Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about TomTom’s new iPhone application, now available in iTunes for just $99. It’s the first true GPS navigation software available, a massive 1.1GB download that boasts stored maps of the entire US & Canada. No reception? No 3G or Edge? With TomTom, there’s no problem, as long as you have clear line-of-sight to the GPS eyes in the sky. Is it as good as their YouTube advertisement? I’ve bought it, driven 500 miles with it, and lived to tell the tale:

The simplest feature is navigation. You can find a place to go by entering an address, choosing a contact from your iPhone, browsing the map and picking start/end points, or searching through nearby points of interest. Once you’ve figured where to go, the TomTom app knows where you are and gives you a route:

Along the way you have a few route options:

The most useful of these is the list of instructions, which is a turn-by-turn summary of your drive:

The “points of interest” search tool is also quite nice. Here’s a list of restaurants near where I was at the time:

The application itself launches and calculates quickly, generally has OK GPS reception, and is lightweight enough to keep the heat on the iPhone 3GS to a minimum while allowing you to place music in the background without skipping. For $99 though, I’m not sure it’s entirely worth it. For example, the TomTom ONE-S 3.5″ is also $99, and it’s the full unit, not just the software. And, there are some missing features / problems:

• The TomTom application kills the battery, you’ll need a car adapter. I was running low after just 2-3 hours.
• GPS reception is best when the iPhone is held upright, near the dash. Holding it down in your lap or a cup tray doesn’t work well, so you’ll need a dashboard mount.
• In Manhattan, many times the application cannot find a GPS signal for some time. Driving through overpasses/underpasses confuses the GPS, causing it to sometimes issue false directions.
• While the turning directions are spoken, the street names are not. This is a software feature–why not include it?

If TomTom can improve the signal quality and add spoken street names to the application, I would value it around $60. However at $99, it’s a tad expensive, and only useful if you refuse to purchase a full GPS unit–say, because mostly you rent cars.

Update:

After being out for a couple months, a new update has come out that promises more accurate GPS fixes, and the reviews on iTunes have placed the TomTom Navigator application at 2.5/5 stars:

The primary complaints are:

• Slow time to acquire GPS, bad GPS accuracy
• No spoken street names (this bugs me too)
• The high price, lack of updates, huge file size
• Applications crashes

If you recently unlocked your iPhone 3G and found after going through the whole WinPWN / Cydia process that T-Mobile Edge settings only work for Mail, but not for Google Maps, or other important services, you’re not alone. It’s also quite easy to fix, and continues to work with location services and other apps from the AppStore.

1) Install SSH

Assuming you have Cydia, you should install the OpenSSH package onto your iPhone. Just scroll down to OpenSSH, and hit install:

2) Download WinSCP, connect to iPhone

You can download the latest version of WinSCP and install it. Then it will prompt you to connect to your iPhone, which you should have running on your local Wifi. Note that the default username and password for the 3G iPhone will be root/alpine. If you don’t know the IP address you can either guess in the 192.168.0/1.* range, or just logon to your router and see.

3) Verify / Update Proxy.pac

Use the file browser to verify that a file called ./private/var/preferences/proxy.pac exists, and contains the following:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (isInNet(myIpAddress(), “10.0.0.0″, “255.0.0.0″))
return “PROXY 216.155.165.50:8080″;
else
return “DIRECT”;
}

You could just run these commands:

Kiwiii:/ root# find -name proxy.pac
./private/var/preferences/proxy.pac
Kiwiii:/ root# md5sum ./private/var/preferences/proxy.pac
8c9a4f4b1692cd3519ce7bcf180c66a4 ./private/var/preferences/proxy.pac
Kiwiii:/ root#

4) Verify preferences.plist

Next you need to hunt for /private/var/preferences/systemconfiguration/preferences.plist, and make sure it contains this section:

<key>Proxies</key>
<dict>
<key>ProxyAutoConfigEnable</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>ProxyAutoConfigURLString</key>
<string>file:///private/var/preferences/proxy.pac</string>
</dict>

You should put it on the same level and after the Interface key/dict pair for the network interface which contains your WAP settings, which for T-Mobile’s $5.99 T-Zones are just the WAP APN wap.voicestream.com with no username or password. Save the file, restart your iPhone, and you’re set!

Yep, it found me! Yay! Google maps is working!

Farecast now runs to over 55 different cities, and is no longer in private beta. They’ve also added a literal host of new features, including the following liberal trip planner:

You can input a number of cities, and within those five destination cities, your departure city, and a 30-day window, Farecast will find the cheapest place to visit. I can see this being useful for vacationing on the cheap!