Filed under: Mobile
I recently decided to try out the bluetooth functionality on my TomTom One GPS. They offer a free month of traffic service, so I figured, what the hey.
Now I have to say that the TomTom is a great unit, regardless of the Bluetooth. It’s probably the cheapest device with a great form factor (not a nasty brick or blob) and an all-in-one, complete dataset ready to go. Sure it doesn’t do text to speech on the road names for you like the Garmin Nuvii, but who cares – it does the job supurbly. The only complaint I have is that the acquisition time when I get off the plane in a new city is pretty absurd. I’m talking 15 mins sometimes. Yikes. But I’ll live. All subsequent lock-ons are almost instantaneous when you turn the unit on.
So what’s with Bluetooth on this thing? Well you can do tons of stuff actually. Once you pair the phone, you can download new day and night color schemes to match your dashboard, new guidance voices (I even downloaded John Clease!), routes, POIs, traffic camera locations for Europe… But I was going to focus on the traffic, which is the most compelling reason to connect.
First of all, my phone (a Verizon XV6700) didn’t have a DUN profile, so I had to do the manual thing. Not a big deal since I did it on many other devices already – like my Powerbook. The good thing was that the TomTom discovered it right away and easily paired.
The problem I always hit with DUN over Bluetooth is that one connection works, but then something breaks and it never works again till you reboot both devices. But for some reason, this wasn’t the case with the TomTom.
What happens is that the TomTom sits happily on your dash, connecting through the phone every 15 mins (configurable), grabbing traffic reports, and putting little markers on your screen to let you know what’s coming. It just works(tm)! What’s more is that it will route you around traffic automatically if you’d like when the situation changes. I expected some sort of BSOD on the TomTom or flames to start shooting out of my phone sometime during the trip. But nothing like that happened. If I turned off Bluetooth or was on the phone, the TomTom didn’t make a stink – it just waited a bit, kept the old data and checked again later. Nice.
Now if only my Powerbook would stay connected through Bluetooth.
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So despite the few glitches are you an overall fan of the ONE? I have heard many great things about it but have yet been able to pick one up. Would you recommend it?
Comment by Ashley 09.26.06 @ 1:47 pmAbsolutely. It’s a great device and does exactly what it claims to do. I’ve used it on several trips now and have had no problems
Comment by Rich 09.26.06 @ 1:50 pmAre they fairly easy to learn to work? I am not super tech savvy but I am interested in buying one. Thanks for your help.
Comment by Ashley 10.02.06 @ 12:48 pmSounds easier than getting directions off of the computer and its in your car! I definitely need a ONE. They arent very expensive either correct?
Comment by Ashley 10.05.06 @ 12:40 pmAround $500. Cheapest one I think with this solid interface and integration
Comment by Rich 10.05.06 @ 12:41 pmNot a Bad price at all. Thank you Rich for all of your help. I definitely want the ONE. Have a great weekend!
Comment by Ashley 10.06.06 @ 4:11 pmCan you please email me how you did this, I have the same phone and tomtom 910 and cannot get the data connection to work. I have DUN activated on my phone but don’t know how to set the tomtom up manually to dial out, what is the login script? Thanks.
Comment by adriel 01.07.07 @ 9:15 pmI have a Razr v3c that has DUN enabled but can’t get it to reliably connect. I use the usual phone#@vzw3g.com, vzw password pair but it seems to stall out and never actually get started on the connection (I can reliably do so w/ my Mac for example). There is a space for a ‘login script’ in the manual configuration but I’m unsure what might go there?
Comment by flip 02.13.07 @ 9:22 pmI have the Moto Q and need the internet connection settings. Can you share what you used? I’m not sure what to enter.
Thanks!
Comment by Dave 02.26.07 @ 11:25 pmI have the same exact items tomtom One and a Verizon XV6700 with EVDO. I went through and enable bluetooth DUN through the phone lock codes…restarted. However when I go to pair have difficulties. The tomtom first discover the device and ask to connect to the phone which I say yes. But then it errors back and said the phone features is not on the phone? Like it still does not see the DUN service. Did you have to do anything else special? Any help to a friend with the same stuff having no luck.
Thanks,
Doug
Make sure you have the latest firmware for the VX6700. The new firmware also includes an application that enables the modem gateway, which I didn’t need but might make a difference. Check in your bluetooth settings on the phone to make sure all the services are checked that you want to expose.
I think the latest firmware is your best bet at making this work. Check on UTStarcomm’s site for it – Verizon may have it now too, but I moved to a Blackjack on Cingular so I haven’t kept up with it.
Comment by Rich 03.31.07 @ 7:17 pmCan someone please just spell it out for me, step by step, because I am not doing something right. I have DUN enabled…. I have the XV6700 and the TOMTOM One
Comment by Chuck 05.16.07 @ 9:54 amDoug, You may have to soft-reset your 6700. It took me a couple of tries at tapping the traffic button as well, then it was able to connect.
Comment by Brian 06.28.07 @ 3:07 pmI own the XV6700 & TomTom 6.0 Navigator – no problems with it working together. A few questions I have for you – email me.
Comment by Tvos 08.19.07 @ 1:12 pm[...] written about my TomTom One GPS here before, but it’s cool how this thing just keeps being [...]
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