Congratulations to TomTom for having signed up nearly two million drivers to its Map Share community, which lets users of its GPS satnav devices submit their own improvements to its maps. Apparently men are most likely to share their improvements than women - 67% compared to 45%. And more than 10,000 new improvements are being submitted every day, including changed street names, surprise one-way streets, and new points of interest. But more congratulations to the company for releasing some comedy facts about the community. Such as the fact that one Scottish user has added more than 100 whisky bars as points of interest, while a Spanish driver submitted 75 cemeteries - and in both cases, every one was correct. A Dutch user tried to rename the Amstel River as the Heineken River, a Brit added a Greasy Spoon cafe saying that its key feature was a ‘useable toilet’, and a Czech claimed that the Ministry of Justice was located on a deserted mountain. The state of its toilet facilities is, alas, unknown.
Tag Archive for 'TomTom'
The convergence of mobile devices, data and navigation was one of the ongoing themes at the 2008 Mobile World Congress and Windows-based company HTC had its first public showing of its P3470 PDA phone.
A typical HTC product in terms of the excellent build quality and the homepage HTC Home Screen utility, the P3470 links in with TomTom Navigator map software. Its smooth scroll wheel is used together with the touchscreen to provide a solid user interface.
In terms of tech specs, the device runs Windows Mobile Professional 6 on a TI OMAP 850 processor running at 201.5MHz, and has 256MB of ROM and 128MB of RAM. There’s also a 2MP camera (with manual macro selection), Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot.
More photos after the break. Continue reading ‘HTC’s smooth TomTom touch-PDA, the P3470′
I’m not sure why a GPS module for iPhone is seen as a surprise - it’s as nailed-on a no brainer as you can find, if you’re a GPS mapping type company. So, Engadget has an alleged spy shot of a new TomTom GPS plug-in for the iPhone, offering full satnav features for Apple’s handset.
It’s sure to find an audience, but I think it’s more interesting to speculate on Apple’s plans for putting GPS in the iPhone. When the next major revision of the handset happens next year, GPS is one of the technologies jostling for inclusion, albeit against a backdrop of Apple’s desire not to reduce the iPhone’s battery life to the levels of, say, a Nokia N95.
With that in mind, Apple will have several options: open up the iPhone to any satnav firm that wants to make an application and/or module; partner with a specific company in the same way it’s done for YouTube and Google Maps already; or go it alone by developing its own application (or more likely buying someone with the technology/skillsets).
(via Engadget)
HTC has officially announced the third device in its Touch range - the HTC Touch Cruise - which goes on sale this month.
The previous two - the HTC Touch and HTC Touch Dual - have been big hits for HTC. They were aimed at specific consumer segments, and now the HTC Touch Cruise is aimed at a different group again.
The Cruise is the first Touch device to include built-in GPS, as well as 3G/HSDPA, wif-fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Other new features include the new HTC Home Screen providing one-touch access to messages, calendar and contacts as well as, for some reason, global weather reports. It also features Windows Mobile 6, TouchFLO controls, media player, three-megapixel camera, 128MB memory (plus microSD card slot) and FM radio.
The HTC Touch Cruise’s GPS software comes from TomTom offering either a taster city map, or the option to buy full maps covering all of Western Europe.
It seems HTC’s aim of releasing different Touch devices that will find an audience among all consumers is slowly becoming a reality.
O2 has confirmed it’s carrying the new version of its xda Orbit called, imaginatively enough, the xda Orbit 2.
HTC’s poor old smartphones always have a schizophrenic approach to their names, and this is no exception. O2 is calling the device one thing, but you might know it as the HTC Polaris or HTC Touch Cruise. Of course, when other operators carry it, it’ll have another name as well.
Needless to say, all these different versions will have the same features. They’ll have the new TouchFLO controls, a 400Mhz processor, quad-band GSM as well as 3G/HSDPA, a three-megapixel camera and wi-fi. Oh, and of course, as a HTC device, you know it’ll run on Windows Mobile.
O2 will start selling the xda Orbit 2 from early next month with pre-installed TomTom GPS software and a 1GB microSD card. Now, you might think this’ll be expensive, right? Wrong. According to reports, it’s going to cost a mere €99 (£65-£70) on a contract.
It’s got more under the hood than and iPod and it’ll cost less than an iPod Nano let alone the iPhone. Now that’s a bargain.
