Yamiya, Just wanna blog

Posts Tagged ‘TomTom’

To my surprise TomTom releases Malaysia and Singapore map sooner than I expected, being this is TomTom first appearance in Malaysia. The app price at USD59.99, average pricing for iPhone navigation software. The app is preloaded with Malaysia and Singapore maps, meaning user can use it without internet connection. TomTom claims map coverage of 99.9% for Singapore and 54.5% for Malaysia. Scrolling thru Klang Valley maps, it looks promising, possibly above 90% coverage, although some gated residential still missing on the map, similar to most commercial maps. POI seems to be updated, taking example of a petrol station near my house which only started operation last year. Most Penisula Malaysia major cities also have high level coverage. As for East Malaysia users, please save your money. It's pretty blank over there.

Searching address is different from Garmin. You first select country -> city -> street. I find this search method return better results as I won't end up with few same street names as on Garmin.

Time to take it for a walk. Terrible navigation. TomTom iPhone is not make to work at walking speed. The arrow will spin around and you won't know which way to go.

Let's take it for a ride. My car is covered with old version V-Kool. It blocks 90% GPS signal. In the past all GPS devices inside my car fail to lock onto the satellites. The only way to salvage the last bit of GPS signal is to place the external antenna near the edge of the windscreen which is not cover by V-Kool. With iPhone A-GPS I was able to get a clear signal within a minute. My iPhone is connected to my car stereo using Apple Composite AV Cable to listen iPod (iPhone). Once plug in I can charge my iPhone and voice from TomTom will be directed to the car stereo (aux mode). This saves me from buying TomTom Car Kit and stick to my RM12 iPhone car holder with windscreen suction cup. While using TomTom I won't be able to listen to FM radio, but I can start up my iPod first, only then enter TomTom. TomTom will automatically pause the music when the lady speaks out directions ahead. A very clever design.

If you have experience in Garmin Nuvi or Mobile XT, TomTom interface won't trouble you much. It's user friendly. The menu is easy to access and select while driving. Similar to all GPS devices, when searching for places or creating routes, do ask the passenger or stop the car to do it. Don't try to do it while driving. It's dangerous!

Overall TomTom iPhone meets the requirements for a good navigation device. There's the basic 2D and 3D view, day and night mode, map browsing, favorite places, advance planning and route demo. The (human) voice is loud and clear. Available in various languages. All my literate languages are present. Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Malay. Mandarin are available in either female or male voice, be in Taiwan or China accent. Same goes to English, available in UK, US, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand accent. I choose English (UK) Jane being it speaks in meters.

Auto reroute is a blessing. Finally something that actually works on iPhone. When I drove past a turning TomTom immediately recalculate the route and directs me to make a U-turn. For cases with two highways (KL-Seremban or Sungai Besi Expressway) leading to one place, whenever I was on the non-routed highway, TomTom will automatic reroute to the new highway. Under route planning you can choose to avoid toll roads, ferry crossings, HOV lanes and unpaved roads. Limited compare to Garmin.

The 3D map is pleasant to navigate, showing nearby roads and mimic real life scenario. A curve road ahead looks just the same as on 3D map. There are few color schemes to choose from for both day and night mode. Unlike Garmin, user need to switch between day and night mode manually, two touch on the screen (see menu above). The map works in both portrait and landscape mode. While navigating

The speedometer is accurate. There's also the speed limit warning below speedometer (the 50/50 thing), however this is somewhat inaccurate, showing most cities highway speed limit at 110km/hr whereas the true speed limit is only 80-90km/hr. Can I use it to argue with traffic police if I got a ticket?

One note to be taken, iPhone gets very hot when GPS is in used, be it TomTom, nDrive or Sygic. Thus don't judge TomTom is causing it or suspect your iPhone got problem.

What's missing? As with most basic car GPS navigation device, you don't get to record and share your tracks, nor contribute POI. There's also this Call POI feature, similar to yellow pages. You can actually find a restaurant, police station and call up their number. It works for Singapore POI but the numbers are missing for Malaysia map, not even any POI in Kuala Lumpur city center.

One last test. Let's try creating a route from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu. Nope, it doesn't allow me to do that. Logical enough.