TomTom iPad app hands-on

The TomTom iPad app is fairly fantastic. We know this at Pocket-lint because we were lucky enough to get our hands on the software at IFA 2011.

Naturally, we can't tell you how good it is at getting you from A to B, which is why we use the word "fairly", but what strikes you as soon as you boot the thing up is that, graphically, it's superb. The app has been optimised to fit every pixel of the iPad's screen and, by doing so, the TomTom app has gone from a slightly fiddly little brother to the dedicated satnav, to a vastly superior visuo-interactive experience.

What you benefit from on the iPad is the superb size and sensitivity of the touchscreen, the like of which satnavs have been failing to ape for years. What that real estate now means is that there's space to split the screen with window views within. Practically speaking, that means that you don't have to surf the menus and experience the advanced lane guidance view as a screen switch but instead at the very same time along side the route map.

Of course, the only trouble is that as useful as that would be in-car, there's no TomTom car kit for it currently and, by the way that we were pointed towards third party versions, it seems that there are no plans for there to be either. Interestingly, TomTom has as much positioned the iPad app as something you might browse while eating your breakfast before heading out to work anyway.

What with the HD Traffic Live services included, you can check out your route just in case there's any jams (or marmalades), and the really nice touch is that you can press and hold, in iOS copy and paste style, to bring up a magnifying glass that'll offer more info on specific, smaller areas.

Despite the connectivity though, what you won't get for the while is any of the apps as debuted on the most recent satnavs in the shape of the TripAdvisor, Expedia, Yelp and Twitter software. Fortunately, you probably have all that on your iPad anyway.

The TomTom iPad app will be out in the Autumn as a straight update to the current TomTom app for iPhone. There'll be no added cost for those who've already purchased it and the price of the app from fresh will not go up at all.

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