Ted Todorov
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Still waiting for the iPad version. What's taking so long, Tom Tom?
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TomTom iPhone Dock, anyone? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Sam Posten
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Michael_K_Sr
Screenwriter
Has TomTom ever said they were going to release an iPad version with high res maps? Seems to me the maps required for the iPad would take up a lot more space than the 1.4GB iPhone version does. Plus I think it's kind of silly. Where is someone going to mount an iPad...on the windshield? Lay it flat on the console next to you? Doesn't seem the safest thing to be looking down at it constantly.
SoundDoc
Grip
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- John Franks
My TomTom was stolen from my car when some one crawled in through a broken rear window to remove it, its charger, and the charger for my cell phone. Rear window was broken by a vandal who threw a brick at it on the road on the Friday before Halloween as I was attempting to follow a TomTom instruction that was not only dangerous, but illegal. I was waiting for the glass company to replace the window after I filed a police report and the car was in a parking garage that is supposed to be secure. Given that the maneuver the TomTom instructed raised the ire of the passenger of the car who three the brick, I won't miss the TomTom and will instead use Google on my Droid phone.
Michael_K_Sr
Screenwriter
So, after that thread fart...how's the TomTom app working, Dave?
I like it. I think TomTom's approach to voice directions is subtly better than Garmins. It's a real safety improvement to have my GPS duck my iPod audio when announcing directions.
I need a mount. We lost an hour because we lost GPS signal and didn't know it. A major weakness is TomTom doesn't tell you when it's lost signal and has stopped navigating.
The UI seems Byzantine but may improve with experience.
I'll do a fuller review after some more experience.
I need a mount. We lost an hour because we lost GPS signal and didn't know it. A major weakness is TomTom doesn't tell you when it's lost signal and has stopped navigating.
The UI seems Byzantine but may improve with experience.
I'll do a fuller review after some more experience.
Ted Todorov
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Quote:
I have never heard TomTom making an iPad announcement, but it seem to me that it would be a very logical move. The iPad resolution isn't that different from the iPhone 4 Retina display -- so if they have iPhone 4 compatible maps they should work fine on the iPad.
Motion X doesn't have built in maps, which was a huge problem in New Mexico where 3G coverage is minimal.
Having used turn by turn GPS on the iPad (using Motion X GPS) I will never go back to the small iPhone screen. iPad dashboard mounts exists. My iPad was in the Apple case, resting between the automatic shifter and the dashboard (not flat -- upright in landscape).
I have never heard TomTom making an iPad announcement, but it seem to me that it would be a very logical move. The iPad resolution isn't that different from the iPhone 4 Retina display -- so if they have iPhone 4 compatible maps they should work fine on the iPad.
Motion X doesn't have built in maps, which was a huge problem in New Mexico where 3G coverage is minimal.
Ted Todorov
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Too bad about that the UI -- looking forward to your full review. How up to date are the maps -- Motion X -- not very, although it seemed to have better luck than Google maps in finding street addresses.
If you want TomTom, today's the day: price drop to $40. (to my annoyance having paid $50 two days ago)
The thing about the UI, like my standalone Garmin, is it's organized in hierarchical menus that seek sensible, but are also a bit confusing having no learned TOmTom's logic yet.
And I agree about pre-loaded maps being better than the dynamic maps of MotionX. Driving the backwaters of NY with marginal cell and Edge network is a bad combo for trusting a GPS. And I'd worry about my data usage, having the small data plan.
The thing about the UI, like my standalone Garmin, is it's organized in hierarchical menus that seek sensible, but are also a bit confusing having no learned TOmTom's logic yet.
And I agree about pre-loaded maps being better than the dynamic maps of MotionX. Driving the backwaters of NY with marginal cell and Edge network is a bad combo for trusting a GPS. And I'd worry about my data usage, having the small data plan.
Michael_K_Sr
Screenwriter
Quote:
I guess if you feel the iPhone 4 compatible maps scale up nicely to the iPad, I'm not sure why you feel there would be a need for a separate TomTom app for the iPad. In fact, the existing TomTom app already works with the iPad and there are examples of it on YouTube showing it in action.
I think Ted's point is that the app size shouldn't be much larger and that the existing maps might need little adjustment for iPad use. Not that an iPhone app scaled to iPad is the optimal use.
On the off chance someone is considering buying TomTom iPhone app for holiday travels or a gift, I'll give a brief review. I hope to have more substantial comments after my big holiday driving.
I recommend the TomTom app for iPhone. My wife's early reaction, and she's the navigator and primary GPS user when I'm driving, is that it's easier and faster to use than our previous Garmin Nuvi 260W (bought in 2008). I bought the US and Canada version, on sale, for $49.99 (normally $59.99). We're close to, and take weekend trips to Canada about once a year, so it's necessary for us to have the Canadian maps.
It's easy to use. The touchscreen interface is much more responsive than my 2008 Garmin. I have my iPhone connected to a car-adapter for playback through my stereo (and charging); the audio ducking is a *huge* improvement. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks when I drive. Having the GPS automatically lower the volume of the iPod app, speak, the directions, and then restore the audio is a real boon to both navigation and practical safety. It pulls addresses from Contacts; no more double-entering every address of interest into the GPS. And it will search for Points of Interest (like nearby a restaurant for dinner) along your route. The Garmin would only do nearby-searching, so the first and closest POI found might be something you passed ten minutes prior. And along with its built-in database of POI's, it also offers Google Local Search to find places (and surprisingly, that's often faster over 3G than searching TomTom's own database in memory.)
But like the Garmin, the map's not perfect. It has my house and neighborhood! But the streets of my office complex are completely wrong (I've submitted a correction notice). And restaurants come and go so quickly, that it had several local shops in Lake Placid that have since closed up shop.
It has one major weakness, that bit me: it doesn't notify you of poor or missing GPS signal. On our first trip, we didn't have a window / dash mount and had put the iPhone into a dash cubby. It lost signal, and we missed an exit, causing us an hour detour when we discovered the problem. I don't know if other GPS' notify you signal loss, but I think an iPhone app could and should give an audio alert that signal is weak or lost. (I've ordered a universal mount and will be using on the next car trip). That said, though I'm only using the iPhone (I don't have the TomTom booster mount), I've had no signals as long as the iPhone is in the open cockpit, like between the seats.
What about Navigon or Magellan? No idea. TomTom seemed to have the best reviews, the newest version, and a solid reputation for GPS in general, so I bought it. Those others may be every bit as good, but I can't say.
I've found, though, that this doesn't replace Google Maps. TomTom is designed to get you from A to B. Google Maps is much faster to explore, to find out where you are and what's nearby. To check out a route that you're familiar with but need a refresher. They're complements.
Why buy a dedicated GPS app? The TomTom app is by far the largest app I own, around 1.5 GB. And it's the most expensive, ten-fold more than anything else we've bought. But with that data comes all the maps the GPS uses. And for that $50 is the power of a $150 - $300 dedicated unit. Actually, comes the power of two units, since my wife gets it for free through the Home-Sharing system in iTunes.
Back to the data: As my recent trip to Lake Placid demonstrated, there are backwoods roads where this is no data signal. If I were relying on a smaller, cheaper GPS app that used over-the-air maps, I'd have been without a map during my driving. And on a recent trip near Toronto, Canada, I had data roaming off, since it's outrageously expensive, and again a dynamically-loaded map GPS would have been useless. For my needs, a fully loaded map solution is required.
And as for the cost: I sold my 2008 Garmin on eBay for $50, net. The TomTom app per se was free, effectively. The downside is we no longer have a window mount for my wife's "GPS". But at least with a $5 car charger adapter, she can use it without worrying about draining her battery. And a new map update for my Garmin would have been $70. So this very expensive app was very cost effective for me and my wife.
The TomTom app is pretty easy to use. The menu system is mostly sensible; there are a few oddities that confuse me but I learned the quirks. The touch interface is fast and responsive like you expect from an iPhone app. One weakness we've found -- a purposeful design decision I think -- is that you can't slide the active map around when it's navigating. You can zoom in and out about your location. But you can't slide the map over to get a sense of where you are relative to some landmark, or to preview some upcoming part of the route in detail.
There's my rambling early review. I'm glad I bought the TomTom app. The audio ducking and 2010 map data alone make it worth the purchase. Since I already had a car adapter / charger, that wasn't a concern. I look forward to seeing how this works getting me to Indiana in the coming weeks!
I recommend the TomTom app for iPhone. My wife's early reaction, and she's the navigator and primary GPS user when I'm driving, is that it's easier and faster to use than our previous Garmin Nuvi 260W (bought in 2008). I bought the US and Canada version, on sale, for $49.99 (normally $59.99). We're close to, and take weekend trips to Canada about once a year, so it's necessary for us to have the Canadian maps.
It's easy to use. The touchscreen interface is much more responsive than my 2008 Garmin. I have my iPhone connected to a car-adapter for playback through my stereo (and charging); the audio ducking is a *huge* improvement. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks when I drive. Having the GPS automatically lower the volume of the iPod app, speak, the directions, and then restore the audio is a real boon to both navigation and practical safety. It pulls addresses from Contacts; no more double-entering every address of interest into the GPS. And it will search for Points of Interest (like nearby a restaurant for dinner) along your route. The Garmin would only do nearby-searching, so the first and closest POI found might be something you passed ten minutes prior. And along with its built-in database of POI's, it also offers Google Local Search to find places (and surprisingly, that's often faster over 3G than searching TomTom's own database in memory.)
But like the Garmin, the map's not perfect. It has my house and neighborhood! But the streets of my office complex are completely wrong (I've submitted a correction notice). And restaurants come and go so quickly, that it had several local shops in Lake Placid that have since closed up shop.
It has one major weakness, that bit me: it doesn't notify you of poor or missing GPS signal. On our first trip, we didn't have a window / dash mount and had put the iPhone into a dash cubby. It lost signal, and we missed an exit, causing us an hour detour when we discovered the problem. I don't know if other GPS' notify you signal loss, but I think an iPhone app could and should give an audio alert that signal is weak or lost. (I've ordered a universal mount and will be using on the next car trip). That said, though I'm only using the iPhone (I don't have the TomTom booster mount), I've had no signals as long as the iPhone is in the open cockpit, like between the seats.
What about Navigon or Magellan? No idea. TomTom seemed to have the best reviews, the newest version, and a solid reputation for GPS in general, so I bought it. Those others may be every bit as good, but I can't say.
I've found, though, that this doesn't replace Google Maps. TomTom is designed to get you from A to B. Google Maps is much faster to explore, to find out where you are and what's nearby. To check out a route that you're familiar with but need a refresher. They're complements.
Why buy a dedicated GPS app? The TomTom app is by far the largest app I own, around 1.5 GB. And it's the most expensive, ten-fold more than anything else we've bought. But with that data comes all the maps the GPS uses. And for that $50 is the power of a $150 - $300 dedicated unit. Actually, comes the power of two units, since my wife gets it for free through the Home-Sharing system in iTunes.
Back to the data: As my recent trip to Lake Placid demonstrated, there are backwoods roads where this is no data signal. If I were relying on a smaller, cheaper GPS app that used over-the-air maps, I'd have been without a map during my driving. And on a recent trip near Toronto, Canada, I had data roaming off, since it's outrageously expensive, and again a dynamically-loaded map GPS would have been useless. For my needs, a fully loaded map solution is required.
And as for the cost: I sold my 2008 Garmin on eBay for $50, net. The TomTom app per se was free, effectively. The downside is we no longer have a window mount for my wife's "GPS". But at least with a $5 car charger adapter, she can use it without worrying about draining her battery. And a new map update for my Garmin would have been $70. So this very expensive app was very cost effective for me and my wife.
The TomTom app is pretty easy to use. The menu system is mostly sensible; there are a few oddities that confuse me but I learned the quirks. The touch interface is fast and responsive like you expect from an iPhone app. One weakness we've found -- a purposeful design decision I think -- is that you can't slide the active map around when it's navigating. You can zoom in and out about your location. But you can't slide the map over to get a sense of where you are relative to some landmark, or to preview some upcoming part of the route in detail.
There's my rambling early review. I'm glad I bought the TomTom app. The audio ducking and 2010 map data alone make it worth the purchase. Since I already had a car adapter / charger, that wasn't a concern. I look forward to seeing how this works getting me to Indiana in the coming weeks!
Michael_K_Sr
Screenwriter
Dave, you can slide the map around while navigating by tapping the screen and then scrolling down and tapping Browse Map. Also, while the Maps app (Google maps) are a nice complement to the full fledged GPS apps, it's worthless if you are out of data network range.
I'm also a big fan of the TomTom app and I'll further your review one step by saying that I think TomTom's traffic service is outstanding. The traffic is being updated constantly (I've read every six minutes, but I think it may be even more frequent than that.) Can't tell you how many times I've been stuck in heavy traffic during rush hour and it has re-routed me based on a faster travel time that it finds.
I'm also a big fan of the TomTom app and I'll further your review one step by saying that I think TomTom's traffic service is outstanding. The traffic is being updated constantly (I've read every six minutes, but I think it may be even more frequent than that.) Can't tell you how many times I've been stuck in heavy traffic during rush hour and it has re-routed me based on a faster travel time that it finds.
I've never liked the way maps look on a tomtom.
the colors don't offer very much that is appealing to look at and I think the map detail has very little, well details.
I wish Garmin had an app because i love the look of the garmin maps.
The Navigon app is also much more detailed then the tomtom.
I'll try to get a screen shot of both to compare.
the colors don't offer very much that is appealing to look at and I think the map detail has very little, well details.
I wish Garmin had an app because i love the look of the garmin maps.
The Navigon app is also much more detailed then the tomtom.
I'll try to get a screen shot of both to compare.
The top image is an enhancer for when you lose the signal, the tomtom continues to show where it estimates you to be on the map.
The Navigon offers the actual logos of business, the tomtom just puts an icon there that you can tap to get info on whatever the icon
represents.
Michael, thanks for the tip. I'll tell my wife about that.
Tony, good screen images. That's interesting.
With regard to GPS apps, I feel the major tech, gadget, and review websites have done us a disservice. There was a flurry of reviews when GPS apps were first introduced for the iPhone. But since then, they've not kept up. Given these are the most expensive and most complex apps most of us will buy on an iPhone, yet their reviews are stale and outdated. I wish there were newer, comprehensive, and comparative reviews between TomTom, Magellan, and Navigon.
Tony, good screen images. That's interesting.
With regard to GPS apps, I feel the major tech, gadget, and review websites have done us a disservice. There was a flurry of reviews when GPS apps were first introduced for the iPhone. But since then, they've not kept up. Given these are the most expensive and most complex apps most of us will buy on an iPhone, yet their reviews are stale and outdated. I wish there were newer, comprehensive, and comparative reviews between TomTom, Magellan, and Navigon.
Yes. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I'm thinking about walking around a big city or checking a quick route at home or in a hotel room (on wifi), Google Maps, so far, seems the faster and easier solution than TomTom for those quick checks.
But even if iPhone's Google Maps had voice navigation, like on Android phones, I'd still have bought TomTom because of the integrated maps. (And having used the free MapQuest app, with voice nav, I know I prefer the whole-shebang solution.)
Michael_K_Sr
Screenwriter
New update (v1.6) released today.The only items listed as changing are updated maps and direct submission and download of Map Share updates.
I've got three suggestions so far for TomTom. I need to find their feedback page.
* "Contacts" as a destination option should be a top option, on the first screen at least.
* highway sign labels are too small and unreadable while driving with the iPhone on a dash mount.
* the destination street # should be shown on the display. Currently it only shows the street name, not the house# which is important since most houses are not known accurately in GPS maps.
That said, I'm very happy with TomTom on iPhone after about 700 mikes of driving with it on a dash mount.
* "Contacts" as a destination option should be a top option, on the first screen at least.
* highway sign labels are too small and unreadable while driving with the iPhone on a dash mount.
* the destination street # should be shown on the display. Currently it only shows the street name, not the house# which is important since most houses are not known accurately in GPS maps.
That said, I'm very happy with TomTom on iPhone after about 700 mikes of driving with it on a dash mount.
Hmmm... I checked the TomTom site, but couldn't really tell. Does the app come w/ lifetime (or some reasonable number of) free maps updates? What about cost of traffic service, if it's not included?
Also, how weak is the iPhone's GPS receiver anyway? Would the dock w/ dedicated(?) receiver make all that much diff? The dock is kinda expensive and would effectively push the cost of the whole solution above the cost of a sale priced, dedicated TomTom unit w/ lifetime updates and free traffic service.
I wonder how the GPS receiver on the various Android smartphones compare to that of the iPhone. The GPS solution of choice (and associated costs) will probably make a diff to whether I go w/ Android or iPhone in the near future -- and unfortunately, Verizon's CDMA voice/data issue puts a dent into using Google's solution at least until the latest version (w/ good offline caching) becomes a reality.
_Man_
Also, how weak is the iPhone's GPS receiver anyway? Would the dock w/ dedicated(?) receiver make all that much diff? The dock is kinda expensive and would effectively push the cost of the whole solution above the cost of a sale priced, dedicated TomTom unit w/ lifetime updates and free traffic service.
I wonder how the GPS receiver on the various Android smartphones compare to that of the iPhone. The GPS solution of choice (and associated costs) will probably make a diff to whether I go w/ Android or iPhone in the near future -- and unfortunately, Verizon's CDMA voice/data issue puts a dent into using Google's solution at least until the latest version (w/ good offline caching) becomes a reality.
_Man_
Map updates are free.
Traffic is an in-app purchase. I don't have cell service here at the moment (not just AT&T, none of them work where I am) so I can't see the cost right now but will post it later.
Traffic is an in-app purchase. I don't have cell service here at the moment (not just AT&T, none of them work where I am) so I can't see the cost right now but will post it later.
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