It's been a TomTom week - review of MOBILE 5 for the Nokia 9500

Thanks for the review.

Looks to me Tomtom haven't designed the software specifically for the Nokia 9300/9500. They have simply ported the code for the series 60. Simply not good enough.

The status bar at the right of the screen looks really empty. They could have put far more information on there.

The software doen't look good on Nokia 9500 at all.

samsul wrote:Thanks for the review.

Looks to me Tomtom haven't designed the software specifically for the Nokia 9300/9500. They have simply ported the code for the series 60. Simply not good enough.

The status bar at the right of the screen looks really empty. They could have put far more information on there.

The software doen't look good on Nokia 9500 at all.

No, you can customise this, adding arrival time, speed, etc. And generally fill it up 8-))

Steve

And the price...is it me or doesnt anybody else thing thats its a bit 'steep'

Dont get me wrong, I most likely will buy it at SOME point, but in the mean time....where did I put that trusty A to Z atlas.....

Well thats sold it to me, I will have to wait for it to be distributed now 😊

One thing I would like in applications on this nature is an key to quickly add a stopover point on your journey, for say if your travelling with the family and one of them needs a break at a services or petrol station, you just press a key and it will add the closest one to to you on your route, or if you're going on a night out and you remember you haven't got any cash, it will divert you to a bank. Only one POI type definable by user though, otherwise how would it know?

OT, by the way Steve I noticed that you said the 9500 was communicating with the GPS via bluetooth at the same time as bluetooth with the PC, multiple BT connections on the 9500 is something I am not aware of, still use to the single connection on my 6600, am I understanding it correctly. If so that is something else I have been wanting from a phone for a while, BT car kit here I come 😃

lakeywhite wrote:One thing I would like in applications on this nature is an key to quickly add a stopover point on your journey, for say if your travelling with the family and one of them needs a break at a services or petrol station, you just press a key and it will add the closest one to to you on your route, or if you're going on a night out and you remember you haven't got any cash, it will divert you to a bank. Only one POI type definable by user though, otherwise how would it know?

OT, by the way Steve I noticed that you said the 9500 was communicating with the GPS via bluetooth at the same time as bluetooth with the PC, multiple BT connections on the 9500 is something I am not aware of, still use to the single connection on my 6600, am I understanding it correctly. If so that is something else I have been wanting from a phone for a while, BT car kit here I come 😃

Yes, you can just add a via in the current route, to a POI or address, or whatever. Very sophisticated. And there's the POI warning system, which tells you when an entry in one of your chosen categories is coming up.

And yes, it was working perfectly to both PC and GPS at the same time. Surprised me too!

Steve

slitchfield wrote:Yes, you can just add a via in the current route, to a POI or address, or whatever. Very sophisticated. And there's the POI warning system, which tells you when an entry in one of your chosen categories is coming up.

Steve

Is that an as you are driving, hit a button type thing for a new via, or is it go into the menu search and click a few buttons type thing? I was thinking about the first one.
I knew about the POI warning option, which is cool, but I didn't really want it on all the time just incase one of the kids wants to go the toilet, if you see what I mean 😃

lakeywhite wrote:Is that an as you are driving, hit a button type thing for a new via, or is it go into the menu search and click a few buttons type thing? I was thinking about the first one.
I knew about the POI warning option, which is cool, but I didn't really want it on all the time just incase one of the kids wants to go the toilet, if you see what I mean 😃

Yes, from memory I think it's
- tap find alternative
- tap add via
- select a location or POI

Steve

Thank you, thats that sorted then. I shall see when I can get hold of it now.
Thanks Steve.

This program looks really great, but does Tom Tom plan to release version with North American maps or is it only useful in Europe?

Traci

Steve - I don't have my 9500 yet so apologies if these are really dumb questions but....

1) If the 9500 is setup to link via BT to the GPS can you still use your BT headset

2) If you're in your car do you have to close down the GPS/TTG side to place a call from the handset

3) How do you mount a 9500 horizontally in the car - are there mounts specificially for the 9500 in this mode ?

Thanks

Luc9500 wrote:Steve - I don't have my 9500 yet so apologies if these are really dumb questions but....

1) If the 9500 is setup to link via BT to the GPS can you still use your BT headset

2) If you're in your car do you have to close down the GPS/TTG side to place a call from the handset

3) How do you mount a 9500 horizontally in the car - are there mounts specificially for the 9500 in this mode ?

Thanks

1)No idea, don't have a BT headset!
2)No
3)Yes, there are several, though I don't own one. My 9500 sits ontop my dash, on some non-slip mat

Steve

If I can be of help,

1, from what I have asked earlier, you can have a connection tothe GPS as well as another device it seems,

2, From the review, TomTom doesn't have the task switching menu item as it has it's own menu structire, but you could just press the telephone button and make the call from there and task switch back, but as mentioned due to the proccessor time being taken up some operations may be slow. To recieve a call nothing needs to be done, TomTom will allow this and mute itself and carry on in the screen in front of you. (Actually placing a call and being spotted by the police creates a whole haziness of legal rules, in the UK at least, as you are diverting your attention from driving for an extended period)

3, Please see this thread.

I hope that helps and that I haven't stepped on Steve toes 😉

tracicollins wrote:This program looks really great, but does Tom Tom plan to release version with North American maps or is it only useful in Europe?

Traci

When TomTom (or under it's previous name 'Palmtop' I think) used to make their navigation software for the Psion, they used to have a North American version, but only having got back into their software I see in the coverage area for their other products it doesn't seem to be their, perhaps their market wasn't big enough in the US? If you can find a navigator format map of your own then you should be OK as the map format is now the same across all of their software.

I have used this for a couple of weeks on series 60, 80 and 90.
Although not conformimg to Communicator 'rules' the application has certainly been specifically tailored for the series 80 devices.
I have had a great experience with it and this has been a comparitive test with the alternatives.
You can use a car kit or bluetooth headset at the same time as the GPS (see Ewan's comment about PC suite).
The audio quality drops - using 'cark1' I get crackly audio but it is perfectly understandable and doesn't impede the GPS.
I rate this app very highly.

lakeywhite wrote:When TomTom (or under it's previous name 'Palmtop' I think) used to make their navigation software for the Psion, they used to have a North American version, but only having got back into their software I see in the coverage area for their other products it doesn't seem to be their, perhaps their market wasn't big enough in the US? If you can find a navigator format map of your own then you should be OK as the map format is now the same across all of their software.

They have all their US Maps for their TomTom GO stand alone GPS system. What I can't find on their web site is any suggestion that they will make these maps available to Mobile 5 owners. If anyone has any connections with TomTom I would appreciate it if you might ask for me. They don't do a very good job of answering e-mails that ask questions like that.

Traci

Well, the Go maps work with Mobile 5, so you could buy a version of mobile and then the Go map you want and copy the map folder over. But you don't really want to pay for two products if you are only going to use one.
As us mere mortals have trouble contacting TomTom, maybe a friendly reviewer can have a word..... (cough) ....Steve?

lakeywhite wrote:Well, the Go maps work with Mobile 5, so you could buy a version of mobile and then the Go map you want and copy the map folder over. But you don't really want to pay for two products if you are only going to use one.
As us mere mortals have trouble contacting TomTom, maybe a friendly reviewer can have a word..... (cough) ....Steve?

Yes, that would work, although I was hoping that the Mobile 5 would cost a little less than the $1000 for a GO. If I'm going to spring for one of those that's most likely what I'm going to use. <grin>

Please Steve, get us some info if possible. Thanks in advance.

Traci

Another request for Steve (a fellow cixen😊 ) to see if he can find anything about the non-local maps. Looking at the website it seems that there are local maps for everyone i.e US in the US pack GB in the GB pack. The review looks really good but I wouldn't want to have to buy another GPS to use when in france. Logic would suggest that TomTom would love to sell us more maps. But I'd like to know how much before I buy TTM.

TVM

A general reply to the posts above - although I have *some* access to people inside TomTom, it's mainly on the app development side - I see no more than you guys of their overall plans and purposes! You'll have to go through their usual customer services departments.

From what I've seen of the TomTom PLUS service though, the idea is that you can download new maps for anywhere you're going. Haven't tried it though, as my GPRS tariff is too expensive! Sorry....

Steve Litchfield

Ok, so I have now bought a BT Headset and it is working great with Tomtom and the GPS, as mentioned earlier the audio sometimes crackles, but this is because the bluetooth is multiplexing its data stream and hasn't sync'd correctly from what I understand, I have had many occasions where the audion is clear. It also seems to me that I have to start Tomtom first and connect it to the GPS before I connect my headset, if I don't then the 9500 will not connect to the GPS.
It is great to hear the warning bleeps and instructions directly in your ear 😮)

Now I was going to connect a bluetooth car kit into my car stereo but this experience with my headset has made me reconsider, does the car kit profile act in the same way as the headset profile, in that all audion is routed through the car kit speaker system? Or is it just phone calls with the car kit?

The reason I ask is because I used to use a Nokia headrest car kit with my 6600 and Route 66, all the instructions on the route came out of the phones speaker, while any calls came through the headset. If this also happens with the 9500 and a bluetooth car kit then I wont get my car stereo being interupted all the time by driving instructions.

I hope some one can confirm this, maybe I should start a new thread?

I have a 9500, TomTom Mobile 5 and the Nokia CK-7W HF car kit,

Connecting the GPS first then letting the car kit connect works and is distorted as it is with the headset,

I get my voice prompts through the HF kit, BUT, not always,

I think that because only 1/2 the information is getting to the HF, sometimes the wakeup signal does not reach the HF, so some instructions are missed, maybe 1 in 20,

I have decided that I will always use the pop-port connecter, Better sound quality and I always get the instructions,

Carl,