Today I'll quickly but deeply cover the TomTom App, one of many navigation apps in the AppStore. I'm an iPod touch user and I do not own an iPhone. Yet I'm still able to use this app and have tested it a way back.
As I travel a lot by car, going to shows and so on, I need a navigation system which is quite powerful, intelligent and fast. Hence, I decided to buy the TomTom app for my iPod Touch 4G. As I live in Europe I bought the app containing maps of whole Europe.
It's over 1,7 GB so I would suggest downloading it on your computer through iTunes.
Now to get TomTom to work even if I'm not connected to any wifi, which is quite obviously the case when I'm on the road I bought a GPS adapter.
I can't review the TomTom app without mentioning my GPS adapter. It cost me around 80 dollars and it's from Emprum. Quickly delivered I tested it immediately.

if you're in your house, it can't find a signal which is quite a disadvantage as often you want to set your route while being connected to GPS instead of WiFi. Anyway once you're in your car and you installed your iPod Touch to your windshield the GPS adapter starts to search for signals. it takes about 2 minutes til it found a signal.
TomTom then starts locating you, and if you previously set a route it'll recalculate and guide you to your destination.

TomTom Interface
Once you launch the TomTom app, you'll find yourself either looking at a 2D/3D Map or on the main navigation menu. Nicely designed and really easy to understand you'll quickly get used to this simple interface. TomTom leaves you with many choices. You can either enter an address and get going or plan a proper trip.

I suggest you first set up your TomTom properly. Go to change settings and enter your Home address. Once you plan a trip, it only requires one tap and you'll be guided either from or to your home.
Furthermore you can Manage your Favorites.
TomTom gives you regularly updates called Map Share. These contain either new street works, changes, addresses and loads more. Always download these.
If you want to quickly head somewhere you can tap "Navigate to..." and enter an address or chose between Home/Favorite/Recent destinations/Local Search/Point of interest/Zip Code/Coordinates. Connected to a WiFi everything works smoothly and even using the GPS TomTom is able to quickly guess what street you mean. Your final option is to enter a house number.
Although as nice this seems TomTom does not always let you enter the right house number. Let's say your friend lives in house 91 but TomTom might say there's only an 89.
Map Design
The maps are well drawn and contain only that much detail you actually need. You can chose between a 2D or 3D mode using either daylight or night vision. Both work perfectly fine.



This last images shows an overview of your planned route. How long it's going to take you, the distance, and the date.
But TomTom does not stop here. You can now enter a mode called advanced planning. Clicking on the Flag adds a second destination. Although you won't be able to change the row. if you hit Options you can look for an alternative route, like avoiding highways. You can preview you route in real time. I think this might be quite useful if you#re in a foreign city.
You can read the instructions or share your route.

With the point on the Map feature you can navigate through you surroundings and check what's around: museums, gas stations etc.

Settings
TomTom does not disappoint you when it comes to the Settings. You can chose between a huge number of voices, and languages. Through the TomTom store you can download premium voices like Homer Simpsons or Darth Vader.

You can set your Distance Units or your Route Planning Settings, meaning what TomTom should ask you. The Map option leaves you with the Mapshare update and preset map themes you can install.
Advanced option leaves you with many features i won't explain because luckily TomTom does that for me.



Conclusion
Briefly said this navigation app is really well coded, fast and easy to understand. At first use you'll be overwhelmed with all those choices you have to make and settings you have to set. But if you use the app from day to day you'll quickly understand how it all works.
As I said calculating your route does often take up to 2 minutes as it checks many roads and highways and options. If you miss an exit TomTom starts to recalculate really quickly and only needs up to 10-20 seconds.
Needless to say you're left with a lot of options but none of them are a waste of your time. I am happy with my purchase and I can only recommend you this app and the GPS adapter.
Although the color of the GPS adapter disappears quite fast and leaves ugly scratches behind.


Thanks for reading and COMMENT & RATE












