TomTom today released the TomTom App for iPhone 1.9 which has been optimised for the iPad. Existing TomTom App customers can download the new version to their iPads for free.

TomTom has optimised the App for iPad, creating a higher resolution for a sharper display and an enhanced user interface to fit the larger screen. The new release is also compatible with Apple’s brand new iOS5.

“This new release – now officially called ‘TomTom App for iPhone/iPad’ – is a logical next step for us”, says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director Consumer at TomTom. “Our customers asked us for iPad features, and now they have them. We have enhanced everything the iPad user sees and interacts with on the touch-screen.”

The TomTom App for iPhone/iPad 1.9 comes with a new map release – a benefit to users of both Apple devices. The new map includes updated roads, more accurate information about fixed speed camera locations and points of interest.

With this new release, TomTom has made use of the extra iPad screen space. The full-screen display shows both driving view and advanced lane guidance at the same time. Drivers can also switch to driving view with one touch from anywhere within the app, and can access guidance options in a tap.

Customers also get HD Traffic as an added extra via in-App purchase. For existing TomTom HD Traffic and Speed Cameras subscription owners, drivers can simply switch subscriptions from their iPhones to their iPads, at no cost. That means all the navigation features from TomTom can now be enjoyed on iPad*.

Availability and pricing

TomTom App for iPhone/iPad 1.9 is available now, priced £49.99 for UK/Republic of Ireland maps. Existing TomTom App for iPhone customers can download the new version of the App to their iPad for free.

New research has found that motorists face a ‘postcode lottery’ when it comes to the policing of speed limits on British roads.  RoadPilot – Europe’s leading supplier of GPS speed camera data – found that speeding drivers are up to 100 times more likely to be caught in Greater London than in some other areas of the country.

The study identified that Greater London now has 16 per cent of the UK’s roadside speed cameras, more than Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined.  The West Midlands, which includes the actively-policed city of Birmingham, has the second most strictly-enforced speed limits (with 7.4 per cent of all cameras), followed by West Yorkshire (6.7 per cent), Lancashire (5.7 per cent), and Staffordshire (5.0 per cent).

While the decision taken by some councils to cut funding for speed cameras has hit the headlines in recent weeks, research by RoadPilot indicates that these changes will affect just 3 per cent of cameras in Britain.

“It is perhaps to be expected that London, as the UK’s largest city, would have the highest concentration of speed cameras, but the extent of the differences in number of speed cameras around the UK is very surprising,” comments James Flynn OBE, CEO of RoadPilot.

“The recent change to the way that speed cameras are funded has certainly affected some areas of the UK, but it is important to keep in mind the bigger picture.  Britain’s speed limits remain the most heavily policed in the world, and the recent cuts will only affect a tiny proportion of the country’s more than 5,500 speed cameras.

“Given that more than 56 per cent of all of the nation’s speed cameras monitor 30 mph limits, compared with only 3.6 per cent sited on roads with 70 mph limits, drivers don’t necessarily have to be ‘driving fast’ to risk collecting a fine and licence endorsement points.  With so many distractions on our roads, drivers need all the help they can get to keep fully aware of local limits,” concludes Flynn.

RoadPilot’s extensive database of UK and international speed camera locations is principally available to consumers via RoadPilot Mobile – the firm’s self-built speed camera location application for GPS Smart phones – which is now compatible with all 26 Nokia GPS handsets.  It can also be accessed through the ‘combined speed camera and traffic alert’ service available as a downloadable option with the Nokia’s Maps 3.0 satellite navigation software.

Spanning 26 countries around the world, RoadPilot’s database is endorsed through licensing agreements with some of the world’s leading organisations in the personal navigation, online mapping, routing and printed map sectors.

The latest portable navigation unit from Clarion – world leaders in in-car entertainment and navigation solutions – forges 360° 3D mapping with the most comprehensive lane indication and realistic signpost information, to deliver its clearest navigation experience, and combined with text-to-speech and Bluetooth connectivity, the MAP790 is the safest way to get where you’re going.

The MAP790 uses two separate high-performance programmes – powered by a powerful 400MHz CPU – to draw buildings in the foreground and background. Buildings close to the driver appear see-through as you approach them, so as not to obstruct the view of the next junction, whilst buildings further away are textured and solid, making them lifelike and easily recognisable as reference points while driving.

The new PND also uses digital elevation model data to draw height and depth features, with hills and mountains rendered in 3D while you drive, to create the most realistic view, at any level of zoom. Elevation information is also applied to the road network for rendering of shadows, to display roads and bridges at their correct height for a greater clarity of route guidance.

Clarion’s MAP790 incorporates comprehensive lane indication and realistic signpost information, with all available lanes rendered in 3D, and the one needed highlighted, for a more intuitive navigation experience. And in a further fillip to safer navigation, whilst street names are displayed on screen, the voice guidance gives the name of the approaching road and instructions leading up to it, in the same way a passenger would navigate.

The MAP790 is pre-installed with map data for 44 European countries whilst voice guidance is offered in 38 languages. To cater for UK and European markets, the MAP790 utilises both a 5-digit and 8-digit postcode search function, to direct you more accurately to your destination, and with the addition of free RDS-TMC traffic information, motorists are kept constantly updated with changing conditions.

To cope with the demands for an ‘always-connected’ communications network, Clarion’s latest portable navigation devices also makes the most of Bluetooth connectivity to display SMS (text) messages on-screen, as well as giving seamless touch-screen access to a paired phone or PDA, whilst audio streaming (A2DP) and MP3/WMA playback is also possible via a built-in music player.

Additional entertainment features on the MAP790 feature a movie player, allowing users to download up to 8GB of MP4 video via MMC or SD card, whilst a digital photo album allows the user to upload pictures via SD card or the built-in USB port.

The MAP790 is priced at RRP £279.00 and is available via Clarion appointed dealers across the UK. For more information, call Clarion (GB) Ltd., on 01793 870400, or visit www.clarion.co.uk.