access premium features.
Getting around by car with Magic Earth on Android Auto
First of all, “installing” it on Android Auto is no mystery. As with any compatible app, you just need to install it on your phone and when you plug it into your car, you’ll see the app in the menu.
I usually enter the route into my phone before starting the trip, as it is more convenient and faster for me, but it is also a matter of peace of mind: as soon as I press the clutch to put the car in gear and take off, I want everything to be ready. Of course, has a search enginer where you can add possible destinations that may arise while you are on the road.
As a general summary of use, Magic Earth offers a good navigation experience (although it sometimes takes a few seconds to update), it is an accurate and stable application, it integrates well with the operation of Android Auto in general and with Coolwalk in particular and where it should be, in my opinion. The interface has plenty of room for improvement..
As you can see below these lines, once you are on the route, it shows your position with a pointer and in blue the path to follow, the speed of the road and the speed you are going, the next changes you will have to make and general data such as the arrival time, the estimated travel time and the kilometers you will travel. There are two aspects that could be improved here: that the information boxes are too big, so they cover quite a few areas of the map (although every cloud has a silver lining, at least it looks good) and that there is no visible button to access the options, instead you have to tap on the black box.
When you do this, different options appear that allow you to zoom in or out of the map (+/-), switch the view between two dimensions and three dimensions, activate the sound or view the general route. The icons are large and the drawing makes their function clear.although it is true that they still take up a lot of space, both because of their size and because of their arrangement, scattered across the screen. They are also located on the other side of the driver, which in the case of a single person driving, means having to move further away from the steering wheel to touch them. What if I want to change the route?
Well, you have to double-tap the screen, first to see the general route and then you will see that a magnifying glass appears that allows you to do so. Neither is the interface the most refined in the world nor is it the most intuitivebut in its favor, it delivers in terms of precision, fluidity and stability that we can expect from a navigation application.
Along the way I came across several radars, marked on the road with a black icon similar to a camera, somewhat less visible than the resolution of Maps and Waze, and with fewer milestones than what appeared to me in Waze (which we had open on my iPhone during the trip). So the driving milestone notification experience is inferior.
Magic Earth on Android Auto, conclusions
There are all kinds of tastes. And for different preferences, there is the app store. After trying Magic Earth on Android Auto I will probably stick with Waze as my favorite app for two reasons: its striking, clean and intuitive interface and its magnificent and updated experience of road milestone notifications. Two features in which Magic Earth falls a step below both Waze and Maps.
Of course, it is fair to say that it works well, it is not difficult to use and it takes you from the origin to the destination without getting lost and without committing any violations if you pay attention to it. Or what is the same, that Magic Earth delivers what you’d expect from a navigation app.
But My decision will have a price to pay: my data. Google is a company known for its fondness for collecting information from users. If privacy is important to you, Magic Earth is a very solvent alternative to Waze and Google maps that does not play with your data.
Cover | Eva Rodriguez for Xataka Android