Local maps available for iPhone Tom Tom app

In latest iPhone developments, Tom Tom became available in just a few countries and, rather remarkably, one of those was ours.

The expensive (at $119.99) app gives true turn-by-turn directions. Coupled with an in-car power supply like those sold by MacSense and various other vendors around the place, you get an effective instant navigation system.

You wouldn't buy an iPhone just for the Tom Tom app, maybe, but if you already have an iPhone, this app gives you all that a much more expensive dedicated in-car navigation system offers: a display showing where you are and turn-by-turn spoken instructions getting you to your destination.

This is handier than you might assume - if you've ever visited Auckland but you live elsewhere, you've most likely ended up on the wrong lane on the motorway. Suddenly, you're in some massive suburb nobody's ever heard of and you have to find your way back to the motorway.

Actually, I have to confess: shucks, I'm an Aucklander and this has happened to me often enough ... Tom Tom tells you (in a range of voices including many in different languages) to stay right until you get near your left-hand-side turnoff. That's very helpful.

Of course, when you're hurtling along the motorway in your Corolla, you don't want to be looking at the screen of an iPhone. That's another reason the loud turn-by-turn instructions are handy.

Tom Tom gives you a hell of a lot for your money. You can add points of interest to a route and all sorts of other things.

I got my partner to drive to Muriwai on the weekend so I could sit in the passenger seat and have a play with the display options - the 3D map is really cool, showing you the roads coming up left and right. It even reorients itself if you move it around, sometimes not that successfully but usually very well. This is for cornering, for example.

I have heard that in Europe, Tom Tom (a Dutch company) is so ubiquitous that people sometimes break down en route to ... I dunno, St Tropez or some other sizzling Euro-bolt-hole. With no power in their cars suddenly, they have no idea where they are. They call the AA (or whatever). Asked where they are, they wail 'Weet ik veel!' or other equivalent to 'I don't know'! So keep an old-school map somewhere.

Of course, you could mount your iPhone in your car - you just buy a mounting thing and slip your iPhone into it. Then your iPhone can power up as you power along, its screen clearly visible.

One such mount-maker is Pro Fit, which makes mounts for various devices including some that work for iPhone, the miCRADLE 3G and the UltiMount V2. There's also a miTOUCH for the iPod touch and other iPods, to use it as your in-car music player.

The UltiMount V2 sticks somewhere with very sticky stuff, or can be bolted onto your transmission tunnel, for example, for a very secure fitting. Get the right adapter to hold your device and Bob's not your lost uncle, anymore, coz you can track him down.

These are all available from the Hands-Free Company here in New Zild. Why do you care? Because from November you will need a hands-free solution in your vehicle if you want to make and receive calls, that's why. And about time.

The iPhone is pretty much hands-free already, but you'd need to have the earbuds in, which feels all wrong when you're driving. I don't know what the law would say about that, but I've certainly taken calls when riding my bike. (Yes, I pull over first. And sometimes I'm panting like a steam engine.)

Speaking of which, ProFit makes an iPhone bike mount, which you can buy from shops like Cyco in Auckland. I tried a BK100 out, thinking how cool it would be to see what's going on with various handy apps, like Tom Tom, or another GPS app like the free Runtime Lite, which maps your progress without telling you where to go.

But I'm conflicted. It's a very strange feeling riding around with an $849 device perched on your handlebars. Suddenly the bumps I habitually like to boing over no longer seem so attractive. And it's secured with two plastic cable ties.

This method works fine for lighter devices like the little bike computers, and bells and stuff, but the iPhone's heavy. It's hard to get a tight enough fit pulling on plastic self-locking ties, and one bump I negotiated serenely (I thought) knocked the whole shooting match over 180° so it was facing downwards. That's scary, frankly.

Also, forget listening to music. There's no way you'd want a cord going across to your handlebars or bike frame while pedalling. But hey, for a serene ride, it's great for navigation and stats. You certainly get better GPS reception than having it in your pocket. Providing you don't crash and it doesn't rain, of course. (For me, ProFit, please make me something that bolts on very securely and affords some bump and rain protection.)

How about mounting you on a bike? If you are a serious bicycle rider, check this app out that fits you to a bike.

Some other cool new apps have appeared. MissingInk in the UK made a port to British newspaper The Independent. It's good to be able to read news when waiting for something to happen or someone to turn up. But there's a text wrap problem on a very few pages and you can't turn some feeds off. (Watching the tally of unread items mount up on under 'Sports' makes me all anxious. Do I need counselling?).

The developers tell me they're working on these issues.

Oh yeah - and the free NZ Yellow Pages app is now available, too.

- Mark Webster mac.nz