Comments on: TomTom iPhone App

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:23:23 +0000

Yes, the TomTom “Car Kit” has its own full-fledged GPS chip inside the mount that provides a much better signal to the phone than the phone’s internal GPS chip.

By: Stefan

Stefan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:10:39 +0000

Yesterdays experience from the Tomtom Application was very much like Rick’s for me. Except I had my older brother with me in the car giving me a hard time for being a sucker for bying this. However, before I try to get my money back, I will try to give Tim’s advice above a fair chance to take effect today.
I also wonder if there i some sort of “signalenhancer” to buy (as you probably can tell, I’m a beginner at using the GPS).

By: CareFull

CareFull — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:43:27 +0000

I have Question i just got this app , using my j/Break iphone 3G i don’t have Data on my iphone , is my tom tom still works ?/
i know this is really stupid question but if someone tell me .,
Thank you in Advance
email reply please please

By: sean

sean — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:19:01 +0000

I have recently been working away over much of the uk, i purchased the iphone app tomtom thinking it would easily cope with my needs, i have never used such a waste of time app in my life the tomtom app could hardly ever give me an accurate position sometimes as much as 50- 100 metres away on a completely different road, in towns and tree lined roads then forget it, it didn’t have a clue where i was. tried it outside and not in car just the same,hardly any signal very dissapointed going to try to get my money back from Apple selling an app that is useless, maybe works with car kit that isn’t released yet, won’t pair up to a bluetooth holux gps reciever at all, going back to my trusty wm6 device that even works indoors with tomtom

By: Raf

Raf — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:06:15 +0000

Hi, I’ve just purchased TomTom’s Apple app. I am using Jailbroken Iphone 3G and after 2 days of testing I am quite happy with TomTom. Route planner works very quickly and accurate, graphics are good, intuitive and user friendly interface ! There are of course some buts …
1. Route planner shows car position from few seconds earlier, which in normal city traffic means appr. 100-200 meters late. It’s not a big deal , but irritating and requires some training.
2. When entering street number it is not possible to enter letters i.e 154 E is not an address to be found and located … well 154 is close enough.
3. It takes some time to start the app – again not a big problem but ..
4. Car kit is not yet available – I see it as great advantage to get better gps positioning as well as a hands-free car solution and of course … iPhone music in car stereo – Spotify app !
PS
I’ve tried 3 other GPS apps for iPhone and TomTom is by far the best and the most expensive one , but cost saving is on roaming charges – TomTom maps are downloaded to the iPhone.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:33:10 +0000

That is a horrible test. First, all of the iPhone apps use the same hardware (the iPhone 3G or 3Gs) and use the same location APIs made available from Apple. So there is virtually nothing one app developer can do to get a faster, or more accurate signal versus any other developer.

Second, the guy started from a cold app boot. GPS can take a minute or so to get a good satellite fix which he didn’t let happen. Third, the guy immediately started driving– GPS works better at getting an accurate signal when you wait a few seconds before driving off. It has a harder initially finding your correct position while you are moving. Third, he was surrounded by tall buildings which introduces multipath errors and can make it harder to find your correct position, especially with the weaker chipset in the iPhone.

Every iPhone app (and even many traditional PNDs) will exhibit the same behavior under those conditions. I’ve seen a similar thing happen as in that video with the TomTom app just as I’ve seen the same thing happen with the Navigon app, iGo app, etc. The TomTom application itself isn’t at fault for what was shown in that video.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:31:04 +0000

Looks like they have some bugs to work out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFtUhDh71s

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:20:00 +0000

“Long Islander” — see our policy about names. Your comment isn’t correct. The iPhone does use tower triangulation to help assist with first determining your location, however it does primarily connect with the GPS satellites for position information. Want to test it? Take your iPhone to a location where there is no cell service. The GPS functions on the iPhone will continue to work fine.

By: Long Islander

Long Islander — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:14:51 +0000

I don’t think this will replace true GPS yet, because the iPhone uses towers to triangulate your position, like the way Lowran A and C used to for boaters, whereas GPS uses Satellites and REPLACED Lowran.
As a matter of fact, a friend and I saw just how flawed the iphone is, when we were up in Montauk on Sunday. It lost the bottom, third tower’s signal, and was only pulling from Connecticut towers, and Rhode Island. So it though we were in Stonington, CT, rather than right next to the light house!

By: Rob Brennan

Rob Brennan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:50:31 +0000

This is so cool!! I’ve been waiting for the TomTom app for so long; wonder how soon I can purchase the car kit for it? I have to say – I really feel the iPhone has become THE go-to device for me.