GPS Device
TomTom GPS App Arrives at Destination
By : Roy Furchgott
iPhone GPS Tom Tom
There has been a lot of traffic recently in the phone-app navigation category. The latest arrival to the iTunes Store comes from GPS TomTom, a company known for its standalone dashboard GPS systems.
The TomTom GPS app for the iPhone.
Like other iPhone GPS apps from AT&T, Navigon and Gokivo, TomTom’s advances turn-by-turn phone navigation, but it still isn’t as good as a dedicated GPS. In general, the processor in a phone isn’t as good at handling directions as the optimized chips in a dedicated GPS. And the GPS antenna in a phone isn’t quite up to the standard of a larger dashboard box.
A result is leggy directions and position readings that are less than perfect. In a test, I set the app to direct me to a local restaurant, but I sailed past the first turn without a warning and was a quarter-block away by the time it recognized my error. Here’s the kicker: I was on foot.
Another problem you are sure to experience with any phone navigation program: keeping the screen lit and the processor churning means your batteries drain faster than the last six-pack at a frat party.
TomTom said it would address these problems with an as-yet-unpriced car cradle coming soon. The cradle will keep the phone on a charge as you drive, a speaker will amplify the tiny iPhone speaker so you can hear over the road noise (good luck convertible owners), and it will increase antenna power, which could help a great deal with positioning accuracy.
People who are used to a dashboard GPS, especially those who own a GPS TomTom, will welcome the familiar interface. It is easy to set up for anyone who has used one before, with familiar features, like showing your route in maps form or 3-D style representation. It can be set to avoid tolls, to pick a different route if you don’t like the one it initially chooses, and can work with bicycles as well as cars.
You can set the app to display points of interest you want to be aware of as you travel, like gas stations, which then appear on your map. Oddly, the GPS TomTom’s thorough points-of-interest list includes a separate listing for ice rinks, but not travel necessities like coffee shops or bathrooms.
There are a few features you’ll find on a dashboard GPS TomTom that you won’t find here. It doesn’t speak street names, so it just says, “turn left,” not “turn left on Main.” It also doesn’t tell you if your destination is on the right or left, as its predecessor does. Nor does it get traffic alerts that warn you of upcoming jams and route you past them.
One little nicety I am sorry to find missing is the celebrity voice option. Right now it’s not available for the app, so if you still want your directions given by Mr. T or Burt Reynolds, stick to a dashboard box.
Whether the GPS TomTom app is worth the $99.99 is up for debate. It is slightly more expensive than the Navigon MobileNavigator app (currently on sale for $69.99), but less in the long run than AT&T app ($9.99 a month) or the Gokivo app, (99 cents for the app, and $9.99 a month). Compare that to the entry-level TomTom One 130-S, with the features of the phone app and it speaks street names as well. It’s being phased out, but is available online for about $120, a nice deal, but it’s one more device to carry. So is it worthwhile to you? That requires the kind of guidance you can’t get from a GPS. Leave a post to let me know what you think.
Worked right out of the box. Hard to tell that it is refurbished. It came with 6 voices and had the option to download more. Keep in mind that the maps are not the most current – the cost to download the current maps was more than the cost for the unit – but the maps that came with it worked fine for us. We gave this to our daughter – who is now an expert at getting off the jamed highway and finding her way on the back roads. This unit allows you to change the information that is displayed, although we just picked one display type and that is what we use all the time. This unit has a battery, so you can use it out of the car, and it came with an AC adapter so you could charge it at home – I guess a hiker could use it. We bought it for the low price, and it seems to work great – we recommend this GPS.