Fresh from a patent drubbing at the hands of Microsoft. GPS maker TomTom has introduced two new GPS lines—the One 140 and XL 340 series—that bring intelligent routing and advanced lane guidance features from TomTom’s premium GPS models into packages more attractive to everyday consumer budgets.
“The new TomTom ONE and TomTom XL devices strengthen our mid-range product offering considerably through the combination of first-class navigation and competitive price points,” said TomTom president Jocelyn Vigreux, in a statement.
Both series feature TomTom’s IQ Routes feature, which is based on anonymously-gathered speed profiles assembled from participating TomTom users: the result is the that the system recommends workable routes that tend to be preferred by folks local to an area—and, hence, often faster or easier drives than sticking to the main thoroughfares. TomTom’s advanced lane guidance feature provides representations of complicated highway exchanges with lane-specific directions, so users can be sure to hit the right ramps and stay out of exit-only lanes. The units also feature full maps of North America (including Mexico), map share technology (so users can map map corrections on their devices and share them with others), along with seven million points of interest.
The TomTom One 140 and One 140S feature a 3.5-inch touchscreen, with the 140S offering spoken navigation directions; the XL 340 and XL 340S offer a 4.3-inch screen, again with the S model adding spoken directions. The systems have suggested prices of $179,95, $199.95, $229.95, and $249.95, respectively.
TomTom has also announced the U.S. availability of its Go 740 Live GPS system, which features real-time traffic and fuel price information, Google-powered local search, and TomTom weather service.—the Go 740 Live represents TomTom’s first connected GPS device. The Go 740 Live should be available in mid-April for a suggested price of $399.95, which includes three months of live searches. Additional live service connectivity costs $9.95 per month.
