TomTom Car Kit for iPhone: First Look

[ Background music ] >> Antuan Goodwin: Earlier this year Tom Tom released a navigation app for iPhone that enabled turn by turn directions that were a step above the pre installed Google maps app however I've typically have found the iPhone to be a less than ideal replacement for standalone GPS devices. Apparently so have the guys at Tom Tom which may explain their latest bit of hardware. I'm Antuan Goodwin let's take a look at the TomTom car kit for iPhone. Now the Tom Tom Car Kit addresses a few issues that plagued navigation on the iPhone. The first being where do you put the darn thing? The Tom Tom kit integrates Tom Tom's easy port and mount for a quick and easy connection to your windshield. The car kit features a swiveling neck and a rotating sliding head to position the iPhone whatever way you need. The cradle also charges the iPhone with this 12 volt charger and integrates a loudspeaker for turn by turn directions. Tom Tom's car kit can also be used for hands free calling after quick Bluetooth pairing and features independent volume controls for calls. If you want to listen to music through your vehicles speakers an auxiliary audio port can also be used with a patch cable to connect to your car stereo however turn by turn directions cannot be output through that audio port and no audio cable is included in the kit. The Tom Tom car kit has 1 more trick up its sleeve. It's packing its own built in GPS receiver that's more sensitive than the unit in the iPhone for more accurate satellite location. The Tom Tom car kit doesn't require the Tom Tom turn by turn iPhone app to function. It can be used as a hand free speaker phone and a charger without it and a free Tom Tom car kit tool app is available which displays the kits docking status, GPS fixed status and latitude and longitude information. However in order for this $170 car kit to actually be useful you want to pick up the $99 Tom Tom app for iPhone to enable turn by turn directions and to gain access to actual maps. It would be nice if there was some sort of a package deal that included the app and the car kit since they sort of rely on one another but oddly enough there isn't. [ Background music ] >> Antuan Goodwin: So is the Tom Tom car kit for iPhone worth the high cost of entry? Check out our full review to find out. Until then I'm Antuan Goodwin and this has been your first look at the Tom Tom car kit for iPhone. ^M00:02:22 [ Music ]