TomTom Rider 550: not just a navigator [5 THINGS TO KNOW – EPISODE 2]

We started our story by telling you the many reasons why a smartphone cannot do the same things as the Rider 550, not even remotely. The second aspect, which we believe is fundamental to discover its characteristics, concerns all those functions that one would not expect from a navigator, but which, once you get used to it, are difficult to give up. The journey continues, it must be said, through the "5 things to know".

Continuing to delve deeper into the features of the TomTom Rider 550, we find advanced options, which allow us to take advantage of the screen, which we have "at our fingertips" while we drive, for functions that are partly unrelated to the standard ones of a navigator. Let's see which ones.

TomTom Traffic and Speed ​​Camera reporting

These are key additional options to improve the final result of a navigation tool. Both lead to using the Rider 550 even when traveling on a route that is well known. In the first case to anticipate a slowdown, which while in a car could force us to queue for hours, even on a motorbike is not really fun. A detour, suggested based on traffic conditions, therefore allows you to save time and drive along a smoother and more satisfying road. As for speed cameras and automatic detection systems on traffic light systems, first of all it must be said that reporting by this type of device is permitted in Italy and is perfectly legal, beyond this, to anyone who thinks the usual phrase "just go slowly and respect the highway code to avoid getting fines", we remember the many cases of "killer" detections, which also lead to heavy fines, even while driving prudently. All it takes is a moment of distraction, an unseen sign, to end up increasing the budget of the Municipality we are passing through, so the help of the Rider 550 is welcome, which promptly and clearly signals the presence of a fixed speed camera, of places usually used to position mobile workstations and more.

Connectivity with Siri and Google Now

So far we have talked about interesting functions, which we are rather used to seeing on a navigator, but it is with the opening to "advanced" interaction with your mobile phone that a new world of possibilities opens up. With a simple press on the screen the phone's voice commands are activated, thus managing to exploit the enormous potential of these tools that we always carry in our pockets, without taking our eyes off the road and, obviously, without having to stop to do so safely. We can, for example, check the weather conditions with a simple question into the headset microphone and, again with the helmet intercom, answer a call, call back someone who has called us, or send them an SMS if we don't want to answer in that moment, or listen to the contents of the SMS or messages received via Whatsapp or have the voice of the Rider 550 read any other notification on the mobile phone, which are notified on the device display. Depending on how it is configured, through Mydrive installed on your smartphone, interaction will be limited to only the most important notifications or multiple applications. TomTom Rider 550 is therefore much more than a simple navigator, but rather a central unit with which to interact with your phone, always through a connection via Bluetooth as with the helmet intercom, also taking advantage of access to the internet to obtain information in real time, like those already mentioned on traffic, for example.

This concludes the story of the second point of our #5Things to Know. We therefore welcome you to the next episodes, the first of which will be linked to traveling without stress, in a safer and more comfortable way.

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