GPS, TomTom Ease splashing down later this year for not much coinage (hands-on)
By Darren Murph 
posted January 7th 2010 3:14AM
posted January 7th 2010 3:14AM
GPS, posted January 7th 2010 3:14AM
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**scratches head wondering why, in 2010, GPS manufacturers still haven't switched to QWERTY**
Yeah, absolutely no friggin sense at all :/
I'm not even going to hope for Dvorak :P
@aubreyq
Because after 2010 they will be switching to bankruptcy.
@aubreyq
Donald Melanson says: This TomTom device should also have the option to use both QWERTY or ABCDEF, my old TomTom Navigator on my WinMo phone had that option.
Also, remember that a lot of people feel at ease with ABCDEF, as they know that's coming before and after each key.
@aubreyq
I still don't even know why they're bothering with a low-end GPS, with the QVGA resolution, when existing smartphones can easily do that job (some with much bigger screens). Can't see where the market is for the Ease?
@Donald: I stand corrected, Donald. Fail on me.
@Caricature of Intamacy
Because iPhones are about $900 and these are about $180?
@Caricature of Intamacy Because not everyone can afford a high end smartphone on a high end tariff.
Personally I think that low cost GPS units are the way forward. I cannot understand why you'd pay £200+ for something which tells you how to get from A to B. It's a hell of a lot of money.
@Caricature of Intamacy
because not every moron wants to waste the already crappy battery life of their smartphone even more when they are already in their car driving somewhere.
I like TomTom a lot and have TomTom 7 running on my Windows Mobile Treo Pro and it comes in handy when I'm using someone else's car but ultimately a dedicated PND like this is much preferred when I'm in my personal ride.
@brolin LOL! I see what you did there.
@merovingian
I guess I'm one of the luck few that have a charging cable for my phone in my car. Lucky me.
@Silver
I think the way forward is that every car comes with a GPS standard just as they do with car radios, CD players, and air conditioning nowadays.
@aubreyq
Maybe because the keyboard would would only fit 8 keys in a row and due to the size of the screen vs the minimum size of usable virtual key.
You really want a keyboardQWERTY like this?
QWERTYI
ASDFGHJK
ZXCVBNMO
PL[space]
Wow, this is cool, I've never seen anything like it!
-This message was brought to you from 12 years ago.
@Wwhat
I shat brix when I saw that UI, along with the abundance of gradients. It's almost as modern and creative as the iPhone OS'!
Well it does have to compete with android's google navigation, so they are pulling all stops to pull you in with their fancy GUI and high res devices.
Where the heck is "City:Lmuuumumumd"?
Can't be anything but wales I reckon.
@yulebellow
That was voice to text of him really getting into an egg McMuffin
Isnt this the TomTom Start that was released in Australia 4-5 month ago. Pretty certain its the same one we have been selling at work for a while now. Also $99 AUD staff price for me hell yeah!
@1800BelowMe
yep they have that in UK
@Tobster
They must of delays the US release to to have something to show off at CES
@Tobster
They must have delayed the US release just to have something to show off at CES
GPS navigators that don't have QWERTY keyboards suck. This one doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard, therefore it _____. you fill in the blank.
@blinky
I personally haven't felt the urge to write essays on my TomTom... sure a qwerty would be nice, but it's no big deal for entering postal and zip codes.
Agreed, it's irrelevant for simple GPS devices really.
@blinky Go into the preferences of the device. There is an option on TomToms to select which keyboard you want.
Open mouth, insert foot.
@toast
It does have a qwerty. You get the choice of ABC or QWERTY keyboard on these units in the settings. ABC is default cause on the small screen the QWERTY is rather small n squashed, where as the ABC layout make better use of the limited screen size.
But yes QWERTY is much easier to work with.
This looks like, and has specs that match, the TomTom 125SE I bought at WalMart for $59. The interface looks slightly tweaked, but I'm not sure this isn't just another "bump it .1 firmware revs, change the color and the name, and release it again."
Frankly, the TomTom was worth what I paid, but my wife's fairly ancient Magellan 2200T has a much better interface, better screen, and more features. If only the still made maps for it, because the 2007 or 08 set that is on it is miserably out of date. There, the regular updates from TomTom are a bonus.
I believe this product is on sale in england as the tomtom start at around £99. It is available with a multitude of coloured covers. don't know if you already have that in US?
It'll sell for under $100... which makes it a nice deal compared to smart phone apps. But it also solidifies a simple fact: handheld GPS is dying out. In a few years they will be simple and cheap like calculators.