TomTom for Android goes live on Google Play

Update: You can now read our full TomTom for Android review

TomTom's turn-by-turn navigation app has today gone live in the Google Play store. The service was first announced at IFA and will offer free mapping updates "for life".

The key feature here are the offline maps – you'll be able to drive all the way from to Crewe to Grimsby without the need for a constant data connection, saving you bits, bytes and hassle.

It's not free though - the app will initially cost £30.99 for UK/Ireland maps, £39.99 for Western Europe, $37.99 for the USA and $49.99 for Australia. The app is also available in such excellent and worthwhile territories as New Zealand, Turkey, Greece and South East Asia for an assortment of prices in a smorgasbord of currencies.

These are just "special introductory prices" though, so heads up - unless you get straight in there you might end up having to pay a little more.

Of course, with free turn-by-turn navigation options not only already available for this platform but bundled as standard, many Androids will wonder why they should bother spending money on the TomTom offering at all, a point we put to TomTom this morning.

"Free navigation is available with Google maps being the biggest player," TomTom responded to TechRadar.

"Google recently launched a cache offline option but this does not help the driver if they lose signal - they will not be able to choose an alternative route, nor get Turn-by-Turn navigation if they take the wrong turn.

"The TomTom app also has three-dimensional Advance Lane Guidance to help choose the correct lane at tricky junctions. And only TomTom offers both IQ Routes - which calculates the best route at any given time of day based on billions of historic speed measurements - plus the award-winning HD Traffic which delivers live traffic updates to your smartphone every two minutes and re-calculates the route if a faster option is available."

It should be noted that the app is not currently compatible with a wide range of Android devices. For example, neither the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the Galaxy Note are compatible as the app has not yet been optimised for high-res screens. We're assured that more devices will be added very soon, though there's no timetable for that that we know of.

So there you have it. Rest assured, we're already in the process of testing the app and will bring you the TechRadar verdict in due course.