With turn-by-turn navigation rapidly becoming the favoured give-away on smartphones, it’s reasonable to ask what the future holds for the dedicated in-car satnav makers. Arguably, there will always be a market for cheap entry level satnav units, because not everyone has a smartphone. At the top end of the market, larger screens and advanced navigation options for the high mileage motorist should also help keep sales going in the right direction.
The road ahead? TomTom’s Go 550 Live
TomTom’s new Go x50 Live satnav series has the latter user in mind. The cheapest model of this range is the 550 which does not have much to distinguish it from the 540 it replaces. The design is solid, smooth and rounded as we have come to expect from TomTom and the 4.3in screen is bright, colourful and highly reactive to the touch.
The screen cradle stays the same, which is a good thing as the current TomTom mount is just about the best there is. The basic feature set is similar to the 540 too, and provides everything you would expect from a top flight satnav including voice control, text-to-speech and lane guidance graphics.
However, the first change you will notice is the slightly warmed over GUI. It’s more pleasing to the eye, with all the on-screen boxes having rounded corners and clearer separation lines, while screen transitions are now animated. Round the back the new, larger speaker makes guidance instructions louder and clearer and improves the call experience when hooked up to your mobile up using Bluetooth. Read the rest of this entry »
By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco (via reghardware.co.uk)
Review Yes, the iPhone incarnation of TomTom’s GPS navigation system is a bit on the pricey side. But if you’re a fan, you’re used to paying a pretty penny for flashy tech. And this TomTom actually gets the job done.
The TomTom car kit for iPhone mounts firmly and easily to your car’s windshield – or windscreen
TomTom released a major upgrade to its iPhone app last week, so we installed all 1.3GB of it onto our iPhone 3GS, hooked it up to the market-leading GPS maker’s brand new iPhone car kit, and took it for test drive around San Francisco.
We were impressed. The car kit for iPhone provides what the company refers to as “enhanced GPS performance”. It’s based on a SiRF Star III GPS chip – the de facto standard for standalone satnav gadgets – which helped the iPhone flawlessly find its way around downtown San Francisco, dense with signal-limiting high-rise buildings. Read the rest of this entry »
Review TomTom’s Start is essentially the satnav specialist’s new low-end model. Rather than say so, though, it’s not pitching the product on price but for its simplicity. It’s a device designed to get you from A to B and nothing more.
TomTom’s Start: cuts to the chase with a simple, straightforward UI
But it’s also being described by the company as “the satnav designed for people who still think they prefer reading maps”, implying this is the gadget that will finally get the doubters to leave their Readers’ Digest Book of the Road at home.
The Start certainly lacks a lot of the clever stuff electronics can do that paper can’t. There are no traffic updates, fuel price and local services searching here because it doesn’t support TomTom’s Live offering. Likewise, there’s no lane guidance beyond broad ‘keep to the left’ instructions. It does incorporate TomTom’s iQ Routes system, which is designed to apply to route planning an understanding of what roads get busy and when they do so, the better to steer you onto quieter, faster roads.
The Start is really about route planning pure and simple, which is why it presents you with just two, large icons: “Plan Route” and “Browse Map”. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Forgotten where you parked your car? Lost your hotel, tent or even family and friends? For the terminally disorientated, the Ecco Personal Pocket GPS Locator is designed to put you back on track. Indeed, this hi-tech key fob proves to be more than just the novelty item that it first appears.
IDC Ecco: for keys that have lost their car
Designed for rough handling, a rugged, hard black plastic exterior protects the inner workings and a robust metal loop provides the means to attach it to a key ring or belt loop. The whole unit is a little on the big side for a key fob, but it doesn’t feel too heavy in the pocket.
The unit works by connecting to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the little beastie is capable of tracking up to 32 satellites and can operate over a distance of 9999 miles. Charging options are versatile enough, hooking up to anything that will provide juice using a USB port. There’s also mains power, a 12V vehicle charger option, and a 5V auxiliary power pack available. Thoughtfully, the low battery warning doesn’t wait until the unit is nearly drained but kicks in when it is about 25 per cent empty. Read the rest of this entry »
Review As part of Garmin’s recently refreshed in-car satnav range, the Nüvi 1340T will be the one satnav you won’t want to leave stuck to your dashboard. With an easily portable slimline design, the Nüvi 1340T features a pedestrian mode that includes the ability to hold your hand on London’s underground network.
Slimline navigator: Garmin’s Nüvi 1340T
The 4.3in widescreen display has a resolution of 480 x 272, while the chassis weighs 160g and measures 12.2cm wide, 7.5cm tall and just 1.6cm thick. There’s only one physical button on the device, namely the power button. A micro SD card slot sits on the left side, but with a whopping 4GB of internal storage – and only just over half used – it’s unlikely you’ll need to use it. Look carefully and you’ll notice a mic on the left side, however with no Bluetooth or voice recognition functionality it’s a totally redundant feature on the 1340T. Read the rest of this entry »
