The new TomTom iPhone app has been released on the Australian Appstore. It appears to have come out last Saturday, which coincidentally was the same day I was driving out to Gatton for a mountain bike time trial. On the way out I was running late and had trouble finding a pre-printed map that I had, explaining how to get there, so I used Google Maps to find my way. It’s not a particularly difficult route but given that I was running behind schedule I certainly didn’t have time to get lost.
While driving along negotiating the skinny sections of the Centenary highway at high speed and trying to scroll the map manually with my finger, I started thinking I really needed some GPS software. So today when I saw that TomTom had been released at a $99 price point, which is comparible to both Navigon and Sygic (the other two GPS apps that are available on the AppStore in Australia) at $69 (special till end of August) & $80 respectively, I thought I would check it out.
TomTom, now available in the AppStore
The car kit which TomTom promises is coming soon hasn’t yet been released but I have found the app is usable without it, though picky users (or those who just want the latest and greatest like myself perhaps) will probably want to pick it up when it is available.
My initial impressions are that the interface is quite clean and easy to understand and the app loads quickly (even on my 3G phone – I haven’t got my hands on the 3GS just yet). The first screen that you see is a terms and conditions screen but once you have agreed to this I suspect you won’t see it again unless they change.
The main menu
Once past this screen you are shown the main menu which allows you to choose a destination to navigate to, change the mode from Daylight to Night mode and also access settings among other things.
Generally the interface seems pretty intuitive, for example if you choose to Navigate to Home but you haven’t set up your home address you’ll be prompted to do so.
The mapping interface is easy to read
When entering an address I did find it somewhat confusing that you are expected to start with the Suburb/locality instead of the street address, but once you realise this it’s no problem.
While driving the maps are clear and easy to read with lane positions on major roads clearly highlighted in red (in daylight mode). Street names seem easy to read and appear next to intersections which is handy, given that Text-To-Speech hasn’t been implemented yet (i.e. street names are not read to you). You don’t really miss it though as the audible directions are pretty understandable. i.e. “Turn left in 300 meters” (then when you hit the intersection or turn), “Turn left”.
The night mode is a little less bright than the day mode, which I guess would be easier on the eyes and better on battery life when driving long distances, though the colours are a bit garish.
Night mode, the GPS is confused here
While driving through the city (i.e. or around high rise buildings in close proximity to the road) I found the iPhone’s built in GPS got somewhat confused and my location would often shift, which stuffed up the GPS software, though to it’s credit it is generally very quick at recalculating when it needs to. I suspect this will be improved by the car kit when it’s available.
There is also occasionally a slight lag at times with short distances, for example a command to turn right in 100 meters, is quickly followed by the instruction “Turn right” though overall I’ve been very impressed with how accurate the turn directions are.
GPS signal when weak
The image above is a message that was displayed as I exited the office and got into the car. It obviously takes a little bit of time for the GPS to lock on and you will want to make sure your iPhone has a clear view of the sky (i.e. a dash based mount is probably the go – though you can pick them up for $20-$40 quite easily). The investment is probably a must if you want to actually use the device without too much hassle, not to mention it would be just plain dangerous to try and hold it while driving.