I have decided I've had enough of having the iPhone simple plugged in to the aux in the car headunit and am looking for a solution to music/satnav/handsfree.

I am looking at the TomTom car kit and the Parrot Mki 9100 but have issues with both.

The TomTom unit is almost perfect apart from the lack of a permanent wiring solution and a easy to get to remote (on the wheel) to skip tracks with.

The Parrot MKi 9100 has these 2 features, but lacks GPS support for iPhone navigation and a cradle for the iPhone to easily fir onto. I am not going down the route of universal mounts, I want a drop in solution like the TomTom.

Does anyone know of any other solutions for using the iPhone in car ??? I've been looking for ages and can't find anything else that comes close to these 2 solutions.

Cheers

Cris.

I know that quite a few people use the TomTom kit in addition to a io-play unit.

The TomTom cradle only uses bluetooth for audio, the GPS data goes over the dock connector, so you can quite happily use both at the same time.

While I can't comment on the ioplay unit as I don't have one. I do have the TomTom mount and it's excellent.

Edit:

Humn, on further inspection you need to plug a dongle into the dock connector to stream music, without it you can only use it handsfree. Not much use really.

Can't you just use the MKi9000 (the model without the screen thing) with the Tom Tom cradle?

Also, do you need the TomTom cradle because you find the GPS built into the iPhone to be too weak?

The GPS built into the iPhone is definitely too weak; it won't do turn by turn navigation. It usually registers your position to be about a block behind where you actually are.

The lack of turn-by-turn has nothing to do with GPS hardware in the iPhone though. GPS receiver hardware provides your location. Everything else is up to the software, including your heading.

What you're referring to is the crummy Maps application that's built-in. You can use the Tom Tom software or any number of third-party navigation apps with the iPhone. It's even got a compass so that you can get a heading without moving forward.

The TomTom cradle allows you to use navigation apps with iPhone and iPods that don't have built-in GPS, plus it provides supposedly a better GPS chipset and an antenna with greater reception. What I don't know if how much better that all is in the real world.

I don't really want to have 2 solutions to solve one problem. The parrot unit requires it to be plugged into the dock connector for the wheel remote to work, and you can't do that with the TomTom cradle.

I want the TomTom cradle because of it's improved GPS hardware. I want to use the iPhone as a one stop shop as my SatNav just seems to want to get lost all the time, I spend ages looking for it when I want it. It's also a very nice solution for holding the phone, and would be an instant purchase if I could find a solution to have basic player controls on the steering wheel or next to the head unit.

Whilst I find the built in GPS hardware ok for finding a position it's a little slow and sometimes can't get a fix where my existing satnav can.

Cheers

Cris.

Well it's a bit of a conundrum I suppose. Any external device will need to connect either to the dock or headphone connector to control the iPod portion of the iPhone. There's built-in support for music/playback controls on those two ports.

Unfortunately, without either an Apple built-in Bluetooth remote control profile or the ability to run a third party background process to add control of iPod via BlueTooth signals, you're out of luck.

The only thing I know of to do right now is to forgo the TomTom holder and get something else that doesn't connect to the dock so that you can use the Parrot remote device. I actually find it pretty strange that Parrot don't provide a holder - are you supposed to just drop the iPhone on your lap or on the floor somewhere?

The other thing Parrot could have easily done was to provide music nav controls over the audio jack connector, since they already ship one to use with old iPods and analog products.

Clearly a wheel-based remote unit is ideal for interacting with a dash mounted nav/music/phone system.

It doesn't have to be on the steering wheel, just a button to skip tracks without having to touch the phone and take it out of sleep would be great. If TomTom did that I'd already have one I think.

Are these really the only 2 solutions out there? The Griffin stuff all seems to come with a built in bendable mount that comes out of the 12v socket, which in my car rules them all out.

Cheers

Cris.

There are other remote solutions. Kensington makes one that plugs into the lighter but connects to the iPhone via a cable. You can use whatever mount you want, including one they sell separately.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...mp;aql=&oq=

You're still stuck with the problems I outlined, two products competing for the same physical connection on the iPhone. I didn't even mention the unsightly wires problem.

Hmmmm, a combo of the TomTom and the Kensington would be perfect.

I wonder if there is a hack waiting to happen here. I wonder if there is anyone here who could tell me if it would be possible to hack the kensington onto the back of the TomTom and still have it control the player on the iPhone?

Cheers

Cris.

It's potentially possible. But you might have to completely rip apart one unit of each product to look at the connections to the dock connector.

Before going down that road you can look up some dock connector specs to see if any pins are dedicated to controlling the music playback.

It's definately less than brilliant on the 3G, it's ok if you're standing in a field somewhere, but try driving through the centre of london and you soon start finding yourself "apparently" on a different road to the one you're actually on. I've not had any of those problems since I got the TomTom cradle, so for the 3G it's a definate improvement (and necessity) in a urban environment while driving about.

The 3GS is supposed to have improved GPS reception, although I've not really tried it out, suppose I could get my fiance to sit in the car holding both phones (she has a 3GS) while we go for a drive and compare the TomTom results.

TomTom on my 3G works fine when the iPhone is up near the windscreen, it starts to struggle however when sat down near the gear stick, where it doesn't really have line of sight to any satellites. It still works well enough for long distance navigation when it isn't next to the windscreen, but struggles in towns and other complex road layouts.

So lovely though the TomTom mount looks, I really object to paying the extra for a GPS receiver that I don't appear to need.

I didn't know the GPS receiver in the iPhone was so weak. Might it be because of the metal body? The GPS in my Nexus One is great. I've used it for turn-by-turn navigation and I have no complaints whatsoever. (Well, sometimes the routing is a little odd, but that's a software issue.)

I think a lot of GPS units have problems in a car. It's one of the reasons many come with ports to connect externally mounted antennas. I doubt there's any such possibility with the iPhone unfortunately.

It isn't weak, it works fine when it is in a sensible place. My dedicated TomTom will struggle to get a usable signal when it is sat next to the gear stick (though not quite as much as the iPhone does).

I have no complaints of the iPhone GPS + TomTom app when mounted sensibly on the dash.

I've also had no issues with the iPhone GPS in the 3G or 3GS. I could see potential problems in very dense areas, but they would probably mirror the problems a handheld GPS unit would have.

And Bitt, the 3G and 3GS (the only iPhones with a GPS) don't have metal bodies. Only the first iPhone did.

I put my N1 down by the gear shift, making sure not to turn on the GPS receiver until it was there. It synced up within 15 seconds, and was perfect the entire drive to work. Maybe the GPS in the N1 is really strong, instead of the one in the iPhone being weak.

I think there's a bit of a reception difference, between driving the broad streets of suburban USA versus a typical narrow canyon in urban England.

Cheers

Fair enough; I meant to mention that, actually.

It is quite possible of course that we don't have identical cars either. Apples and oranges.

N.B. That shouldn't be taken to read that I am claiming the iPhone has the best gps receiver in the world, it doesn't. The n1 may well be better, in fact given that is was developed 18 months after my 3G I would hope it would be.

I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same GPS chip. The differences can be in the other components to make it all work, like the antenna and enclosure.

As another data point, my Droid GPS is more accurate and stronger than my brother's iPhone seems to be (non-scientific comparison while geocaching).

However, the Droid has a well-known problem where the GPS won't lock or will give bad data. For instance, I was on a freeway in south Texas a few days ago and it said I was in Colorado moving at 370 mph. Was wacked out for half a day, even with several cold reboots (battery removed). Then, all of the sudden, it started working again. I found many descriptions of similar behavior online. Verizon and Google are both pointing fingers.

Just don't follow the nav over a cliff or into a lake or anything.

Just as a test, I drove home last night with the N1 in the dash pocket directly underneath the empeg. I obviously had to turn the GPS on before I put it in there, but, still, completely accurate.

How could you see the screen/map if it was in the pocket?

I couldn't, but the voice prompts were dead on.

Is the GPS in the Android/iPhone still cell-asissted? That is they don't work in dead zones or when the Phone receiver is turned off? That kind of makes them useless when hiking or driving in remote areas. I use a Bluetooth GPS on my WM phone that doesn't have one built-in. Works great. I understand iPhone doesn't allow you to use one though.

In my N1, it is cell- and WiFi-assisted, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work outside those areas. It just means that it performs initial acquisition more quickly, as it has other ways to get general location and GMT. I would assume the same is true for the iPhone. Now, if you have no data coverage, I wouldn't be surprised if the navigation apps fail to work. I don't think that either device has mapping data built into it.