TomTom announce new GO 930, 730 and 530 at CeBIT
TomTom announced a new range of devices at CeBIT today the new GO x30 series. In Europe there will be a TomTom GO 930, GO 730 and TomTom 530 whilst in the USA there will just be the TomTom GO 930 and and GO 730. The new TomTom GO devices retain the styling of the current GO x20 series, but come in a very sophisticated soft touch black with "real metal" detailing.
Not only are we getting new hardware, but there will be updated software to support it. The new software incorporates new junction graphics such as "Lane Separation" and "Complex Junction Details" similar to the Navigon Lane Assist launched a year ago, it also incorporates enhanced Voice Address Input, and possibly more important it now incorporates a new feature known as IQ routing.
IQ routing allows a route to be calculated based on recorded average speed information. This means that if a road is marked at 70MPH but the average speed on the road is actually 10MPH then the 10MPH figure will be used for routing calculations and the generated route may be a lot longer, but should be faster. This will no doubt be a much discussed feature in the forums as indeed the difference in route calculations always has been.
A quick scan through the features lists has the main differences between the units as the mapping (530 = regional, 730 = W/E Europe, 930 = USA, Canada, W/E Europe) and subsequent flash memory size. The 930 also features the Enhanced Positioning Technology as well as the Bluetooth remote control which is an optional extra in the 530/730.
The main new features of the (presumably V8) software are:
• Voice Address Input – Tell the GO where to go (TomTom Claim this is New but it's been available on the x20's for some time?)
• TomTom IQ Routes
– Intelligent routing based on real-world, historical average speeds
– Provides intelligent routing based on weekday and weekend averages
• Lane Separation
– Displays where to drive at complex multi lane junctions
– Enhances safety by avoiding last moment lane changes
• Complex Junction Details
– Complementing Lane Separation
– Displays detailed 3D image of complex junctions
– Maintains full visibility on the other essential details
It also looks as though MapShare has been improved with the addition of 'Change Road Speed' on the first page implying that it will change your map straight away. This is purely speculation though based on how the MapShare menu's have functioned previously.
Update
Having got our hands on a GO 930 and having a chance to ask a few more questions about the new units and features we can now add the following information: IQ Routing: - Each road, on average, received about 1000 data submissions - Over 500 million submissions were used to set up the IQ Routing engine - The data is integrated into the maps - It is NOT a plus service - Data includes both the type of day (week day / weekend) and the time of day - Route planning now adds an extra option of when you are travelling (today, tomorrow, week day, weekend) - The feature can be disabled if required Lane Guidance: - Mainly covers motorways but is obviously dependent on the map data available - Static image is shown 'covering' the main screen and has flashing arrows. Distance to junction is still shown on screen MapShare: - Street restrictions editing interface has been improved - Can now confirm that changes to road speed are now added instantly to your map Click here to discuss...
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