Over the past several; years I have used Navigator 6 and 7 on a variety of HTC phones (TYTN, TYTNII, TouchHD). These have run on Windows 5 to 6.1. I have spent quite a lot of money on Tomtom maps and subscriptions to traffic reports and safety camera locations as well as the Navigator software. In other words I have stayed legitimate in my use of Tomtom.
What I find increasing irritating about Tomtom are the following:
1. Often the only way to find out whether Tomtom Navigator will run on any given phone is to try it - the irritation comes from Tomtom's coyness about which phones Navigator is compatible with (the list they publish is quite short), added to the total lack of support they give for 'try before you buy'. Now I accept that it may not be economically viable for Tomtom to validate Navigator's compatibility with the proliferation of phones out there, even if the scope is limited to those running Windows Mobile (even though you might expect there to be some similarity between such phones). It is also true that Navigator 7 could be downloaded for a while, unopposed it would appear, by Tomtom. This could be installed without difficulty on the Touch HD, for example, and then maps could be legitimately purchased from Tomtom. In my opinion Tomtom are really missing a trick here.
2. The second, and worse cause of irritation is Tomtom's rigidly imposed 6 month rule, in terms of transferring an account from one phone to another. With maps it is not even possible to do this, since, maps can only be vaildated for use on a single device. Now several times over the past five years it has been necessary to get a replacement phone, because the old one became faulty, damaged or lost. If a phone is on a contract and insured, getting a replacement is very quick. However getting the maps and trfaffic/safety camera subscriptions transferred to it is not so easy if the old phone was less than six months into its contract (and remember, mobile phone contracts are still often renewed on an annual basis. It is possible to contact Tomtom, and request transfer of the subscriptions, and in theory they will agree to this and make the required adjustments to the account, BUT ONLY if you have documentary proof that the phone has been replaced. Now Orange will not provide such documentation in my experience, so - Catch 22. The end result of this is that I have not been able to use things that I have legitimately paid for. That is a very bad taste in the mouth.
In all other respects I like the Tomtom product, in spite of the fact that its maps, even the most up-to-date ones, are riddled with inaccuracies, and the speed camera database is often woefully out of date.
I would be interested to hear other people's views on, and hopefully solutions to, these issues.
What I find increasing irritating about Tomtom are the following:
1. Often the only way to find out whether Tomtom Navigator will run on any given phone is to try it - the irritation comes from Tomtom's coyness about which phones Navigator is compatible with (the list they publish is quite short), added to the total lack of support they give for 'try before you buy'. Now I accept that it may not be economically viable for Tomtom to validate Navigator's compatibility with the proliferation of phones out there, even if the scope is limited to those running Windows Mobile (even though you might expect there to be some similarity between such phones). It is also true that Navigator 7 could be downloaded for a while, unopposed it would appear, by Tomtom. This could be installed without difficulty on the Touch HD, for example, and then maps could be legitimately purchased from Tomtom. In my opinion Tomtom are really missing a trick here.
2. The second, and worse cause of irritation is Tomtom's rigidly imposed 6 month rule, in terms of transferring an account from one phone to another. With maps it is not even possible to do this, since, maps can only be vaildated for use on a single device. Now several times over the past five years it has been necessary to get a replacement phone, because the old one became faulty, damaged or lost. If a phone is on a contract and insured, getting a replacement is very quick. However getting the maps and trfaffic/safety camera subscriptions transferred to it is not so easy if the old phone was less than six months into its contract (and remember, mobile phone contracts are still often renewed on an annual basis. It is possible to contact Tomtom, and request transfer of the subscriptions, and in theory they will agree to this and make the required adjustments to the account, BUT ONLY if you have documentary proof that the phone has been replaced. Now Orange will not provide such documentation in my experience, so - Catch 22. The end result of this is that I have not been able to use things that I have legitimately paid for. That is a very bad taste in the mouth.
In all other respects I like the Tomtom product, in spite of the fact that its maps, even the most up-to-date ones, are riddled with inaccuracies, and the speed camera database is often woefully out of date.
I would be interested to hear other people's views on, and hopefully solutions to, these issues.
