Any confidence in TomTom for iPhone 3G/3GS?

bigfish2 · Banned Joined: Jun 24, 2009 Posts: 6

yea darren your right. But the apple store is full of alot of junk. Eg navigon. if something is worth the money i pay for it.Navigon isnt, ive even deleted navigon off my phone its so bad...Id almost rather use google maps so at least i can do a full postcode search, so im glad i tested it before paying £55.

Navigon have simply rushed and released a non fully functioning half arsed and incredibly poor attempt at a sat nav so they can be the first on the apple store and lure people into there £55 price tag as they are the only uk turn by turn software on the apple store (currently or at least the first). If this is one excuse for being able to test an app before purchasing this navigon situation is a good excuse in my mind.

bedbug · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:37 pm Post subject:

MacWorld manage to uncover not much more in a TomTom interview... Here.
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iPhone 4/4S (iOS 5.1.1); TomTom Western Europe (1.10)/USA & Canada (1.10); CoPilot for iPhone (8), UK mapping, Mac OS 10.8/XP Pro/Win7; Tongue firmly in cheek!

Darren · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject:

They're making a big splash about a long winded piece that actually says nothing more than was announced a few weeks back.

Is there anything in Dan Frakes item that we didn't know?
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Darren Griffin

SSR · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 432

Was iQ Routes mentioned before? Either way, glad to hear that's included.

Still no mention of custom PoI's, but no great surprise there.

mikealder · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:58 pm Post subject:

An interesting write up, so we get navigation to contacts stored in the phone book - if that works I might be seen in Burtons shop window devoid of certain clothing as that would really be a first, it never worked reliably on the PDA software at all.

IQ Routes is a welcome addition though as that does make a signifficant difference to the routes offered. I won't lose any sleep if MapShare is included or not as I think the idea is great in principle but poorly implemented so I don't use it.

The big question for me is the price of the mount as the GPS receiver in the 3G iPhone is pathetic, I would actually like to see Apple address this by introducing the Bluetooth Serial Port Profile to the device so users can use third party GPS receivers to overcome the rubbish they have designed and fitted in to their product. Not everyone would be happy to use a third party receiver but for those of us with BT GPS receivers being denied access to using them isn't too clever.

And as for TomTom not knowing whether the application can be downloaded using anything other than WiFi perhaps they need to read a little more about the platform they are launching a product on to. If its over 10MB then OTA downloads are not permitted so its WiFi or cabled connection only via a suitable access point - Mike

Darren · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:17 pm Post subject:

Considering I can put receivers under the seat in the car and they work quite happily for the iPhone not to work in a location adjacent to the radio (where all other GPS equipped phones I have are quite happy to work, all seven of them) shows me the Apple hardware is not performing anywhere as good as perhaps it should do.
Maybe my iPhone is faulty? although I tried another one in the car last Saturday with the same results, still I have removed the iPhone holder from the car for a week or two while I play around with some PDA based software Wink

Fortunately the Touch Cruise is happy to work in the exact same location as the iPhone won't.
Ovlovs don't have Athermic glass so thats not a cause of my problem, yes the location is low in the car but it should be better than what I have seen so far - Mike

rpcor2 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 06, 2004 Posts: 2

Bedbug, I totally agree with your post! TomTom is all hype and no substance! The cradle they demoed at WWDC looks awesome so I was kinda hoping to see that soon!

However I decided not to wait and went for Navigon's MobileNavigator option, (when it was £37.99 on the app store (British Isles version; until June 30th)). Yeah, I know it's only 5 digit postcode search and no custom safety camera poi (AT THE MOMENT), but at that price I couldn't wait for TomTom. GLAD I DIDN'T!! I FIND THAT NAVIGON'S SYSTEM IS FLIPPIN' AWESOME! The 'Lane Assist' looks the business; and the maps are better!

I'm using an iPhone 3G and the signal is brilliant, very quick satellite acquisition AND ALL THAT WITH THE STANDARD GPS - WITHOUT (TOMTOM STYLE) GPS AMPLIFICATION.

Well happy with it!

ttrevor · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:40 pm Post subject:

I have mine just level with the centre vent on the dash on my volvo c30 Mike, also running Navigon and it has never lost sats,in fact i am getting very attached to Navigon its very good and easy to use but I still want to get PGPSW camera data loaded as its the best , just have to wait for TT if and when.
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J2b2 · Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:44 am Post subject:

i must agree i dont have any issues with the gps signal.
My old bluetooth reciever i use to use (4 ish years ago) was slower at finding a signal than the iphone. Tested the navigation with the iphone resting in my dashboard where the dials are so surrounded by plastic etc (as my mount is crappy and need to buy a new one) and never lost signal so mounted near the windscreen id assume would be an even better signal.

Although seems as i do need a proper car mount i am concerned about the possible pricing of the tomtom mount. Id expect it to be quite costly to be honest.

Speculation of course but also i wonder if tomtom have extra sway with apple in bringing this application to the iphone? As they are the most common navigation system?
In regards to being able to control ipod features etc while the software is running, maybe the long release time compared to other apps could be because are working with apple to possibly negotiate some sort of deal that would allow them to implement better features than the SDK allows, inparticular the ipod scenario?
Of course complete speculation on my part but evidently they are trying to bring a more complete solution than other navigation providers have (i hope!!).

Also utterly ridiculous the comment about not knowing wether its possible to download european mapping without using a wifi connection! Surely a company of tomtoms size would of known this already!

SSR · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 432

I have my iPhone and HTC Diamond almost side-by-side on dash mounts on my car. The slower of the two to get a signal is the Diamond, and the iPhone is usually there within seconds.

I've also used the iPhone while walking for 2-3 weeks now with Google Maps and GPS MotionX. I've not had any signal loss using either.

Mike: Is it any particular environment where your iPhone fails to get a signal?

badshot · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 10

My TT One wont get a signal in my house but the Iphone does within seconds, I can also see which way im pointing the phone!

bedbug · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject:

Now it's The LA Times' turn to uncover very little about the forthcoming offerings for iPhone from TomTom Here.

The only thing of note is the possibility that TomTom may engineer their solution to allow iPod Touch and original 2G iPhones to use the embedded GPS chip (therefore, it's not yet a given), and also the last piece in the article, in which the poorly informed Tom Murray, vp of market development at TT, expresses TT's love of developing software for non PND solutions.

Yeah TT, your commitment to non PND platforms is well known around these parts. Now kiss my a*se and say how sorry you are and how special I am!

Laughing

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iPhone 4/4S (iOS 5.1.1); TomTom Western Europe (1.10)/USA & Canada (1.10); CoPilot for iPhone (8), UK mapping, Mac OS 10.8/XP Pro/Win7; Tongue firmly in cheek!

SpeedCam · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:

Just to a a few thoughts, firstly my iPhone GPS reception is OK/Good, and agree that Navigon is a very porrly implemented product.

I'm hoping that TomTom will be able to implement the following features:

1. Enable / Disable incoming calls so that the user can decide if routing is interrupted or not.

2. Built in MP3 player, as the mount has the abilty to play audio it would be nice if MP3's could be played during navigation. This would not be possible with the built in iPod app due to multi applications running, but TomTom include the functionallity in their app.

3. Unlikely but to include BT support to allow using 3rd party receivers.

A release date & pricing would be a nice start.....

SSR · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 432

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