Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 15 March 2010 15:13
Your IT -
Mobility
Page 1 of 2
Clearly aiming to show its commitment to iPhone GPS navigation in the face of Nokia offering free GPS mapping on its smartphones, TomTom has upgraded its iPhone GPS app with new Local Search features and enhanced iPhone interface integration.
Although Google offers free GPS satnav on selected Android-powered smartphones including Google’s own Nexus One, and Nokia now offers free GPS satnav on a range of its smartphones, the GPS satnav market is still one worth a heck of a lot of money.
TomTom is still charging AUD $99 for access to its GPS iPhone app, and in the race to stay relevant in the face of “free” competition on competing platforms, has rolled out some nifty enhancements to its iPhone app, now at version 1.3, with TomTom’s Australian and New Zealand Marketing Manager, Chris Kearney saying that: “TomTom continues to expand its offering of premium navigation services and features to an ever growing number of TomTom app for iPhone users.”
First up on the list of improvements is “Local Search powered by Google”. This, says TomTom, offers “countless numbers of points of interest right at the user’s fingertips. Users can tap into the latest local Google listings from within the TomTom app to locate and route to anything from restaurants to camping grounds.”
The next feature is that of “Music Fading”, which “ensures users will never miss a navigation instruction while listening to music on their iPhone. The music volume decreases during turn-by-turn instructions and then increases when instructions are complete.”
The next point of interest in version 1.3 is the ability to use the “Pinch and Zoom” feature that the iPhone has popularised, letting users pinch and zoom maps for a more detailed view.
Moving right along to the next exit on the merry go roundabout is an “Automatic Day/Night Mode” which is designed to offer a safer drive, with the app calculating “local sunrise and sunset times to automatically adjust the screen brightness while driving.”
Pausing for a moment to rest, revive and survive, the next feature is called “Add to TomTom”, letting users “save locations from other iPhone apps and web browsers straight to the TomTom app.”
Finally we reach our destination by learning that the new TomTom app “offers the same great features users have come to rely on from TomTom, including TomTom IQ Routes and Advanced Land Guidance.”
By way of further explanation, we’re told that “TomTom IQ Routes incorporates historical speed profile data for both day of week and time of day to calculate the fastest route available at any time”, while “Advanced Lane Guidance provides extra clarity when navigating difficult junctions by showing the user which lane to take for an upcoming exit.”
Additional pricing, upgrade and other details are on page two,
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