Windows Phone Thoughts: Better Than DougDoug? TomTom Navigator 6 Reviewed

Navigating with TTN6


Figure 9: Making a turn. Click on the graphic for a zoomed view.

When you start navigation, a screen like the one in Figure 6 is displayed. The blue highway display at the top of the screen shows the next upcoming major highway or road sign. The large box on the bottom left (which I’ll call the instruction box) shows the distance to and nature of your next turn. The large box to the right contains various pieces of information, including estimated time to destination, speed, estimated time of arrival, distance to destination, and GPS signal strength based on the number of satellites currently in use. The items displayed in this box can be changed through the options menu. Finally, the strip on the bottom of the screen shows the name of the road onto which you’re going to turn next.

The screen above shows the zoomed view provided by autozoom when you’re making a turn. Autozoom zooms out more as you travel faster. The green arrow shows your turn on the map. The blue arrow with the circle is your current position, and your route is shown in red. (Some of these colors may change if you use a different color scheme).

You also have the option of displaying a compass on the screen, shown on the bottom left of the map. I have the map set to show direction of travel at the top… the other option is to have the top of the map always pointing to north. With the direction of travel option, the compass will specify your direction of travel with letters, while the pointer will always point to north.


Figure 10: Multiple turns in succession. Click on the graphic for a zoomed view.

When the route includes multiple turns in rapid succession, TTN6 will show the next two turns in the instruction box.

This is probably a good time to mention the voice guidance. Multiple languages are offered for the voice instructions and each language has several different choices. For example, NA English is offered with 1 male and 2 female options. Much of the voice operation is similar to other nav products, with a few interesting additions. For example, one route that I used has a left turn and then a highway entrance ramp on the right about 2 miles after the turn. TTN6 told me to “turn right in 200 yards” in a similar fashion to other nav products. However, it also added “stay in the right lane” in anticipation of the entrance ramp coming up. This feature can avoid the need to make sudden lane changes if you’re not prepared for the next turn.

As expected, TTN6 gives you advance warning of an upcoming turn. The advance warning comes at a greater distance before the turn at faster speeds. For example, at 65 mph, the advance warning of an exit ramp came up about 2 miles prior. At lower speeds, like 40 mph, the warning came about ½ mile in advance.

TTN6 is missing one voice navigation feature that I appreciate in OCN5, my current navigation software. With OCN5, after you make a turn onto a highway for a long stretch without turns, it announces "please follow the road for 26 miles" so that you know that you don’t have to be prepared for any turns for a while. TTN6 has nothing like this. OCN5 also has a handy feature that allows you to change the volume independently from the system volume. Since you usually need the voice instructions set louder than your normal volume, this is very convenient, since it eliminates the need to be constantly adjusting the volume control when you switch in and out of the navigation program. While TTN6 has a volume control, it’s only relative to the system volume setting. In other words, the maximum volume setting in TTN6 is the current system volume, which was not loud enough for the instructions to be heard over conversations and traffic noise. I had to increase the system volume to maximum to get TTN6’s instructions to be audible, and then remember to turn the system volume down when I was done using it. TTN6 definitely has some room for improvement here.


Figure 11: Seeing in 3D... no funky looking glasses required. Click on the graphic for a zoomed view.

The 3D display is shown in Figure 11. Although I prefer the 2D maps shown in previous figures, some people find that the 3D display helps them get better oriented, especially in a city.