In my previous vehicle I had a stereo with an integrated Garmin GPS. Well I've had to sell that car and move to a new (used) vehicle that has a bunch of features but no aux input. Anyway, I chose the TomTom 740 Live GPS primarily because its voice command system offers the ability to operate the GPS more safely than trying to type while driving. It did a lot of other things too: bluetooth speaker phone, LIVE services, and iPod integration. Now that I've got the unit I've been frustrated by some things I've found out about the unit.
Voice Recognition: The best thing I can call it is frustrating. The address entry seems to work OK with relatively good voice recognition of cities, streets, and address numbers. An important part of the voice recognition is handsfree phone dialing. The good news is that it linked easily with my HTC Touch Pro smartphone. It easily downloaded the contact list as well. Next, was the attempt to try to dial using the contact list. I could not get the unit to recognize a single contact properly. My phone has a pretty robust voice recognition system (since its a Windows Mobile phone the voice recognition is very similar to the Sync system). Are there any tips on getting the voice recognition to work better?
IPod Integration: Its not a well documented function because the accessories have not been officially released in the US. Interestingly enough, the fixed installation cradle that comes with the ProClip mount has the iPod and Line Out connections. I was able to obtain an iPod cable kit from the UK pretty easily. I was really suprised at how robust the integration was. You can easily operate all the iPod functions using the bright screen. It looks like a perfect companion but, since I have not aux in on my stereo and the 740 doesn't have an FM Transmitter link, the only option is to listen over the TomTom speaker or buy a third-party FM Transmitter to which you can connect the Line Out cable. But here is the next problem: the iPod cable does not charge the iPod. As nice as it would be to use the iPod together with the TomTom, I had to go with a Monster combo iPod charge/transmit cable. What do other people think about this?
Media: The iPod integration might not be a big issue if you could play music directly for the 740, but you can't. I popped in a 4GB Micro SDHC card and it added tons of space to the unit. The only thing you can store on the card, however, is additional POI, Theme, and other data like that. I installed the demo of the Mobilnova media center, and this works well for playing audio and video with a big BUT... it reboots the unit into a separate OS session and unloads the TomTom software. This means that the core thing you want to do (listen to music while navigating and/or using the phone) isn't possible. Are there any other solutions to use media files on the 740 while also navigating?
Sorry for being so long-winded, but if I could optimize the use of the 740... it would be great.
..rob
Voice Recognition: The best thing I can call it is frustrating. The address entry seems to work OK with relatively good voice recognition of cities, streets, and address numbers. An important part of the voice recognition is handsfree phone dialing. The good news is that it linked easily with my HTC Touch Pro smartphone. It easily downloaded the contact list as well. Next, was the attempt to try to dial using the contact list. I could not get the unit to recognize a single contact properly. My phone has a pretty robust voice recognition system (since its a Windows Mobile phone the voice recognition is very similar to the Sync system). Are there any tips on getting the voice recognition to work better?
IPod Integration: Its not a well documented function because the accessories have not been officially released in the US. Interestingly enough, the fixed installation cradle that comes with the ProClip mount has the iPod and Line Out connections. I was able to obtain an iPod cable kit from the UK pretty easily. I was really suprised at how robust the integration was. You can easily operate all the iPod functions using the bright screen. It looks like a perfect companion but, since I have not aux in on my stereo and the 740 doesn't have an FM Transmitter link, the only option is to listen over the TomTom speaker or buy a third-party FM Transmitter to which you can connect the Line Out cable. But here is the next problem: the iPod cable does not charge the iPod. As nice as it would be to use the iPod together with the TomTom, I had to go with a Monster combo iPod charge/transmit cable. What do other people think about this?
Media: The iPod integration might not be a big issue if you could play music directly for the 740, but you can't. I popped in a 4GB Micro SDHC card and it added tons of space to the unit. The only thing you can store on the card, however, is additional POI, Theme, and other data like that. I installed the demo of the Mobilnova media center, and this works well for playing audio and video with a big BUT... it reboots the unit into a separate OS session and unloads the TomTom software. This means that the core thing you want to do (listen to music while navigating and/or using the phone) isn't possible. Are there any other solutions to use media files on the 740 while also navigating?
Sorry for being so long-winded, but if I could optimize the use of the 740... it would be great.
..rob
