Ah, just remembered my other AA bugbear. Does it allow an auto-reply to texts/calls received while driving ? It didn't used to, and I have no interest whatsoever in using my phone as a phone while driving.
I don't think there's a full auto option, but there's a one press option to reply with "I'm driving right now" or it asks if you want to dictate a reply
Would this not amount to aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime?
How about a "no press option" ? Like the Drivemode app has ?
Thanks for saving me the time of dismissing AA for another year.
(As an aside, the plethora of "apps" that are designed to encourage people to use their phones when driving is depressing ...)
How could it auto reply to phone calls ? Maybe you mean that you want it to say to the caller that you are driving and will get back to them later when you arent driving. Do not disturb on the phone will do that, it isnt AA that needs to do that unless you want AA to be smart enough to work out when you are driving and reply like that to voice calls automatically.
Divert to voicemail and sent a text back
Drivemode does it automatically when the cars BT connection is made. Zero keypresses (again)
Why would you use AA if you're *not* driving ? And as mentioned, the Drivemode app does *exactly* that. But Drivemode isn't being adopted by scores of manufacturers whereas AA is.
You can pre-download the map data but not traffic. Then you can plan a route without a data connection. They aren't as good as a tomtom whatever rod says. I have used google to walk about in towns before and it works ok.
If you are a fan of TomTom (one of the few), could you comment on whether a more expensive model offers better hardware, or just more features. If the hardware is better, how much better is it?
Sounds like the battery is no good. If so and it isn't powered when not in use, it will take ages to start up. The battery on mine lasts long enough to walk round town using it.
Bill
Thanks, Bill, I now have more information about this. I assumed that pushing the off button was enough to turn the unit off but I have now discovered this only puts it into 'sleep' mode and more is needed to turn off fully.
I assumed that after so many minutes in sleep mode the unit would shut down, but this may not be the case.
I returned my device to TomTom who tested it, agreed the battery was not up to spec and replaced the battery. Maybe the new battery is also out of spec, which seems unlikely, or because I use the sat nav infrequently it just drains each time. Anyway, it seems to take an age to start up.
I'm wondering (as I asked elsewhere) if I invested in a more upmarket model, would I get better hardware or just more features?
My Nuvi 550 and 3790T last for hours for walking, but the Nuvicam only lasts for 10-15 minutes as it is not designed to be used outside of the car.
Actually I just need to delete the 9Gb of photos and videos!
Is it a good idea to shut a satnav down completely, as opposed to putting it into low-power mode? The problem is that if you move a significant distance while the unit is powered off, and then turn it on, or if it is off for a significant time, the "almanac" information (knowledge of where each satellite will be at any point in time) becomes out of date, and then you have to wait a *long* time (I think it's either 7.5 or 15 mins) for the full almanac to be transmitted from a satellite to the satnav unit.
I keep my phone powered on (almost) all the time, unless the battery runs out before I have chance to recharge it, so I rarely encounter the "stale almanac" problem. Likewise the one that is built into our Honda is probably powered all the time, even when the ignition is off.
With my old phone, which didn't have such as good battery, I had to turn off wifi and satnav whenever I was not using them, to make the battery last the day, and quite often when I turned satnav on it took ages before it could use the satellites that it could see, presumably because I'd moved since the phone's satnav unit was last turned on. I'd love to know what gobbled up the battery: I wiped it clean and reinstalled everything, and the problem came back, but when my wife later used that phone as a stopgap after hers had an accident with a tiled floor (!) and she reinstalled it yet again, she had no problem making the battery last from getting up to bedtime.
If I'm going anywhere on foot or on a train, where I don't have USB charging, I use a large battery to keep it going - and then have to wait ages for that battery to recharge again: that really *is* an overnight job ;-)
If you want to avoid the hassle of downloading tiles of the Google Map to cover for when you have no mobile internet signal, you could install an offline satnav program. I use Here Maps which does a very good job, is reasonably up to date - it knows about a new bypass which has "only" existed for 2 years but the satnav in the car *still* doesn't know about, despite a recent download-and-install of its so-called "latest" maps. (*)
Here Maps doesn't have any knowledge of traffic problems, because it is offline, but it's fine as long as you aren't worried about having to avoid traffic jams. Even when it is offline it can still search for a location by postcode, which is the normal way that I enter a "go to" address on a satnav, either on my phone or on the car's satnav.
(*) I've not been impressed with the satnav unit in our Honda. The download of maps, I think just for the UK, is about 5 GB, which is an all-day-and-half-the-night job over a 1.2 Mbps internet connection, and there's no way of telling what roads those maps will include - I did a download specifically so it knew about a 2-mile "new" bypass and would route via that rather than taking the long way round on older roads, and whatever else was updated, that road still wasn't included. It's not a matter of knowing which way to go - I know that - it's a matter of getting a realistic ETA that isn't based on a tortuous route on older roads.
Also, the traffic information is pathetic: it fails to warn about known problems - sometimes it lets you get past the last motorway junction where you could divert off the motorway, sometimes it never warns even after you're stuck in the jam. But it *does* warn about traffic problems that don't actually exist, either for sections which routinely get jammed but are clear today, or else for hold-ups which have already been cleared.
Google Maps is a *lot* better for accurate traffic info than the traffic info in the Honda's satnav.
I have unlimited minutes on my phone, how much would say 1,000 minutes cost in a month on this 'phone'?
no idea I have had my 6inch version for a few years (2013 iirc) and it just works.
it does go flat if you don't turn it off but it takes a few days in standby.
It doesn't take long with the screen on.
You get traffic via my mobile with mine others have it built in so need no phone connection for navigation but some do hands free calling and use your phone for calls.
I don't use speed cameras, no need for them as you can see them and don't get done, they are free on some but not mine.
Okay, thanks. I'll just persevere with the one I have as no-one has persuaded me spending extra money would lead to any benefit :-)
No, it seems to be a design feature. If you spend more you get more features but the same crap battery.
75 minutes costs £126.
Thanks very much. I have now decided to persevere with the the existing unit as no-one has persuaded me that spending more would provide any tangible benefits :-)
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