TomTom has announced it has teamed up with Motaquote to reward good drivers with lower premiums on their car insurance.

Both companies have come up with something called Fair Pay Insurance, which works with data taken from your TomTom and offers up a bonus scheme for those who stick to the Highway Code – so speed racers need not apply.

The scheme means that policy is controlled by how you drive and not tied to risk factors outside of the drivers control – ie, postcode, gender, age and vehicle type.

Pay less

Speaking about the new initiative, Nigel Lombard, Managing Director of Fair Pay Insurance, said: "We've dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you're a good driver, we'll believe you and we'll even give you the benefit up front.

"This is unlike some other telematics-based schemes where you may have to prove your ability over a number of months. So if you think of your insurance as your car's MPG - the better you drive, the longer your fuel will last.

"It's the same with Fair Pay Insurance, good drivers get more for their money and in that sense they will pay ultimately less."

Now, the cynic in us suggests that if it rewards decent drivers, then it may well penalise bad drivers so it may be worth checking the small print, but those who sign up to the Fair Pay scheme will get a specially-developed TomTom PRO 3100 navigation device, which includes Active Driver Feedback and LIVE Services.

Now all we need is a TomTom HAL voice to say softly to us: "Slow down your driving, Dave. Watch out for that pedestrian, Dave. Your insurance company isn't going to like that speed camera flash, Dave..."

Legal authorities cannot use GPS tracking devices on a person's vehicle without first obtaining a search warrant, the United States Supreme Court has ruled.

The ruling clarifies the Fourth Amendment right of Americans which protects them from unreasonable searches or seizures without a warrant and probable cause.

The Amendment references "persons, houses, papers and effects."

According to the new verdict, instances where "the government obtains information by physically intruding on a constitutionally protected area," includes an individual's car.

Massive ramifications

GPS tracking is often used by the police and other federal authorities to gain intelligence on the movement of suspects, so today's legal ruling has massive ramifications.

Monday's verdict stems from a case where a man was able to overturn his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment for drug dealing.

His legal team were able to prove to the court that police had installed a GPS tracking device on his jeep without a warrant.

The Supreme Court justices agreed that the police had violated his "reasonable expectations of privacy."

Best iPhone sat nav app: 5 tested

The iPhone is a perfect sat-nav device. Small enough to sit discreetly on your dashboard, but big enough that you can glance – rather than squint – at it, all you need now is the perfect app to use with it.

A quick search of the App Store will show you there's lots of choice, from free ones to apps costing over £50. So we've picked four of the big players: TomTom, Garmin, CoPilot and Sygic, as well as one cheap alternative: Navmii GPS Live UK.

When you're choosing an app, think about where in the world you're likely to use it, and buy the correct version. And remember that while you don't need an internet connection to use these, since the maps are stored on your phone, you will need it for live traffic information.

If you've ever had a car with a built-in sat-nav, the experience of using the iPhone is somewhat different. The main change is that with a built-in sat-nav you've got physical buttons and dials to control it.

This means you can, for example, zoom in or out of the map while you're driving, without taking your eyes off the road. There's no doing that with the iPhone, however, because your screen's a single flat surface.

You really need to set it up while you're stopped, then put it in the mount and leave it to do its thing as you drive.

With the iPhone, you're pretty safe to save your 'Home' location, since you're not going to be leaving your iPhone in the car, and because you can pop a passcode on your phone to keep its contents safe.

One thing to make sure of is that when you reach your destination and exit the satnav app, it stops using Location Services. If the compass arrow remains in the top bar, it's still accessing your location and will run the battery down. Go into the app and tell it to stop navigating, or, from the Home screen, double-tap Home, tap and hold the icons to make them wiggle, then tap the minus sign on the sat-nav.

How we tested

You need a sat-nav to be there to help you in the most confusing and tricky places to find your way around, so what better place to test them than our home town, Bath?

Full of one-way streets and bus-only roads, as well as some streets that were redesigned in the last few years as part of a major building project, it presents a real acid test for any sat-nav app.

We started our test at home, up on the northern slopes of the city, and asked each app to take us to a local point of interest – in this case, a petrol station on the edge of the city centre. From there, we wanted to visit a friend whose address (but not the postcode) was saved in our iPhone's Contacts list.

After that, we tried a straight postcode lookup to take us to a local National Trust property, Prior Park Landscape Garden. Once we'd looked around there, we made our way towards the main railway station, and then back home.

This route was specifically designed to test the different ways of setting your destination, as well as the app's knowledge of prohibited roads. There were two such roads in the test, one of which, the Ambury, allows cars for loading only.

While there's no active enforcement of this rule, as good law-abiding citizens we wanted the sat-nav to steer us away from it anyway. The second forbidden road was the bus gate at the top of the High Street, which has an enforcement camera on it.

Despite this, several of the apps still tried to send us through it, which would have resulted in a hefty fine had we followed the routing. In both cases, we followed the suggested route as far as possible (shown as dotted lines in our maps) and then turned off, to test the apps' ability to reroute us.

Obviously, the apps' routing accuracy will vary in different places throughout the country; this is just an example.

1. CoPilot Live Premium UK & Ireland - £29.99

A premium offering, but not a premium price point

Despite its Premium name, this is one of the more affordable apps on test here. Though its interface, doesn't look particularly iOS-like, it's simple enough to find your way around.

But as you make your way through the menus, it lacks some of the polish and smoothness of the TomTom or Garmin apps. Scrolling's a little jerky and there's sometimes a delay before menus appear. These are minor gripes, but it's things like this that set the great apps apart from the ones that are merely good.

The display when you're driving looks pretty, though the fonts used are a tad on the slim side for glancing at when you're driving. Some braver, chunkier bolding wouldn't have gone amiss. Similarly, the so-called Driving Menu, which gives you access to various on-route options, has nice, big, easy-to-press buttons, marked with big, clear symbols, but the font on the labels is too small to read without peering in closely.

Having got all that off our chest, there's a lot here we do like. When you're stationary, for example, it adds local points of interest to the map. But, knowing this adds clutter, these vanish again as soon as you pull away.

The spoken instructions during our test were a mixed bag. The ones it gave us in advance of a junction or lane change were inferior to both TomTom and Sygic, but we found the 'now' directions ('turn left now') were given at the perfect time. The voice giving the instructions, like on all the apps except Sygic's, was a little mechanical, especially when pronouncing road names.

And this was the only app other than TomTom that, as far as we could tell, made use of the GPS in the TomTom Car Kit, meaning that it should work on an iPod touch as well, but check this before you buy.

The live traffic updates cost a bargain £8.99 for a year's subscription, and show up at the side of the screen.

Verdict: 3/5

2. Garmin UK & Ireland - £39.99

Can the new kid in town give the rest a run for their money?

Garmin is no stranger to the world of satnavs, but it's the new kid on the block when it comes to the iPhone, the app having been out for a matter of weeks when we tested it, and still at version 1.0.

We love the simplicity of the main menu: two big buttons, with some smaller ones down the side. It's easy to find your way around the app and to navigate to different types of waypoint. The interface looks very similar to what you get with Garmin's own brand sat-nav units, so if you've used one of them, this'll be second nature to you. But even if you haven't, it's quick to learn and feels remarkably slick considering it's the first version of the app.

Though the map itself can be cluttered, the main interface is, happily, nice and simple. A big instruction, your estimated time of arrival, a prominently displayed speed limit, your own speed (which turns red if you're going too fast), and a traffic button are all you get, and it's absolutely great.

The route you need to follow is marked in bright pink, so it's easy to tell apart from the surrounding roads, and there's a quick-access button to the live traffic information, if you've subscribed. This'll cost you £2.99 a month or £21.99 for an annual pass, and the app automatically routes you away from traffic it detects. It also zooms in and out of the route when it feels this is useful.

We commend Garmin for including lane guidance in towns and cities, rather than just on motorway junctions. It wasn't always perfect, and was a little bit small, but it's a useful addition.

The same could be said for the speed camera warning, which plays a sound and pops up on the screen, though the writing is too small to read from a distance. In time, we learned what this combination of sound and a grey blob on the screen meant, but a simpler and larger camera symbol would work better, we feel.

The guidance voice could also do with some work, but this is an excellent offering nonetheless.

Verdict: 4/5

3. Sygic UK & Ireland - £17.49

Not keen on spending too much? Then try this for size…

At less than half the cost of some of the others here, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Sygic's app might be found wanting in comparison to those with heftier prices. But it impressed us on multiple fronts, starting with the menus you use to tell it where you'd like to go.

The buttons are big, making them easy to press, and they feel polished. This wasn't the only area where Sygic impressed us, though. The default voice that reads out instructions is by far the most natural-sounding of all the apps. Using it was more like having a friend in the passenger seat telling you where to go, rather than a mechanical-sounding robot.

The instructions that the voice gave us were impressive too, especially the 'keep left/keep right' lane guidance. Our test route contained lots of two- and three-lane roads, and sometimes knowing which to be in is baffling, even for those of us who have been driving in Bath for some years. Yet the lane guidance, with one or two small exceptions, pointed us to the lanes that our experience would have led us to choose.

The on-screen map that you see when you're driving is kept minimalist, which we also liked: it's easy to find the particular bit of information you're after, and the speed limit is always prominently visible. If you subscribe to the live traffic information from INRIX (€9.99 per year for the UK), you get a little symbol in the other corner of the screen, telling you if there are any delays on your route. We'd have liked this to be bigger, but it's simple to get at.

It wasn't all good news, though. Our biggest complaint was that the colouring of the map at times made it tricky to pick out your route from all the surrounding roads. We'd have liked to see more contrasting colours used here.

The on-screen lane guidance is too small as well. And when we were trying to navigate to a contact's address, it listed our entire address book, rather than just those with addresses available. It also threw a strop when we put in a postcode with a space in the middle. Hmph.

Verdict: 3/5

4. TomTom UK & Ireland - £49.99

How does the sat-nav veteran stand up to the competition?

TomTom's been doing the sat-nav thing for so long that it's almost become the de facto choice for navigation: you want a sat-nav, you get a TomTom. And as you use its iPhone app, you can tell it's a carefully refined piece of work.

Feeling very at home on iOS, it uses big chunky fonts that are easy to read, even when you can only glance at the screen quickly. These permeate throughout the menus as well as the driving screen. The menus you use to tell it where to go are logically arranged and extremely smooth to use.

The driving display is easy to read and uncluttered, with a good contrast between the directed route and surrounding roads.

One thing we were less keen on was the way the name of the road you're currently on is displayed directly above the instruction arrow at the bottom, while the road you're looking for next is on its own at the top. It would make more sense to swap them round, so that a single glance would tell you you're looking for, say, a left turn onto Lower Mortlake Road, rather than needing to look at the bottom of the screen for the first part, then the top for the second.

The voice is one of the better ones among the apps we tried. Though it's not as natural-sounding as Sygic's, it does a reasonably good job with road names and giving instructions.

Live traffic information comes from TomTom's sophisticated system that anonymously tracks the speed of vehicles with TomTom devices on board, and combines this with information from other sources. It also incorporates historical traffic data, so if a particular road is always slow at rush hour, it takes this into account, too.

If there's traffic ahead, it looks for a quicker alternative and informs you if it's found one. A month of use costs £3.99, while a year is £26.99. There are similarly priced options for speed cameras. And provided you use a TomTom Car Kit for the iPod touch, the app will work with this device, too.

Verdict: 4/5

5. Navmii GPS Live UK - £2.99

Just how good a sat-nav can you get for a few quid?

One of the main reasons sat-nav apps aren't cheap is because of the map data that's required to power them. Companies spend a lot of money developing their maps, and you as the consumer pay for this.

Navmii is different, because it uses OpenStreetMap, a free map of the world that's been made by people like you – the Wikipedia of maps, if you will. So although it's not perfect, if you do find a mistake, you can correct it yourself. And because it's so cheap, we can cut it some slack for its shortcomings as an app.

It's missing a lot of the features that are standard in the others, such as contact lookup and some point of interest searches. We like the way its main menu is made up of big, chunky buttons, but the ease of use is spoiled somewhat by the tiny font beneath them.

If you're going to be relying on a sat-nav a lot, we'd recommend one of the others, but if you only need it now and again, you could do a lot worse than to try Navmii's app.

Verdict: 3/5

And the winner is…

TomTom UK & Ireland - £49.99

For navigation panache, you can't get better than this

Having spent considerable time testing each of these, our conclusion is that if we were to jack in the day job and devote ourselves to crafting the perfect sat-nav app, we'd take elements from each one of these.

From Sygic UK & Ireland, we'd want that incredibly natural-sounding voice and quality lane guidance, while CoPilot Live Premium chose the best route in our test. Navmii, given it's so cheap in comparison to the big boys, does a remarkably good job, too. And Garmin's first attempt at an iOS app is impressive; in a few updates' time, we can see it giving TomTom a real run for its money, particularly given its lower price point.

But at the moment, TomTom's is the best iOS satnav app there is, because it's just so easy to use on an iPhone. The style and organisation of its menus make it simple to get to grips with. Options are where you'd expect them to be, while the buttons and fonts are large and bold enough to make them easy to read at a glance, without needing to peer in too closely – something that can't be said for all the apps here, by any means.

It isn't perfect – the routing around Bath wasn't ideal – and it's the most expensive one we tested. But having said that, we feel it's a price definitely worth paying for a slickness and polish that we've come to expect from good iOS apps, and its currently unrivalled among its peers.

If you're going to be using a sat-nav a lot, go with TomTom, and get a traffic subscription. You won't regret it.

Google has announced Google Maps 5.7 for Android, bringing a version of its turn-by-turn Navigation service for public transport routes.

Google Maps Transit Navigation brings detailed public transport information for over 400 cities around the world, allowing you to plan your journey more effectively.

Instead of turn-by-turn directions, Transit Navigation offers a stop-by-stop service, making it easier for users traveling in foreign countries to keep track on their journey.

The new functionality also supports multi-tasking so if you leave the app, you'll get a notification telling you to get off at the next stop or when to transfer to a different train.

Other improvements

As well as Transit Navigation, Google has added improvements to the driving and walking aspects of the app and has tweaked the search aspect in order to identify target destinations more easily.

You can also look at the photos for Places in more detail using the 5.7 updated.You can read about this and the rest of the updates in more detail on the Official Google Blog.

Naturally, the app is still free to all Android users and should download automatically to your handset.

Magellan has made a return to the UK market, bringing with it five new handheld GPS navigation devices.

You may guess from the name that the eXplorist range is intended for ramblers and orienteerers and dogwalkers and other outdoorsy types, who can make good use of the high-sensitivity GPS.

The handheld gadgets come with handy handles so you can hold them easily as you traverse the wilds of Yorkshire or wherever.

Ramblers unite!

There's more going on here than just navigation though; all gadgets in the range feature a 3-inch touchscreen, 3.2MP camera with autofocus which allows you to capture geo-referenced images and videos, electronic compass and barometric altimeter.

Top of the range is the eXplorist 710 which offers off-road navigation as well, while the Magellan eXplorist GC is a dedicated GPS device for geocaching; a GPS treasure hunt game which we understand was quite popular in some years ago.

Completing Magellan's relaunch line up is the iPhone ToughCase; a £180 iPhone case that offers enhanced GPS and waterproofs the handset. For £180, it might be worth considering just leaving the iPhone at home.

None of the Magellan line up comes particularly cheap, with the eXplorist GC the cheapest model at £180, theeXplorist 710 at £499.99 and everything else sitting somewhere in between.

As Harry Hill didn't quite put it: I love sat navs, and I love smartphones. But which is better? Apple and Google, it seems, reckon that the answer is "smartphone".

TomTom has issued a statement after it was revealed that police in Holland are using historical speed data, captured by its savnav devices, as a guide for positioning speed traps.

Devices like the Go LIVE 1000 collect speed information automatically and backs it up to a TomTom database, which allows the company to improve the service the dashboard companion can offer.

TomTom also makes the database available to authorities for safety and logistic purposes, but says it was unaware that the police were using it in this way and promises to listen to customer concerns.

The statement reads: "We make this information available to local governments and authorities.

"It helps them to better understand where congestion takes place, where to build new roads and how to make roads safer."

Customers

TomTom continues: "We are now aware that the police have used traffic information that you have helped to create to place speed cameras at dangerous locations where the average speed is higher than the legally allowed speed limit.

"We are aware a lot of our customers do not like the idea and we will look at if we should allow this type of usage."

Satnavs like TomTom have traditionally informed drivers of where speed cameras are located, so news that speed information of drivers could be used in this way is a strange reversal of roles.

TomTom also assured customers that any information it gathers is anonymous and can never be traced back to drivers, so there's no need to worry about a speed ticket coming through your door.

Mio has unveiled four new sat navs for its Spirit range, with the 480, 485, 685 and 687 all claiming to meet every need of today's traveller.

The latest sat navs from Mio include the headlining 687 which has a choice of routes feature, AV-in port for connecting up a rear-view camera, voice entry and Bluetooth.

With the exception of the 480, the devices bring built in traffic information with no need for a subscription.

Model features

"All models are fitted with the practical 'Parking Assistance', 'Pedestrian Mode' functionality, 'IQ Routes', 'LearnMe Pro', '3D Junction Views' and 'Lane Guidance': a combination of features that make every journey easier, faster and more comfortable," adds Mio's release.

"The Spirit 480, 485, 685 and 687 combine state of the art features with quality navigation, ease of use and stylish design, creating a range that meets every need of today's traveller," says the company.

"The new range comes in two different screen sizes: the 4.3-inch Spirit 480 and 485 and the super-large 5-inch Spirit 685 and 687."

The devices have a UK release date of May and the pricing is as follows - 480: £79.99, 485: £89.99, 685: £99.99, 687: £149.99

Walkers relying on smartphone maps and sat navs have become quite the bee in the Lake District Mountain Rescue's bonnet.

It seems that instead of admiring the great outdoors and relying on a trusty Ordanance Survey map like ramblers of old, today's intrepid Lake District explorers have their heads buried in their iPhones, Androids and sat navs instead.

And those less-than-100-per-cent accurate onscreen maps are leading walkers into a right pickle, causing a 50 per cent rise in mountain rescue calls in the Lake District last year.

Town mice

Relying on digital maps is a technique that's fraught with danger; problems include maps that aren't detailed enough, losing battery power and getting lost in mists.

It's a situation that has certainly provoked the ire of Nick Owen, leader of the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue team in the Lake District.

"They're great with technology but they can't walk up a hill without getting into trouble. They take no sensible kit, like spare clothing, and rely on technical gadgetry which they're not familiar with," he said.

"It's a generation that's never experienced risk or inconvenience – they get lost and then can't think beyond the fact that they are wet and cold."

Gosh, we're just a regular bunch of city slickers, right smartphone owners?

As a Cumbria tourism spokesperson Ellis Butcher put it, "The mobile phone is not a get-out-of-jail-free card."

Nor is it a get-out-of-the-lake-district-alive-free card, it would seem.

Best sat nav 2011: what sat nav should you buy?

The best sat nav and best GPS devices in every category

Until someone comes up with a viable flying car, getting around on the UK's congested road network is the best that we can hope for.

Take the pain - and the strain - out of getting around with one of these: our pick of the 10 best sat navs on the market.

The cleverest ones could even save you petrol money - by picking the best route for your journey, whether you're going home, to work or simply nipping down to the shops. But what sat nav should you buy? Let's find out...

NavFree GPS UK & ROI for iPhone – £free

Best free sat nav for iPhone

There are lots of low cost or free sat nav apps for iPhone, making it one of the best sat nav phones you can buy. Our favourite is NavFree GPS from GeoLife, an app that includes lots of professional quality features like turn-by-turn navigation, voice guidance and automatic re-routing.

You don't just have to take our word for it either. The app has already won rave reviews on the iTunes App Store with an average rating of 4 stars. NavFree GPS uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) system created by users – although that can mean that rural routes aren't as well covered as urban ones.

Google Maps for Android - £free

Best free sat nav for Android

If you own an Android phone, you've got access to the navigation in Google Maps already. It offers free turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts whether you're travelling by car, by bike or on foot – and you don't have to worry about paying for or installing additional maps – the whole world is right there at your fingertips.

Rather handily, Google Maps offers a good level of integration with other Android and Google Apps – for example you can use it to check in with friends close to you using Google Latitude. Other goodies include Points Of Interest – so if there's a business, shop or petrol station you need to find, chances are Google Maps will get you there.

Binatone F350 – £59.99

Best sat nav for under £100

Our first all-in-one sat nav is a doozy: a budget model with professional route mapping for less than the cost of a full tank of fuel. The Binatone F350 boasts a 3.5-inch touchscreen and is slim enough to slip into your pocket – making it handy for sat nav on foot or by bike as well as by car.

The Binatone F350 includes full UK and Ireland maps, with an SD card slot for expansion. You also get a choice of 2D or 3D navigation views and it has Points of Interest pre-installed. Just want you need when you're trying to find a kebab shop at 3am.

TomTom GO Start2 – £119.99

Best sat nav for ease of use

Ask the man on the Clapham omnibus what the best sat nav is to buy and you're likely to get two answers: 1) that he can't drive, which is why he's on the bus and 2) a TomTom. It's not hard to see why.

The TomTom Start2 puts all the company's sat nav know-how at your fingertips – along with full European maps. Then makes it easy to use with a simplified start screen, advanced lane guidance and friendly voice prompts. You can even customise it with a choice of brightly coloured skins (an extra £14.99 each). Buying one is a no-brainer. Just ask the man on the bus.

Read: TomTom Start2 review

Mio Navman V575 TV – £149.99

Best sat nav for watching TV

Cars and TV usually go together like people's heads and hammers, but we're prepared to make an exception in this case. The reason? The Mio Navman V575 TV enables you to watch Freeview TV when you're out and about – but only when you're parked up safely.

Other goodies include IQ Routes, which takes congestion on your route at peak times into account, and LearnMeT – a feature that helps the Mio Navman V575 TV learn from your driving habits and adapt your route to suit. We're also fond of Mio Navman's 3D junction views and its QuickSpell keyboard, which makes typing in your destination easy.

Garmin nüvi 265T – £169.99

Best sat nav for hands-free calling

With built-in maps of Europe and Bluetooth for hands-free calls, the Garmin nüvi 265T is the perfect personal driving assistant. Pair it with your Bluetooth phone and you'll be able to make and take calls using its built-in microphone and speaker, with number dialling accessible through its 3.5-inch touchscreen.

Like other Garmin sat navs, the nüvi 265T offers a range of advanced features including anti-theft protection and proximity alerts, which only tell you about safety cameras and relevant Point Of Interest along your route.

TomTom Via Live 120 Europe – £199.99

Best sat nav for saving fuel

Cut the cost of driving from A to B with the Eco Routes feature on the TomTom Via Live 120. It gives you the option of taking most fuel-efficient route for your journey, based on information supplied by millions of TomTom users.

Other key features include full maps for the whole of Europe with a year's free LIVE traffic updates saving you from stress in Strasbourg, frustration in Florence and loutish behaviour in London. The TomTom Via Live 120 comes with a 4.3-inch touchscreen display and 4GB of internal flash memory.

Read: TomTom Via Live 120 review

Navigon 70 Premium Live – £249.99

Best sat nav for staying up to date

Now we're at the high end of the sat nav spectrum all kinds of geeky features come into play. One of the best is the Live Services feature on the Navigon 70 Premium Live, which gives you real time updates on all kinds of stuff in your area – from local fuel prices to speed cameras, events and more.

The Navigon 70 Premium Live also excels with a 5.0-inch widescreen display, a motion-sensor for almost touch-free operation and an Active Lane assistant to help you at junctions.

TomTom Urban Rider

Best sat nav for motorbikes

If you ride a motorcycle to work every day, there are sat nav options available to you. Sat nav devices for motorbikes combine a handlebar-mounted touchscreen display with a bluetooth headset that fits inside your helmet. The instructions are then played out on screen and in your ear.

We'd recommend the Urban Rider if you travel a lot and have a habit of getting lost, but the lack of voice control is a big let-down and we really hope that TomTom addresses this in the next iteration.

Read: TomTom Urban Rider review

TomTom Go Live 1000 Europe – £279.99

Best sat nav for advanced features

You want it, you've got it. The TomTom GO Live 1000 throws almost everything you could ask for in a sat nav into one easy-to-use device. Highlights include HD Traffic for advanced route planning, Advanced Lane Guidance to help you breeze through the most complex junctions; a full year's worth of Live Services updates for over 30 European countries and much more.

You can even control your TomTom using voice prompts alone. But the real killer feature is the TomTom GO Live 1000's advanced 4.3-inch touchscreen, which includes iPhone-like features such as pinch-to-zoom.

Read: TomTom GO Live 1000 review

Snooper S7000 Syrius – £379.99

Best sat nav for high-end entertainment and navigation

OK, it costs a mint, but the Snooper Syrius S7000 is worth every penny. Here's why. For one, it has the largest touchscreen of any of the sat navs available here – that's 7-inches of touchscreen, widescreen loveliness, making it easier to see the ahead.

Throwing in a Freeview TV tuner, MP3 and MP4 players, Navteq route guidance and free TMC traffic information only scratches at the surface of what this things can do. For high milers, Snooper's award-winning Aura speed camera detection is a must, as is Multiroutes – an easy-to-use feature that lets you plan a single journey around up to 16 different destinations using simple postcode entries.

TomTom has launched a free version of its excellent HD Traffic service on the web, allowing you to check for delays in your area before leaving the house.

The live traffic service, which is available on your favourite web browser in Europe, South Africa and New Zealand, updates the traffic picture in your area every two minutes.

Brought to the web in an easy-to-use interface, the TomTom HD traffic service lets you know what's causing hold-ups in your area with icons placed at certain areas of the map.

Clicking on the icon will provide details of how many incidents there are, how long you'll be delayed and how far the each of the traffic jams stretches back.

"Perfect starting point"

"You won't find a more accurate or reliable source of live traffic information anywhere," boasts Ralf-Peter Schäfer, the Traffic Director at TomTom.

"The live traffic map is the perfect starting point for anyone planning a journey or who needs the most up-to-date view of the traffic on the road.

"By giving more drivers access to TomTom HD Traffic, we hope that we can start to make better use of the road network and start to reduce traffic congestion for everyone."

The new web-based service, which has been a massive hit on TomTom's mobile devices, should give drivers ample opportunity to plot new routes if there is evidence of long delays.

With the free Google Maps Navigation app for Android phones is providing a great GPS service, it's good to see TomTom respond by putting some of its satnav expertise out there for the world to make use of.

A report from the Royal Academy of Engineering has released a report which claims that the UK is 'dangerously dependent' on GPS and sat nav devices.

The report also warns that we are at risk from both deliberate and accidental interference, with back up systems ill-equipped to handle such an attack.

Not afraid to steer directly into the sensational, Dr Martyn Thomas, chairman of the Academy's Global Navigation Space Systems (GNSS) working group, said that a GPS system failure could "conceivably cause loss of life".

Can't read a map

It's the rampant availability of the technology that has caused us to become over-dependent on sat navs and mapping services, and their often faulty directions.

As Dr Thomas puts it, "The UK is already dangerously dependent on GPS. GPS and other GNSS are so useful and so cheap to build into equipment that we have become almost blindly reliant on the data they give us.

"A significant failure of GPS could cause lots of services to fail at the same time, including many that are thought to be completely independent of each other.

"Dependency on GPS is growing and jammers are getting easier to obtain. We expect this problem to become more severe."

The real threat, the report states, is when results are "dangerously misleading" – while we'd hope that most UK drivers have the common sense not to attempt to turn left off a cliff, other transport systems are more at risk.

Ships that rely on GNSS, for example, could be steered only slightly off course into dangerous waters, while the dangers for planes are even greater.

Google has today updated its hugely popular Navigation app for Android by adding real-time traffic information to your route

The free app will now automatically re-route drivers around both "current and historical traffic" in order to get you to your destination sooner.

The announcement is yet another bad sign for satnav manufacturers like TomTom and Garmin who have seen increasing numbers of drivers rely on their smartphone for directions.

Improvements

A post on the Google Mobile Blog reads: "You don't have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps.

"Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads.

"Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions."

ByeBye TomTom?

The new functionality continues Google's quest to save Android phone owners splashing out on expensive stand-alone satnav equipment by providing a free alternative on their handsets.

Since Navigation arrived on the Android Market last year, manufacturers have often pointed to live traffic information as the key reason to still purchase their products. What will they say now?

As a free app, is there any better value available on any product in the tech world at the moment? We don't think so.

The updated Google Maps Navigation app for Android is available to download now for North American and European Android owners now.

Mio has launched its latest TV-capable sat nav this week, with the Spirit V575 set to appeal to long-distance drivers and families looking for mobile entertainment on long drives and weekends away.

The Mio Spirit V575 comes equipped with IQ Routes technology, a navigation and mapping service to keep you informed of traffic congestion and any road problems that might occur on route.

TV, satnav, child-minder

The new Mio sat nav also doubles up as a touchscreen-controlled TV tuner, featuring a seven-day EPG to let you access hundreds of channels across Europe – ideal for bored lorry drivers and lonely salespeople out on the road.

The new Mio Sprit V575 also pack in a multimedia player so the kids can be kept nicely docile in the back of the car watching movies or listening to MP3s.

"The Spirit TV range has proven hugely popular with our customers," says Matthew Wallis, Country Director UK & Eire, Mio.

"Because of this, we wanted to expand the range, while still keeping in line with Mio's philosophy of providing customers with cutting edge innovation in navigation. The V575 encompasses all this and provides more entertainment than ever before."

If watching Freeview TV on the go is something that appeals, then you can get all the details on where to buy the new TV-friendly sat nav over at Mio.com (RRP in the UK is £149.99).

In terms of the unit's navigation tech, Mio's press release informs us that you also get "3D Junction Views for clear guidance at complex junctions, safety camera warnings, Text-to-Speech technology for spoken street names and Mio's QuickSpell keyboard, which intuitively suggests words as the user types".

TomTom has announced a "manifesto" for reducing traffic. CEO Harold Goddijn announced the move at an event in London yesterday, alongside version 4.0 of the HD Traffic – that will also come to head unit TomTom-based devices, too.

Goddijn says that if 10 per cent of the TomTom userbase were to use HD traffic, it "would reduce journey times for everyone – five per cent in Europe. And that's where we want to go. We are on a mission...we are committed to make this work and do our bit for society and our customers.

"Collectively we will make better use of existing road capacity."

Goddijn added that the HD Traffic system can now report a problem to a driver within two minutes – a remarkable achievement. But those figures only apply to 'connected' drivers – only about one per cent of TomTom's 45 million-strong userbase. About 20 per cent of that connected number – 200,000 – are British.

But Goddijn is undeterred and says that TomTom really can influence traffic flow in the future "[We're] trying to understand the problem of traffic...it's something we can influence. It's a problem we all know. It's a global issue. It has a lot of consequences...it costs time, it's a great stress.

"When we started TomTom we said we needed to understand this issue. It's now time to start changing conventional wisdom. I don't think that's the case...I think we can change traffic and do something about it."

The TomTom Traffic Manifesto is essentially a plan to get as many people using TomTom connected devices and so get better traffic information – and make more money from the extra subscription cost of connected devices, of course.

As part of the plan, TomTom will also supply traffic information to other sources, such as radio stations.

Goddijn also stated the organisation now has navigable data for 100 countries. The company takes an incredible 600 million speed measurements every day.

GPS specialist Navmii has launched Navfree a free iPhone sat nav app, featuring turn-by-turn directions.

Navfree (see what they did there?) is also compatible with iPad - for those that like a slightly larger sat nav in the car - and compliments Navmii's premium offering.

The free sat nav app is initially being made available for the UK & Ireland, with versions for the USA and Europe said to be following quickly.

No cost, high quality

While there are a number of other free sat nav apps already available for the iPhone, such as Skobbler, Navmii is claiming that its new Navfree is the "first no cost, high quality, easy to use voiced navigation with OpenStreetMap data."

Crucially, the maps are all stored on your phone, which means no mobile data charges (useful, particularly when abroad!) and the ability to navigate when there is no 3G coverage in the UK.

Android app soon

The company also promises that a version of Navfree for Android will also be released shortly.

"NavFree does everything you would expect from in car GPS/satellite Navigation," says the press release.

"Users can search for an address by postcode, city, street or house and are instantly routed there with full voiced directions. NavFree will re-route if you take a wrong turn and provides information on the journey distance, estimated time of arrival, points of interest and live Google search for local facilities."

Changing face of iPhone sat nav?

Peter Atalla, CEO of Navmii said: "NavFree changes the face of GPS navigation on the iPhone. Anyone with an iPhone can now have satellite navigation for free. Mapping is provided by OpenStreetMap and is stored on the iPhone, making NavFree faster and more accurate than other free navigation services.

"Users will be able to contribute to the success of NavFree, by providing feedback on the maps, making NavFree a community built, free to use, navigation app for iPhone and iPad."

Intrigued? Check it out and see how NavFree on iPhone fares against the likes of Co-Pilot, TomTom and dedicated sat nav devices on your travels.

Sony has announced a duo of new in-car stereo sat navs, which do away with Sony's own mapping system and utilise TomTom technology instead.

Sony has always been on the fringes of the sat nav market but its own software inside has meant that its navigation system has left a lot to be desired, so the integration of TomTom is definitely a good one for the company.

Sony announced at IFA 2010 that it would be working with TomTom for the first time, with the XNV-L77BT and XNV-L66BT – part of the company's Xplod range.

Each setup comprises Sony's AV head unit and TomTom's navigation module.

Satellites of love

Integrated into the two sat navs is the following technology: Local search with Google (pretty self explanatory), real-time travel updates with IQ Routes, up-to-date maps with MapShare and the use of TomTom Home software. The maps on offer are European.

As for what Sony is bringing in the hardware stakes, the sat navs boast an 800x480 pixel WVGA screen (the L77BT is 7 inches, the L66BT 6.1-inches), fake 5.1 sound, USB port, Bluetooth and music connectivity.

The XNV-L77BT and XNV-L66BT have a UK release date of October, with pricing to be announced.

Dedicated sat nav manufacturers are increasingly under threat from free and low-cost mobile navigation apps, with developers of new app Skobbler announcing this week that it has been downloaded 72,000 times since launch in the UK last month.

Skobbler's free sat nav app for the iPhone, has actually proved more popular in the UK than in the company's native country, Germany, where it first launched a few months ago.

Sat nav market under threat?

"Skobbler was not the first to market with a free-to-use phone-based navigation solution in the UK" says Tim Shepherd, analyst with personal navigation device (PND) specialists Canalys, "with solutions from Nokia and Google arriving in January and April respectively. But there has not as yet been a credible, free solution for the iPhone in the UK. As such, Skobbler has the possibility of making a significant impact in the App Store.

"Without a strong, established brand, this kind of application can only present a significant direct challenge to leading vendors such as TomTom and Navigon if its profile is raised high enough to create substantial market awareness; though having achieved 72,000 downloads in just three weeks, initial signs are promising."

To put skobblers' 72000 downloads into some perspective, Canalys notes that a total of 266,000 dedicated sat nav devices (or PNDs) were shipped into the UK market in Q1 2010. Compared with those sat nav sales figures, skobbler's 3-week-volume is the equivalent of 27.1 per cent of all UK PND shipments in the first quarter of 2010.

"We are only just getting started in the UK," says Marcus Thielking, co-founder of skobbler. "It's early days and to have experienced such success in such a short amount of time is quite overwhelming and encouraging. It demonstrates again just how popular mobile phone navigation is becoming.

"We are over the moon that so many users have already embraced the community-driven collaborative OpenStreetMap project that our app is based on, and are very encouraged that the concept will continue to evolve into the future of sat nav", adds Thielking.

TomTom, Garmin and map quality

With a new Google Android version of skobbler on the way this month, using community maps from OpenStreetMap (OSM), it clearly begs the question: "how long can dedicated sat nav manufacturers such as TomTom and Garmin survive?"

However, before we are too quick to write off the market for dedicated sat nav devices, specialist analyst Tim Shepherd adds a word of caution, noting that, "map accuracy and reliability are big issues," adding that, "problematically, solutions based on open community maps cannot typically deliver the quality and accuracy of map data offered by the likes of Navteq and Tele Atlas in developed markets, backed by their large, professional, digital cartography teams and substantial investment.

"Community maps will never be subjected to comparable levels of quality testing. As such, map data glitches and inaccuracies in solutions that depend on these maps will inevitably deliver an inferior user experience and offer less additional content and services around the core navigation experience than consumers have come to expect from a satellite navigation solution.

That said, Shepherd is quick to add that established players in the sat nav market should not ignore such solutions.

"For people who need navigation for only occasional or recreational use, an application such as Skobbler may well be enough for their needs. If these users find the experience to be a good one, then awareness spreads virally through word-of-mouth and positive online reviews and recommendations.

Community maps are disruptive

Perhaps most importantly, for the UK consumer, the presence of free and ultra-low-cost solutions such as skobbler, "inevitably draws attention to the comparative expense of those from leading vendors ," such as TomTom's UK & Ireland app (currently £52.99).

"In these ways, community maps based solutions like Skobbler have the potential to be disruptive," adds the PND industry analyst. "In a wider context, phone-based navigation solutions are inevitably coming increasingly into competition with dedicated portable navigation devices (PNDs). The presence of free phone-based navigation solutions does not inevitably sound a death knell for dedicated portable navigation devices (PNDs) in the UK.

"There will always be consumers who will prefer to buy a dedicated device for navigation, that is ready to use with all the necessary in-car accessories out-of-the-box, and that offers a large screen and user interface designed and optimised specifically for in-car navigation use.

"But as consumers in general become increasingly aware of phone-based navigation solutions as a free (or competitive) alternative to PNDs, and as the experience delivered by phone-based solutions and applications continues to improve with larger touch screens,, a growing number of consumers will undoubtedly opt to have navigation on their phone rather than buy a PND, or replace an old one. I do not expect the PND market to disappear in the foreseeable future, but I do anticipate a substantial decline in shipments over the coming quarters and years ahead."

If you want to check out skobbler for yourself on iPhone then is available to download for FREE at the UK App Store and you can see more on the company's plans for future developments at the company blog over at blog.skobbler.com

A leaked memo which highlights what AppleCare reps have to say to customers who complain of reception problems with their iPhone 4 has turned up on the internet with an admission that there is a problem with the iPhone 4 but one that affects all phones.

In the memo, which has been posted online by BoyGenius, the following statement reads: "Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception.

"This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world."

Bumper to bumper

The statement also informs staff on how to deal with customers complaints, instructing them not to make a promise of "free bumpers", even though one of the methods listed to improve the phone's reception is the use of a bumper.

"If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band," the memo reads, continuing with: "The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas."

Interestingly, in the memo there is no mention of a software update to fix this issue, which may mean that the problem is hardware based.

TomTom will release a new version of its popular iPhone app that will take advantage of the new iPhone 4's multitasking.

Apple overtly mentions navigation apps in its multitasking page for the iPhone 4, and TomTom has indicated that it will be taking advantage.

This will mean that you can get turn-by-turn guidance at the same time as using other applications and functions on the phone.

Free updates for current users

"The current version of the TomTom app for iPhone (version 1.3) is available for purchase via the App Store, and both current and new owners of the app will be able to update to the new version immediately upon its availability for no additional charge," said TomTom

"As an additional incentive for new users to start using the application, TomTom is currently offering the UK& Ireland and Western Europe versions of the app at a discounted price of £54.99 and £42.99 respectively."

There is also a new pricing for the TomTom HD Traffic updates – £22.99 for a year's subscription.

Innovate

"As TomTom continues to innovate and to take advantage of new capabilities of the iOS 4, users of the TomTom app will benefit from the combination of TomTom's most advanced and acclaimed features and the iPhone's unique functionality," said Tom Murray, senior vice president of market development for TomTom Inc.

"We are pleased to integrate multitasking capabilities to the newest version of our TomTom app, and to be able to ensure that users can now enjoy other iPhone features while they continue to receive the best routing directions from their TomTom application."