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Posted on February 4th, 2010 by Jon Honeyball
TomTom 940T vs iPhone TomTom: a real road test
Last week, I had to drive to Brussels. I took the overnight ferry by Stena Line from Harwich which plonked me into Hook of Holland at about 7am in the morning. Ideal for a fast sprint to Brussels, or so I thought. Thick fog everywhere, traffic queues everywhere, and Rotterdam was a mess.
Fortunately I had two TomTom GPS units with me. Firstly, is the trusty top of the range 940T with the live traffic update data facility. Plus I had the UK and European maps version of the TomTom software on my iPhone. I had also recently bought the new TomTom active car mount kit which has a GPS aerial unit within the mounting. So it was going to be interesting to try two versions of ostensibly the same thing.
Getting the iPhone into the mount wasn’t easy — it didn’t click in well, and felt stiff and awkward. But it worked out, and was soon mounted alongside the 940T.
Comparing the maps and routing of the two units was fascinating. The 940T was head and shoulders better than the iPhone, simply by virtue of the live traffic updates. The 940 had me scurrying around Rotterdam to avoid the motorway gridlocks. If I had stuck to the iPhone software, I think I would still be finding my way around the ringroad, one week later.
Once away from bad traffic, there was not much to compare in terms of routing, although the 940T seemed to make consistently better choices. And quitting the app on the iPhone to do anything else was a pain in the posterior. Yes, the iPhone software automatically reroutes when you restart the app, but this is a fiddle. This side of the app definitely needs background operation mode on the iPhone. I’d take the 940T every time.
On arrival at the underground garage in Brussels, I went to remove the iPhone from the mount and it wouldn’t come off. It was stuck fast. Some brute force ensued, and finally it popped out. The reason it wouldn’t come off was clear — the mounting had dug into the top of the phone, next to the SIM carrier, and had basically broken the case work. Not only that, it had separated the back from the glass front, too. I wasn’t happy.
However, a quick check on my arrival back in the UK soon revealed the problem. I had bought, in error, the iPod Touch version of the mount, not the iPhone version. I’m sure the correct version works fine, but I can assure you that the iPod Touch mounting will destroy your iPhone.
Posted in: Hardware, Real World Computing
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18 Responses to “ TomTom 940T vs iPhone TomTom: a real road test ”
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February 4th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Hmmm. Dare I say, what a plonker, about the car-kit for the iPhone.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Good to hear what the different experiences are like from someone who has used both first-hand. I have been looking forward to replacing my Go520 with the iPhone app so I only have to use one device, but it seems TomTom have a way to go yet to deliver the same experience on the iPhone. Then again, perhaps they never will as it would affect their sales of stand alone units.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
PS. Is the iPhone covered for this damage?
February 4th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
You get what you pay for don’t you? And iPhone is a phone you can buy a satnav app for (though not a cheap as my £25 Co-pilot live) whilst the 940T is as you say a top if the range unit. Your point about live updates apart most of your gripes are about the fixing. I’m not sure this article actually tells anyone anything other than make sure you buy (you DID buy it didn’t you?) the right piece of kit for the job
February 4th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Given that TomTom and Android are both based around Linux kernals, and with all the forthcoming slate devices, it will be very interesting to see which way the 2 markets converge over the next couple of years. Especially since TomTom hasn’t bothered updating their screen/chassis for a couple of years
February 4th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
are live traffic updates on the 940t RF or web based?
February 4th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Yo, I just checked and the android version has the live traffic features. Might make a lot of sense on a 7-9″ tablet. In my opinion these devices are only going to make sense as car infotainment.
February 5th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Jon, you once said that you need to make sure you have the right tool for the right job. Obviously you did not do that this time around. You need to perform the test again using the correct mount. It is possible you did not have a valid connection to the iphone with the incorrect mount
February 5th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Does anyone test the testers !!!!!!!!
There will be live traffic updates for the iPhone app and how can this be a valid test if you did not have the correct equipment??
February 5th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
I’m running CoPilot Live on my Iphone. itunes works within the app so easy to use. The software I find is first rate (although the interface is a little condusing at first). Routing is generally good (I have a TomTom unit, can’t remeber the model) and traffic seems to work. All in all v good for £26 plus the annual subscription f0r traffic
February 6th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Robert: using the wrong mount will not affect the ability of the tomtomsoftware to work. It had full satellite signal. The connector fitted just fine into the phone.
Nick: the iphone software doesnt do live traffic update yet. I was using the current 1.2 version.
anon: GPRS data with sim built into the device
simon hiscocks: of course I bought all of it, software and hardware.
jon
February 10th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
I would like to know what happens if you receive a phone call whilst driving? Does it take you to the phone application so that for the duration of the call you have no idea where you are going? Does it automatically go to loudspeaker?
February 11th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Many years ago a coleague of mine managed to traverse great distances using what i believe was called a ‘map book’. These had the advantage of not breaking when put under excesive force.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Just get another iphone out that big box apple sent you, you know the one with all the money in it.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
LAX: which bit of “of course I bought all of it, software and hardware.” dont you understand?
February 17th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I would have thought the lack of multi-tasking in iphone OS would be a bit of a downer, or does the phone bit work independently when you receive calls?
This is Version 1 software (for iphone) so when it has done a few iterations, it should be better! I’m interested in replacing my TOMTOM with a ‘phone \ handsfree unit, so can we have an update when the updates come out please Mr H?
February 19th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I use Navigon Eurpoe Software – apart from the iPhone’s actually quite bad GPS receipt ( no facility to switch off assisted GPS ) I think it is brilliant, and as good as my tomtom- Live updates – re-routing- Traffic ( in Europe) – Also plays Itunes and takes calls through Bluetooth connection and streams out through the Hi-fi. It all just works together
March 31st, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I’m not quite sure what LAX was reading.
Quote “The 940T was head and shoulders better than the iPhone”
Quote “the 940T seemed to make consistently better choices”
Quote “And quitting the app on the iPhone to do anything else was a pain in the posterior. Yes, the iPhone software automatically reroutes when you restart the app, but this is a fiddle. This side of the app definitely needs background operation mode on the iPhone. I’d take the 940T every time.”
From the above quotes I can’t Steve Jobs signing a big fat cheque for Jon.
Yes Jon was a plonker for ordering the wrong mount but that doesn’t affect the application.