TomTom iPhone kit now being sold through US Apple Store
By Ross Miller 
posted Oct 25th 2009 5:07PM
posted Oct 25th 2009 5:07PM
[Via App Advice]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
I think I will pass on this. You can get just as good looking dock for under 50 bucks, and most people will not know the difference between this "enhanced" GPS signal, and the one through the phone itself.
DIE TOMTOM AND GARMIN
DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH
FROM iPHONES and ANDROID PHONES HEART I STABBETH THEE
Aww that last uncapitalized "and" took away all the drama..
wait, so are people paying $120 for that piece of plastic or is the software included?
120 for the piece of plastic. apple once again proves their fanboys are styupid as hell and will pay ridiculous prices if they use big words. "zomg look at its polycarbon (plastic) construction!"
I'm a PC slob, but this might be the first Apple related product I buy. Does anyone know if this works with the iTouch? Because I would love to buy the whole package for $300.
Amazon still has the 2nd gen iTouch with the 16 GB for $220.
It's like the Guitar Hero attachment for the Wii... it's a friggin $120 piece of plastic.
In case you are wondering, The Geek Squad can install it for $69, "if you are buying this, you probably got money to throw around" they said while laughing maniacally.
I think there are probably a couple advantages to this over the built-in iphone GPS:
1. better GPS signal
2. The GPS chip can stay active if you turn the navigation app off (phone call) so it doesn't have to re-aquire your position when you start it back up again
Tchaik,
Yes, it works with the iTouch because the dock itself has some kind of GPS enhancing chip. So if you go the iTouch, this isn't a bad move.
@TimTebow:
The Engadget OP and the Apple store make it clear this is for iPhone 3G and 3GS only and will NOT work with iPods.
my bad, i swear when it first came out that it said it was the same, but yeah I just read that.... ohhhh well
I like the idea in theory of having one electronic device that caters to all my technological needs, but there is something to be said for having a dedicated GPS unit.
Mm, as everything converges onto one device they will have no option but to make it expensive, as it is a commodity. As they shut down their other sources of revenue I foresee more and more ripoffs like this...
I think they are pricing it like that so they can keep selling their standalone units. Is there another real reason for the app price and this overpriced stand?
Yeah a real GPS is still the way to go, but I think it's a smart move for them to start working on their smartphone stuff now. Phones are one good GPS hardware/software combo away from replacing dedicated GPS units.
You are right, for example ..a phone isn't going to replace the professional's dedicated camera for a while.. or video camera .. or computer .. or TV or stereo system .. or GPS.
So there will always be room for dedicated devices.
But, the phone can replace those things for users who need the basics and aren't power users.
Is this going to mean the pro stuff is going to cost a shitload (since it's specialized)? I dunno.
Eventually we may have to stop calling it phone because they may be used for so many other things more often than the phone use.
maybe the can add phones to the GPS units!
@Ridgecity... there is already one. It's called the Nuvifone.
Is this one going to catch fire or is that just a belkin feature?
For once us europeans didn't get screwed - and I can therefore confirm that the kit works on all iPhones - that would be: original, 3G and 3GS and not just 3G and 3GS.
A small, but important detail as the carkit includes a GPS antenna.
$120 bucks for a dock?
Sure, enhanced GPS... speakers... I'd say maybe 60-80 bucks, but 120 sans app just feels like a ripoff.
Because it is.
I agree, thats a heavy price for having GPS in such a high end phone.
Ofcz, with iphone you can use gmaps or telenav, but iphone should have had
an internal gps by itself.
Rip off, i agree.
A dock and power cord for over a hundred bucks. This is exactly the kind of Apple rape that infuriates me, because thousands of people will buy this thinking that its the only solution, when just as keith said, there are plenty of mega cheap options out there that do the same damn thing.
You do realize that this is TomTom’s HW and suggested selling price, not Apple’s? On Amazon this same kit for the UK is £99.99 BPS. That is $163.xx USD today.
What happens as someone calls you right when you have to make a crucial turn on a long interstate?
I think you should watch the demo.
PS: I think EVERYONE should watch the demo , this is a GPS extension (That works off of the actual GPS satellites) , Not cell towers.
This is assisting the iPhones already available Triangular aGPS ability. Making it much more powerful.
@XDS: The iPhone 3G and 3GS (the only ones this works with) already have "real" GPS.
aGPS is NOT the cell tower triangulation any phone is capable of.
It's a normal GPS, COMBINED with data from the cell network. This makes it better than an equivalent GPS chip, though still not as good as the ones in most standalone units.
@XDS
I think you should research before you explain an acronym that you clearly don't know what it stands for. Assisted global positioning system means it's gps that is assisted by cell towers which enhances it further.
@jon @pheonix @jK
I really don't think the iPhone 3G or even the 3GS has a sat GPS chip in it.
And to the best of my knowledge aGPS (assisted GPS) is only cell tower triangulation. I could be wrong about that one.
Specs please.
Anyways , If it does , please point me to the specs and i'll pick one up sooner rather than later.
All talk and no data.
@XDS
Wrong on both counts. Teardowns have shown that there is a GPS chip inside both the 3G and 3GS, and aGPS definitely uses a combination of GSM triangulation and GPS data.
You say all talk and no data, but a tiny amount of searching would have confirmed what other people told you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html - See Location.
The iPhone's not alone in having aGPS either, my E71 is amongst the Nokias that have it included, as do several Blackberries.
JK
@XDS: Is this what you mean?
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/maps-compass.html
Once again, the 3G and 3GS have REAL GPS. They even start up faster than a regular GPS when you move them because they can use the triangular aGPS stuff to get them started on location, which helps things come up quickly. But anyway, they have REAL GPS.
http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/XKaFxpO1moybnfat.large
OK so judging from the above picture you guys might be right. I say _MIGHT_ be.
Couple of things...
Why is it I have always had this conception that aGPS was Cell tower (triangulation) GPS
only ?
And is there any actual data showing that this "infineon" GPS
transceiver chip is " active " ? For instance we know the FM radio portion isn't active .
Who is to say --this GPS chip is active ?
To many variables. But yes on certain points I think you guys MIGHT
be right on.
A actual close up picture of the chip would help. And one things IS for certain , this isn't no SurfStar III .
Regards,
@XDS
@XDS
Dear god you're stubborn.
To be marketed as aGPS, GPS must be present. GSM triangulation alone is accurate to ~2000m, whereas aGPS can tell me within 15-20 accurately. The services uses a combination of GSM triangulation & knowledge of where the satellites are (like TomTom's GpsQuickFix technology) in order to gain an accurate location faster.
Your confusion might arise from the fact that you can get your location on any phone with Google Maps (using cell tower triangulation), but only to a very low resolution. Real aGPS is a lot more accurate.
The diagram you posted shows a discrete GPS chip. Why on earth would they include that & not use it? And no, it's not a SirfStar III, it's an Infineon. As it says. Competition =)
E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E
I can't believe they aren't going to support the touch. It's not really even justifiable buying this if you already have GPS. Being able to add GPS to a touch would actually add some value to this device. I highly doubt the built in GPS of the iphone won't be sufficient when mounted on the windshield. My tiny USB GPS receiver gets great signal on my dash. Not to mention they are ripping people off with the app cost, when your done buying the app and the dock you would have been better off getting a stand alone Tom Tom unit. I wonder how many people are going to jailbreak their iphone just for the Tom Tom or similarly priced apps...
Ehem... ya I did :) Free tomtom ;) I think i'll be buying this. I'll throw my old iPhone 2G on it and bam dedicated gps
Damn, it doesn't work with the Touch? How do you know?
Oops, I read the article. Never mind.
Actually there's a bit of unresolved confusion here.
The Tom Tom APP only works on the 3G and 3GS iPhones.
The Tom Tom KIT will plug into an original iPhone. You can use it with Google Maps or other geo Apps, I assume.
Now, the question is, does the Kit work with a Touch? If it does and I have to use Google Maps, then that would be almost good enough for my purposes.
@Gregorian
you know that google maps needs internet connection right? also, your iTouch does not have any internet connection? of course you have wifi but its limited to small theoritical 100 m :) good luck with that
Actually, GoogleMaps can cache up areas.
I use it like that quite often.
Admittedly I wish it would do it better... be able to set aside a solid gig of memory for caching for example.... and that wouldn't be difficult from a programming point of view.
Whatever. Just my little personal peeve that the Touch could be a cool little GPS device, if only it was politically allowed to be so.
I'm honestly curious - what other options are there out there that integrate a car mount, useable speakerphone, car charging, and line audio out? Enhanced GPS is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.
I bought a $20 car mount and a $20 car charger, and I've never had a problem with my iPhone' speakerphone but my car already has a audio-in jack for the iPhone's headphone jack, a $10 cable tops. $50 bucks, I got the same thing going on. You can't seriously tell me that the "enhanced GPS" is worth $70 bucks.
Yeah, I find the iPhone's speakerphone pretty unusable in the car, which is why I'm actually considering this thing (hate using a headset).
For $120 you could get a perfectly fine Garmin GPS unit. Then you have to buy the iPhone software too? This is ridiculous.
I already got it, and i really love it. It works great. GPS-Fix is instantly!
$20-$30 sold, $130 kiss my a$$. Such a rip off, stupid.....
Three words TomTom....GFY
Wooow, the past few years and the app store have really cut down your guys' sympathy for anything over 20 bucks. I mean honestly, they need to make a profit, don't they?
has an separate GPS receiver, works with non-TomTom apps (eg Navigon, Goole Maps etc), works with iPhone 2g, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71cGSFVwu1E&feature=player_embedded
Greez
i'll wait for it when its in the bargain bin.. how does this plus the software = a good deal..
when a stand alone gps is way cheaper.
Agreed. I'd been waiting patiently for this Tom tom kit but the price combo is a joke, well sadly rather it's not a joke.
The kit is more expensive than you can get an iPhone for in AU.
I too shall keep waiting patiently, since I already was
I don't know. I like my Palm Pre. It already includes a GPS and Sprint Navigation. Hook that up with my Motorola MOTOROKR T505 bluetooth speakerphone/fm transmitter -- and I can listen to MP3s or Pandora and do the turn by turn GPS thing at the same time. It just works. Don't know why anyone would need to buy more equipment or pay for software.... (get the Pre, K?)
Sprint navi, does that have a monthly charge though, telcos love service charges
@Cy re: sprint navi -
no additional cost for the sprint navi. it's included with your service. It's pretty slick. I had my doubts until I bought the Pre and began using it.
Not to mention the fact that the Sprint Pre, or for that matter any WinMo phone running TomTom can actually multitask, so that you don't get closed out of the navigation app when you get a phone call, or if you decide to play music, etc.
My car will be broken into and this $120 cradle will show up on eBay.
I think it's only flaw is that for those of us with an ipod ready deck in our cars, ie. we just plug the iphone/ipod cable right into the iphone to play music and charge, there is no way for us to still take advantage of that feature. It seems a bit annoying to me to have to go back to analog 3.5mm plug from the digital usb cable. Unless of course if there is some kind of adapter for the charger, I haven't seen the other end of it yet. Anyone know?
No built in speaker but a nice holder here http://thoughtout.biz/PED3-Auto
also if the dock provides more accurate positioning than thats telling me that the software alone is not as accurate as it should be!
I have Navigon and couldn't be happier! Accurate, street naming, 3D viewing, etc.
This is insane!! A GPS system at this price that (1) switches off whilst you take a call and (2) doesn't output through the car speakers, and (3) costs £60 for the software, but has poor GPS reception until you pay an extra £99!! I have tomtom on my T-mobile windows mobile that is 2-3 years old, and even that can handle all of these effortlessly. What a huge step backwards!
I'm going to stick with other options for GPS, though I may go for the Co-Pilot software for the iphone (£26 for software is a fair deal, and the reviews are good so far).
There are several mentions for other cheaper in-car cradle options. I'm looking for such an option that can
- charge the iphone
- transmit music & calls through the car speakers.
Can anyone recommend one?
Well you've got cheap 5$ china kits from ebay that work perfectly fine with charging too, but as for audio, you would probably need an aux input on your car so you can just take a standard 3.5mm jack to jack and use it to play music while having gps navigation through the car stereo, but you need an aux jack in on your radio...
@Gazcam
it's not in-cradle and it doesn't charge the iPhone, but for transmitting music and calls through the car speakers I've used the Motorola MOTOROKR T505 bluetooth speakerphone/fm transmitter. If you look around you can find it for about $65 shipped. Pairs with your phone through bluetooth and transmits to an FM station.
Ah, okay it's as easy as that? I'd heard that the lack of a line-out on the iphone means the audio quality is poor from the headphone out - is that my misunderstanding?
It would be nice if GPS was reliable / working correctly on my iPhone 3.1.2. Right now the best it seems to be able to pull off is about 500 feet..not even close to being GPS :(
what a joke
You mean this TomTom program for the iPhone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFtUhDh71s
I don't think any 120 dollar dock is going to make it useful.
Wow that is horrible. After being in the hole $220 that's the kind of performance you get? That's completely unusable. I've never seen that bad of performance on any phone I've had that's used GPS navigation. Even Verizon's stupidest dumb phones do better than that.
this car kit gives GPS support to the iPhone 2G, so i'll be purchasing it for that reason
LOL for an extra 50 bucks you can get a dedicated GPS that has a larger screen, and a decent speaker, and touch screen. Plus ANTI glare coating.
Things that are dedicated are so much better. For instance if you have a lan party, using a dedicated local game server is WAY better than a shared local service, or a shared internet server.
I'm just fine with my tom tom GPS with the 4.3'' screen
Wonder when its coming to Australia... although its bloody expensive.
Here in Canada you can find plenty of stand alone GPS units that will be much cheaper than this dock and app together. Will also offer free lifetime traffic, etc. What's more we still don't know if this TomTom app in App store will ever get new maps, or they will just release a new app "TomTom 2010 Q1" and again ask 99$ (I'm waiting if this will actually happen).
I have stand alone TomTom device and maps are updated quarterly, each time though you have to pay 69 Euro (~104USD).
Dock though looks very nice, I was always wondering why there is no dock that can charge and use this same connection for audio, instead of connecting yet another cable at the top.
http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pocketdock/lineout-miniusb.html
BOOM! It's like magic.
@Fancy Shmancy: Yeah, but the SendStation dock doesn't work with the iPhone. Only works with the iPod. I know, I tried it. Look at their page, they don't claim compatibility with the iPhone.
yo
im gonna have it
test
I'd love to get this but a) it's too expensive, I can get a dedicated GPS cheaper than this, and b) Most importantly what happens when you get a phone call or what to listen to music? It's going to disconnect the map from the service. Until the iPhone has multitasking capability this strikes me as a waste of money.
120.00 for a plastic iphone car kit!!!! tomtom what a deal!..........ppfffttt really?!?!?!?
Use Waze found at http://www.waze.com It's free!! And with the money you save, go buy one of those heavy beanbags to cradle your junk.
Overview of features by TomTom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn0lJFHXMB4
apparently this dock is pretty awesome.
$120?
Ahhha.... Ahhahahhahahha... AHHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!
Sure, I'm biased as heck... but you can buy a Garmin Nuvifone for $99 on the same network with the same plan. Sure, the Nuvifone is no iPhone, but this $120 isn't for an iPhone... it's for a cradle!
I bought one but 2-3 week time on site is misleading. The Apple site says it won't ship until December 4th and arrive a week later. Hopefully the estimated ship date is just wrong.
For me it was simply a matter of one less thing in my briefcase when I travel. The price is ridiculous but one less device and charger allows me to more stuff I actually need versus many special purpose devices.
Buying an iPhone GPS app is fine. Go ahead and do that. As you say, its one less thing to carry with you when you travel. But I wouldn't buy this cradle. You can get a perfectly good cradle for $19.95 at Best Buy from Griffin. And lots of others available at reasonable prices as well depending what you're looking for. Sure they don't have the "enhanced" GPS chip nor the bluetooth speakerphone, but I don't personally need those. The GPS inside the iPhone has worked fine every time I used it, not sure why I'd need a different one. And when forced to use the GPS in the Phone I either use my bluetooth earpiece, or pair the phone with the rental car, or just don't take calls while driving...
anyone know when this is releasing in canada? on the canadian apple store under shipping it says "currently unavailable". i called apple stores around here and they claim they're not getting it? =\
one word installous
anyone had better luck with a simple windshield mount? assume u will need some type of charger either with it or separate b/c the nav app eats the battery so much
Copilot live has been brilliant- never lost the GPS signal once- so not sure why it needs enhancing???
Halfords windshield mount £16
halfords car charger £8
job done well
Not in the Australian Apple Store. Bloody typical!
bah, when I first heard it, I thought it was a great idea. Simple, convenient and seems sturdy. Now with the 120$ tag behind it, I'll go cry myself to bed. That piece of plastic at most costs 40 dollars. No seriously features warrant such a big price hyke. Good job tomtom, you just ruined your name... again.
I ordered it through Apple's online store and it's arriving tomorrow (arrived today but nobody was here to sign for it). I think there was an error with their online store allowing it to ship already instead of waiting for their official US release... awesome
Hi,
Thank you so much for providing this useful information. I hope this will help many readers.
The Digital and portable radio transceiversRedLaser is not perfect. To an extent, it is still a work in progress, but it is getting better with more features on the way and is well worth the two bucks. Why did this excellent application get only 2 stars out of five at the iPhone store? I suspect this has something to do with the typical technically-challenged iPhone user, who would be taking a picture of a product box instead of the label and who would be holding the camera sideways while trying to scan the stocking barcode instead of the UPC. I went through my garage, randomly picking up boxes from my recent purchases: RedLaser works just fine, if you use it properly and if your hands don't shake too much from excessive drinking.