TomTom finally hits Android starting at $50, not ready for all devices

[bassethound]

TomTom's popular offline navigation apps have finally made their way over to Android, right on schedule. The apps have a similar feature set to their iOS counterparts, although lack the recently-added FourSquare integration. If that doesn't bother you, you'll still get all the essential features, including spoken turn-by-turn directions in multiple languages, speed camera notifications, "HD Traffic" routing, and "lifetime" map updates (TomTom says four or more per year).

There are multiple prices depending on the amount of map coverage you need. For example, the US & Canada and Western Europe editions are currently priced at $49.99 each, $10 cheaper than the same maps cost on iOS. The Google Play listing says that the prices are 'introductory offers,' so we expect them to rise to meet the regular iOS prices soon. The other price you'll pay for the app comes in the form of lost storage space: TomTom US & Canada requires 2.3GB of storage space for installation.

The apps are available from Google Play now, although device compatibility isn't perfect: many of our devices — including the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, HTC One X, Galaxy S III, and Galaxy Note — are listed as incompatible in our Google Play account, and we're sure that list will grow as more users attempt to buy the app.

Update: TomTom has been in touch to let us know some more details on the apps' limitations. It says the apps support devices with Android 2.2 or higher, running at either 800 x 480 or 854 x 480 resolutions, but the company is "committed to supporting higher resolutions on an ongoing basis." TomTom also notes that there are some "fake apps" that have been uploaded to the Google Play store, and asks users to be vigilant: official TomTom apps will always have TomTom International BV as the developer.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.uscanada&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50b210b20udXNjYW5hZGEiXQ..