We got our hands on the new TomTom Go 2405 that launched earlier this month. The device comes with a capacitive displays, which is the standard in smartphones, but not so much in the GPS world. This is much nice to use for touch devices as the screen is more responsive. However, the really interesting features are in the software, namely: Continuous Routing and map crowd sourcing. Continous Routing is the idea that while you’re driving, and even if you are still on the right path, the TomTom Go 2405 will seek a better route based on real-time and statistical data gathered from the TomTom Community. If the GPS finds a faster itinerary, it will propose it to you.
What’s the TomTom Community? It’s all the users who voluntarily submit their GPS data to TomTom. The company can then gather anonymous data and figure out which roads then to be less congested, or spot mapping discrepancies (if a bunch of cars go outside the road, the map might be wrong) and so on. Users can also add new roads – this is “crowdsourcing” (outsourcing to the crowd) in action.
The TomTom 2405 has a clean andmodern look
Externally, the TomTom Go 2405 has a clean design, and looks like a modern personal navigation device (PND). The most remarkable change from previous GPS units, is the dual magnetic attachment – one to hold the GPS to the mount and one to keep the charging cable connected. It makes securing and removing the GPS much easier than the older clip-based systems.
We have not taken it for a drive yet, but upon turning the unit ON, one can tell you that the 16:9 screen has a relatively low resolution (480×272), but it’s fairly readable, even when you can see about 20-blocks on the screen. The 2405 Go has an internal battery that TomTom says can last 3 hours and 4GB of storage for maps. It weighs 214g – that’s about 1.5 to 2x a smartphone weight. You can check the TomTom Go 2405 homepage, or watch the video below to see the demo that we got from TomTom.
Click on the image to see all the TomTom 2405 presentation slides