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TomTom update v1.2 with ALG & text-to-speech

O

odelay

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
324
1
Just seen this on their twitter feed:

TomTom have submitted their 1.2 update of the iPhone application for Apple approval. Features include ALG + Text-To-Speech. More info soon.
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Sweet. About time.
 
Nice to see TomTom playing catch up rofl. Now they need Traffic. Wonder how many months it's gonna take them to get it?
 
The press release from yesterday:

Users of TomTom’s popular iPhone navigation application will soon be able to enjoy even more advanced features, with a free update ensuring users always have the best navigation experience.

This update, which is being submitted to Apple for review today and will be awaiting their approval, will bring significant and advanced additional features that TomTom fans around the world have come to appreciate. These are:

Advanced lane guidance giving drivers extra clarity when navigating difficult junctions. For the first time this is in both landscape and portrait mode.

Text-to-speech helping motorists to keep their eyes on the road by enabling street names and places to be read aloud as part of the spoken instructions.

“Help Me” providing direct access to emergency numbers and directions to the nearest emergency providers.

Updated map and safety camera database. Safety Camera information is available in selected European countries including: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Customisable audio warnings when approaching safety cameras or driving over the speed limit, increasing driver safety and saving money.

iPod player control ensuring drivers can conveniently control their music from within the application.

“The TomTom app for iPhone is a priority for us and we are committed to both its long term development and everyday improvements,” said Benoit Simeray, TomTom’s senior vice president, On-board Mobile. “Current and future customers of our application for the iPhone can count on more great updates from TomTom for free.”

This update will be for: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand
 
Unfortunately for TomTom, it's too little too late. A lot of users, myself included, went for Navigon because of the poor state of the application on release and a failure by TomTom to demonstrate an interest in development.

It's a shame, because it's probably going to end up being a decent app.
 
Now that both Navigon and Tom Tom seem to have feature parity I'd like to know how both of these devices actually perform in the real world. I'm still one of the few that has been waiting to see how it all worked out.

I know there are some who have bought both and I'd like to hear from them as to which is better when the Tom Tom update comes out.
 
str1f3 said:
Now that both Navigon and Tom Tom seem to have feature parity I'd like to know how both of these devices actually perform in the real world. I'm still one of the few that has been waiting to see how it all worked out.

I know there are some who have bought both and I'd like to hear from them as to which is better when the Tom Tom update comes out.
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Traffic is a pretty big feature that Tom Tom still doesn't have and doesn't even have an ETA.

So, I wouldn't say there is parity by a long shot.
 
jmpage2 said:
Traffic is a pretty big feature that Tom Tom still doesn't have and doesn't even have an ETA.

So, I wouldn't say there is parity by a long shot.
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While that is a big feature, from what I've read on this forum, it's either not a well implemented feature or there is little documentation on how to use it. At this point, if I were to get Navigon, I would be a little leery of shelling out the extra $25.
 
str1f3 said:
While that is a big feature, from what I've read on this forum, it's either not a well implemented feature or there is little documentation on how to use it. At this point, if I were to get Navigon, I would be a little leery of shelling out the extra $25.
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Yes, the lack of documentation is a bit disappointing. But it is relatively intuitive to use and I've been very impressed with how up-to-the-minute the traffic information is and how savvy the re-routing is based on that information.
 
It's sad!

TomTom could have done much better with crowd control. I think that they were very bad at communicating with their customers on what they were working on, when it would be distributed and how much it would cost! People may have been less hasty in bailing for other gps solutions. They made one little blurb on the app page but it didn't really make you feel like they would be providing much. I saw many reviews where people were seeking refunds, etc so they could go to Navigon and other companies. Look how bad the ratings got!

If they'd just kept updating, saying that that update was coming soon on the app page, engaging people better via Twitter, I think that they'd be in better shape right now. I'm interested in seeing if traffic makes it onto the app this year and if there will be any charge for it whenever it arrives.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Traffic info isn't a priority for me where I'm using sat nav in the UK, I usually find the traffic info provided here to be poor and not worth having.

TomTom for me offers the best routing and maps and with this update makes it the best sat nav solution available IMO.
 
I ignored the reviews of the TomTom app and purchased it anyways. I did this because I knew somehow, sometime they would integrate all of the features and more of Navigon and other competitors. While this update doesn't bring them to full parity, it sure does answer the feature omissions that I miss. I am quite excited about this update. If I had to guess I bet we will see all of TomTom's premium services and functionality of their pro standalone GPS rigs integrated into this app over time. Also when TomTom does it, it will be documented unlike another GPS app we know.

Now if only Apple would approve this before the next 30 days.

<facepalm>
 
Update is out (UK), downloading now. Won't get to test until tomorrow.
 
acousticbiker said:
Yes, the lack of documentation is a bit disappointing. But it is relatively intuitive to use and I've been very impressed with how up-to-the-minute the traffic information is and how savvy the re-routing is based on that information.
Click to expand...


It is fairly slick. My only issue so far is actually with NAVIGON itself, where I can easily access traffic info icons from the map display.
 
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