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Con manos con el compañero GPS del recorrido del iPAQ 312 de los CABALLOS DE FUERZA

Diría que soy absolutamente bueno con los mapas y por esa razón nunca he necesitado un dispositivo del GPS. Diciendo eso, la tecnología también me cautivo profundamente. Recibí hoy a Compañero del recorrido del iPAQ 312 de los CABALLOS DE FUERZA a la revisión.

Antes de esto, no tenía ninguna idea Hewlett-Packard había hecho un producto del GPS. Éste es de hecho su segundo. No obstante, fui preocupado poco ellos puede ser que camine en territorio desconocedor y la calidad de este producto reflejaría su carencia de la experiencia en el campo. Jugando con él ahora, ha superado todos mis miedos y creo que no hay razón por la que cualquier persona que busca un dispositivo del GPS debe excluir esto de su lista. Aquí es mi qué encontré.

En la primera impresión, usted vendrá admirar cómo es hermoso el interfaz utilizador está en esta pantalla de alta resolución magnífica de la resolución (800×480). Cada icono se detalla finalmente y hay un montón de ellos. El tema azul fresco es constante con todo de restauración.

El interfaz está también bien optimizado para el tacto, el único método de entrada. Desemejante del capacitivo multi-toque la manía, aplicaciones de este dispositivo la tecnología resistente tradicional del tacto que significa que cualquier objeto forzado sobre la exhibición colocará. Una aguja es incluida y se sienta en una ranura encima del dispositivo, pero porque los botones están así que grande de todos modos hay poco si cualquier razón de utilizarlos.

Usted puede ser que sea conducido a creer que este dispositivo está funcionando un sistema operativo de encargo - quizás Symbian o Java, pero de hecho como la mayor parte de los otros dispositivos del iPAQ de los CABALLOS DE FUERZA que funciona Windows, CE 5.0 de Windows para ser exacto. Y no, no se ha estrellado. Éste es un gran ejemplo de un dispositivo de Windows que no grite Windows.

Mirando algunas de las imágenes promocionales de los CABALLOS DE FUERZA de este dispositivo, usted puede ser que sea convencido fácilmente de que esto es un dispositivo grande, pero de hecho es muy compacto. En la comparación, es más pequeño que mi ratón. Hay cartabón mínimo alrededor de la pantalla abundante de 4.3 pulgadas. Mientras que el tamaño de pantalla no obstaculiza legibilidad, habría sido agradable si era justo un poco más grande para espaciar hacia fuera los botones más pequeños poco más.

On the right side is a rotatable and clickable scroll wheel - similar feel to a mouse scroll wheel, this serves as an easy way to zoom in and out of maps as well as changing volume and screen brightness. There is also a rubber flap for antenna, headphone and USB connectors. And at the very bottom, a small reset button.

On the left side is the slot for the Secure Digital card. No SD card is required to operate the device, however you can access the media stored on it.

A big selling feature of this device is the 3D map capability, which is a combination of the software and third-party mapping data. Unfortunately the digital map data in Australia is very primitive and does not show buildings and other structures as it would in US or Europe, but you can still see some of the 3D effects on bridges as above.

Personally, I find myself switching back to 2D view again and again because 3D view is quite processing incentive, and doesn’t give the fluid experience of panning around a map very well.

This device had no problems routing all the routes I threw at it, including those in outer suburbia. All the returned routes were exactly the ones I know are the best from personal experience. Routing journeys of around 40 kilometers (25 miles) took less than 4 seconds. Route recalculations such as those from a wrong turn were under 2 seconds. In the route details screen, it was smart enough to show me how many kilometers were traveled on highways and if there were any tolled highways or roads.

However if you’re a freeloader like myself, you can easily set up to avoid toll roads as well as many others unfavorable road features.

The turning point of this device for me from just a digital map to a useful driving tool is this feature of address filtering. I’m not too familiar with GPS devices so I’m not sure how many of them offer similar functionality like this, but what it does is it prevents you from typing addresses which do not exist such as road names and suburb names.

For example, after you input a suburb, it will only allow you to type the roads that exist in that suburb. This filtering continues to cut down letter-by-letter. When appropriate, it will switch views to present you with a list of options you can select.

The same applies to street numbers too.

The text-to-speech synthesizer is equally impressive as well. Whilst it doesn’t announce street names, but does provide very clear and natural directions via the loudspeaker on the back.

Having walked around on foot with the device, the GPS accuracy has an error margin of around 10 meters which is not that much of a deal in a car. However after turning a corner and changing orientation, it is able to correct itself pretty much instantly. Surprisingly with the internal antenna, I was even able to receive some GPS signal on and off under a tin metal roof.

In addition to the navigation features, this device also includes a range of basic entertainment functions like viewing pictures, videos, music and a range of arcade games. I applaud for HP for trying to extend the device with useful multimedia features, but it really falls short.

The Achilles heel of this device is that it is severely underpowered. For example, when trying to play a standard-definition Windows Media Movie video, it was downright unwatchable almost like a picture slideshow. On top of that, when the announcer informed me the GPS signal had been lost, the video actually froze so the speech synthesizer could do its job. Either the multimedia software is severely unoptimized or the processor is not powerful enough, I hope HP takes this problem seriously for the next version. It could have been a serious PMP-contender, but the software and hardware is just not up to scratch.

Since I don’t have a Bluetooth phone, I wasn’t able to check out the Bluetooth connectivity features but at the least it offers hands-free answering capability to receive and dial calls. Most points of interest on the map also has a telephone number which makes it even easier to book reservations at your destinations without ever touching your phone.

The device comes with a standard set of accessories including USB cable, wall-socket power charger, car charger, car windscreen mount, dashboard mount as well as faux leather pouch.

At a recommended retail price of US$450, this GPS device does slip a little into the pricey side. Having briefly compared it with some competing products, I think the user interface alone might be worth its difference. For its second try, HP has built a very solid device with a great piece of software that really shows they’re committed to the GPS experience as much as any of the other competitors. Can’t wait to see where they’ll go next.

Check out my Flickr gallery for more pictures of this device.