 There
has been an explosion of SatNav for the car in the last 12 months
with navigation making into the mainstream and leaving the slightly
geeky PDA add on world, but navigation on Smartphones is still in
its infancy and the latest Tom Tom Mobile 5 is trying to drag it
alongside it's main products as an acceptable consumer gadget.As
yet no mainstream mobile phone has hit the UK with in built GPS
reception and so the latest tom tom mobile software (version 5)
relies on an outboard Bluetooth GPS receiver, while this isn't ideal
TomTom have set about making this the smallest BT GPS device we've
seen bundled with a system. Measuring 87 x 43 x 15mm the 68gram
device hooks to your smartphone via Bluetooth and is powered from
it's own1200mAh internal battery which should be good for
about 10 hours of use before needing a top up.
As for the tom tom navigation software version 5 is an
improvement over the 1st released version we tested back in
September, the main change seems to a shift in emphasis from the in
car environment to those on foot or even in typical Dutch style on
bicycle. Version 5 builds further on the intuitive TomTom interface
which had already been optimised to run on Smartphones, this is
particular challenge given the limited technical resources of
today's mobile phones, both in screen size and speaker volume.
 Perhaps
one of the best new features is the ability to take calls while
navigating, on every other system we've tried (including the
previous tom tom mobile version) an incoming call stopped navigation
which seems logical but can be a disaster if you are in the middle
of an unfamiliar city. Instead with tom tom 5 the instructions stay
visible on screen while you continue to take the call. Of course
this may not apply to those using Bluetooth headsets or car kits as
the Bluetooth connection of the phone may overrule the BT signal
from the GPS receiver, this is something we'll test as soon as we
get our sample software.
The UK tom tom mobile5 package comes with maps and software pre
installed on mini SD card (comes with adaptor for full size) making
the install process very simple indeed.
Compatibility for TomTom mobile 5 is possibly the best of the
available mobile navigation systems with the following phones
already able to run the software ;- Nokia: 6630, 6600, 6260,
6670, 7610, 7710, 9300, 9500 Orange: SPV C500, E200 Q-Tek:
8010, 8020, 8060, 8080 Motorola: MPx 220 T-Mobile: SDA iMate:
SP3 Treo: 650 and the Gizmondo.
More TomTom Reviews
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