I’m very excited because I picked up the long-awaited new TomTom navigation app for the Apple iPhone today. This is TomTom International’s first iPhone app and it retails for $99.99.The $99 price tag seems to be a little controversial because it’s more expensive then comparable apps but its less expensive then most stand-alone units. This seems to be the target of most of the conversations about the TomTom app.
I have a lot of experiences with navigation so I should be a pretty good judge of navigation form and funtion. In the past I've owned handhelds, OEM, and aftermarket navigations dating back to the early 90's. The tested version of the software I used is 1.0 and it's installed on my iPhone 3G 16gb with firmware 3.0. The unit is also connected to an Alpine iDA-X100 through the usb connection.
Right away I found this unit very easy to use. With the large Menu tabs most people should find this unit very user friendly.
The Menu page has the usual list of options...
Navigate to
Route Options
Mute Sound
Night Colors
2D Map
Advanced Planning
Browse Map
Manage Favorites
Call POI
TomTom Car Kit
Change Settings.
Navigate to...
Gives you the options of one touch directions to your home, favorites, contacts or recent destinations. From this menu you can type in an address, look up a point of interest from a long list of options or just tap on the map and it will give you the route.
Route Options...
Allows you to Find Alternative routes, demo the route, clear the current route, or show you the instructions (list) or map of the route.
Advanced Planning...
Lets you choose depart and destination from the list of Home, Favorite, Address, Recent Destination, Point of Interest, My Location, Point on Map, and Contact tabs.
Change Settings...
Allows you to change your Home Location, type of Voice, Map options, Route Planning, Distance Units and Reset to Defaults.
Pros
Another use for my iPhone without having to carry another handheld
Easy to use interface
2D setting is very easy to read
Bike directions
Much cheaper then an OEM or aftermarket mounted navigation
Plays and charges through radios\car kits that work with the iPhone (Alpine iDA-x100)
Cons
Cost is more then other nav apps
It's a little slow to adjust
While using a car kit it doesn't fade the music when it interrupts, it just cuts off the music abruptly
It really drains the battery fast. You should use a charger if you use this app.
Overall I would give this an 7 out of 10 because its really easy to use. It's not perfect but I don't have to worry about getting lost or purchasing a new car with the very expensive OEM unit. Well worth the $99.
4 comments:
This app is much better then the Navigon iPhone app.
This app works great but I don't think it's worth $100.
I only wish or dream that the wind shield mount will accommodate my fat iphone case. it is supposed to boost the GPS signal to make it stronger. I totally agree with your review. this product just works. if it could read the street names that would push it over the edge. but it is still clear when it says turn left or right. if you could change it to feet before turn that would rock to. yards is not popular in America
The gps signal seems to be weak most of the time. But it's still pretty accurate.
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