16-05
March 9, 2006 - 09:00 h
In this preview we'll limit ourselves to the hardware. For an extensive preview of the new and improved possibilities of the new firmware 6.0 And TomTom HOME, we'll refer you to our special: 'Firmware 6.0 and HOME: innovations galore'.
Screen
The first thing we notice about the new TomTom GO's is of course the screen. With its 480x272 pixel resolution, the new touch screen almost uses a true 16:9 resolution and that's a first in the world of PND's. Yet still the device isn't bigger than the former generation GO's and the TomTom Classic.
On the contrary actually: as you can see from the picture to the left, the width and the height have even decreased a bit. (for your easy viewing pleasure, we've taken the liberty to draw the shape of the 'old GO series' onto the photo of the new unit) What has increased a bit is the depth of the device: 66 mm now compared to 58 mm with the former series. And the shape is also a bit pointier.
But even though we believe the new screen is a real beauty, we do have questions with it's lay out. It seems TomTom has opted to use the extra space on the screen to show a wider version of the map. And while this may have its advantages now and then, we believe it would have been better to use that space for the info that is normally displayed on the bottom of the screen. This would allow the unit to show more of the road you're actually driving on, and this is always better when navigating. To see what we mean, just have a look at the photoshopped example screen to the right. Who knows, this may find its way in a forthcoming firmware update.
Box contents
If you buy a new GO, you'll notice it comes in a box filled to the brim with goodies. Of course it contains the GO itself, but also the new suction cup/mount for attachment to the windshield of your car (more on that later on). Other things we recognise: a card with the licence number on it, an installation CD and poster, an SD card with maps and software (only with 510 and 710 ; on the 910 the software comes pre-installed on the harddisk), a carrying bag and a 12 Volts car adapter. The GO 910 is also shipped with a remote control and an audio cable.TomTom HOME
But the kit also comes with some completely new things. Every GO 510, 710 and 910 is shipped with an external microphone and a docking station for charging the unit at home and easy connection to your computer using USB 2.0. And talking about easy connection to your computer: for this purpose especially, new TomTom management software called 'TomTom HOME' was developed. But for more info on this, again, we'll refer your to our software special 'Firmware 6.0 and HOME: innovations galore'.SiRF Star III
New mount
Another novelty is the new mount for the new GO's. TomTom opted for a completely new design which doesn't resemble the former model at all anymore. The new model consists out of two parts: the sucker for mounting to the windshield, and the socket onto which the GO clicks. Both parts are connected to each other by means of a ball hinge which can be moved in any direction.For attachment to the windshield, the new mount also uses a new mechanism. No more small lever, the sucker now uses a rotating disc. This disc has two settings: hold the mount to the windshield, turn the disc into position one and the sucker attaches itself. Turn the disc into position two and the ball hinge locks itself. Quick testing seems to indicate this works very well, but we hold off our final verdict until we've tested this new mechanism more thorough.
The new mount also holds a lot of connectors. On one side (top picture), from left to right we notice the external aerial connector, the 12 Volts connector and a special TomTom connector for a TMC antenna or an iPod. On the other side (bottom picture), there's an audio-out and a microphone-in connector for the supplied external microphone.
