Ipaq GPS

Review by D. Tran:

I use this GPS with my IPAQ 1945. Pluses:
- Works great with the IPAQ 1945; good, clear voice guidance; good maps; good software
- Very straightforward, very friendly user interface — light year ahead of my Magellan GPS.Minuses: It is great so why I gave it only three stars?- The GPS receiving unit is just a small hard plastic device and as slick as a hockey puck on your car’s dashboard. I just don’t know where to put it without it sliding off into the floor board each time I make a turn. I tucked it between the winshield and the dashboard, but that is not a good place as it can be very hot under the sun.
- The so-call bracket for your PCPocket is a joke. There is not a single piece of information on how it should be put together or at least how it should look like assembled. Anyway, after a some trials and errors I managed to put it together and found that it simply does not work on the car’s air vent as intended. It simply cannot hold the IPAQ. It is quite frustrated because simple you cannot use this GPS receiver/IPAQ while driving unless you can find a suitable holder for your IPAQ.- For walking/hinking: Unlike other GPS’s where the receiver and display is in one unit now you will have to hold two (2) devices in two hands. It simply awkward and not workable while walking/hiking. I even try to hang the GPS receiver around my neck in a clear plastic bag, but it did not work out because the receiver would bounce as I walk and make the display jittery and jumpy.So here I have, in my opinion, a technical marvel that I really like, but as a practical matter, I cannot 1) use it in my car until I can find or devise a way to safely mount the IPAQ display, and 2) walk/hike with it because it will require two hands to hold both devices!
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Additional review after three weeks, with one long trip from Texas to Florida:
- Yes, it did give opposite turn instructions a few times. My guess is that, in this case the highway exits were very close to each other and the software’s position predictor probably estimated that I already missed an exit/turn and issued the turn around instructions.- Bought a Akron holder for my IPAQ, so that now it can be firmly attached to my windshield at a good viewing angle. – Bought an inexpensive cell phone case, with plastic window for the GPS receiver. This cell phone case, which holds the GPS receiver, can be clipped to my belt and the GPS receiver still can receive good satellite signals. – Found out that it will take a long time to generate and down load a big map such as the entire state of Texas. I suppose this is a function of the PDA — not much I can do about it.- Wish that I can enter known GPS coordinates as destinations. Bummer. Overall I am a much happier camper now. I jacked it up to 4 stars!

Review by :

I’ve been using this product for 3 months after evaluating other products such as Pharos, Navman and Socket. The strong points are:
1) quick TTFF(Time to First Fix). A cold fix usually can be obtained in under 2 minutes. Make sure it is mounted with a clear view of the southern sky. You can use a velcro sticky from a crafts store if the rubber surface is not adequate to prevent sliding. Most peoiple mount it on the dashboard. Be careful in hot sunny climates as the black surface can cause the unit to overheat.
2) Long Battery life: you can expect up to 8 hours with the lithium ion rechargeable battery. This is pretty good for most bluetooth receivers.
3) Works well with IPAQ devices. No pairing relationship is required. This is often not the case for other bluetooth receivers.
4) The mapping software is no-frills and works vey well. You can store important locations as favorites and also use addresses from your contacts on your PDA.Cons:
1) The Black Case can cause unit to overheat in sunny locations when placed on the dashboard.
2) Glare from the PDA screen is noticeable in sunny daylight situations. This is a problem eveident in all PDA GPS solutions. It is safer and less distracting to rely on the spoken directions as the GPS will warn you well ahead of any turns. I would recommend using a quality vehicle mount with external speaker and charging built in. The ARKON unit is a good device.
3) Low audible output. Again, an external vehicle mount is a good idea when using this in your car.

Review by G. Dada:

HP Glisten

I have been using a Motorola Q9 for some time and thinking about moving to an iPhone or an Android phone. A good friend recommended I should get an HP Glisten, which I started using about a month ago.

The bad: Windows Mobile 6.5 can be quirky sometimes for people who have never used and I had not been a fan of touch screen WinMo devices personally because in the past you had to take out the stulus all the time.

The good: After a day of use, I learned the quirks and got used to the touch screen interface, which is pretty cool actually: I can use the keyboard, my finger or a stylus. Scrolling on a web page or an email with your finger is quite nice. For things like playing solitaire you may want to use the stylus. Days go by now without ever taking the stylus out.

I really like physical QWERTY keyboards, one of the two main reasons I did not get an iPhone (the other one is that I don’t want to use the phone everyone else is using – too much for think different). The keyboard in the Glisten is one of the best, probably as good as the Q9.

The AMOLED screen is bright, but not very large – reasonable for this form factor. I have found it quite adequate for email and even for web browsing.

I installed the Bing application and it works very nicely. The GPS works great – I don’t want to pay a month for AT&T Navigator.

Adding my Hotmail, POP and Exchange accounts was a snap. Say what you want, but there is no better OS to connect to exchange than WinMo (OK I am biased, I worked at Microsoft until two years ago). You can do all sorts of interesting stuff like sorting your inbox, flagging messages and changing out of the office settings.

The form factor is really attractive for me. It is smaller than the Q9 but very usable. I think this phone looks professional and the build quality feels excellent. Looks a lot like a Blackberry bold.

WiFi is one of the big features. I have poor reception in a few meeting rooms in the office, which was not a problem as the Glisten has a physical button to turn WiFi on and off. It connected to the company WiFi network using WPA2 security and I was online in no time.

Battery life is OK. After a day of use I am at about 50%. The hexagonal-icon menu is OK, navigation is fine with your fingers. The Today screen is great for what I need – it is quite customizable.

Because it is powered by the newer WinMo 6.5 it has the full desktop IE experience, which means you can browse any normal site (as opposed to the mobile version). Zooming and panning works well.

I added a 256Mb MicroSD card with music and additional storage (i.e. caching maps for the Bing app). A really nice feature is a standard audio jack on the side, meaning I can use standard earphones. The camera is good but nothing out of the ordinary.

So far, the phone has been responsive and I have not experienced any lock-ups. Call quality and reception have been good as well.

Overall, I am very happy with this phone and would recommend it. In fact, it is becoming the primary reason I might stay with AT&T.

Review by K. Vuong:

This is a great one handed device with touchscreen and keyboard. Battery life with moderate talk and internet lasts 2 days for me, solid reception and voice quality including speakerphone. There are no weird quirks compared to samsung’s windows phones such as annoying ascending ringtones, I am permanently off samsung. Bluetooth works perfectly with my 06 acura, samsung did not. Reception is accurate on HP, samsung showed reception when I had none. Overall well built, quality device.