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Navigon + TomTom Car Kit

K

Khryz

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 7, 2007
940
1
I thought I read a couple months ago that this was supposed to be possible, that the TomTom Car Kit is going to be compatble with the other GPS apps on the iPhone.

Is this true?

I want the Car Kit, and I also want Navigon over TomTom as the GPS app because of all the reviews.

Thanks.
 
I was wondering the same thing. My hunch is that you won't be able to use the boost provided by the GPS chip in the car kit unless the app developer codes it specifically to do so, because the app you are using has to know how to interface with the 3rd party peripheral. That's just a hunch though.
 
Maybe you don't need the TomTom Kit

My experience with the iPhone Navigon product so far says that you don't need the TomTom kit. My GPS signal is always strong and there is no lag. So any of the less expensive mounts should do the job. I bought a nice Arkon Mini Windshield Mount for Apple iPhone for $13 on Amazon. Works great.
 
james4513 said:
My experience with the iPhone Navigon product so far says that you don't need the TomTom kit. My GPS signal is always strong and there is no lag. So any of the less expensive mounts should do the job. I bought a nice Arkon Mini Windshield Mount for Apple iPhone for $13 on Amazon. Works great.
Click to expand...

It really depends on where you live and what the terrain is like. There are many places where the iPhone GPS just doesn't work very well. If the chip in the TomTom kit is similar to what is included in their standalone GPS products, then I suspect it can make a huge difference for some people. Then again, I'm not sure who would actually pay for the dock since you can just buy a dedicated GPS that would give you better performance for the same price.
 
IMO, the big factor seems to be placement within the vehicle. If I set mine down on the console, it's hit and miss. If I put it into the vent mount, which allows the top of my iPhone to put straight up through the windshield, I get fantastic coverage.
 
I bought this scary-looking monstrosity earlier today. It looks like complete a$$, there's no getting around that fact. But other than the fact that it's almost as big as a human forearm, it works perfectly. It puts your iPhone about two inches behind the steering wheel where you can see it and touch the screen without any difficulty at all, and because it has three bendable joints with fasteners, it is very easy to make fine-tune-level adjustments so you can achieve a perfect viewing angle of the screen from your driving position.

Never mind, it won't let me upload the pic. POS forum UI.
 
Khryz said:
I thought I read a couple months ago that this was supposed to be possible, that the TomTom Car Kit is going to be compatble with the other GPS apps on the iPhone.

Is this true?

I want the Car Kit, and I also want Navigon over TomTom as the GPS app because of all the reviews.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
This test on the Swedish idg.se site claims that the Tomtom kit worked with Navigon. I'm not sure how you would accurately tell that Navigon is actually talking to the Tomtom car kit GPS chip and not the iPhone's built-in one but they say accuracy improved markedly so I guess it is.

http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.261127/tomtom-car-kit-mobila-bil-gpsens-basta-van

Matt
 
someone who has both navigon and tom tom car kit should set iphone in offline mode and try again... I think it's the only way :) I'm really interested too
 
Solution!!!

Yes, let us know, this what I want to do. Navigon + Tomtom carkit

[UPDT]
I think I have an answer, at least a start. See this blog review on a belgian website. (Anyway you can use google to trasnlsate it.)
Here is the link to the article: http://www.belgium-iphone.com/2009/10/28/belgium-iphone-le-test-tomtom-car-kit-pour-iphone-en-video/

In this article there's a link to an other one (tomtom car kit review) and to a picture gallery.

So here is the point. In a picture you can easily read (by zooming the picture) that the tomtom car kit can be used WITHOUT the tomtom app. Here is the link to the picture and also attached in this post just in case (look at the bottom left): http://www.belgium-iphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Tomtom_Carkit002.jpg

What do you think guys? It's an official tomtom paper. I guess I'm gonna buy the tomtom car kit and the naigon apps. :D

Cheers guys
 

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  • Tomtom_Carkit002.jpg
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I haven't heard back from NAVIGON on this, but it does in fact appear to work. I put my phone into airplane mode and get no reception. Plug in the car kit and ALL GPS apps pull data.

My guess is if you have TomTom nav or utility app installed, it does something to globally handle GPS.
 
dagomike said:
I haven't heard back from NAVIGON on this, but it does in fact appear to work. I put my phone into airplane mode and get no reception. Plug in the car kit and ALL GPS apps pull data.

My guess is if you have TomTom nav or utility app installed, it does something to globally handle GPS.
Click to expand...


I contacted Tom Tom customer support and they said you must have the Tom Tom unit paired via bluetooth for the additional chipset to work - so it should be easy to try Navigon with it paired and without it paired and see if there is a difference.

Just curious - did you have it paired with bluetooth when you tried this? If not (and, come to think of it, the airplane mode should have shut down the bluetooth connection anyway) then I wonder how you were accessing the GPS in the Car Kit...
 
sidewinder said:
That makes no sense. The online FAQ's make no mention of that. The iPhone Touch FAQ says nothing about Bluetooth connections.

S-
Click to expand...

That's what I thought as well - here is what CS wrote to me...

Thank you for taking the time to contact TomTom Support regarding the iPhone car kit. We always happy to help.

In answer to your question, the advantage of pairing your iPhone to the iPhone Car Kit via bluetooth is that you can receive GPS signal. The chipset inside of the car kit does need a bluetooth connection in order to receive the best GPS signal possible.


I wrote them a follow up to be sure...
 
schulzmc said:
That's what I thought as well - here is what CS wrote to me...

Thank you for taking the time to contact TomTom Support regarding the iPhone car kit. We always happy to help.

In answer to your question, the advantage of pairing your iPhone to the iPhone Car Kit via bluetooth is that you can receive GPS signal. The chipset inside of the car kit does need a bluetooth connection in order to receive the best GPS signal possible.


I wrote them a follow up to be sure...
Click to expand...

TomTom customer service is confused.

S-
 
With airplane mode ON TomTom does not work but when placed in the kit (with airplane mode still ON) it works beautifully. Hope that helps
 
I think we need to see the Google solution before calling it a killer. I'm not looking for the lowest bidder on this one.
 
fhall1 said:
hmmmm....so do we hold out for the free google nav app and use the TT car kit with it and have a killer GPS for only $100 or so?
Click to expand...

You can basically do that now with this mount and anyone of the many "live" GPS apps (MotionX, Mapquest, etc). Although I'm sure the Google App will be nicer, you should be able to tell if you can use that type of live GPS app where you use it the most.
 
Cybermarmotte said:
Yes, let us know, this what I want to do. Navigon + Tomtom carkit

[UPDT]
I think I have an answer, at least a start. See this blog review on a belgian website. (Anyway you can use google to trasnlsate it.)
Here is the link to the article: http://www.belgium-iphone.com/2009/10/28/belgium-iphone-le-test-tomtom-car-kit-pour-iphone-en-video/

In this article there's a link to an other one (tomtom car kit review) and to a picture gallery.

So here is the point. In a picture you can easily read (by zooming the picture) that the tomtom car kit can be used WITHOUT the tomtom app. Here is the link to the picture and also attached in this post just in case (look at the bottom left): http://www.belgium-iphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Tomtom_Carkit002.jpg

What do you think guys? It's an official tomtom paper. I guess I'm gonna buy the tomtom car kit and the naigon apps. :D

Cheers guys
Click to expand...

It says you can use the car kit without the TomTom app, but it does not explicitly say the car kit provides navigation capabilities in that case.
 
dagomike said:
I haven't heard back from NAVIGON on this, but it does in fact appear to work. I put my phone into airplane mode and get no reception. Plug in the car kit and ALL GPS apps pull data.

My guess is if you have TomTom nav or utility app installed, it does something to globally handle GPS.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I need to try with my 3gs and some other apps. Still, I don't know why airplane mode would need to kill the GPS, since it is only a receiver (and not a transmitter.)
 
tknelson said:
Interesting. I need to try with my 3gs and some other apps. Still, I don't know why airplane mode would need to kill the GPS, since it is only a receiver (and not a transmitter.)
Click to expand...

It may not need to, but it does.
 
According to the review on insanelygreatmac the kit will work with Navigon as far as charging the iPhone and transmitting sound through its speaker. The GPS part won't work.
 
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