Why is everyone so fixated on Carplay?
Granted my car does not have carplay functionality, but wouldn't it be better to first realize a properly working app with full functionality? Everyone here on the forum has been begging for years for a good integration of MyDrive, which should be basic TomTom functionality (see the Android app and the old iOs app).
First, make sure that you have an app that masters the basics, then you can expand with niche products.
Because it's not really niche anymore. More and more cars are coming with it as standard or can easily have it retro-fitted as i have. So then you have a nice big screen controlled by the controls onboard in the car which means no more poking about at a mobile phone which is now illegal last time i looked.
Also then the directions will come through the speakers no matter what input you use, another major complaint on here. No more having to listen to music from your phone all the time.
That is why people like myself are fixated on it because we have everything here ready to go to be able to use what is already there instead of devolving and using a phone with it's small screen compared to anything in-car as a sat-nav.
The go-app was great for getting you around (saw me around several euro trips) but times have moved on. I couldn't give a rats **** about my-drive, i just want it to appear on my car infotainment screen so i don't have to have something stuck to my windscreen/dash like an uber driver and i get instructions no matter what source of entertainment i'm listening to.
After that works then maybe we can get back to the niche stuff like Mydrive that the 1% may occasionally use.
Why is everyone so fixated on Carplay?
Granted my car does not have carplay functionality, but wouldn't it be better to first realize a properly working app with full functionality? Everyone here on the forum has been begging for years for a good integration of MyDrive, which should be basic TomTom functionality (see the Android app and the old iOs app).
First, make sure that you have an app that masters the basics, then you can expand with niche products.
Whilst I haven't got CarPlay in any of our vehicles, I appreciate that a lot of other people have, and so any improvement to GO Mobile iOS is appreciated. However, I strongly agree with nlmarvin that TomTom really should have sorted out all of GO Mobile's problems first, especially as GO Mobile iOS has been General Release for over 3 years!
Just for the record, here're some (certainly not all) of the things that people have been asking for on TomTom GO Mobile iOS since it was released 3 years ago:
Dangerous lag at junctions and roundabouts followed by screen wobble for over correction.
Display not so easy to read (red on black). Also screen display switches between distance and time to go. We need both at all times.
Uses fractions instead of easier to read decimals when set to miles – when set to km miraculously get decimals.
Next instruction isn’t shown until with 2 miles, it needs to be shown all the time and count down, even if initially over 99 miles away.
No advance planning where you can set the day or time.
Right hand info bar is useless and configuration options almost non-existent.
3D maps are annoying, to large (e.g. Europe is over 8GB as opposed to 2GB).
Cannot report map problems or mark a road as closed for SatNav to take into account.
No POIs show on route. No MyDrive support. More importantly Custom POIs are not supported, we need them to show on map and navigation screens.
No URL Scheme, so another app cannot start SatNav or use a URL in an email to start app with destination.
Because it's not really niche anymore. More and more cars are coming with it as standard or can easily have it retro-fitted as i have. So then you have a nice big screen controlled by the controls onboard in the car which means no more poking about at a mobile phone which is now illegal last time i looked.
Also then the directions will come through the speakers no matter what input you use, another major complaint on here. No more having to listen to music from your phone all the time.
That is why people like myself are fixated on it because we have everything here ready to go to be able to use what is already there instead of devolving and using a phone with it's small screen compared to anything in-car as a sat-nav.
The go-app was great for getting you around (saw me around several euro trips) but times have moved on. I couldn't give a rats **** about my-drive, i just want it to appear on my car infotainment screen so i don't have to have something stuck to my windscreen/dash like an uber driver and i get instructions no matter what source of entertainment i'm listening to.
After that works then maybe we can get back to the niche stuff like Mydrive that the 1% may occasionally use.
This is the key thing to me, with CarPlay everything is in one place with it easy to use the media and apps on the phone as well.
Current iterations of CarPlay apps have the following issues compared to the currently released TomTom Go on iOS (not the CarPlay version):
-Google Maps, no speed limit and tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
-Waze, tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
-Apple Maps, tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
This keeps me having TomTom Go on a cradle for navigation, and these things will have to be in place within CarPlay for me to use it instead of Waze.
I think what @Privateer is eluding too is the ability to instruct the Satnav to ignore a particular Road or Roads because you want to avoid as for example they are temporarily closed.and is not being recognised as such by the Satnav.
This is becoming a terrible joke: 4 weeks after the announcement (is it still 'early 2019'?) still no update. I have apps that had already their 3rd update in the same timeframe. TomTom is going down the drain, so is its stockprice. This company can't be taken seriously.
I think what @Privateer is eluding too is the ability to instruct the Satnav to ignore a particular Road or Roads because you want to avoid as for example they are temporarily closed.and is not being recognised as such by the Satnav.
I think what @PrivateerUK is eluding too is the ability to instruct the Satnav to ignore a particular Road or Roads because you want to avoid as for example they are temporarily closed.and is not being recognised as such by the Satnav.
@DougLap is correct and explains it better than I originally did.
I would like TomTom GO Mobile iOS to ignore particular road(s) because they are either temporarily closed (and TomTom Traffic is unaware) or I just want to force TomTom to use a particular route.
I’ve got a good feeling tonight, it’s only one more sleep until the new app is released. They’ve waited until now for the UK Bank Holiday so that the Palferman family can go for their traditional picnic but this time with tomtom navigation and tomtom traffic on CarPlay. Well done tomtom and thank you from us all
Perhaps you might look up the definition of sarcasm it might help
Well done, you got me!
Yes I do know what sarcasm is and can generally hear it in the spoken word. To be fair, you didn’t use any smilies so your written sarcasm was hard to spot. Coupled with the fact that I’ve just noticed that there’s a new category of TomTom Amigo which I’ve not seen before and put 2 + 2 together and got 5!
Oh no picnic cancelled Mrs P is inconsolable. I’ve had to promise that it’s going to be ready for the next Bank Holiday picnic. Do you think I’m being a bit rash?
I must be using a completely different app to some people on here unless they're using Android.
Never had a problem with lag or the 3D, directions come up quick enough and clear enough, shows petrol stations on the route, if a road is blocked it reroutes you, basically all the info you need while driving.
All we want is this bloody new app releasing so i can get back to using it again.
Btw Tomtom my subscription has now lapsed, won't be renewed until this is released.
Did you ever use the TomTom Navigation app, i.e. the predecessor to GO Mobile iOS? That used to have a few seconds of 'prediction' and would snap you onto the correct road at roundabouts and junctions, similar to driving in a tunnel with a lost GPS signal. This prediction allowed you to see and take the correct route and if you took the wrong route it would have sensed that within a few seconds and recalculated the new route for you to carry on. With GO Mobile on roundabouts, there is a 'nervous twitch' as if it's not sure of the route and the screen rotates around the roundabout. The driver solution is to look at the road name or number prior to tackling the roundabout and then use the physical road signs, ignoring the GO Mobile until the roundabout or junction has been left behind.
As for the 3D maps, I tend not to drive in areas with 3D buildings, when I do the buildings are not a true representation of the physical world so there's no point. In fact, I'd rather not have 3D building because as long as the roads are correct then the 3D buildings just take up extra space and potentially slow things down and even cause the lag problems but as TomTom has never released maps without 3D buildings for the GO then we can't test that theory.
directions come up quick enough and clear enough, shows petrol stations on the route, if a road is blocked it reroutes you, basically all the info you need while driving.
Yes, it does that and I can't disagree. However the key word there is 'basically'. GO Mobile is basically a Fisher Price toy when compared to navigation products that TomTom produced 5, 10, or even 15 years ago. The extra functionality and features have been whittled down to nothing. Don't get me wrong basic systems are good for newbies but give the road warriors and geeks the option to have more features and customisation.
URL Scheme is so useful these days to launch other apps and in turn, be launched by other apps. On the old TomTom Navigator, I could be sent an email with a URL Scheme link to tap on which would launch TomTom Navigator and route you to a destination and that destination would also appear in the recent destinations. If you have the old TomTom Europe app, the following URL Scheme will launch TT Europe and navigate you to the Disney Hotel in Disney Land Paris:
Sorry, but what i want is simple. A nav that does that, you can keep all the bells and whistles because all i want it to do is get me from A to B, simple.
Sometimes keeping it simple means this kind of thing just works, add too much in and it just slows the whole thing down, see Waze for examples of that.
I didn't use the predecessor as i had a stand-alone unit. But this is 2019 and there's no need for that anymore.
Sorry, but what i want is simple. A nav that does that, you can keep all the bells and whistles because all i want it to do is get me from A to B, simple.
Sometimes keeping it simple means this kind of thing just works
Don't get me wrong basic systems are good for newbies but give the road warriors and geeks the option to have more features and customisation.
Given a choice, I'd prefer to carry on using the predecessor to GO Mobile but TomTom has forced us into using GO. OK but give us the option to have basic or advanced menus and functionality. I need URL Schemes and also full custom POI support with icons shown onscreen and POI proximity alerts - all something that I've used in older TomTom products.
I don't need Apple Play myself as I don't have any vehicle that has a radio that uses it. However, I support the development of Apple Play support as it would benefit a lot of people. I just hope that others would support those of us in asking for the features that we want to be reinstated back to the TomTom products.
Just because you haven't used the features that I'd like to see reinstated, doesn't mean that others don't need them either. Also, you never know - you might find those features useful too if only TomTom allowed you to use them.
I prefer custom POIs (especially my own) because of accuracy and the ability to modify POI categories to add, edit, or change individual POIs when necessary.
I have a lot of POIs that I would not expect to be included in the general built-in POIs, these are for family, friends, just to name a couple of categories.
I wish to drive to the most appropriate and nearest place that has vehicular access at each location. However, the SatNav’s own built-in POIs may be inaccurate, especially if the location is a large complex. A good example of this is TomTom's built-in POI of Waterperry Gardens (Oxfordshire) which is only 50 metres away from my own custom POI but if you use the TomTom built-in POI you will end up in the wrong place and the journey to the correct location will be 5.2 miles and 14 minutes away by road.
The URL Scheme is useful, PocketGPSWorld have a lot of general POIs which are free to use. If you use the mobile website it allows you to search for and find a POI and then launch the relevant SatNav app. The old TomTom app is there, unfortunately, TomTom GO Mobile isn't - only because it still doesn't have a URL Scheme.
What i'm thinking is if you want all that functionality then a stand-alone unit would probably be better for your needs.
Yes, you're right. I do have a very good stand-alone TomTom unit. I have a TomTom 950 Live, which I bought in 2008. Unfortunately the 950 Live is no longer supported by TomTom for maps or traffic, yet it has more useful functions than current TomTom PNDs.
Yup, i think a lot of people's expectations out of what is a free download app is way above what they should be.
@Thatbeetle, what you need to know is that so-called free app was a forced downgrade (it certainly wasn't an upgrade) onto TomTom iOS users as the older TomTom app was unsupported and its Traffic service was terminated by stopping the subscription.
I bought TomTom UK & Ireland app for £27.49 and later on when I needed SatNav for Europe I bought the TomTom Europe app for £52.99. I then bought annual Traffic for £17.99 until TomTom stopped us buying Traffic annually and instead we had to buy it monthly initially at £1.49 per month (£17.88 per year) and later on at £1.99 per month (£23.88 per year)
Maybe they need a different subscription for the nerds out there that seem to want to use this stuff.
I would be happy for GO Mobile to have separate in-app purchases for things like:
Apple Carplay
Full POI support showing POIs on all screens and POI proximity
URL Scheme
Trailer and Caravan routing
HGV lorry routing
Third party speed camera database support
This would encourage TomTom to develop GO Mobile further whilst allowing users on an individual basis to decide whether to buy the extra functionality if they need it. If the user doesn't want the extra functionality (or if it's too difficult to use) then they can keep their GO Mobile app vanilla, i.e. Fisher-Price.
@Thatbeetle@PrivateerUK I love both of your posts. I’m one for the minimalist approach and I just want the new app to basically copy my trusty Go5000, in my opinion it’s the best satnav I’ve ever had. Anyway just wanted to make a few points regarding the tomtom dateline. As I remember first post mentioned new app in early 2019. I’m sorry but there’s no way in anyone’s opinion that end of May is early 2019. Next we get “in the Spring” Now this is where it gets a bit confusing. Meteorlogically speaking the end of spring is 31st May so this app should be released by Friday. However, the confusing part is that Astrononomicly speaking the end of Spring first day of Summer is 21st June ironically speaking this is usually given as midsummer honest I googled it. Now if tomtom meant Spring in the Southern Hemisphere the that’s a whole different ballgame . They’ve also mentioned “soon” but I don’t know where to go with that - How soon is now!!
In the App information i see now the new subscricption prices!
I hope this information is new and somebody can confirm that the prices are new entered - when this are new, i think, this is a sign that the new version is coming soon !
I want share this also in the english forum - sorry that the screenshot is in german!
The "free download app" costs £17 per year to use, so it's certainly not free.
How does it cost? It does if you subscribe but the app is FREE. If you buy stand-alone equipment that can cost you into the hundreds you'll still pay for the subscription.
So i ask again, how does it cost? The app is FREE to download last time i looked.
And at the risk of repeating myself i think some people on here are expecting way too much out of what is a FREE phone app. Just smacks of being cheap to me, but what would i know?
I do know this though; that if i wanted to watch 4k HDR tv in it's finest i wouldn't use my tablet, i'd use the Sony OLED in the corner of the room as it's been made and designed to do that to its fullest.
So instead of whining about how bad a FREE app is and how it doesn't do all you need i'd suggest buying the appropriate equipment that does and leave us Fisher-Price luddites to use the normal app.
All I'm asking for is it to be released so i can use it with my up-to-date infotainment system and use a decent nav system again.
The app is free, i think people need to remember that. You don't get nothing for free.
Comments
Because it's not really niche anymore. More and more cars are coming with it as standard or can easily have it retro-fitted as i have. So then you have a nice big screen controlled by the controls onboard in the car which means no more poking about at a mobile phone which is now illegal last time i looked.
Also then the directions will come through the speakers no matter what input you use, another major complaint on here. No more having to listen to music from your phone all the time.
That is why people like myself are fixated on it because we have everything here ready to go to be able to use what is already there instead of devolving and using a phone with it's small screen compared to anything in-car as a sat-nav.
The go-app was great for getting you around (saw me around several euro trips) but times have moved on. I couldn't give a rats **** about my-drive, i just want it to appear on my car infotainment screen so i don't have to have something stuck to my windscreen/dash like an uber driver and i get instructions no matter what source of entertainment i'm listening to.
After that works then maybe we can get back to the niche stuff like Mydrive that the 1% may occasionally use.
Just for the record, here're some (certainly not all) of the things that people have been asking for on TomTom GO Mobile iOS since it was released 3 years ago:
- Dangerous lag at junctions and roundabouts followed by screen wobble for over correction.
- Display not so easy to read (red on black). Also screen display switches between distance and time to go. We need both at all times.
- Uses fractions instead of easier to read decimals when set to miles – when set to km miraculously get decimals.
- Next instruction isn’t shown until with 2 miles, it needs to be shown all the time and count down, even if initially over 99 miles away.
- No advance planning where you can set the day or time.
- Right hand info bar is useless and configuration options almost non-existent.
- 3D maps are annoying, to large (e.g. Europe is over 8GB as opposed to 2GB).
- Cannot report map problems or mark a road as closed for SatNav to take into account.
- No POIs show on route. No MyDrive support. More importantly Custom POIs are not supported, we need them to show on map and navigation screens.
- No URL Scheme, so another app cannot start SatNav or use a URL in an email to start app with destination.
Regards,This is the key thing to me, with CarPlay everything is in one place with it easy to use the media and apps on the phone as well.
Current iterations of CarPlay apps have the following issues compared to the currently released TomTom Go on iOS (not the CarPlay version):
-Google Maps, no speed limit and tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
-Waze, tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
-Apple Maps, tracking of speeds within average speed zones or length of the zone or traffic issue (in distance and time)
This keeps me having TomTom Go on a cradle for navigation, and these things will have to be in place within CarPlay for me to use it instead of Waze.
Even if this was in there they tase ages to even look at the reports. Compare that to Apple where they update within a month.
I think what @Privateer is eluding too is the ability to instruct the Satnav to ignore a particular Road or Roads because you want to avoid as for example they are temporarily closed.and is not being recognised as such by the Satnav.
Doug
OK, cool 😊
@DougLap is correct and explains it better than I originally did.
I would like TomTom GO Mobile iOS to ignore particular road(s) because they are either temporarily closed (and TomTom Traffic is unaware) or I just want to force TomTom to use a particular route.
Regards,
Have a look at What is the TomTom AmiGO for iOS.
Regards,
Well done, you got me!
Yes I do know what sarcasm is and can generally hear it in the spoken word. To be fair, you didn’t use any smilies so your written sarcasm was hard to spot. Coupled with the fact that I’ve just noticed that there’s a new category of TomTom Amigo which I’ve not seen before and put 2 + 2 together and got 5!
Regards,
Never had a problem with lag or the 3D, directions come up quick enough and clear enough, shows petrol stations on the route, if a road is blocked it reroutes you, basically all the info you need while driving.
All we want is this bloody new app releasing so i can get back to using it again.
Btw Tomtom my subscription has now lapsed, won't be renewed until this is released.
Did you ever use the TomTom Navigation app, i.e. the predecessor to GO Mobile iOS? That used to have a few seconds of 'prediction' and would snap you onto the correct road at roundabouts and junctions, similar to driving in a tunnel with a lost GPS signal. This prediction allowed you to see and take the correct route and if you took the wrong route it would have sensed that within a few seconds and recalculated the new route for you to carry on. With GO Mobile on roundabouts, there is a 'nervous twitch' as if it's not sure of the route and the screen rotates around the roundabout. The driver solution is to look at the road name or number prior to tackling the roundabout and then use the physical road signs, ignoring the GO Mobile until the roundabout or junction has been left behind.
As for the 3D maps, I tend not to drive in areas with 3D buildings, when I do the buildings are not a true representation of the physical world so there's no point. In fact, I'd rather not have 3D building because as long as the roads are correct then the 3D buildings just take up extra space and potentially slow things down and even cause the lag problems but as TomTom has never released maps without 3D buildings for the GO then we can't test that theory.
Yes, it does that and I can't disagree. However the key word there is 'basically'. GO Mobile is basically a Fisher Price toy when compared to navigation products that TomTom produced 5, 10, or even 15 years ago. The extra functionality and features have been whittled down to nothing. Don't get me wrong basic systems are good for newbies but give the road warriors and geeks the option to have more features and customisation.
URL Scheme is so useful these days to launch other apps and in turn, be launched by other apps. On the old TomTom Navigator, I could be sent an email with a URL Scheme link to tap on which would launch TomTom Navigator and route you to a destination and that destination would also appear in the recent destinations. If you have the old TomTom Europe app, the following URL Scheme will launch TT Europe and navigate you to the Disney Hotel in Disney Land Paris:
com.tomtom.Europe://geo:action=navigateto&lat=48.87131&long=2.78138&name=Disneyland%20Paris%20Hotel
Also, full custom POI support is very useful and much missed!
Regards,
Sometimes keeping it simple means this kind of thing just works, add too much in and it just slows the whole thing down, see Waze for examples of that.
I didn't use the predecessor as i had a stand-alone unit. But this is 2019 and there's no need for that anymore.
I don't need Apple Play myself as I don't have any vehicle that has a radio that uses it. However, I support the development of Apple Play support as it would benefit a lot of people. I just hope that others would support those of us in asking for the features that we want to be reinstated back to the TomTom products.
Just because you haven't used the features that I'd like to see reinstated, doesn't mean that others don't need them either. Also, you never know - you might find those features useful too if only TomTom allowed you to use them.
What i'm thinking is if you want all that functionality then a stand-alone unit would probably be better for your needs.
I have a lot of POIs that I would not expect to be included in the general built-in POIs, these are for family, friends, just to name a couple of categories.
I wish to drive to the most appropriate and nearest place that has vehicular access at each location. However, the SatNav’s own built-in POIs may be inaccurate, especially if the location is a large complex. A good example of this is TomTom's built-in POI of Waterperry Gardens (Oxfordshire) which is only 50 metres away from my own custom POI but if you use the TomTom built-in POI you will end up in the wrong place and the journey to the correct location will be 5.2 miles and 14 minutes away by road.
The URL Scheme is useful, PocketGPSWorld have a lot of general POIs which are free to use. If you use the mobile website it allows you to search for and find a POI and then launch the relevant SatNav app. The old TomTom app is there, unfortunately, TomTom GO Mobile isn't - only because it still doesn't have a URL Scheme.
Yes, you're right. I do have a very good stand-alone TomTom unit. I have a TomTom 950 Live, which I bought in 2008. Unfortunately the 950 Live is no longer supported by TomTom for maps or traffic, yet it has more useful functions than current TomTom PNDs.
Maybe they need a different subscription for the nerds out there that seem to want to use this stuff.
The "free download app" costs £17 per year to use, so it's certainly not free.
I bought TomTom UK & Ireland app for £27.49 and later on when I needed SatNav for Europe I bought the TomTom Europe app for £52.99. I then bought annual Traffic for £17.99 until TomTom stopped us buying Traffic annually and instead we had to buy it monthly initially at £1.49 per month (£17.88 per year) and later on at £1.99 per month (£23.88 per year)
I would be happy for GO Mobile to have separate in-app purchases for things like:
- Apple Carplay
- Full POI support showing POIs on all screens and POI proximity
- URL Scheme
- Trailer and Caravan routing
- HGV lorry routing
- Third party speed camera database support
This would encourage TomTom to develop GO Mobile further whilst allowing users on an individual basis to decide whether to buy the extra functionality if they need it. If the user doesn't want the extra functionality (or if it's too difficult to use) then they can keep their GO Mobile app vanilla, i.e. Fisher-Price.In the App information i see now the new subscricption prices!
I hope this information is new and somebody can confirm that the prices are new entered - when this are new, i think, this is a sign that the new version is coming soon
I want share this also in the english forum - sorry that the screenshot is in german!
How does it cost? It does if you subscribe but the app is FREE. If you buy stand-alone equipment that can cost you into the hundreds you'll still pay for the subscription.
So i ask again, how does it cost? The app is FREE to download last time i looked.
And at the risk of repeating myself i think some people on here are expecting way too much out of what is a FREE phone app. Just smacks of being cheap to me, but what would i know?
I do know this though; that if i wanted to watch 4k HDR tv in it's finest i wouldn't use my tablet, i'd use the Sony OLED in the corner of the room as it's been made and designed to do that to its fullest.
So instead of whining about how bad a FREE app is and how it doesn't do all you need i'd suggest buying the appropriate equipment that does and leave us Fisher-Price luddites to use the normal app.
All I'm asking for is it to be released so i can use it with my up-to-date infotainment system and use a decent nav system again.
The app is free, i think people need to remember that. You don't get nothing for free.