back to article Tom Tom flags down 'live traffic' XL satnav

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COMMENTS

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  1. Mark Monaghan
    Coat

    Oops 1:34

    The moral of this tale is...

    Make sure the battery is charged before you do the demo.

    It's the one with the solar panel on the back.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Was that a review or an advert

    It's hardly the biting Reg stuff we expect

  3. jon
    Unhappy

    I want one...

    ...I guess I'll have to buy a car >.<

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    nice advert

    but where's the news story?

  5. Graham Marsden
    Dead Vulture

    So...

    ...I've just watched a 2 minute advert for Tom Tom on El Reg...?

  6. Jeremy
    Paris Hilton

    Subscription

    "7.99 a month without any subscription at all so you can opt in and opt out as and when you see fit"

    Since when did the words 'subscription' and 'contract' become analogous? Or are TomTom trying to show my right to cancel a direct debit if and when I choose as some kind of generosity on their part?

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Conrad Longmore
    Happy

    Updates

    One thing that a lot of people don't realise about TomTom products ist that the software is continually updated. So a lot of the cool things that new TomToms can do, can also run on old TomToms with a software update. I have an old TomTom GO 700, but the software features that it has today are much, much better than when I bought it. Kudos to TomTom, I thinl.

  9. Shane Orahilly
    Paris Hilton

    So much button pushing...

    ...shouldn't it be made illegal to use any of these services while driving? Looks like it might distract you.

    Paris, as it's about time her cameras were updated live.

  10. Chris
    Dead Vulture

    Where's the 'Advertising Feature' tag?

    It seems to be missing.

  11. Tony Hoyle

    Don't forget the cost

    £250 for the satnav and don't forget to £100/year charge to actually use the thing,

    And live traffic isn't useful because it only covers those that it deems to be 'major' roads - which outside London is bascally motorways and half a dozen major A roads... Until someone comes up with a traffic system that covers every road it's always going to be worse than useless - it will move you off a perfectly fine but slowish motorway onto an 'alternative' route that's blocked solid because it doesn't know the traffic situation on the alternative route (on top of that its update frequency sucks and it will often 'avoid' completely nonexistant delays).

  12. raving angry loony

    why?

    Says on the video - it's a demo. So, as a demo, it's nothing but a tissue of lies by the people who make the product, because that's what "demo" means - "to lie about or omit important information about a product and hope nobody notices".

    Which begs the question why is the El Reg logo all over the video? Have they stopped biting the hand that feeds IT, and started bending over and spreading it for those who feed IT? Are they starting to bite the hand that *is* IT, rather than simply the hand that feeds it? Important questions that need answering.

  13. mittfh
    Dead Vulture

    Hardly a review...

    As Graham said, it's an ad for a Sat Nav, that presumably also has some form of GSM capability.

    So once your 3 month trial is up, your £250 Sat Nav will increasingly become out of date unless you pay them a further £8/month.

    With Sat Navs starting to add mobile phone type features, it'll only be a matter of time before they'll offer to answer your phone with "Sorry, I'm driving at the moment, but I'll get back to you when I reach my destination in approximately 8.5 minutes" - or if the caller presses a few buttons to indicate it's urgent, the Sat Nav will automatically redirect you to the nearest safe place to stop...

    But even then, what's the betting the mapping will be less than perfect, and Sat Chavs will still willingly follow its soothing tones into a 4' deep ford, or to the edge of a cliff, or down a narrow lane / footpath with nowhere to turn around...

    Then again, at least the ad showed the functionality in real time, unlike the "Sequence shortened and steps removed" ads for the "There's an app for that" phone.

    I'm following Graham with the tombstone icon - you're supposed to offer cynical reviews of technology, not blindly post manufacturer's ads for the product...

  14. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Dead Vulture

    I waited for the Reg story

    But it didn't start after the advertisement.

  15. Ian K
    Dead Vulture

    Hope El Reg was paid for that

    2 minute spiel directly from a TomTom guy about their wonderful new product, zero Reg input; not a single word of commentary.

    This really was an advert masquerading as a new story.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    What about bikers?

    So when are Live Services coming to the TomTom Rider?

  17. AF
    Thumb Up

    Re: Mac support

    My mileage certainly does vary compared to Peter's, as I find the Mac support for Tomtom devices to be fine. I've been using Tomtom home (Mac version) for over a year now, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's been updated a few times too, so it doesn't look like they're just focussing on the Windows version. That's not to say Peter shouldn't continue updating the device for his neighbour - I'd do the same in that situation!

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