TomTom GPS for iPhone Review
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about TomTom’s new iPhone application, now available in iTunes for just $99. It’s the first true GPS navigation software available, a massive 1.1GB download that boasts stored maps of the entire US & Canada. No reception? No 3G or Edge? With TomTom, there’s no problem, as long as you have clear line-of-sight to the GPS eyes in the sky. Is it as good as their YouTube advertisement? I’ve bought it, driven 500 miles with it, and lived to tell the tale:
The simplest feature is navigation. You can find a place to go by entering an address, choosing a contact from your iPhone, browsing the map and picking start/end points, or searching through nearby points of interest. Once you’ve figured where to go, the TomTom app knows where you are and gives you a route:
Along the way you have a few route options:
The most useful of these is the list of instructions, which is a turn-by-turn summary of your drive:
The “points of interest” search tool is also quite nice. Here’s a list of restaurants near where I was at the time:
The application itself launches and calculates quickly, generally has OK GPS reception, and is lightweight enough to keep the heat on the iPhone 3GS to a minimum while allowing you to place music in the background without skipping. For $99 though, I’m not sure it’s entirely worth it. For example, the TomTom ONE-S 3.5″ is also $99, and it’s the full unit, not just the software. And, there are some missing features / problems:
- The TomTom application kills the battery, you’ll need a car adapter. I was running low after just 2-3 hours.
- GPS reception is best when the iPhone is held upright, near the dash. Holding it down in your lap or a cup tray doesn’t work well, so you’ll need a dashboard mount.
- In Manhattan, many times the application cannot find a GPS signal for some time. Driving through overpasses/underpasses confuses the GPS, causing it to sometimes issue false directions.
- While the turning directions are spoken, the street names are not. This is a software feature–why not include it?
If TomTom can improve the signal quality and add spoken street names to the application, I would value it around $60. However at $99, it’s a tad expensive, and only useful if you refuse to purchase a full GPS unit–say, because mostly you rent cars.
Update:
After being out for a couple months, a new update has come out that promises more accurate GPS fixes, and the reviews on iTunes have placed the TomTom Navigator application at 2.5/5 stars:
The primary complaints are:
- Slow time to acquire GPS, bad GPS accuracy
- No spoken street names (this bugs me too)
- The high price, lack of updates, huge file size
- Applications crashes
| This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 7:18 pm and is tagged with gps navigation software, gps signal, eyes in the sky, 3gs, route options, interest search, iphone, nearby points, car adapter, line of sight, points of interest, search tool, dashboard, itunes, 3g, maps, manhattan, tomtom one, advertisement, restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
EDIT: 10 minutes NOT to acquire satellites
Used it yesterday (Bought Friday). I had arrived at my destination on Saturday afternoon, GPS took me all the way there. I switched it off when I got there and carried on with what I was doing. When it was time to leave yesterday, it thought I was home. Took about 10 minutes to acquire satellites, after which I gave up and relied on my sense of direction and doing the reverse of the way I had come on Saturday. I finally got GPS instructions after about 20km (20 minutes) and even then, the instructions weren’t entirely correct. I do like the software. I think it’s more like the iPhone that is giving issues with the GPS. I have to take it out of my Griffen hard case in order to use any form of GPS (GPSEd etc)
Yay Scranton, why not pass the Dunder Mifflin branch while you’re there?
On topic though, Tom Tom for phones has been out for ages, my old HTC Tornado came with it preinstalled 4 yrs ago, and lasts an entire 6 hour trip without killing the phone. Mounting the phone in the car is a given if you want navigation (which I find super neat except my GPS receiver is external so navigating whenever is not an option).
Signal is lost anytime the sats aren’t visible, this is true for all GPS units, while usually Tom Tom just keeps plotting straight ahead at constant speed so it’s pretty accurate after tunnels. Spoken street names are rare and I can’t imagine having audio files of all streets in the US is an option. Colour me unimpressed.
Finally an accurate review of this app (all others are falling all over themselves about how great it is – some without actually living with it). The maps are very out of date (I tested in CA and Oregon) to the point that it gets lost while moving on major highways. TomTom maps are historically a problem (spoken from experience) but these are really out of date.
My advice – keep looking or get a stand alone GPS from garmin
Does anyone know the price of the TomTom mount for the iPhone? Thanks for the review, I will buy it as soon as I get the TomTom mount.
The pricing was leaked online as being UK £99 ($168.50) plus tax. Full story here: http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4607.html