First up, if you need to know what the heck "TomTom" is and what it does, check out our extensive review of TomTom Version 4. Version 5 is obviously an upgrade to this earlier version and now includes extra features such as being able to navigate to a contact in your phone book, plus there's newer maps, easier route planning, better power management and more.
My first gripe has to be with the distribution. What the heck is going on ? TomTom Mobile 5 is available from the TomTom website as I type, and has been for several months. However, delivery time is stated as "Please allow for a minimum of 5 weeks for MOBILE 5 to be delivered". I remember back in days gone by, before the internet, that a lot of companies used to state "allow up to 28 days for delivery".. but this is 2005 - surely it can't take that long ? You can't frighten people away by stating that? Where's it coming from ? The moon? Is someone cutting down a tree, making the cardboard for the box, painting the box, laminating it, folding it carefully and then giving it to a small child with a bad leg to deliver???!!! .. More than a month to be delivered? Come on!! Sure, we know it'll more-than-likely get to your address a lot quicker than the 5 weeks stated - but why frighten potential customers off by saying that? I've got a mate who was very impressed with TomTom Mobile 5, but he went and bought a Medion satnav unit from Halfords because he didn't want to wait the 5 weeks.
Ok, so rant over. I just had to mention all that because I saw just how many people were impressed with the TomTom Mobile 5 unit that I reviewed, and how many people went off and bought other satnav products because they couldn't get hold of it, or were put off by the "5 weeks for delivery" statement.
We've reviewed TomTom Mobile 5 here. It comes with a 128Mb MiniSD card, so you can quickly load the software on your SPV C500, Audiovox SMT5600 etc PLUS - because the MiniSD card is in an SD card "adaptor" you can also install it onto Windows Mobile phones with SD card slots. The GPS unit has shrunk and is - I have to say - an amazing piece of kit. It automatically powers off after a period on inactivity on the bluetooth connection (which is how it sends navigation data to your phone), which greatly improves battery life. There's also better battery management on the software itself, which stops your phone being unusable.
Picture above courtesy of mobilbladet.dk.
Shot taken from the inside of a BMW M5! - Click here for more.
As you can see, it's showing the speed and direction. You can add or remove what's shown on the main screen using a preferences option....
Ah, but I'm going off-track slightly. I was talking about the GPS unit. The "pick up" on the GPS unit is brilliant. You can pop the GPS unit in your pocket and go for a walk and it'll still work. Even through your jeans. It's small and light and comes with a cigarette-lighter charger plus a regular power charger so you've got power where-ever you go. It also comes with a loop-hole so you can tie it to your bike, motorbike, belt (for running) or anything else.
Due to this new smaller GPS unit TomTom have also added some extra features into the software, such as being able to pick the route that suits you best. Either the fastest, shortest route and whether you're walking, cycling etc. (you can tell it to avoid motorways too). You can also now choose how you're travelling. The route will be planned based on your chosen mode of transport (by car, bike, moped or walking). Nice touch.
TomTom have also updated the maps. They get their maps from a company called TeleAtlas and they're pretty bang-on apart from the very latest by-passes and roads that have only recently opened. Should you go down a road that it's not familiar with, you'll see something like this...
This happens rarely, only if you're on a business park or brand new road. Once you get back to a road it knows about then your route will be automatically updated and you can continue on with your journey easily. The M6 Toll is featured and now there's a new "Toll Charge" warning that I never used to get in Version 4.
This helps you avoid toll roads and congestion charge areas. Previously, if I asked TomTom to take me to .. say.. Birmingham and I was starting in Stafford, it'd blindly send me down the M6 Toll without warning me about the impending £3.50 charge I'd have to pay. That's always a tad tricky if you haven't brought your waller. Now however the lovely Jane (she's one of the most used voices who guide you to your destination on TomTom) says, "Toll Charge" when you're PLANNING your journey - so you're prepared even before you set off. Excellent. Here's us on the highly busy M6 Toll...
In fact, planning your route is now a lot easier. There's now 'Itinerary Planning' for more complicated journeys. You can define lots of "waypoints" and destinations to visit on your route. You can then double-check your route before you set off and even use just a postcode to find your destination.
TomTom have added a new 'Contacts Navigation' feature which is meant to plug the hole between the oodles of addresses stored in your contacts-list and the destinations available in TomTom. This feature allows you to utilise the addresses that you've added for your contacts (don't forget that the Smartphone syncronises all your contacts on Outlook with your phone, so addresses can be added easily to your contacts that way). In theory you should be able to click on the 'Contacts Navigation' tool (which is a seperate program) and then choose a contact to navigate to. Brilliant in theory yes, but in reality it gets the addresses severely mashed up...
.... I've seen the same thing happen on the Pocket PC version too, and the same strange interpretation of the address details seems to occur. You end up having to either re-enter all your contacts addresses in a different manner, or adjusting the address in the 'Contacts Navigation' tool to suit. Hmm.. very strange. I can't understand why this was released in this state.
TomTom have now included lots of tips, which pop up to give you helpful hints. This is great for avoiding the manual - which I never read whilst doing this review (blokes don't do manuals!) Again this is a welcome feature due to the fact that no-one carries the manual around with them. You can turn these off should you wish.
Also integrated more are the TomTom services, such as real-time traffic information which is fed down to your phone over GPRS (yes, GPRS, Bluetooth and regular phone calls all at the same time!) You can also get weather information for your region, and you can download extras like city maps, voices and Poi's using the new TomTom PLUS service. All of these can be seen on the third main menu above.
The basic layout is the same as version 4, and is kept both simple and easy to use. This is essential for quick one-handed use and you'll rapidly become accustomed to which menu page and shortcut number you want. For example, if you notice the preferences below - say I want to change the TomTom voice. All I need do is click ...
Select (To activate Menu)
5 (To access these preferences)
6,6,6,6,3.
It's as easy as that...
Ah, while I'm talking about the voices it's fair to say that a lot of people are after the new John Cleese voice. This can be added to TomTom Mobile 5 should you wish.
Overall
I still like TomTom, it is pretty much "the" satnav tool to have. Everything you'll ever need is included in TomTom. The product - apart from the strange contact navigation tool which doesn't seem to work correctly - is bang on, however it's severely let down by the cripplingly slow or non-existent distribution channels. It's like having a product on display in a window, but not letting anyone in to buy it.
The updated features are welcomed, and TomTom have listened to comments and suggestions carefully. Everything I wanted in TomTom 4 is now present, however - if I wanted to buy this tomorrow, I'd be instantly turned off by notices of stupidly long delivery times on TomTom.com. Let's hope TomTom listen again and fix these delivery issues.
TomTom Mobile 5 is available from TomTom.com priced at € 299,- (about £203)
