21-03
August 30, 2007 - 20:23 h
For a while now speculation has been going on about TomTom's new flagship model. After the release of the GO 520 and 720 a few weeks ago we were really expecting a GO 920 also. And, we were correct: today TomTom released it's new high-end model, and before the year is over, this new PND will be available in the shops. The GO 920 replaces the GO 910, and with it we wave goodbye to the last GO with a round belly.Memory
Of course the new GO 920 features a few extras compared with its other smaller brothers in the x20 series. The flash memory of the high end model is 4 GB, which is twice the amount of the memory in the GO 720. And more memory is probably needed, because the GO 920 comes with a lot of map data pre-installed. The exterior of the 920 has got a new metallic look.Map material
With the GO 920 it's possible to naviagate through the United States, Canada, and no less than 41 European countries. Never before has TomTom shipped so many maps on once device. The Middle and Eastern European maps have expanded a lot, and now detailed road maps of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Russia have been included with the 920. Adjacent countries like Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine are also included, but only the major roads are available.Enhanced Positioning Technology
Besides the surprisingly large amount of map material, the GO 920 also features a new technical item: Enhanced Positioning Technology, EPT for short. The PND is equipped with sensors (an accelerometer and a gyroscope for measuring the movement and velocity) with which the position of the device can be calculated in areas without GPS reception. Think tunnels, woods or densely built city areas here. In the very first versions of the GO, TomTom used Automated Satellite Navigation (ASN) to help in situations where there was no GPS connection available. This large software based solution didn't really meet expectations, and was binned because of this. With the building in of sensors in the GO 920, TomTom believes it has found a much better solution.
Remote control
As we've become used to with the previous high-end models, TomTom ships a remote control with the GO 920. This is connected to the PND by means of Bluetooth. The remote's colour matches that of the new GO design: metallic. The number of buttons on the remote is limited, but almost all functions of the GO 920 can be controlled with it.RDS/TMC
Just like the GO 520 and the GO 720, the GO 920 ships in two flavours. Depending on the country, there is a version of the 920 available with and without a RDS/TMC antenna. In a number of countries (like the UK), the 'T' version of the unit is not available, and the RDS/TMC antenna needs to be purchased separately.Software
The GO 920 ships with TomTom newest software: NavCore 7. We've reported the features of this new software before at yourNAV when the other x20 models were announced. Besides the NavCore 7 software on the PND, the device is also shipped with the newestAvailability
Despite the announcement today in Berlin, we'll have to be patient a little longer before the GO 920 will be able to buy one in the shops. TomTom claims the new 920 will ship in the fourth quarter of this year, and we can assume this will be true because as you probably know by now, a very large percentage of the annual income of a company like TomTom is made in the months of November and December, when the Christmas and New Year presents are being purchased.Currently, TomTom has not yet released a retail price for this new model. We expect the GO 920T to sell for about ¤ 649 though. The edition without included RDS/TMC antenna will probably be ¤ 50 cheaper, and sell for ¤ 599.
