Macenstein

GPS maker TomTom announced today that you can now download Homer Simpson‘s voice as a $5.99 in-app purchase to replace the default set of voices in their $49.99 TomTom U.S.A GPS App.

Since I already own the TomTom USA App, and was a HUGE fan of the Simpsons (for the first 15 years or so, anyway) I thought this might be a cute no-brainer of a purchase. That is, until I listened to the two voice samples TomTom posted on their page and MY GOD I can’t think of anything more annoying.

Part of my crusty cynicism has to do with the Simpson’s long overstaying their comedic welcome (where I would currently pay $20 for a Family Guy set of Stewie giving voice guidance), but the reality of when I actually use my GPS apps and whether I want Homer springing into one of these apparently VERY long and NOT overly funny quips was the real killer.

Long-time readers know I don’t get out much, but when I DO, it’s to the more downtrodden neighborhoods of NJ to shlep the kids to a Circus or Globetrotters game, where one wrong turn could spell disaster. (Yes, I know, Newark’s making a comeback…). Invariably, the GPS app on the iPhone loses GPS reception in these areas, and I don’t want to hear Homer’s version of “recalculating” as guns go off around me after I’ve strayed from the 2 blocks of “safe” streets surrounding a given convention center.

But the other deal breaker for me is that the TomTom app is one of those GPS apps that keeps a map of the entire US on your iPhone all the time, at a cost of 1.3 GB of space. Given I leave my house twice a year (and rarely for a spur of the moment drive cross-country to Utah or such) I have since ditched TomTom in favor of the much smaller footprint Garmin and Mapquest apps which download maps as needed. (This also cuts down dramatically on iPhone sync time when the TomTom App downloads a 1.3 GB update).

Granted, losing cell reception in a bad neighborhood with those apps will still leave me stranded, but I still think I would prefer the “comedic stylings” of “calm, cool, robot girl voice” to Homer’s screeching in my final moments.

via MacRumors