Chicago – Cobra
Electronics added to the radar detector/iPhone app fray with the launch of its
iRadar Detection System at a suggested $169.
The system packages a
radar/laser detector with a free iPhone app that lets users control
radar-detector settings via the touchscreen of a Bluetooth-connected iPhone. In
addition, the app uses the iPhone’s GPS to alert users of known driving hazards
and speed- and red-light cameras via Cobra’s Aura Camera and Driving Hazard
database. Alerts can be relayed through the radar detector.
The app also lets consumers
use their iPhone to view past alert locations as well as their current speed,
compass heading and car-battery voltage.
The radar/laser-detector
unit operates as a stand-alone detector when not paired with the app.
An Android version of
the app is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2011.
If a user is traveling
in a friend’s car with an app-equipped iPhone, a Cobra spokesman told TWICE,
the iPhone will receive alerts of known hazards and cameras via its GPS
technology.
Although the app works
with a Bluetooth-equipped iPod Touch, a Cobra spokesman told TWICE that it would
have more limited functionality. Because it lacks GPS, he said, users would not
be able to get hazard and camera alerts.
