Magellan, one of the leading GPS brands, today announced an innovative new vehicle mount for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and second generation iPod touch. With a built-in GPS receiver for improved navigation accuracy, the Premium Car Kit features an amplified speaker for crystal clear directions and enhanced Bluetooth hands-free calling and clear turn-by-turn directions.
For iPod touch 2G users, the GPS receiver in the Magellan Premium Car Kit allows true navigation functionality, turning the iPod touch into a complete car navigation system. Once the iPod touch is connected to the Premium Car Kit, a separate Bluetooth enabled mobile phone can be connected to it via Bluetooth for hands-free calling.
“Building on the ease of the Magellan RoadMate app, we are proud to introduce a cutting-edge Premium Car Kit that gives our consumers the entire in-car navigation experience from their iPhone or iPod touch,” said Peggy Fong, Chief Operating Officer for Magellan.
Features of the Premium Car Kit include the following:
Secure vehicle mounting for iPhone or iPod touch
Accommodates most silicon skins and hard shell cases
Adjustable mount securely rotates iPhone to either portrait or landscape mode for optimal positioning and widescreen route display
Recharges battery via the vehicle power outlet
Amplified speaker with volume control for loud and clear phone calls and directions
Noise canceling microphone for full duplex speakerphone operation
Auxiliary audio output (for connection to your car stereo)
Works with all navigation applications (including the Magellan RoadMate for iPhone application)
Bluetooth enables hands-free calling
Available now for pre-order, the car kit will retail for $129.99 and will be available at Amazon.com, Best Buy, and MagellanGPS.com.
“With TomTom for iPhone, millions of iPhone users can now benefit from the same easy-to-use and intuitive interface, turn-by-turn spoken navigation and unique routing technology that our 30 million portable navigation device users rely on every day,” said Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom. “As the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps, TomTom is the most natural fit for an advanced navigation application on the iPhone.”
The TomTom app for iPhone 3G and 3GS users includes a map of the US and Canada from Tele Atlas, and is available to download through http://www.tomtom.com/tomtom-app for $99.99 USD.
TomTom app for iPhone key features
TomTom app for iPhone includes the exclusive IQ . Instead of using travel time assumptions, IQ Routes™ technology Routes bases its routes on the actual experience of millions of TomTom drivers to calculate the fastest route and generate the most accurate arrival times in the industry. TomTom IQ Routes empowers drivers to reach their destination faster up to 35% of the time.
Additional TomTom app for iPhone features include:
Best routing and maps
· Navigation software including fast route planning and clear voice instructions
· Automatic re-routing if a turn is missed
· Route demo or map of route when trip planning
· Alternative route options if avoiding roadblocks, toll ways or looking for high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes along route
· Latest Tele Atlas maps of the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand
· 6 million Points of Interest included
Easy to use and personalize
· User interface fully optimized with iPhone.
· Multiple display options including landscape and portrait navigation view
· Night and day color mode for optimized screen visibility in varying light conditions
· User interface available in 18 languages in
· Change view settings (2D or 3D map display)
· Easy to download from iTunes App Store
Complete phone and map integration
· Multi-touch gestures such as tap, swipe, pinch and zoom to operate the application and zoom in and out of the map
· Navigation to contacts in address book
· Points-of-interest search and call capabilities from iPhone
Pricing and Availability
The TomTom app for iPhone including full maps of the US and Canada will be available for $99.99 USD on the Apple App Store. http://www.tomtom.com/tomtom-app.
Compatibility with iPod touch and other iPhone models coming soon.
Requirements for use on the iPhone 3G or 3GS include phone installation of OS3.0 and installation of iTunes on the PC or Mac.
Consumers can have a $1,000 digital media solution combining the NVE-M300 and the iXA-W404 with its 4.3-inch touch screen that is optimized for iPod/iPhone playback. Alternatively, they can create a $1,550 premium system based on the IVA-W505 with its 7-inch touch screen and DVD capability.
The NVE-M300 is a compact, external navigation drive. Measuring only 4 3/8 in. x 4 1/8 in. x 1 in., it is designed to be professionally installed and mounted in a hide-away location, such as behind the dash. Once connected, the NVE-M300 adds a fully integrated navigation experience to Alpine’s two top selling AV head units.
The NVE-M300 features Alpine’s innovative OnPoint™ Advanced GPS Positioning to deliver a better navigation experience. OnPoint ensures that vehicle’s icon stays accurately positioned on the map, even in areas where it’s difficult to receive GPS reception, such as in a tunnel, around tall buildings or under heavy foliage. OnPoint simultaneously uses three technologies – satellite-linked GPS data, solid-state gyro sensor technology (to determine the vehicle’s direction) and accelerometer technology (to gauge the vehicle’s speed) – to deliver improved performance.
A simple and intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) combined with voice guided driving directions make the NVE-M300 easy to use. Big, bright icons and large buttons provide easy identification of commands or maneuvers. Assistive mapping visuals display essential driving information such as One-Way Street icons for clear notification of one-way streets, and Highway Junction View for maneuvering complex interchanges. Text-to-speech technology is used to announce the turn-by-turn driving instructions, including street names, freeway numbers and freeway exit names. All the voice guided driving instructions are delivered through the vehicle’s sound system.
The NVE-M300’s map data is provided from preloaded NAVTEQ® maps of the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As well, the module comes with 6 million unique Points of Interest (POIs), which include restaurants, hotels, gas stations, movie theaters and grocery stores.
The NVE-M300 can be customized to match the user’s preference. Color schemes can be chosen from a palette of four map colors and eight menu colors. English, Spanish or French can be chosen as the preferred language. The Dashboard feature can be set up to display trip information such as driving time and average speed.
“With the NVE-M300, we are delivering an improved GPS navigation experience at a lower cost,” said Stephen Witt, vice president, marketing, Alpine Electronics. “The NVE-M300 drive gives customers the opportunity to easily add GPS navigation to their iXA-W404 of IVA-W505 AV head units.”
Pricing and Availability
The NVE-M300 GPS Navigation Drive is available for $450, the iXA-W404 is available for $550 SRI, and the IVA-W505 is available for $1,100 SRI. All three products are available at authorized Alpine dealers. To find a retailer, visit the Dealer Locator section at www.alpine-usa.com.
First, Murray wouldn’t answer the Big Question Number 1, what’s the exact release date, and Big Question Number 2, what’s the price? He was firm to point out TomTom is stating the release is to be, “Later this summer,” and was clear to point out to me that doesn’t mean the end of the summer. Hope, folks, hope.
What Murray did tell me is that the Car Kit is a big piece of the puzzle, but the puzzle still can be put together without it. Meaning, you do not have to have the Car Kit in order to enjoy turn-by-turn navigation on your iPhone sometime this summer, it’ll just “enhance” your experience. What’s that mean? Well Murray told SvenOnTech that it was a “combine solution” of software and hardware that was really the “ideal marriage” of the two. With the built-in speaker, mic, and other unspecified electronics – say a compass? – the Car Kit will enable drivers not to lose signal in those urban cannons of downtown San Francisco for instance. It’ll also help your iPhone recalculate a new route if you miss a turn so you don’t crash into a cable car waiting for your next turn.
Now don’t worry if you don’t spring for the Car Kit or you find yourself in need of some turn-by-turn assistance on your vacation to San Diego because Murray told me that it was, “Quite effective without the Car Kit” and ever user would still have a “positive experience”. The Car Kit is really just a “sweetener”. Phewf.
The application will be available on the App Store along with the maps packaged all in one. This means if you purchased the North America maps and wish to take your iPhone and TomTom on a trip to France, you’ll have to purchase that app along with that regions map. There will be no way to simply add maps to your TomTom app, though Murray did say it was a, “Safe assumption,” that you’ll be able to purchase updated maps for your current purchase when made available.
While we won’t know until a, “Later point and time,” if the software will contain TomTom’s Advanced Lane Guidance, voice navigation, Internet POIs, traffic updates, or even the ability to send addresses to it from your desktop computer like the defunct Dash Express, SvenOnTech was told that IQ Route and TeleAtlas maps are definitely in this baby. Again, phewf.
SvenOnTech has just learned that start-up GPS maker, Dash Navigation, will announce major changes today. Reports are that two-thirds of its work force, including founder and CEO, Paul Lego, will be issued pink slips. Further, former COO and newly named CEO Rob Currie has said that the Dash Express until will be discontinued as the company realigns itself and focuses on business-to-business sales.
“It’s clear that consumers love the benefits of connected navigation – from up-to-the minute traffic information to live search – as it helps them save time every day,” said Rob Currie, new CEO of Dash Navigation. “Given the current economic environment, we believe that the greatest opportunities lie in integrating our service into the broad array of connected devices on the market.”
SvenOnTech reviewed the Dash Express last summer and with an overall high rating, just could not get past the high hardware price of the unit coupled with the subscription fee. With larger companies such as Garmin and TomTom selling its wares at a one-time price to customers from Wal-mart to Amazon.com, Dash obviously had a difficult time selling its “pay a lot now…and then keep paying” model. SvenOnTech recommended in the review that hardware prices should be slashed or the subscription fee brought down significantly. Unfortunately for Dash, it did not make these changes and now the fate of the company may be doomed.
According to sources, Dash has enough capitol to make it through 2009. All current Dash users will continue to receive service and updates at least until the end of next year. Like the failed subscription-based DVD competitor, DIVX, of mid-nineties, Dash users may have a useless piece of hardware by 2010 if Dash is unable to make revenue in the positive side of the Net Income column.
Dash CEO Currie believes with the development of two-way radios in current cars and the explosion of 3G and GPS enabled smartphones, Dash will be able to successfully sale its unique product to many manufactures in the coming year. With the lackluster of well designed and made GPS units in most of todays automobiles, this would be a great opportunity for Dash and for buyers of new cars. This success will also benefit current Dash Express users with continued software updates to their units.
The software package, costing £19.95 for a download, features a total of 620 sites in France. Each location has been carefully researched and created, over 3 years, providing the listener with an engaging 2 minutes of commentary as they approach or drive by.
Through the launch of this innovative product, French partner ZeVisit, which works with many of the tourism agencies and offices in France, saw an opportunity to reach the Sat Nav generation. “At ZeVisit, we strongly believe that audio is the only media that can make you feel strong emotions. What better than making every journey an emotional journey full of stories and imagination as well?” said Yann Le Fichant, CEO of ZeVisit.
RoadTour’s inventor, Daniel Taylor found that driving the roads of Europe could be a highly frustrating experience; “Sat Navs are great in getting us from A to B but hopeless at connecting us with the rich heritage of Europe” said Daniel. “There are times driving France’s clear motorways, when you might as well be driving through England for all you’re finding out. Our goal with our French partner, Zevisit, is to bring France’s fascinating history, beautiful environment and rich culture to the millions of people who sometimes just drive straight to Provence, barely stopping for fuel on the way”.
RoadTour works with Garmin Sat Nav equipment to trigger audio commentary and pictures of key attractions, including towns, villages, castles and battlefields. The system does not require the driver or passengers to touch any buttons since the audio just pops up, in a similar way to the traffic warnings on the radio. And for those more interested in directions than history…RoadTour even pauses for traffic directions!
Examples of commentaries include Rouen and Alsace;
“We’re in the middle of the 14th Century and it is half past eight in the morning in La place de Vieux Marché in Rouen. Joan of Arc is being brought to the centre of Rouen in a cart, her head shaved and escorted by 120 British soldiers. The Bishop of Beauvais, who supports England, reads the sentence for herecy, “We declare that you, Joan, corrupt member, must be rejected from the unity of the Church so that you won’t contaminate the other members. For this we reject you, we remove you and abandon you”. An immense crowd came to see the execution. Afterwards, when the executioner put out the fire, he got a huge surprise; Joan or Arc’s heart had remained intact! Because the English feared it would become a relic, they decided to throw her remains into the Seine and since then it is said that the Seine from Rouen to the sea is holy. When nearly 20 years later, the King of France, Charles the 7th, took back Normandy from the English, he ordered a cross to be erected in her memory on La Place de Vieux Marché.”
“Alsace became part of Germany in 1871, when a far reaching city planning project was set in motion. The German empire decided to move its political and administrative headquarters to the old city centre of Strasbourg, close to La Place de la Republique…this is truly several cities in one. It is a city that is Catholic, Protestant and Jewish all at once and the three architectural styles co-exist marvellously. According to local, Roger Siffert, Strasbourg is like a very beautiful woman wearing a superb tuxedo but with tennis shoes or boots on her feet…in Alsace, they would say ‘pretty like a punch in the eye’!”
Does a GPS with a constant connection to the Internet make it the best way to travel in your car? Can it find the lowest gas prices, the nearest Starbucks, an ATM near your friends home, and the best pizza joint in town? Will it show you how to get to work quicker than you have ever made it before IN traffic? Does the volume setting of 11 make it that much better than anything else available?
Yes, we know so many questions to be answered but we think we do a pretty good job of answering those and even more with the newest craze hitting cars across the country in this new GPS unit. An Internet enabled GPS device that taps into Yahoo! Local and lets you send your addresses from within your web browser on your computer to your Dash Express sitting silently on your, um, dash.
Now, is it all worth it? Read on.
TomTom has confirmed to SvenOnTech that it has indeed, “…tested and successfully [ran] our navigation software on the iPhone and it looks good and works well.” The Holland-based company told SvenOnTech that it is waiting to see what Apple’s strategy for the built-in GPS is on the next-generation iPhone, “…before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us.”
TomTom is excited that Apple is entering the GPS world with the 3G iPhone, due to release July 11th at both Apple Stores and AT&T stores in various markets, and is more than ready to bring its highly acclaimed navigation software to the iPhone.
TomTom believes with the development of more pedestrian navigation systems, such as the iPhone and Nokia’s offerings, it will continue to bring greater attention and demand to car navigation devices. “With more and more people getting acquainted with navigation, this will also further grow the demand for car navigation,” TomTom’s Karen CK Drake, Public Relations Manager for TomTom, told SvenOnTech last week. Drake emphasized that it does not believe the iPhone to be a replacement device for GPS but rather be “complementary” to its current offerings of car-mounted GPS units.
SvenOnTech will actively watch this developing story and keep our readers abreast of any new information as becomes available.
CDFinder, the leading disc cataloging application for the Apple Macintosh, receives a massive update with new features and more speed. Also, as a world premiere, it offers a GPS based photo search that quickly locates any photos taken within a distance of a geographical position.
“We are impressed by the unique new GPS search feature, as it offers a brand new way of browsing and searching large photo libraries with CDFinder,” said Norbert M. Doerner, chief developer of the CDFinder team. In addition, the team added FileCheck, a checksum feature designed to ensure the data integrity of all cataloged files, important for photographers who want to be sure their precious digital negatives are still fully readable and intact. More speed was another goal, and with the quicker updating of existing catalogs, faster creation of photo thumbnails, and much faster parsing of ZIP archives, that goal was obviously reached.
CDFinder for Macintosh is a Universal Binary and works with PowerPC and Intel-Macs. A Windows version is available as well, which is compatible to Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server and Vista. CDFinder is shareware. The demo version is unlimited in time, but restricted to 25 catalogues. A single license is 29 Euro / 39 USD. Multiple licenses for business or network use are priced depending on the number of clients and features required.
About CDFinder Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re looking for an inexpensive GPS unit with a good looking interface, that’s easy to use, and is loud enough to be heard, then you’ll want to take a look at our most recent review of the Harman Kardon Guide+Play GPS-310.
Harman Kardon? Play? “What,” you ask? Yes, the brand known for its awesome audio products has taken a dive into the navigation market and added a digital audio player to the mix. I was a bit skeptical when I first saw it at a demo put on by the audio chaps, but I must say after 40 plus hours of use for this review, my skepticism is gone. Read the review and see why.
(PS: We love, love, LOVE, the mount. Silly how something so low-tech made us so warm and fuzzy!)