[exNavy]

Originally Posted by sziklassy

Based on the keynote, the kit is supposed to boost your gps signal, if I am not mistaken. My main question is price. Will it be worth buying this over a normal gps unit? For me it would have to be around 50-75 bucks at the most to warrant me purchasing this over a standalone device.

I like the idea of this being integrated into my phone, which leaves the car when I do. As opposed to some dedicated GPS unit that you either have to hide and hope doesn't get stolen, or drag with you in a bag.

[sziklassy]

Originally Posted by Happy Noodle Boy

Well going by TomTom's website, the US/Canada map is worth about $80 depending on the model. That's what I'm expecting the app to be, but I wouldn't be surprised if its closer to 100

Is that Canadian or USD? I can buy a new Garmin Nuvi at Best Buy for 120 USD retail. Seems like the app plus the dock will cost that much anyway. Count me out I guess...

Originally Posted by exNavy

I like the idea of this being integrated into my phone, which leaves the car when I do. As opposed to some dedicated GPS unit that you either have to hide and hope doesn't get stolen, or drag with you in a bag.

I don't disagree, however if it costs the same as a gps unit I'd rather just keep the one I have and throw it in the glovebox when I am done. More damage will occur to my car if it is broken into than the loss of a 150 dollar gps unit to be honest.

The convenience argument can go either way too. If I am using the GPS app on the phone I can't be doing something else with it. Sort of a catch 22. I wouldn't say that eliminating the standalone unit is worth the price of the standalone unit (or more), but that is just my opinion.

[reddawg]

btw does this tomtom app require internet connection. because i have no data plan for my iphone, all i do is use wifi on it when im home/school. so if i were to use it in the car, would i be fine without an internet connection on my phone? just wondering

I'm in the same boat. I used to have TomTom 6 on my PDA and I was able to search, route, re-route, etc, without an internet connection. I would suspect that since Apple has lifted the turn-by-turn GPS restrictions concerning firmware 3.0 in the AppStore, it should be fully functional without an internet connection.

[virtualcappy]

What's the difference between having a stand-alone unit and having to buy the "nav-pack" or whatever its called? Seems like a wash to me... I really hope they don't require you to buy their hardware... that would be a deal-breaker for me. As has been stated, XGPS is pretty good and I use it routinely.

[Amraam]

I'm very much looking forward to this, however if it's going to be more than £50 (combined price of stand and app) I'll have to give it a miss. I've not bought a satnav simply because of the price and as much as I'd love one on the iphone, truly making it an all in one device, I'd have to pass up here too for the same reason.

Fingers crossed it won't be too much. I'm hoping that for the fact that they are not having to manufacture the actual devices (only the stands with the GPS chip/hands free) that it will cost about 75% of a stand alone tomtom device.

[confucious]

Originally Posted by Amraam

I'm very much looking forward to this, however if it's going to be more than £50 (combined price of stand and app) I'll have to give it a miss.

You will be giving it a miss then - check out the price of TT Maps alone for other devices.

I'll wait for CoPilot - it won't be long after TT and is so much better

[itsnolongfing]

How much do u lots think the application would cost? Cheers

[andrunious]

saweeettt!!

[glydewake]

I think the best thing to look forward to here is not just the TomTom app, but more importantly, competition. If Apple simply chose one app or one company to partner with and be the go-to GPS app for the iPhone, we'd be stuck with one price, possible one too expensive for its own good. Hopefully the future will bring greater and greater GPS options at lower and lower prices.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

Originally Posted by Amraam

I'm very much looking forward to this, however if it's going to be more than £50 (combined price of stand and app) I'll have to give it a miss.

Be ready for give that miss, pretty sure the stand alone was announced to be around $40 by itself.

[NakedFaerie]

Originally Posted by thecork

And to the person asking about the internet connection. No. TomTom will have built in maps so that it can always work offline. (That will cue a load more complaints more than likely that the maps will take up a gig, "oh man what a piece of s**t i only have 8 gigs i aint gonna waste 1 on a sat nav"...can see it now. Jeez.) The only thing it may require a net connection for is to update traffic info and the like, but i expect that to be subscription based as well, just like their standalone units and their previous mobile software.

Why would the maps be 1gig where the PDA version is just over 100mb?
The last map I got was 130mb and that has TTS in it so its bigger than normal.

[badlydrunkboy]

I'm assuming that the software will be cracked fairly shortly after being released and therefore available for jailbroken iphones anyway?
I'd hate to have to by the seperate stand thing as i only bought one a couple of months ago which hold my phone perfectly.

[adp]

Originally Posted by virtualcappy

What's the difference between having a stand-alone unit and having to buy the "nav-pack" or whatever its called? Seems like a wash to me... I really hope they don't require you to buy their hardware... that would be a deal-breaker for me. As has been stated, XGPS is pretty good and I use it routinely.

I also use xGPS, but the iPhone itself has a very weak antenna. That is why it always places you on the wrong road or keeps going in the wrong direction for a few seconds. The black holder that the iPhone is placed (in this video) will provide a stronger GPS antenna and hence to capability of true turn-by-turn navigation. I guess you can download the app without buying the hardware, but it won't be as accurate as standalone units.

I wonder how flexible this app will be, and I wish Pandora would work in the background so we can listen to it while using this (or any map) app. I also wonder how they're going to deal with connection to the car for audio, as many people listen to their iPhones using direct connection through the USB cable, or the crappy radio signal. Will this unit limit us to listen to music through the headphone jack?

[thecork]

Originally Posted by NakedFaerie

Why would the maps be 1gig where the PDA version is just over 100mb?
The last map I got was 130mb and that has TTS in it so its bigger than normal.

Erm it depends on the map. For TT6 Western Europe, which i use is 960 meg (or there abouts, i can't remember exactly). The UK and ROI maps are 240 meg (that is with the software obviously, but all takes up space...) I don't know what they are on other places, i guess you are using a very localised map, or live in a small country, or are just very lucky. To be honest as others have said, its all irrelivant anyway, *cough* ********** *cough*. Hence why i think a lot of people are hoping it will work standaone without their hardware, they we will actually have to fork out some money!

Originally Posted by adp

I wonder how flexible this app will be, and I wish Pandora would work in the background so we can listen to it while using this (or any map) app
Will this unit limit us to listen to music through the headphone jack?

A) Officially, no, iPhone does not support background processes remember, but it does support access to the iPod library in the new SDK so maybe TT will write that functionality in, but don't count on it, would be great if they did. But as always, there is always backgrounder for jailbroken devices.

B) It looks like it. It looks like it will be sending GPS signals through the dock connector, and has it's own proprietary connector to provide power via the same dock connection from the car 9V. Who knows, there may be a passthrough dock connector hidden in that cradle somewhere, but again, i doubt it...

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by exNavy

I like the idea of this being integrated into my phone, which leaves the car when I do. As opposed to some dedicated GPS unit that you either have to hide and hope doesn't get stolen, or drag with you in a bag.

Other than some factory GPS units, they are all designed to be taken with you, though not all are battery powered. Even if it's not useful when carrying around, it is useful for switching vehicles (for instance, renting vehicles while on business trips in unfamiliar cities) as well as theft-prevention.

Originally Posted by thecork

...
A) Officially, no, iPhone does not support background processes remember, but it does support access to the iPod library in the new SDK so maybe TT will write that functionality in, but don't count on it, would be great if they did. But as always, there is always backgrounder for jailbroken devices.
...

Why would it need access to your library when you can already play music in other apps? The way I see it, the new API is for adding to or parsing through the library.