x50 - What to expect?

Graeme2812 · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:22 pm Post subject: x50 - What to expect?

I'm sure it won't be long until leaks and rumors of TomTom's next PND devices (most likely x50?) surface, and I was just wondering what people think TomTom will do next to persuade all of us current owners to once again upgrade?

I'm not talking about simply fixing the many many outstanding issues people have, but more along the lines of advances like we saw with the 'Live' and HD services introduced on the x40's ranges.

How must more can a PND offer?

Will they opt for freeview TV like Mio have done?

Will they offer devices with vastly improved and more powerful hardware? And if so, for what software?

Can any new x50 devices offer improvements to HD and Live services as well as mapshare that the current x40 range can not?
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andy-c1 · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:24 am Post subject:

well apart from getting a unit to work correctly .mmmmmmmmm I would look at live weather conditions displayed on screen, greatly improve lane guidance ,radio would be nice or maybe a solar powered panel seeing we never get anywhere near what they say we should with the battery life and maybe even make the tomtom into a phone as well somehow
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TomTom 5001

mikealder · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:39 am Post subject:

My guess would be 3G conectivity speed rather than the current GPRS, easy to implement and it would make a significant difference to Google based searches.

The day TomTom add Live TV to a navigation device will be the day I seek another brand, they need to concentrate on the navigation. Recent improvements have added Lane Assist, Reality View, IQ Routes followed by IQ Routes 2 and the Live services including HD Traffic.

Quite a degree of progress in a short period of time, the x40 units could do with the higher speed modem connection 3G offers, but I hope they avoid the trap of offering OTA services such as TV, which is being offered by some of the competition (Not OTA but reception capability, if you want DVD playback for the kids/ rear seats fit a dedicated bit of kit as thew nav unit is far from ideal for this type of work).

I leave the house in the morning to avoid "Brain Dead Telly" neither am I interested in it on the way home - A 3G connection would improve Google Search capability and widen the bandwidth available for real time data, I just hope its put to good use - But who knows what the next device will offer, I just think a 3G equipped x40 is a logical progression at minimal development cost - Mike

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:58 am Post subject:

Real voice control (without umpteen button taps which makes it fairly pointless)

A return to the speed and "snappyness" of old models and software

Optimised routing

A decent text editor for naming things - so simple but never sorted!

Multimedia enhanced POIs (like the Roadtour stuff on the Garmins)

Vastly expanded compatibility list of phones.

A decent SDK, and a return to open software so the TomTom can have easy to create add-ons again (like the "APPS shop " for the iPhone)

I can dream.... Smile

dhn · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:43 am Post subject:

A 3rd party application that purports to offer route optimization for TomToms can be found here .

Haven't tried it personally.
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MrT · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:08 am Post subject:

I believe the x50 will bring a wealth of speculation based on little knowledge of the product.
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Drivelux

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:22 pm Post subject:

jpg1 · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 20, 2009 Posts: 61

Will there come a time in the next 1-5 years when TT stop their product development on the actual standalone PNDs and concentrate on the software market, e.g. iPhone? I think the number of people who'd like "everything" on one device is rising...although having said that, it's not in the electronics industry's interest to have many all-in-one devices.

MrT · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:03 pm Post subject:

That would be a reversal of policy. TT only used to do software for PDAs etc then dropped that to do PNDs. They appear to be trying to make the PNDs all in one devices, playing music, handsfree, reading audio books. But they have just relaunched PDA TT again so who knows.

The problem was in the early PDA days you had to have an external GPS unit and a phone for the traffic updates as PDAs did not use to have GPS and mobile phones built in.
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Drivelux

gluey · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:28 pm Post subject:

Apart from a unit that works, I want

1 - Able to read pdf files as i need alot of service manuals in my job.

2 - built in dash cam to record front view of car while driving.

But until they can get the basics back iam not upgrading again.
Kev

mike37 · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:04 am Post subject:

The ability to navigate to a British OS grid co-ordinate as an option would be nice - hopefully it will appear one day without the need for an x50 product launch.

Andy_P · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 7:31 pm Post subject:

matthewj · Frequent Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751

TomTom have been heading down the subscription road for a while, so my thoughts are along those lines. Not sure exactly what, but they'll be adding more value added services.

The actual hardware I'd expect to just be beefed up in spec so it can do more without stuttering etc. But the x40 is a good bit of kit, and I reckon will last a while - with the economy, there's little use in keeping the upgrade cycle going at the moment. But getting people to pay £7.99/month is good business, and that's where you'll see more IMO.

Milesey · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:19 pm Post subject: Auto switch ON

How about a radical one ... for the x50 to auto-switch on when power supplied?

Just like my old 910 :-)

Andy_P · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:21 pm Post subject:

Or to let you adjust the volume on all outputs....

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