TomTom iPhone GPS app for car navigation launched

TomTom car GPS for iPhone is here. TomTom announced today that the GPS app for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS is now available on the iTunes App Store. The TomTom GPS for iPhone is available in the North America, Europe and Newzealand. The app costs $99 for American buyers.

Picture: TomTom GPS kit and app for iPhone

The TomTom navigation software can be downloaded from the Apple App Store if you are an iPhone3G or iPhone 3GS user. TomTom said that the GPS and map app for older iPhone models and the iPod Touch will be released soon. The current version of the TomTom GPS app is not compatible with the old iPhone models.

The TomTom car navigation and location mapping system takes nearly 1.5 GB in the Apple iPhone; so users may need to clear out some of the space they have kept for music, videos and pictures on the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS. When you buy the TomTom GPS for iPhone, you also get the software and the Tele Atlas Maps. Last year, TomTom had won the TeleAtlas maps in a bidding war with Garmin, the other GPS giant. After the acquisition  of TeleAtlas, TomTom has displayed the TomTom GPS for iPhone at a recent Apple developers’ conference.

TomTom said that the new GPS app for iPhone will come with voice directions, turn-by-turn instructions and location-finding. The TomTom app uses a technique which it calls IQ Routes, which finds not just the shortest direction, but the fastest way to reach the destination. According to TomTom, the IQ Routes technology on its car navigation software finds the best route by incorporating information about the best routes takes by others who have used that route.

Those buying the TomTom app from the iTunes app store also get a dock for mounting the iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS on the windscreen or the dashboard and a charging kit. The voice amplification means that when you are driving the car, you can also receive calls and speak without taking your eyes off the road or hands off the steering wheel.

The TomTom comes with maps loaded for the the US and Canada. The apps sold in Europe will have maps for most of continental Europe. TomTom also says that the GPS app in some European countries also come with maps having information about safety cameras on road, meaning you get advance information to avoid fines on the way!

TomTom GPS on iPhone has clear voice instructions, and enables automatic re-routing and if a turn is missed. There is also a route demo or map of route when planning your journey.

TomTom GPS application is customised for use on iPhones. The interface has several display options including landscape and portrait navigation view. There is a night color mode and day color mode, for optimum visibility during different light conditions. The user interface on the TomTom car GPS app for iPhone is also available in 18 languages now.

In the TomTom GPS for iPhone, you can also change the view settings to two-dimensional or three dimensional (2D or 3D) to create the perfect picture of your current location and the destination. Since the iPhone has a touch-scree, multi-touch gestures like tapping, swiping, pinching and zooming are incorporated to ensure ease of use. These movements can be used to zoom in and out of the maps. operate the application and zoom in and out of the TomTom maps. The software is built in such a way that you just need to tap on a contact’s name (with address) and the TomTom GPS software will “lead” you to that address. You can also call search for points of interests (PoIs) and can call from the iPhone even as the device is navigating with GPS.

The price of TomTom GPS app for iPhone and iPhone 3GS including map of Western Europe is available for £79.99 GBP. The app for iPhone with maps of UK & Ireland is available for £59.99 GBP. The TomTom application can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes App Store.

Currently, AT&T is selling an iPhone application called AT&T Navigator on phones sold by it. However, this is a subscription service, available at $10 a month. In comparison, the TomTom app is relatively expensive, but there are no monthly charges to pay. For the wallet-conscious, there is always the free Google Maps, which are, however, not installed on the iPhone. Google Maps accesses map data from  Google servers on the go, which means if youre stuck in a place with poor data coverage, Google Maps is of now use. The maps sold independent vendors, on the other hand, are downloaded to the device and installed, which means you are not dependent on the network coverage while GPS-navigating. Since the map data is accessed from the the device itself, it also works faster than Google Maps.