New Tomtom Go App for Android released worldwide.

Richy888 · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:20

Anyone know if mobile speed cams are shown or a warning given?

Giving the new Tomtom app a try against Route 66 which has been my sat nav app of choice. Initial impressions are quite good though need more time. 50miles I'll soon use so guess I might sub up £15 for a year and see how it goes. The search function, local to where I am, seems to work better than Route 66 as often it'd return a few results for South America mixed in with the N Yorks results? Never really sure why that should be so?

FlyingFish · 29 Mar 2015 at 16:42

I was one of the early adopters of the (now old) android TomTom app on android, and it was pretty bad, the only thing it did right was the routing, the rest of the app was terrible, and soon after using it I just gave up and used something else. Felt pretty peeved I'd wasted over £30 on it! So now I've updated to this new app, and even tho the app is a million times better, I still feel even more peeved! My life long original purchase has turned into a 3 yr sub, and although Tom Tom say the update purchase of €0.50 will be refunded, Google has billed me (or my bank) £1.37 for the transaction!
Not that chuffed

Mint_Sauce · 29 Mar 2015 at 21:27

I use Waze and found it very good, especially for avoiding traffic. Since it's been bought by Google I expect that Google Maps traffic re-routing will probably get a lot better in time if not already.

https://www.waze.com/

Uriel · 29 Mar 2015 at 21:33

I was a fan of the routing in the old app but it was pretty clunky and badly optimised overall. I switched to Route 66 Navigate after giving their free trial a go. The old TomTom app was pretty good at routing around the odd traffic jam but when the **** actually hit the fan, Route 66 just destroyed it. I guess it's down to Route 66 coming up with a bespoke route based on live traffic every time whereas TomTom would create routes based on IQRoutes (historic average speeds) and then add the traffic. If it could save 3 minute plus it would reroute.

In theory, from what I know of TomTom Go, it should treat traffic in a similar bespoke way to Route 66 but I've yet to see how it behaves in a truly complex situation.

The main important feature that both TomTom (original) and Route 66 Navigate have that TomTom Go lacks is 'avoid part of route'. TomTom Go only allows you to avoid a road block directly in front of you. It's a pain not being able to close off the inevitable odd road that you know is blocked but TomTom traffic doesn't.

[TW]Fox · 29 Mar 2015 at 22:49

I am quite tempted by this, but before I go for it I'd appreciate if anyone could answer the following.

I don't use a navigation device very often as my car has integrated navigation. However I do use navigation when I'm renting cars in Europe and the USA. For this I generally use an old HTC Sensation as a dedicated navigation device. Will this new Tomtom app:

a) Allow me full USA and European mapping for £15 a year?
b) Allow me to use it on both my HTC Sensation *and* my HTC One on the same Google account with the same subscription?

If the answer is 'Yes' to both then I can't see any reason why this isn't bargain of the year.

Uriel · 29 Mar 2015 at 23:24

The answer is yes to both.

Slight caveat on the second one though. The original TomTom app didn't play nicely with some HTC ROMs. I've heard of one bug so far with the new one relating to text display on a HTC device.

I would try it out on your HTC devices before parting with money.

Tuvoc · 30 Mar 2015 at 13:55

BigDannyO said:
Can't see me using the TomTom app, Nokia Here Maps is excellent. Free and works offline too.

Yes, I use Here Drive+ on a Nokia phone. I find it absolutely brilliant. It doesn't re-route around traffic delays, but for me that isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is that it doesn't have safety cameras, as my very old standalone TomTom satnav had. I keep that plugged in as well, out of the way, and listen for the beeps. I'd love to find a solutuion which includes safety cameras - maybe TomTom is the way to go, however I don't think they have a Windows phone app.

Steve_bullockuk · 30 Mar 2015 at 14:08

Another Waze user here. I have used it for around 2 years and used it allover England and Scotland and I haven't had any issues at all. Always accurate with traffic and cameras.

Tuvoc · 30 Mar 2015 at 14:09

There is a Waze Windows phone app, might have to try it then !

Uriel · 30 Mar 2015 at 17:21

Tuvoc said:
Yes, I use Here Drive+ on a Nokia phone. I find it absolutely brilliant. It doesn't re-route around traffic delays, but for me that isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is that it doesn't have safety cameras, as my very old standalone TomTom satnav had. I keep that plugged in as well, out of the way, and listen for the beeps. I'd love to find a solutuion which includes safety cameras - maybe TomTom is the way to go, however I don't think they have a Windows phone app.

There is a free TomTom safety cameras app.

On Waze - it's fine for navigation. There just aren't enough nearby users to make it of any use for traffic avoidance near me. Typically if I turn it on in Sheffield in rush hour I can see about 5 other users in the city. With a few hundred it would be brilliant.

I was an early Waze adopter. When I joined the maps had been added from some random base map. They were mostly all there but had awful errors, like allowing traffic the wrong way down a dual carriageway. I'd spend about half an hour after each commute correcting mapping errors. It's a much more mature product now.