Tom Tom 6 and Artemis. Initial Impressions.

[andromeda9]

Tom Tom 6 and Artemis. Hoping my Initial Impressions may help someone.

Hi,

I'm a newbie... not up to the high standards of others here. But I thought it might be useful to give a newbies initial impressions on running TomTom 6 (application+DVD) on an Artemis.

I ordered TomTom from TomTom online. They quoted up to 5 weeks, but it took 5 days to get the DVD which contains application and Europe map and I received my TomTom 6 this afternoon and loaded it on my XDA Orbit with no real problems. (See below)

This goes against the advice of TomTom who say that it is not supported yet.

I started by resetting the XDA Orbit clean, which obliterated CoPilot.

TomTom 6 installed easily from the installation DVD.
Using the application software, I put the main program in the memory of the XDA, but put the maps and extra bits on a 2GB card. I was nervous about buying a 4gb or larger card , and so purchased a CNEX Flash format program to give me better control of what was happening on the Flash card.

The program installs on the PC first, and shows a split screen showing what's available to you on the left (e.g. DVD) and what's on your Artemis on the right (Memory & Flash card).

Registering was easy, but if you elect to pay for the Traffic reports etc, it's advisory to read the instructions to avoid losing out on the free month.

Finally, I downloaded John Cleese's voice at 10 Euros, since I'm a Python fan. This is nice. :-) :-)


Comparing it to CoPilot some issues struck me.

Good News?
-----------
First,It seems to be working well.
To my mind the range of TomTom extras seems huge and well developed. Colours, maps, layouts, voices. Good stuff.
I don't get CoPilot starting up at every opportunity.. like incoming calls. (Yes I've disabled the button)
I'll add to this thread anything I discover.

Problems?
----------
First, TomTom does not have an 'Exit' in the program like CoPilot. This was/is a pain.
No doubt I'll discover an answer from some helpful soul soon.
I press the red phone icon when in TomTom which brings up the XDA's menu. I can then I'm select Memory, Programs in use, and hit it over the head with a mallet.
It does raise the question what happens if someone rings me? More investigation needed.

Secondly, Tom Tom does not have a menu structure. You just touch the map which brings up options via icons. It works, but was/is not intuitive for me as CoPilot was.

I think I prefer the 2d direction maps of CoPilot to the 3D of TomTom. But it's early days.


General
-------
I have always had low Satellite reception on my XDA Orbit. Particularly in my house. CoPilot vsTomTom made no difference. In the car reception worked fine even with a heated front windscreen.

I've still got some ferreting around to do. I want to increase the warning distance from 200metres for one thing. I've also got to find out about the Traffic Alerts and how it works and can suggest rerouting etc.

All the best.

[DonQuichotte]

Hello!

It's obviuos you're quite new to TT, since there is an exit-button in TT, well it's somehow misplaced but it's there. When TT shows the map -> tap on the screen -> hit the next page button twice -> voila the exit button.

To edit the menu to your likings you can build your own TT menu. Onlineversion (http://www.skux.net/tomtom/menubuilder2/action.php?action=setLanguage&lang=en) & Offlineversion (http://www.gregoryduncan.com/ttmd/index.php). Just to make things clear the TomTom.mnu belongs in \TomTom\SdkRegistry
It does'nt make a difference if you use TT or another GPS-capable software in terms of GPS reception it depends only on the location your are roaming in (and I must say I'm more then positiv suprised with the quality of the GPS chip compared to all other devices I had before). Every software gets the same data from the Orbits inbuild GPS chip (well if you are intend to try MN6 it is likely you will experince problems with the positioning but it's cause MN6 is running slow as hell)

INFO:
There are hundreds of pois out there for TT for almost every thing, some are free and some are...well...search the internet.

...bye DonQ

[andromeda9]

Hello!

It's obviuos you're quite new to TT, since there is an exit-button in TT, well it's somehow misplaced but it's there. When TT shows the map -> tap on the screen -> hit the next page button twice -> voila the exit button.


yep. Day1! Thanks Don. Missed it completely!


To edit the menu to your likings you can build your own TT menu. Onlineversion (http://www.skux.net/tomtom/menubuilder2/action.php?action=setLanguage&lang=en) & Offlineversion (http://www.gregoryduncan.com/ttmd/index.php).
Just to make things clear the TomTom.mnu belongs in \TomTom\SdkRegistry


Thanks. The idea of being able to construct the pages in your own desired order is very appealing.


It does'nt make a difference if you use TT or another GPS-capable software in terms of GPS reception it depends only on the location your are roaming in (and I must say I'm more then positiv suprised with the quality of the GPS chip compared to all other devices I had before).


That's helpful. It's my first foray into GPS stuff, and I was suprised when I lost CoPilot over the Christmas period. The o2 rep said that it was the fog, and I still am sceptical that that was the whole story.


Every software gets the same data from the Orbits inbuild GPS chip (well if you are intend to try MN6 it is likely you will experince problems with the positioning but it's cause MN6 is running slow as hell)


Could you just expand a bit on this please ? Thanks.



INFO:
There are hundreds of pois out there for TT for almost every thing, some are free and some are...well...search the internet.
...bye DonQ

Thanks again

Ann D
:-)

[DonQuichotte]

Hello,

Could you just expand a bit on this please ? Thanks.

What exactly do you wanna know? The GPS reception or MN6?
I've taken a look at MN6 about 2 weeks ago and it was not usable in any way. Navigating through the menu was horrible slow and from what I've heard from others it gives voice instructions way too late, just when you have passed destination/turnings. Also calculating the route is very slow.
I had the chance to test MN6 on a PNA (Transonic 6000) the other week and even on this kind of device it was not running that well but much much better than on my Artemis.

...bye DonQ

[andromeda9]

Hello,
What exactly do you wanna know? The GPS reception or MN6?


I'm new to both.. but MN6 really. (I presume MN6 is TomTom6)


I've taken a look at MN6 about 2 weeks ago and it was not usable in any way. Navigating through the menu was horrible slow and from what I've heard from others it gives voice instructions way too late, just when you have passed destination/turnings.


I get you. Hence my comment earlier about wanting to give myself more than 200metres warning.
So far not yet past destinations... but it's only day two.



Also calculating the route is very slow.
I had the chance to test MN6 on a PNA (Transonic 6000) the other week and even on this kind of device it was not running that well but much much better than on my Artemis.
...bye DonQ

That again is very helpful Don.

QUESTION:
-----------
Can you tell me whether the slowness etc is due to the software or is it something else?
I notice a thread about TomTom and T-Mobile MDA Compact 3 and it seems to run ok on that. Isn't the T-Mobile MDA Compact 3 roughly the same as my Orbit is is it the operator making a difference?


QUESTION:
-----------
Any tips to watch out for about running TomTom on the Orbit?
e.g. can for example the Artemis be overclocked and resolve some of these weaknesses ? What's your opinion?


Finally, I had NOT noticed but TomTom was booting up at each soft reset. I turned it off but hadn't noticed that the GPRS was still live ... hence a bigger bill for GPRS than I was expecting.

I had a look on the sd card and found the TomTom auto Autorun file called Start.exe in the root Dir of the card. I moved it into another folder and all is ok. Most of the time now TomTom does not start up unless I invoke it.

QUESTION:
-----------
When TomTom exits can the GPRS link be broken off automatically?.. might save me a few pennies?


Thanks

[AD10]

QUESTION 1:
-----------
Can you tell me whether the slowness etc is due to the software or is it something else?
I notice a thread about TomTom and T-Mobile MDA Compact 3 and it seems to run ok on that. Isn't the T-Mobile MDA Compact 3 roughly the same as my Orbit is is it the operator making a difference?


QUESTION 2:
-----------
Any tips to watch out for about running TomTom on the Orbit?
e.g. can for example the Artemis be overclocked and resolve some of these weaknesses ? What's your opinion?


Finally, I had NOT noticed but TomTom was booting up at each soft reset. I turned it off but hadn't noticed that the GPRS was still live ... hence a bigger bill for GPRS than I was expecting.

I had a look on the sd card and found the TomTom auto Autorun file called Start.exe in the root Dir of the card. I moved it into another folder and all is ok. Most of the time now TomTom does not start up unless I invoke it.

QUESTION 3:
-----------
When TomTom exits can the GPRS link be broken off automatically?.. might save me a few pennies?


Thanks


Hi Ann,

I just got my MDAC3 as well and have just installed TT6 from a DVD. These are my thoughts to your questions above. I did a bit of web searching before I got one though, to find out that YES, the MDAC3 = O2 Orbit = Dopod P800W = HTC Artemis (with(out) various options made possible by Texas Instruments(the makers of the hardware) [MDAC3, Orbit, Dopod P800W are corporate brand names of the various carriers in their relevant countries, but are all know and referred to as ARTEMIS in the development circles.]

Answers to Q1 and Q2: -
I think the slowness may be due to a combination of several things.
a.) The type of microSD card you have in your set - when I was searching to buy one, I noticed there are 2 types : a normal one and and ultra II. The difference is the ultra II has a faster read/write speed, which is affects the general speed/performance of the TT6.
b.) AFAIK(As far as I Know) The orbit has a bit more capabilities than the MDAC3 such as WIFI. This additional function the same processor-OMAP850 has to cater for. Now, this porcessor is not necessarily the most efficient or the fastest available, so impacts performance as well.
c.) If you overclock, there will be a noticable improvement in performance, and a corresponding increase in battery consumption, but this may not translate to an improved experience with TT6, if you have it on a normal card vis ultra II.
The speed of refreshing the map overlay and playing the sound files associated I believe is the reason you hear the instructions after passing the landmarks/turnings, all of which I think is due to the card read/write spead again, plus the processor speed.

Answer to Q3
Its surprising that you mentioned GPRS - as this differs from GPS which the TomTom uses, though I was made to understand that a SatNav software may also use the GPRS (wierd - as this is VERY expensive if you dont have the unlimited package only available cheaply on T-Mobile). You may want to check the the connection settings of the TomTom, changing it to connect using the GPS on a port you set on the hardware.
Start Menu > Settings > System> GPS > Hardware (You may also set the port for TT6 to connect on the Program window.

TT6 starts the GPS receiver upon request for navigation (which I thought was intelligent - to save battery power)

Lastly,
IMOE (In my own Experience) I initially installed the TT6 software + maps from the DVD + POI overlay to the microSD ULTRA II, and noticed it froze up many times then I installed in the phone memory, removed the overlay (TT6 has a manageable one), maps still in the microSD and it stopped freezing up, plus refresh of map was every second.

Now I have overclocked with the hope of a good performance whilst multitasking, which is Ok with some combinations and not with others. Hence my conclusion as stated above. The processor really can be better, but Vs price, it will not be marketable in its class with the many ther products out there at the price it is given.

I hope I have been of some help.

Cheers

AD10

[mikealder]

You can use a 2D map mode if you really want to, go to change preferences/ Turn off 3D display.
You can overclock the unit but I have found no valid reason to actually do this.
The GPRS charges are only applicable to the actual data transferred to/ from your device, so don't worry about it remaining connected - if there is no data traffic there will be no extra charges.
Leave the GPS applet alone (the one that exists in the settings menu) this often leads to confusion and is only really needed to be used/ set-up IF you want to run two applications at the same time (not something the Artemis excels at due to the processor power). Set to Other NMEA GPS receiver/ Baud 9600/ COM4 should be all that is required.
As for poor GPS reception, you mention the car has a heated screen, is this Athermic glass which is known to attenuate the signal or a standard wire heater element embeded in the glass (which do not affect GPS performance) - make sure the Quick GPS data is up to date, and don't drive around until the device has actually locked on to the signal - Mike

[andromeda9]

Hi Ann,

I just got my MDAC3 as well and have just installed TT6 from a DVD. These are my thoughts to your questions above. I did a bit of web searching before I got one though, to find out that YES, the MDAC3 = O2 Orbit = Dopod P800W = HTC Artemis (with(out) various options made possible by Texas Instruments(the makers of the hardware) [MDAC3, Orbit, Dopod P800W are corporate brand names of the various carriers in their relevant countries, but are all know and referred to as ARTEMIS in the development circles.]

Answers to Q1 and Q2: -
I think the slowness may be due to a combination of several things.
a.) The type of microSD card you have in your set - when I was searching to buy one, I noticed there are 2 types : a normal one and and ultra II. The difference is the ultra II has a faster read/write speed, which is affects the general speed/performance of the TT6.
b.) AFAIK(As far as I Know) The orbit has a bit more capabilities than the MDAC3 such as WIFI. This additional function the same processor-OMAP850 has to cater for. Now, this porcessor is not necessarily the most efficient or the fastest available, so impacts performance as well.
c.) If you overclock, there will be a noticable improvement in performance, and a corresponding increase in battery consumption, but this may not translate to an improved experience with TT6, if you have it on a normal card vis ultra II.
The speed of refreshing the map overlay and playing the sound files associated I believe is the reason you hear the instructions after passing the landmarks/turnings, all of which I think is due to the card read/write spead again, plus the processor speed.

Answer to Q3
Its surprising that you mentioned GPRS - as this differs from GPS which the TomTom uses, though I was made to understand that a SatNav software may also use the GPRS (wierd - as this is VERY expensive if you dont have the unlimited package only available cheaply on T-Mobile). You may want to check the the connection settings of the TomTom, changing it to connect using the GPS on a port you set on the hardware.
Start Menu > Settings > System> GPS > Hardware (You may also set the port for TT6 to connect on the Program window.

TT6 starts the GPS receiver upon request for navigation (which I thought was intelligent - to save battery power)

Lastly,
IMOE (In my own Experience) I initially installed the TT6 software + maps from the DVD + POI overlay to the microSD ULTRA II, and noticed it froze up many times then I installed in the phone memory, removed the overlay (TT6 has a manageable one), maps still in the microSD and it stopped freezing up, plus refresh of map was every second.

Now I have overclocked with the hope of a good performance whilst multitasking, which is Ok with some combinations and not with others. Hence my conclusion as stated above. The processor really can be better, but Vs price, it will not be marketable in its class with the many ther products out there at the price it is given.

I hope I have been of some help.

Cheers

AD10


Truly excellent stuff.


Thanks!

[andromeda9]

You can use a 2D map mode if you really want to, go to change preferences/ Turn off 3D display.
You can overclock the unit but I have found no valid reason to actually do this.
The GPRS charges are only applicable to the actual data transferred to/ from your device, so don't worry about it remaining connected - if there is no data traffic there will be no extra charges.
Leave the GPS applet alone (the one that exists in the settings menu) this often leads to confusion and is only really needed to be used/ set-up IF you want to run two applications at the same time (not something the Artemis excels at due to the processor power). Set to Other NMEA GPS receiver/ Baud 9600/ COM4 should be all that is required.
As for poor GPS reception, you mention the car has a heated screen, is this Athermic glass which is known to attenuate the signal or a standard wire heater element embeded in the glass (which do not affect GPS performance) - make sure the Quick GPS data is up to date, and don't drive a
round until the device has actually locked on to the signal - Mike

Thank you Mike

They are very very useful tips!

Appreciated

[briancross]

i have just fot the xda orbit and just trying to find me way round it but i was hopeing for a helping hand from anyone on here , i want a sat nav on it but is there any software you can get which means you dont have to pay to use and i want a to try obatin spb pocket software any ideas how i would get that please

i look forward to hearing form anyone lol

[Shand359]

i have just fot the xda orbit and just trying to find me way round it but i was hopeing for a helping hand from anyone on here , i want a sat nav on it but is there any software you can get which means you dont have to pay to use and i want a to try obatin spb pocket software any ideas how i would get that please

i look forward to hearing form anyone lol
This thread is all about TomTom6. Best Sat-Nav software I have found for the Orbit. Doesn't cost anything to use after you purchase the software, unless you want to add the extra's, like Traffic data or Weather data.

[nubbin]

I updated my Orbit to WM6 yesterday and was a bit annoyed that TomTom has slowed down to a point where it's pretty useless for navigating. this is made worse by the fact that on WM5 it was faultless, and a lot faster to process than an Eten glofiish X500, which has a 400MHz processor!

Can I roll my Orbit back to WM5? If so, how do I do it?

[Shand359]

I updated my Orbit to WM6 yesterday and was a bit annoyed that TomTom has slowed down to a point where it's pretty useless for navigating. this is made worse by the fact that on WM5 it was faultless, and a lot faster to process than an Eten glofiish X500, which has a 400MHz processor!

Can I roll my Orbit back to WM5? If so, how do I do it?

You can download O2 UK WM5 ROM from these forums. just run this and you should be OK back to WM5.

On a different note. I too installed WM6 onto my Orbit and noticed NO slow down in speed of navigation. If anything I noticed it was slightly faster. Not sure why you experience the opposite from me.

Only thing I can think of is:- Did you install O2 WM6? or B&B v4?

[nubbin]

You can download O2 UK WM5 ROM from these forums. just run this and you should be OK back to WM5.

On a different note. I too installed WM6 onto my Orbit and noticed NO slow down in speed of navigation. If anything I noticed it was slightly faster. Not sure why you experience the opposite from me.

Only thing I can think of is:- Did you install O2 WM6? or B&B v4?

I've got my upgrade from the official O2 site. tell me more about B&B v4? What is it, where is it, and is it any good? Can I do another install over the O2 WM6? Thanks in advance.

[Shand359]

I've got my upgrade from the official O2 site. tell me more about B&B v4? What is it, where is it, and is it any good? Can I do another install over the O2 WM6? Thanks in advance.

Go into the mobile 6 thread in the forums. Black & Blue version4 looks a lot better that O2's WM6 and runs a damn site faster too. Do not upgrade to O2 WM6 first though. You need to be running WM5 and then upgrade to B&B 4 as the upgrade does something to the handset and seems to block any further update.

Before you do anything you need to download and install USPL on your handset. If you don't do USPL first you will end up with a stylish "brick"

[nubbin]

Go into the mobile 6 thread in the forums. Black & Blue version4 looks a lot better that O2's WM6 and runs a damn site faster too. Do not upgrade to O2 WM6 first though. You need to be running WM5 and then upgrade to B&B 4 as the upgrade does something to the handset and seems to block any further update.

Before you do anything you need to download and install USPL on your handset. If you don't do USPL first you will end up with a stylish "brick"

Many thanks for that. I searched the site last night, and found B&B v4, and V3.7, and also USPL. Unfortunately, I had already upgraded with the O2 WM6, so although I have also been able to roll back to WM5 (and TomTom is now back up to speed), I am getting the "Image file corrupted" message with any attempted update, including USPL. Looks like I've been blocked from any updates unless anyone has a solution? I still have my Glofiish X500 running WM6, but the XDA runs TomTom more quickly.

[Shand359]

Many thanks for that. I searched the site last night, and found B&B v4, and V3.7, and also USPL. Unfortunately, I had already upgraded with the O2 WM6, so although I have also been able to roll back to WM5 (and TomTom is now back up to speed), I am getting the "Image file corrupted" message with any attempted update, including USPL. Looks like I've been blocked from any updates unless anyone has a solution? I still have my Glofiish X500 running WM6, but the XDA runs TomTom more quickly.

This has happened to a few people. Download the file again and try.

P.S. Are you using XP or Vista. Vista seems to be a bit problematic. Some people have gotten Vista to flash ok, I on the otherhand have not.

For complete trouble free flashing use XP.
Run start_uspl.exe file, then after phone has rebooted again, run the ROM of your choice and upgrade to WM6. You won't be disappointed.........unless you run the O2 WM6 which I have found to be a big disappointment.

[nubbin]

Hi Shand359

The Artemis USPL successfully "unlocked" my XDA, and after that it was an easy ROM update - I know have a fully functional B&B v4! Many thanks for your help and advice - donation to PDAViet on it's way.

TomTom v660.1256 map now working just as well as before - just in time for my 10 day driving trip to Spain at the end of the month. I thought I was going to have to buy a TomTom unit, but no need now.

Incidentally, I haven't worked out what "Touch Flo" is all about - can you enlighten me?

[Shand359]

Hi Shand359

The Artemis USPL successfully "unlocked" my XDA, and after that it was an easy ROM update - I know have a fully functional B&B v4! Many thanks for your help and advice - donation to PDAViet on it's way.

TomTom v660.1256 map now working just as well as before - just in time for my 10 day driving trip to Spain at the end of the month. I thought I was going to have to buy a TomTom unit, but no need now.

Incidentally, I haven't worked out what "Touch Flo" is all about - can you enlighten me?

If you press the windows key ( beside the GPS key) then drag your finger across the screen from left to right, the cube should spin with different icons on it. Looks cool.

[nubbin]

Got it now. Even my teenage son thinks it's "way cooooool"!:D