Hands-on review: IFA 2016: TomTom Touch

TomTom is a brand synonymous with in-car navigation technology, but the company would like to take over your wrist, too – and the TomTom Touch may be just the device to do it.

The Touch is the first fitness tracker from the company, TomTom has previously made more hardcore fitness watches such as the Spark, and it's clear the company has reason to bide its time.

For a first attempt, the Touch is quite impressive from TomTom. It costs $129.99 or £129.99 (about AU$227), so if you were to compare this price to a Fitbit, it'll be the equivalent of a Fitbit Alta.

The Touch has a similar design to the Gear Fit and a similar shape to the Fitbit Alta with the tracker having a small screen to notify you of how many steps you've done and other important data, like the time and smartphone notifications.

The strap on the Touch feels comfortable and a TomTom representative assured TechRadar the material has been through the right testing to ensure it won't irritate the skin.

It's waterproof so if you get caught in the odd rain shower you won't have to worry about it, but we wouldn't recommend dunking this in a pool. If you need something pool worthy, go for the Fitbit Flex 2.

TomTom has designed the Touch to look quite like a Fitbit Flex, but the look here is arguably more fully-featured than that alternative.

The actual functionality of the screen is quite limited, but that's usually the case on most of these fitness trackers.

You'll get through details of your workouts, step counts, sleep and many others bits of info through to your wrist.

We haven't had the time to test out the technology and there's no knowing how accurate it can be at this time. If it works well, that's a great step toward fitness trackers being able to tell exactly how healthy you really are rather than just how many steps you take.

There's an optical-heart-rate sensor on the rear of the tracker too offering you a constant look into your resting rate.

But the real highlight comes in the form of the body composition tech TomTom has included for the very first time in a wearable. This is the kind of reading you'd use Fitbit scales for or even more expensive gym equipment to find out.

Pulling the sensor out of the strap and placing it in another takes no time at all and it feels sturdy in the strap allowing you to change style whenever you wish. That's if you're willing to spend a little on extra straps though.

The Touch comes with all the normal fitness tracking tech you'd expect such as step counting, calories burned, an exercise mode from running and cycling as well as sleep tracking.

We haven't had the chance to test out these features yet, but we will do so in our full review.

This won't have the same functionality as some of the more complex TomTom watches that come with features such as GPS for you to be able to smash out a run without any other tech. This is meant more for your everyday activities such as those walks to work or wander to the shops.

You'll also get phone notifications through to your wrist too – but at launch this is only limited to SMS and phone calls so you won't get as much functionality as a smartwatch.

It connects to the TomTom MyCompanion app that will give you a run down of your previous results as well as giving you the option to include challenges.

In terms of battery you should be expecting about five days of use before it needs a recharge. It's not quite certain on the exact size of the sensor yet, but five days battery wouldn't be a surprise in a tracker of this size.

Early verdict

TomTom has a lot of work cut out for it to take on the likes of Fitbit, but with brand new features never seen before on the market, this may make it one of the best fitness trackers you can buy right now.

The technology does need to be proven though and it's interesting none of TomTom's competition in this ever growing market has decided to do something like this before.

For our full review, we'll have to fully explore the new sensor tracking features, but right now it looks like this may be the alternative to a Fitbit you've been looking for.

• Read our hands on review of the TomTom Spark 3