TomTom's iPhone App finally breaks cover

Darren · Last edited by Darren on Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:30 am; edited 2 times in total

We all knew it was coming but 'when?' was the $64million question. Spotted in the New Zealand iTunes App Store yesterday it seemed pretty clear that the launch had begun and at some time early this morning TomTom for iPhone finally materialised in the UK AppStore.

There isn't a lot to add really, the interface looks very similar to that which was used on the TomTom Mobile App that used to exist and it features multi-touch integration making full use of iPhone gestures for operation and map zoom etc.

Navigation to address book contacts is also included as well as IQ routing. But notable by its omission is any form of LIVE connected services. This is a phone, a phone with out of the box data bundles and connectivity so why the heck has the opportunity to bundle the LIVE service features been omitted?

The app is available with Australia, New Zealand, UK & Ireland, US & Canada and Western Europe maps. UK comes in at £54.99 and Western Europe £79.99 which is reasonable if not the steal that CoPilot is.

Still no word on the mount that was the USP of the TomTom offering.

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Darren Griffin

erne · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 18, 2005 Posts: 48

Hi
As the Euro app is only £20 more than UK version I would like to get this
I have limited space on my phone
I have jailbroken the phone and my question is
Can i remove all the unused maps by removing them from the .ipa before uploading to the phone
Thanks

ern

Darren · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:20 am Post subject:

I'd have thought that unlikely as the Western Europe map (at least on all other TomTom platforms) is a single contiguous map and so a single file.
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Darren Griffin

jheward · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2005 Posts: 31

I know it is very early to ask this but I wondered if anyone who buys TomTom could comment on the following...

How good is the GPS fix? I bought Copilot and am not that impressed with its GPS performance - it seems to lose the signal quite regularly

How smooth is the map scrolling? Again, Copilot hasn't impressed me with the map movements been quite jerky and slow to update

Thanks for your help

ArthurFuxake · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:29 am Post subject:

So, no custom POIs (unless jailbroken) and no live services on a device that is designed for live services !... they really have lost the plot and therefore won't be getting my cash.

erne · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 18, 2005 Posts: 48

mrplant · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 25, 2005 Posts: 6

Typical tomtom launch....

advertise the cradle to death and say "coming summer 09".
Click here to recieve updates.

Never had an "update" from them yet.. and here it is suddenly in the app store.. Integrated launch with the mounts in the shops?? as if....
Still no word on that..

Features??

Voice recognition
Street name announcement
Lane guidance
Speed cameras or ability to add them...
Traffic updates

where are they?

Sorry I sold my 520 now....

Darren · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:49 am Post subject:

The complete absence of any LIVE functionality on a connected device is pretty inexcusable.

Clearly TT don't want this to offer more functionality than their PND ranges.

But if you want our speedcam data it looks like the only way is to lobby TomTom. Complain loudly. There are no technical reasons why they can't allow the import of custom POIs either but they could even more easily start using PocketGPS Speedcam data and make a lot of people happy.
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Darren Griffin

mrplant · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 25, 2005 Posts: 6

Here Here!!

I REALLY hope they listen but sometimes TOMTOM can be stubborn and stuck in their ways..

Its not good for TOMTOM and its certainly not good for Apple for people to jailbreak their phones just to add custom features..

Sadly this might be the route a lot of people are forced down unless they see sense and allow custom POI's and warnings.. ie. Speed Camera Database..

I think they need to remember how popular this is compared to their own version...

Lane guidance is a must have feature so I am not interested unless that is there - can anyone confirm it if is there?

Competition is great but surely they recognize they are going to have to come up with something special if they want to outsell the other GPS apps...

nashmills · Regular Visitor Joined: Nov 10, 2006 Posts: 131

Does the app connect to Home for Mapshare updates etc.?

Seamaster · Frequent Visitor Joined: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 331

I'm holding off until the price drops, as it inevitably will. TomTom isn't the only game in town for turn-by-turn, and I can't see them sustaining that over-ambitious price point for long. Just look at the scramble down in prices by the others since Copilot launched at a much more palatable (£25.99) price point.

alexberry · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:16 am Post subject:

2 questions spring to mind:

1) What about Mapshare? For me, a Garmin user, this is one of those USPs that keep me wondering whether I should switch to TomTom for my next PND.

2) How will pricing for the TomTom mount work? Will it be available as a mount alone, or will it be bundled with some sort of iTunes voucher which means that if you buy the app today off iTunes and decide to buy the mount later once release, you'll effectively buy the app twice!?

Alex.
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Alex Berry,
Edinburgh, Scotland

mrplant · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 25, 2005 Posts: 6

From what I have heard about the mount (not official of course), it is being sold as mount only - you need to buy the app yourself in the normal way from the app store..

handtec.co.uk have it listed as product code: TTP89

Our Price: £113.85

Their page says at the bottom:

No Software is included - The TomTom Navigation software will only be available from Itunes app store .

Quite expensive in my opinion, when you consider the price of the app and the mount and what features are on offer (at present).

You should bear in mind that website is the only one that has broken rank and announced early pre-ordering pricing, so it might change...

steve.

mattyduk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 15, 2004 Posts: 37

so does TomTom have lane guidance or street name announcing ?

Seems from the spec that they've gone a bit half hearted here.

How's the frame rate. Co-Pilot isn't that smooth on a 3g.

gyre · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:55 am Post subject:

Having already got igo, copilot and sygic, I'm holding back on buying tt for a while.

I think what *might* tip it for me would be user reports of whether tt have magically managed to solve the gps lag that i'm seeing on the other products.

Also whether tt suffers from the route jumping to nearby roads, even ones that aren't at all plausable from where you are.

Eagerly awaiting the first user reports.

-- gyre --

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