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Continue reading IRL: Rosetta Stone, PocketWizard and the TomTom Via 1530

Filed under: Misc

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We’ve journeyed with the TomTom Navigator app for Android and it’s been great — except for one brake-punching problem. Version 1.0 was only compatible with phones that happened to have a display width of 480 pixels (WVGA or FWVGA), which meant that our Galaxy S IIIs, Nexus 4s and other favorite handsets all had to be left at home. That issue has now been fixed in v1.1, along with some other, less fundamental niggles. In particular, you can now download the large offline maps to microSD rather than filling up internal storage, and TomTom also says map downloads can be completed with the app running in the background — although there’s no mention of downloads being resumable. One thing that certainly hasn’t improved is the price — if you want to travel across the USA and Canada, for example, you’ll find that Navigator for Android is precisely $50 more costly than Google’s offline offering or Nokia Drive for Windows Phones.

Continue reading TomTom updates its Android app to make it, you know, work

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Mobile

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Source: Google Play

TomTom has updated its iOS app to play nicely with iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, though the company has stripped ill-fated Google functionality out at the same time. The new version of the app, v1.12, works hand in hand with Apple’s own Maps app, showing up as a routing option in the iOS 6 software, but removes the Google Local Search feature as Google itself has discontinued it.

“Due to the discontinuation of the Google Local Search service, TomTom has decided to remove the feature” the company said of the update. “You can still search for locations using TomTom Places. Alternatively you can search Google in your browser and use the Copied Address feature to plan routes to these locations.”

TomTom Places is the company’s own driving-centric database of search results, bringing up POIs including gas stations, markets, restaurants, and more. It’s included in the app, along with live traffic updates and lifetime map updates.

The app is priced at $59.99 for the US and Canada version [iTunes link], while the UK and Ireland version is £39.99. TomTom recommends using iTunes to install the update, as there’s the possibility that you could lose your settings and saved locations otherwise.

TomTom updates for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 (but loses Google Local Search) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Nike+ SportWatch GPS wristwatches have been around for a while. This watch is a tie up between athletic shoemaker Nike and GPS company TomTom. The product allows athletes to track all sorts of metrics about their run. TomTom and Nike have unveiled a new addition to the launch lineup.

Previously, the company offered black & anthracite, black & blue, black & volt, and volt & black colors. The lineup now has a white & silver version runners can choose. The watch has a highly visible backlit LCD display that shows all sorts of information to the wearer while they are running.

The available metrics the watch can show include time, average and instantaneous pace, and distance run. The GPS features of the watch that are powered by TomTom offer motivational details to help enhance the running experience, including run reminders and messages to help inspire users before and after runs. The watch allows users to collect the details during their run and then share the details back via the Nike+ community.

Wearers who don’t care for any of the colors Nike has in its standard Nike+ SportWatch line can get an exclusive color combination that is available only at Best Buy. The Best Buy exclusive version of the watch is black and red. Both the new white & silver and the black and red version are available for pre-order right now at $169 and $149 respectively.

Nike adds new option to Nike+ SportWatch line is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

First, the good news: There is now a full-featured TomTom navigation Android app. It features live traffic data, multi-stop routing, and a gorgeous interface. But there is a bit of bad news, too. In fact it’s rather funny in a sad way: The app is not compatible with recent flagship devices including the Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S III, HTC One X, and Galaxy Note.

The app looks lovely. The maps and navigation closely mirror the experience found on TomTom’s own hardware. And that’s a great. TomTom has long had one of the most user-friendly personal navigation devices on the market.

The app is available now and costs around $50 for most regions. The US and Canadian version also requires 2.3GB of local storage space. So in case you’re disappointing with Google Map’s built-in turn by turn navigation, TomTom now has an expensive solution — that is, as long as you don’t have a popular phone.

Apparently the app is limited by resolution, thus currently excluding high-resolution Android devices. The company is working on releasing a more compatible solution but for the near future, this app will not work with the aforementioned devices as well as the Nexus 7 tablet.