Today it appears that the first pre-orders are available from UK site Handtec for the special mount that provides “enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions, hands-free calling and in-car charging.” I have to say though that I’m totally shocked at the price, £113.85!! 

For that princely sum you get the special car cradle and the software, although it’s not quite clear yet how you go about getting the software from iTunes as this is the first peripheral hardware for iPhone that needs software and will work happily without the hardware.

Alternatives

Also launched today is iGo My Way 2009 which doesn’t have any external hardware and is available with Western Europe maps for £52.99 or £44.99 for the US maps.  Navigon MobileNavigator is also available at £52.99 for Europe and £39.99 for the US maps.

Where next

I’ve been waiting for the TomTom solution for a while, so I’m personally going to wait for the reviews.  I want to see what the verdict is about the car cradle, and if it really does add much to the navigation experience (it’s supposed to make it more accurate) if it doesn’t add much it’ll be a strait choice between 3 products all competing on almost the same features.  I’ll let everyone know how I get on.

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There is a secret to this, I’m actually using 2g most of the time and am using WiFi in most locations turning on 3g when I need fast data on the move…which isn’t that often right now as most places seem to have WiFi. Incidentally this works well because connecting to Wifi is so easy on this thing. This is my “Usage” screen a few moments ago on 10% battery.

I didn’t go for it though. One of the super-cool features of the Case-Mate site is their extensive use of their own, and customer created, YouTube videos. For lots of the products they have instructional videos for applying the product. Wait. How good is that? Half the time that’s the big problem with installing these things, and these guys have cracked it! It was on examination of these that I found ClearArmour. What makes Clear Armour stand out is that it’s applied “wet” just like you put wallpaper on the wall. The video showed just how easy the spray on formula was to apply and how good the results are and it showes the magick tip to get the corners to stick. I bought one immediatley.

When it arrived the postman had crushed it to get it into the letterbox, but I opened it up and got the video playing for a refresher. The installation experience was absutley as advertised, it applied perfectly.   Spray the films, spray your hands, put it in place (moving it easily if necessary) then use the supplied bit of board to remove any bubbles and leave to dry.   Overnight it dried and looked great, but with two bubbles on the back, 24 more hours later and they’d gone too.   Superb my iPhone was now protected. That’s how it’s stayed too, but there is one issue.  A couple of the corners have stared to pick up a little dust, but that will probably stop as soon as those ares loose some stick. However there are actually two comple armours supplied so I might use the other to get a better application, I could use some more spray though.

I’ve been mega impressed by Case-Mate and they answered my Twitter questions quickly. Put simply their customer service rocks so much that I want to try more of their stuff. I’m gonna get a silicone case from then still as I want some impact protection.

It’s a great device and works superbly, clearing away some of the clutter from the desk. It’s more functional than the Apple dock and a quarter of the price. The only minor flaw is that it’s lacking in weight so when the iPhone isn’t docked the weight of the USB cables tips it up by a quarter inch.

I’ve just posted the following article on MobileTechAddicts…..to read the full article go click here to the post…

Having launched the new iPhone and with the new SDK on the way Apple have added in a couple of clauses to curb what developers can do with the GPS built into the new iPhone.  According to Electronista the agreement states that the GPS cannot be used for real time navigation applications.