Sep 07

TomTom rolls out Go Live 1000 series navigation units

Posted in: capacitive, gps, Today's Chili, tomtom

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We got an early look at TomTom’s Go Live 1000 navigation unit back in April, and it looks like you’ll soon finally be able to get your hands on it as well — if you’re in Europe, that is. The company’s just announced that the 4.3-inch GPS will be available this month, and will soon be followed by the Go Live 1005 in October, which adds a larger 5-inch screen. One of the big selling points here is that both screens are of the capacitive variety (complete with TomTom’s so-called “Fluid Touch”), and you’ll also get a nifty new magnetic windshield mount that lets you easily remove the device when you leave the car. Otherwise, you can expect to get a year of free “HD Traffic” information with each, along with TomTom Weather, IQ Routes, and Local Search with Google, among some other standard fare. Still no word on a release over here, but you can look for the 1000 and 1005 to run £250 and £300, respectively, in the UK (or roughly $385 and $460).

TomTom rolls out Go Live 1000 series navigation units originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 01

Sony’s head units Xplod into the infotainment scene with TomTom GPS on in-dash screens

Posted in: sony, Today's Chili, tomtom

They may not have been the highlight of Sony’s IFA 2010 press conference, but the company’s new XNV head units deserve a place of their own, given they integrate full-blown TomTom GPS units and audio/video playback into their 7- and 6.1-inch WVGA touchscreens. Presently destined for Europe, the XNV-L77BT, XNV-770BT, XNV-L66BT and XNV-660BT will ship in November with TeleAtlas maps of 45 nations for a number of undisclosed prices, with each sporting Bluetooth, auxiliary and USB jacks, DivX playback and a DVD drive. The presumably-more-expensive “L” models also come with the usual array of traffic and weather alerts plus a Google-powered local search function, and all four decks sport a music recommendation engine that reportedly changes track based on your mood… though how the system measures your emotional attentions, we’re not quite sure, and hope to find out soon. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Sony’s head units Xplod into the infotainment scene with TomTom GPS on in-dash screens

Sony’s head units Xplod into the infotainment scene with TomTom GPS on in-dash screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 28

Psion veteran Charles Davies leaves Nokia for TomTom

Posted in: nokia, Today's Chili, tomtom

Charles Davies might not be as immediately recognizable as some other industry veterans, but anyone that’s been following this business since the early days of PDAs will no doubt be familiar with his work. Davies was Psion‘s very first employee way back in 1981, and stuck with the company all the way up until 2003 when he left to join Symbian, before moving on to Nokia with the rest of the Symbian staff a few years later. During that time, Davies helped Psion pioneer the use of flash memory and custom silicon in handhelds, served as Symbian’s CTO, and helped Nokia head up the strategy and architecture team for its R&D division. What’s more, as The Register notes, Davies move to TomTom only further bolsters the ex-Psion ranks at the company — he’ll be joining former Psion CTO Mark Gretton, and former hardware exec Ken McAlpine, who joined TomTom two years ago after a stint at Apple. Still no word on what Davies’ exact role at TomTom will be, but the company has confirmed the move, and promises to provide more details at some point.

[Thanks, johnny99]

Psion veteran Charles Davies leaves Nokia for TomTom originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 25

iPhone 4 and TomTom Car Kit brought together with velcro

Posted in: Apple, hack, iPhone, Today's Chili, tomtom, video
Disappointed to find out that your brand new iPhone 4 won’t work with the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone you paid $100 for? Well, it looks like there’s a surprisingly simple fix: velcro. As tipster Ben Peacock has informed us, all you have to do is cut a small strip of velcro (the soft side) and apply it to the bottom part of the kit behind the dock (it’s not necessary to apply it to the phone itself). Once that’s done, the iPhone 4 will dock properly, and function just as before complete with charging and Bluetooth support. Head on past the break to check out the fix on video.

[Thanks, Ben]

Continue reading iPhone 4 and TomTom Car Kit brought together with velcro

iPhone 4 and TomTom Car Kit brought together with velcro originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 08

TomTom slips out XL 350, XXL 550 nav units for the US

Posted in: gps, navigation, Today's Chili, tomtom
Intrigued by those XL IQ Routes edition 2 navigation units TomTom rolled out for Europe back in March? Then it looks like you’ll soon be able to get your fix in the form of the XL 350 and XXL 550, which recently turned up on TomTom’s US website. In line with TomTom’s usual naming convention, the XL 350 and XXL 550 pack 4.3-inch and 5-inch touchscreens (non-capacitive), respectively, and are each available with your choice of lifetime maps and traffic options. You’ll also get 7 million POIs on each, along with advanced lane guidance, spoken street names, maps of the US, Canada and Mexico, TomTom’s EasyMenu interface and, of course, the company’s IQ Routes technology. Look for these to set you back between $169.95 and $259.95 depending on the model and add-on options.

TomTom slips out XL 350, XXL 550 nav units for the US originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 May 2010 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 06

TomTom strikes back with Darth Vader voice pack (video)

Posted in: gps, navigation, Star Wars, Today's Chili, tomtom, video

We guess TomTom was listening when we said it had to respond to Nokia’s Own Voice app for custom turn-by-turn navigation instructions, as the Dutch company has announced a new Darth Vader voice pack. Following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Homer Simpson and Burt Reynolds, the Sith Lord has contributed his vocal stylings to the cause of guiding the lost and confused down the right path. Though it wasn’t without hiccups — check out the video after the break for the recording session — the pack is now complete and ready for download, provided you have $13 handy to smooth the transaction. Yoda, C3PO and Han Solo packs are set to follow in the coming months. May the farce be with you.

Continue reading TomTom strikes back with Darth Vader voice pack (video)

TomTom strikes back with Darth Vader voice pack (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 May 2010 03:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 29

TomTom reveals plans for App Store in battle against smartphone navigation

Posted in: AppStore, gps, navigation, Today's Chili, tomtom

You know how TomTom is moving to a WebKit-based UI with its new flagship Go Live 1000 satnav? Well, there’s good reason for it. While TomTom called it a “platform for innovation” at Tuesday’s press event in Amsterdam, going so far as to show a few in-house developed prototype apps for Facebook, Wikipedia, and live street cams, it stopped short of revealing its true plan: an app store it can cuddle and call its own. Pocket-lint had a sit down with TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn who revealed TomTom’s plans to launch the app store by the end of the year. Apps that will easily migrate to its in-car platform, and to and from other WebKit based devices. In essence, it’s TomTom’s consumer-focused survival plan against free turn-by-turn offerings from Google and Nokia. While there’s no doubt that dedicated satnav devices offer greater functionality and better performance compared to their part-time smartphone navigating competitors, selling the average consumer (not hardened road warriors) on the need for two devices won’t be easy. Besides, are Facebook updates really that critical when driving? Pics of the Wikipedia and street cam sample apps after the break.

Continue reading TomTom reveals plans for App Store in battle against smartphone navigation

TomTom reveals plans for App Store in battle against smartphone navigation originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 27

TomTom rolls out Urban Rider motorcycle GPS

Posted in: gps, navigation, Today's Chili, tomtom
We didn’t get a glimpse of this one when we checked out TomTom’s new Go Live 1000 navigation unit earlier today, but the company has also just introduced a new GPS device for motorcycle enthusiasts: the Urban Rider. This one sticks fairly close to the company’s previous RIDER units, but apparently simplifies even further with a revised interface designed to allow easier operation with gloved hands — yeah, you can bet this screen is resistive. Otherwise, you can expect features like TomTom’s IQ Routes and Map Share, along with advanced lane guidance, and a promised six hours of use from the battery — that larger battery comes at the expense of an SD card slot this time around, though. No word on a release over here just yet, but this one will be available in Europe next month for €249 (or about $330).

TomTom rolls out Urban Rider motorcycle GPS originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 27

TomTom Go Live 1000 taken for first test drive (video)

Posted in: Google, gps, hands-on, Today's Chili, tomtom, video

We’ve just returned from a ride with the TomTom Go Live 1000. In general, the device met our relatively high expectations set by a purported flagship navigator from the likes of TomTom. Unfortunately, the prototype unit guiding our vehicle was limited to a scripted demonstration on pre-selected routes. And when we did veer off course thanks to an unhelpful, but rather posh, voice guiding us to turn left a bit early, it took about 8 seconds for the ARM 11 device to reroute — not bad but not exactly the 0 seconds we were promised during the pitch. Again, we were told that this was the result of using a prototype device… though it must be a near production-ready model given the summer launch timeframe. The unit also wasn’t equipped with the automatic volume adjustment that raises and lowers volume based on the ambient noise around it. We did witness the Webkit UI in action and it does seem significantly improved based on our brief 15 minute test ride with it. However, it was still cumbersome enough to give our tour guide (a TomTom quality manager) fits as he tried to jump between 2D and 3D navigation modes. And the capacitive touchscreen was a mixed bag: at times it seemed to require the kind of finger mashing usually reserved for resistive screens; at others it was a bit too sensitive to effectively target street names from a pick list while being jostled about on a Dutch road (accidentally brushing the display selected the entry either above or below the street desired). As bad as all this sounds, we had the good fortune to have a Garmin nuvi 1690 in the vehicle with us to go head-to-head, flagship-to-flagship, and the Go Live 1000 was the clear winner in getting us back to our starting location. Check the Go Live 1000 in action after the break.

Gallery: TomTom Go Live 1000 given a first test drive

Continue reading TomTom Go Live 1000 taken for first test drive (video)

TomTom Go Live 1000 taken for first test drive (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 27

TomTom Launches GPS Device With Capacitive Touchscreen

Posted in: gps, navigation, Today's Chili, tomtom
TomTom_Go_Live_1000.jpg
TomTom has announced the Go Live 1000, a next-generation navigation device with a capacitive touchscreen, just days after Garmin unveiled its own capacitive touchscreen-based PNDs.
The connected Go Live 1000 features a 500 MHz ARM11 processor, a redesigned WebKit-based user interface, and the ability to easily integrate third-party apps, plus a full year of free Internet service. TomTom also upgraded its back end server systems to improve delivery of rich content and downloadable apps.
This all means the company is leaving behind its formerly closed, difficult-to-expand OS, and is at least delaying, if not eliminating, the expensive monthly fees surrounding the TomTom XL 340-S LIVE and other current connected devices.
The Go Live 1000 also includes improved IQ Routes and HD Traffic, a high resolution display, a new magnetic windshield mount, and a Park Assist feature for finding places to park (as opposed to the park assist you’d find in some of today’s cars that actually helps you parallel park–this is different).
So far, TomTom has partnered with Vodafone to provide connectivity in Europe, and plans to release the device there sometime in the summer. No word yet on pricing or availability in the U.S.
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