Twitter issues and map coverage

But there are issues, too. One problem is that when the Twitter function updates your ETA multiple times, including as you approach your destination, only the first one is your customised message. So even if you used @ names or even a DM to narrow down the recipient list, these further updates will be broadcast to the whole world, although you can turn this feature off entirely. Secondly, the arrival message is very generic, merely saying that you've arrived. You will also find that having your Twitter feed full of TomTom updates will annoy some of your followers, as there are always those who object to any form of automated social media updating. Then there's the whole social issue of making your whereabouts publicly transparent, which we won't go into detail here as this is TrustedReviews, not the Culture Show. Essentially, having lots of information about your whereabouts in the public domain can pose as many privacy and identity theft issues as it adds exciting new possibilities.

Still, these are the same issues faced by players of Foursquare, users of Facebook's Check In feature, Google Latitude participants, or indeed contributors to any social media system which includes location-based information. Indeed, ALK's CoPilot Live Premium offered built-in Facebook as well as Twitter connectivity six months ago. TomTom's implementation does have some flaws, but it's functional enough to be useful in some circumstances, and this is not the only extra feature you get for the £30-50 premium the World costs (depending on where you shop) over the Europe-only version of the 1005.

The most extra value comes from the maps included as standard. Alongside European coverage, there's Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa and North America as well. Southeast Asia includes Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand, whilst Southern Africa includes Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. So you are still missing some important parts of the world, including North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, China and Japan, some of which TomTom does offer map upgrades for, which will cost extra. But overall this is a very extensive map selection.