TomTom GO LIVE 1005 World review

Social networking has been one of the most trendy topics for a couple of years now, and everyone is trying to jump on the bandwagon. After all, it is the next stage of the shift towards a more conversational, interactive view of information which is an integral feature of the Internet in general. It has also been deemed responsible for both revolutions in the Middle East and mob looting here in the UK. So the inclusion of social networking connectivity in TomTom's latest sat-nav seems a pretty natural, almost obvious progression.



The new device is called the GO LIVE 1005 World, and it's essentially a special edition of the 5in widescreen GO LIVE 1005 we reviewed at the beginning of 2011. The new features revolve around two areas - greater functionality for international travellers, and Twitter connectivity, although the latter has garnered the lion's share of press attention.

You can connect the 1005 World to a Twitter account of your choice, and then have the option to Tweet a destination and your ETA there when you set this up prior to navigation. The device will also Tweet your updated ETA as you approach, and will give you the option to announce when you have reached the destination. You can choose to add a #TomTom hashtag to each Tweet as well. You can edit these messages to personalise them, add extra information, or direct them at specific recipients using their @ names.



On paper, this function will either fill you with horror or a sense of possibility, or maybe both. On the one hand, there are definitely situations where having a publicly accessible statement of where you are going and when you might get there could be really useful, as you won't have to pick up the phone when driving to answer the question directly. If you need to contact multiple people, it could be a timesaver, and also means people know when to get worried if you don't show up as expected.