TomTom Go 740 Live to Marry GPS, Cellular Hookup
Personal-navigation-device giant TomTom is joining the connected-GPS club. The Amsterdam-based company today announced plans for a spring debut of the TomTom Go 740 Live, a GPS navigation device with built-in cell phone connectivity for accessing a slew of services that previously required connecting to a PC or a Bluetooth phone. Pioneered by the late, lamented Dash Express (and more recently the TeleNav Shotgun), connected GPS is a product category that is expected to grow in popularity as people enjoy the convenience and value of effortlessly getting current traffic and other relevant travel information in their cars.
The TomTom Live services available at launch include Google local searches for points of interest (including contact information and user-generated ratings when available); fuel-price searches (with information refreshed up to six times a day from 120,000 gas stations across the United States); weather reports; QuickGPSfix (which speeds up location of GPS satellites by using cell-tower info); and a buddy locator for finding family members and friends who also have TomTom devices and service.
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