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TomTom ONE 140 and XL 340 series include Mexico and IQRoutes

TomTom has announced four new devices, including the TomTom ONE 140 and TomTom XL 340 series. Each includes IQ Routes™ and Advanced Lane Guidance, which were previously available only on the high-end TomTom GO series.  Additionally, the new units come with increased North American map coverage that now includes Mexico. Here are some highlights from the news release:

TomTom ONE and XL IQ Routes editions heading to U.S.?

Yesterday TomTom announced new editions of the TomTom ONE and XL, featuring IQ Routes and Advanced Lane Guidance, which had previously been available only on newer GO models. While these new models are first being introduced in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand, GpsPasSion is reporting that they will ultimately make their way to the U.S. Others are speculating that we won't see them on this side of the pond until TomTom reduces its backlog of inventory here in the States.

TomTom Map Update Service

TomTom has officially announced the availability of its Map Update Service^TM for U.S. and Canadian consumers, allowing access to one year of quarterly map updates, for a one-time fee as low as $39.80, or $9.95 per map release.

TomTom to reduce emphasis on PNDs?

TWICE is reporting that TomTom "will reduce spending in PNDs and increase spending on content." This comes on the heels of their $1.3 billion Q4 loss and reports that they may need to, once again, renegotiate the terms of loans used to buy Tele Atlas.

CES - Conversations with TomTom

I could have titled this post "more about the TomTom GO 740 LIVE" since it was their only introduction this year and the main thing we discussed. Shortly after meeting, they learned the the unit had been given the Best of CES award by both CNet and Laptop Magazine. Here are a few more details on the device and some additional screenshots:

TomTom GO 740 LIVE launches in U.S.; no HD Traffic yet

NOTE: I haven't seen a formal news release on this, so I'm piecing it together from multiple sources, all linked to below. UPDATE: The news release is appended to the bottom of this post.

TomTom is announcing the GO 740 LIVE, a connected GPS with a built-in cellular modem, today at CES. Unfortunately, TomTom has not been able to nail down a carrier partner in the U.S. that would allow for crowd-sourced traffic data, ala Dash. So, for the time being anyway, you won't have access to near real-time data from other TomTom GO 740 users. It will instead utilize traffic data from INRIX. The GO 740 LIVE will come with a one-year subscription and, according to GPS Business News, "TomTom probably expects to have its HD Traffic ready when this one year free subscription comes to an end" (emphasis added).

CES briefs - Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Here are a few more GPS related announcements from CES:

• TomTom announces a second-generation in-dash unit in their partnership with Fujitsu Ten - the Eclipse AVN4430
• Little known (in the PND world anyway) Dual Electronics looks like they will offer the first PND in the U.S. with HD Radio technology; whether they will take advantage of the bandwidth to deliver additional traffic data is unknown
• Nextar, fresh off a stellar holiday season, offers up a unit with free lifetime traffic
• Navigon has announced a new partnership, offering Rand McNally content for their devices

GPS predictions for 2009

Disclaimer: These are predictions and nothing more, so keep your sense of humor and please don’t sue me.

Auto GPS predictions

• A nuvi 8x5 series will bring lane assist and voice recognition together in one unit
• Garmin discontinues the nuvi 200 series; all Garmin nuvi models will now have text-to-speech
• Crowdsourced HD traffic comes to the US with the stateside introduction of the TomTom GO LIVE series
• TomTom releases a GPS receiver that utilizes alternative positioning information for improved accuracy in urban canyons
• More manufacturers display multiple route options visually, ala Dash and Insignia
• Navigon folds, caught between Nextar on the low end and MiTAC’s aggressive promotion of the Magellan line
• Red light camera alerts will move closer to the mainstream
• More downward feature creep -- expect to see Lane Assist on some mid-range Garmins, more units with lifetime traffic, larger screens, etc.
• Garmin announces a desktop application (possibly a revamped MapSource) that allows planning routes with POIs and transferring them to Garmin units with current City Navigator maps; it will be set up to allow users to opt into sharing anonymized tracklogs ala TomTom HOME
• Said application will support wireless transfer of data via ANT or Bluetooth

TomTom hacks - aerial photos and more

I came across some great TomTom hacks this weekend, including one for aerial photos (or any kind of raster imagery). I haven't tried any of these out, so you're kind of on your own here. As always, I'd do a full backup of the unit before trying them. Regardless, these look like some great resources for the TomTom enthusiast: