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Free iPhone 4 TomTom Car Kit Adapter

Monday, September 13th, 2010

One of the hottest iPhone accessories over the last year is the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone that works with the Sat Nav App to improve usability and accuracy. The Car Kit features a GPS enhancer, speaker phone and will charge your phone while it’s docked which makes it an essential thing to have when you’re using your phone for sat nav in the car.

The TomTom Car Kit is still one of our best selling iPhone Car Holders even though it doesn’t fit the iPhone 4 very well. We’re constantly being asked when an updated version would be out for iPhone 4, and until now we’ve been kept in the dark.

Free TomTom Car Kit Adapter for iPhone 4

Free TomTom Car Kit Adapter for iPhone 4

Thankfully though, TomTom have announced that as of last Friday, anyone who purchased the TomTom Car Kit that has now upgraded their phone to an iPhone 4, can now get a free adapter that will allow you to use your shiny new iPhone with your existing kit.

All you need to do is find the serial number that’s printed on the back of your car kit (under the barcode), complete a short form on the TomTom website and then sit and wait patiently for it to be delivered!

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Review: Navigon iPhone Holder & Car Charger

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

iPhone Car Holders are a  must have item – especially if you use your iPhone for Sat Nav. I’ve already covered some of the most popular mounting solutions for the iPhone in my post on Using Sat Nav on the iPhone, but this week I came across the Navigon iPhone Holder and Car charger and thought it was worth reviewing.

Navigon iPhone 3GS / 3G Car Holder - With Car Charger

Navigon iPhone 3GS / 3G Car Holder - With Car Charger

Navigon were one of the first software companies to launch a Sat Nav application for the iPhone and it often features in the top ten apps in iTunes. The Navigon Car holder is designed to compliment their software and provide you with a simple and effective in car holder.

Features

There’s not really a lot you can say about a phone holder, after all, it is just a holder. Unlike the TomTom iPhone Car Kit, the Navigon car holder doesn’t have a GPS receiver or loud speaker built in, but there are a couple of features that make this one stand out.

Firstly there’s a discrete cable holder built in to the underneath of the arm. While this might not sound that great, it does mean that once your cable is clipped into it you won’t have to fish around between the seats to find the end of your charging cable when you want to charge your iPhone.

Built in cable holder saves time

Built in cable holder saves time

The cradle for the iPhone has a ball joint fitting so that allows you to rotate it through 360° - nothing new, but what I did like with the Navigon holder is that it’s the only car holder that I’ve seen that lets you tighten up the ball joint when it starts to come loose (although the allen key needed isn’t included).

Design

As holders go, it’s slim and it’s not bad to look at, although from the images on the box I did expect it to be a little slimmer than it is, although it’s by no means bulky.

Simple, slim design

Simple, slim design

The cradle allows you to slide your iPhone in and out quickly and easily and it can be done with one hand, you just pull your phone forward slightly and lift it out. There’s no spring clip to keep your phone in place, but given the shape of the cradle I really can’t see that it would ever fall out.

In the Box

Navigon are rather generous. Instead of just including a generic third party car charger, they’ve partnered with Belkin to include the Belkin Micro Auto Charger + Charge Sync Cable.

Belkin Micro Auto Car Charger Included

Belkin Micro Auto Car Charger Included

This is one of the most compact car chargers available for the iPhone and can be left in your cigarette socket even when not being used – just remove the USB cable and it will look like a standard USB Port in your dashboard.

Why choose the Navigon iPhone Holder?

Navigon Car holder for iPhone

Navigon Car holder for iPhone

The Navigon iPhone holder is a solid, sturdy holder that will work brilliantly with your iPhone and any Sat Nav App. The suction pad is strong and the built in cable holder is a nice touch – although it would have been even better if you could connect the cable to the base of the cradle so that it connected each time you put your phone in.

My Rating: 9/10

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (15 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5)
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Alternatives to the TomTom iPhone Car Kit

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

With pricing now confirmed for the TomTom iPhone Car Kit at £99.99 without the Sat Nav Application, it makes the whole package a little expensive at just under £160 – especially when you consider that you can buy a fully functional stand alone TomTom GPS unit for less than £120.

Now, don’t get me wrong, TomTom do make great Sat Nav systems, but I’m really not convinced that their iPhone offering is really worth the £160 that they’re asking for it. The car cradle is a clever bit of kit, but there are other devices out there that will do the same thing. The main features of the TomTom Car Cradle are:

  • Charges your iPhone
  • Ability to play your music through your car stereo
  • Built in speaker for handsfree calling
  • GPS Enhancer
  • Volume controls

I’ve spent a bit of time this week searching out the best alternatives to the pricey TomTom set up and here’s what I found:

Option 1 – Jabra SP700

It’s not all in one like the TomTom, but this set up is less than half the price! CoPilot Live is a great alternative to TomTom. The software has been around for years on Windows Mobile devices and is the pre-installed mapping application on most T-Mobile and O2 smartphones. Feature wise it does everything that TomTom does, but for a lot less money. It’s currently rated as a 4 star app on the iTunes App store, compared to 3 stars for the TomTom app.  The Sat Nav starter pack for iPhone includes a compact, rotating windscreen holder for your iPhone and a car charger. If you’ve already tried using GPS on the iPhone in your car, you’ll know necessary a  car charger is. Having the screen on permanently and locking on to a GPS signal drains the battery quite quickly. The Jabra SP700 is much more than just a standard Bluetooth speaker phone. It has a built in FM transmitter that can stream music, calls and directions from your iPhone through to your car stereo using Bluetooth.

copilot-starter-sp700

Use the Sat Nav Starter Pack and Jabra SP700 to get the most out of CoPilot Live

Option 2 – Venturi Mini

Navigon was the first Sat Nav app for the iPhone, and its relatively low price made it incredibly popular. On iTunes it’s currently rated as a 3 and a half star app, so better than TomTom, but not quite as high as CoPilot Live. The iPhone Car Pack includes a robust, adjustable holder that can hold your iPhone in almost any position as well as a car charger to keep your phone fully charged. The Venturi Mini is a Bluetooth car kit that is designed to fit in your cigarette lighter permanently. To charge your iPhone, you just need to connect your existing iPhone USB cable to the USB port on the side of the Venturi. The Venturi works in a similar way to the Jabra SP700.  It connects to your phone using Bluetooth and will then stream your music, calls and sat nav directions through to your car stereo using its built in FM transmitter. If your car stereo has a line in/aux in connection, you can connect the Venturi to it using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable (the same as the TomTom Cradle).

carpack-venturi-navigon

Venturi Mini & iPhone Car Pack

Option 3 – Parrot MKi9000 Fully Fitted Kit

This set up isn’t so much about saving money compared to the TomTom kit, more a case of showing you how much more you could get for the same sort of price. Without doubt, you’ll always get better audio quality using a fully fitted car kit than you would with a portable one. The Parrot MKi range of car kits have been designed with iPods and iPhones in mind and they work almost seamlessly. The MKi9000 kit is fitted behind your dashboard and is completely out of sight.  There is a multi connector cable that has a USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and an Apple Dock connector. This cable connects your iPhone to the car kit and will route call audio, music and directions through your car stereo at the same time as charging it. The Brodit holder that I’ve suggested here has a dock connector on the bottom too, so you can connect this cable to it, then whenever you slide your phone into the holder it will connect to the car kit without having to mess around with cables. If you’d rather not use cables, then you can use the kit over a bluetooth connection and get the same functionality from it. A small remote can be attached to your dashboard or steering wheel and can be used to answer/end calls as well as play/ pause music and activate voice dialling (Voice dialling is feature of the MKi9000 and will work with all models of iPhone). The prices shown here don’t include installation and vehicles without an ISO stereo may need additional cables.

copilot-brodit-mki9000

Co-Pilot works well with the Parrot Mki9000

All three of these solutions work great with the iPhone and any of the available Sat Nav applications available for the iPhone, including the TomTom App.  You’ll find more information on each of the Sat Nav Apps on the App Store within iTunes or on your iPhone. To give you a clear idea on the differences between the TomTom Kit and the other options mentioned here, I’ve put a chart together to show the main differences.

Features Venturi Mini Parrot MKi
Charges iPhone
Plays Music through Stereo
Hands Free Calling
GPS Enhancer
Volume Controls
Holds phone in Landscape
Music Controls
External Microphone
Optional

All Prices correct as of 30/09/09 and are subject to change.

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TomTom iPhone Car Kit Release Date

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Although the TomTom Sat Nav application was released a few weeks ago for the iPhone, the car kit to accompany it is still nowhere to be seen. Rumours of pricing and availability have been floating around for a while now, but this week TomTom have finally confirmed that the TomTom iPhone Car Kit will be available to buy in October.

iPhone Car Kit from TomTom
iPhone Car Kit from TomTom

More information is slowly starting to emerge on it’s features too.  The most surprising news is that the Car Kit can be used with any Sat Nav Apps. The Car Kit can be used for handsfree calling, music playback, turn-by-turn instructions and charging, although the GPS signal enhancements will only be available when you’re using the TomTom App.

If you don’t want to shell out the rumoured £115 for the car kit, there are a number of other options to consider. The best value is the iPhone Sat Nav starter pack which gives you a holder and charger for the iPhone, and the Jabra SP700 is a great bluetooth car kit that clips to your sun visor and can handle your calls and music playback and route them through your car stereo speakers in the same way as the TomTom Car Kit.  The price?  Less than £55 for both – that’s less than half of the rumoured cost of the TomTom kit for all the same features  - and best of all you won’t have to wait upto 8 weeks for them as they’re available to order now!

For more information on the different ways to use Sat Nav on your iPhone in the car take a look at my post on Using Sat Nav on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

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How not to use TomTom on your iPhone

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

OK, I’ve seen some pretty odd ways of using mobile phone’s over the years, but this one really made me chuckle. As you’ve probably heard, you can now get TomTom Sat Nav on your iPhone, and the whole world seem to be going crazy about it.

Quite a few bloggers are reviewing the new software and posting video’s of it being used – which is great, after all £60 is a lot to spend on a software download if it’s no good, but I really think some people need to plan ahead when it comes to creating a video review.

This morning I stumbled on this iPhone TomTom video review on YouTube which shows off how easy the software is to use.  They then take it for a spin in the car and demonstrate brilliantly how not to mount your iPhone in the car.

There are some things that sellotape shouldn't be used for!

There are some things that sellotape shouldn't be used for!

Sellotaping your iPhone to the dash might be a quick fix, but just think of the mess that’s going to be left on his phone and dashboard when he’s done. Silly really, when for less than £15 he could have got himself an iPhone Sat Nav Pack that includes a rotating windscreen holder and car charger.

On the subject of iPhone holders, I’ve noticed that people seem to think that you have to use sat nav on the iPhone in landscape mode. As most phone holders for the iPhone 3G and 3GS are portrait, I’m guessing this is why people are resorting to sellotaping their phones to the dashboard, but what you may not realise is that Sat Nav works perfectly well in portrait mode too – in fact I prefer it. It means you don’t have to keep rotating the phone if a call or text message comes through and I find that you get a clearer view of what’s coming up on the road ahead. Admittedly, there’s not much in it, but do you really need to see all the side roads that you’re not going to be driving down?

iPhone Sat Nav: Landscape Vs Portrait

CoPilot 8 on the iPhone: Landscape Vs Portrait

Easiest option of course is to just get yourself a rotating holder so that you can use your phone which ever way you want. The following iPhone car holders can all rotate for use in landscape or portrait mode:

Have you seen any other crazy ways of holding an iPhone in the car?  Share them with us using the comments form below!

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