GPS Sat Nav Systems

GPS is a technology seems very simple; it is just used to find out routes and locate oneself with the help of satellites, but what determines a good one is its efficiency and accuracy. Hewlett-Packard is not alien to GPS as they have always approached to GPS through a PDA perspective. In the previous year, the same makers enjoyed moderate success by coming with IPAQ rx5900 Travel Companion which was sleek powerful and portable. This had really impressive features like text to speech, integrated Bluetooth, and 3D renderings.

Until now, the makers had come with a PDA perspective. But now, things have changed with IPaq 310 Travel Companion being built like a traditional personal navigation device. It has all necessary features which come at fairly good price tag. Unfortunately, this HP GPS hits the road with some awful problems. The route calculations are not good, giving directions that are confusing. In addition, the voice prompts are difficult to hear and analyse. This is one GPS meant for advanced GPS users who will be able to customise the features. But on the other hand, if your choice is simple, straight forward then this is something you should avoid. But, if you are not a stranger to GPS devices, read on to find out if it just suites you.

Design:

Intuitively designed:

Though the HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion Sat Nav Unit does not offer a remarkably different design than other portable navigation systems, it is still one sleek device. It sports an attractive dark plum chassis and black soft-touch finish on the back, making for a handsome addition to any car interior. All fans of the design of the iPAQ 6315 rejoice – the 45 degree edge is back. It is running around the whole case of the iPAQ and gives the front of the device a very clean and fashionable look. The iPaq 310 also has a slender profile (4.3 inches wide by 3.4 inches high by 0.7 inch deep; 6.6 ounces) so you can easily transport it between vehicles or pack it in your suitcase for use with a rental car while on a trip.The makers have given a very good thought about the design of the HP Ipaq 310 GPS. The colour is typically dark maroon, or an anodized metal finish.

Display:

On the front, you will find a spacious 4.3-inch TFT touch screen that shows off 65,000 colors at a sharp 800 x 480 pixel resolution that makes maps and text look extra crisp and vibrant. It is one of the best displays we have seen on a GPS device to date, and we were able to read it in various lighting conditions, including bright daylight. The display of the HP Ipaq 310 Travel Companion Sat Nav is sure to capture your attention with its bright colours and attractive screen graphics. It still has a wider and high viewing angle compared to GPS devices of the same class. The common screen resolution is around 480 x 272 pixels, but as we just mentioned, the IPAQ 310 has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The effect is something incredibly vivid and perfect for viewing videos and photos with your own video player and picture viewer. There are options to adjust the black light levels and a night mode option that can automatically switch the map colours at night time. The touch screen is quite responsive though the entire system appears to be sluggish. All the features are collectively shrunk into this small space, still interestingly making it lighter than devices belonging to its same class.

Keyboard:

Similar to a few other devices on the market the GPS will disable letters from the keyboard that are no longer possible based on other letters you have typed in. For instance, it there is a state with no cities or towns with the letters “z” or “x” in them so those two keys are automatically disabled when you enter a city or town. You can also select locations by zip code. The onscreen keyboard is on the cramped side, so users with larger digits may have a hard time entering addresses with just their fingertips. Fortunately, there is a stylus that comes with the unit for more precise text entry.

Dial Button:

Dial button is on the right hand side. It is a multifunctional button which could really impress you. A single click activates the volume menu. You could rotate the dial to adjust the appropriate volume level. A double click can access the screen brightness settings, colour adjustments could be made by turning the dial. Click and hold the dial to access features like route avoidance, recalculating the routes, editing the routes switch between 2D and 3D modes, viewing the routes or even going into the night mode. All these done by this single dial button.

Buttons and Ports in iPaq 310:

The power button is on the fascia, and it protrudes from the case. This is bad. To add insult to injury, it also operates the wrong way around. To put the device into standby you have to press the button for a good five seconds. However, a very short press is sufficient to wake the device back up. This is a sure recipe for disaster if you carry the device around in your shirt pocket. When you get this warm feeling around the heart it will already be too late, as the device will have been switched on inadvertently for an hour or so, and the battery will be drained just as you are about to need the device. Below the display is the power or charge indicator as well as the microphone ports for hands free. On the left is an SD card slot and the rear has the speakers. Now on the top comes stylus and it is here that the antenna resides.
Completing the front design is the hole for the microphone and the Bluetooth status LED. This LED easily redefines the meaning of the word “torching”. It can be awarded as the distraction of the year. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Antenna:

The right side of the device hosts all the ports and connectivity and all of them are protected by a rubber cover. Under the cover lie the headphone jacks as well as the external antenna port. The reception is quite good, thanks to its chipset. The HP IPAQ 310 uses the SiRF titan chipset which results in its very fast and accurate reception. This makes sure that 310 gives a better reception than other devices without an external antenna.

Mount:

The mount is very comfortable and allows you to hold the iPAQ much more firmly. The car holder for the iPAQ is made by Arkon. It looks a little weird, with the top flap and all, but it works very well and holds the iPAQ safely in place. The holder can be swiveled vertically and horizontally with the help of the two ratcheting screws. The suction cup holds up nicely, throughout quite a few of our temperature changes. The ball and socket joint allows for adjustments on the move. If you are a car traveller and have the habit of taking your gadgets with you then you can feel relaxed as this does not vibrate excessively even on bumpy tracks. Out from the box we get the GPS and mount. The USB cable comes along and connects to the GPS. The other end could be used to connect it to the computer or to the DC adapter or AC adapter to charge it.

Durability:

We tried to “accidentally” open the device but have not yet found a non-destructive way to do so. This speaks for the build quality of the case.

User interface:

The HP 310 Sat Nav’s user interface is less complicated and easy to understand. The menu presents five options like navigation, entertainment, contacts, extras and finally the settings.  Going deeper there are other functions which unfortunately confuses us. The user manual is pretty amateur and just gloats about the feature of icons and least explains its purpose.

To begin with, the iPAQ 310 is not actually a Windows Mobile device it runs Windows CE 5.0. On the iPAQ 310 customising is actually very easy; the Games menu will automatically list new games that you might install into a particular folder, and it does not discriminate between real games and other programs. So all you need is to masquerade your programs as a game. Obviously, the first thing you will want to install is some form of shell. Either the native explorer or something much better TotalCommander for CE.

Maps:

Maps are presented in 2D or 3D view, and while driving a specified route, the map screen will show you the distance to and direction of your next turn as well as the street name, your current driving speed, estimated time of arrival, and other useful information.

Features:

The HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion was built from scratch and no longer uses TomTom’s navigation software. Instead, it uses HP’s own navigation software and comes preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of the United Kingdom. As with most portable navigation systems, you can get directions to a specific address, a point of interest (POI), a location from your Favorites or recently visited list, or your home address. Once you have entered your destination, routes can be calculated in several methods, including shortest, fastest, and most economical, and you can instruct the system to avoid certain road types and maneuvers, such as highways, toll roads, and U-turns. There will also be an iPaq-dedicated Web site where you can plan your trips beforehand and then send them the iPaq 310.

Multimedia:

There are a few extras we get when we buy the HP IPaq 310 Travel Companion GPS. One of such being the ability to plan trips from your computer as well as Outlook contact, Video player, Picture viewer and the Music player. For entertainment, there is a built-in music and video player. Using the expansion slot, you can load up an SD card with your favourite MP3, WMA, WMV, and AVI music and video files, and check them out on the iPaq 310. The players are pretty rudimentary with just the basic functions–play, pause/stop, rewind, fast forward, but it does support playlist creation. Along with these, you also get a calculator and world clock. With a very good chipset this travel companion has the ability to load and support more games.

Points of Interest:

While there are still a few relatively new GPS devices out there that ship with only 750,000 POIs, the HP iPAQ did not skimp here, adding in 12,000,000 POIs. You will not find too many “missing” POIs in this device. In fact, there are so many POIs installed that it (ironically) makes searching for specific POIs a little difficult in a few instances. Get to know where the “search by name” icon is near the bottom right of the screen because wading through the millions of POIs can be a bit daunting. The search results can be sorted by name or by straight line distance. A few categories like restaurants are broken down into subcategories. The POI name, physical address, and phone number are displayed on-screen if you want to see that information before confirming the location as your destination.

Extra view mode:

This is a feature that really attracts us. The Extra View mode mainly functions to recognise making the turn for a good distance while you enter a road. The GPS switches to an overhead view showing anywhere from 1000 feet to 20 miles at a time. This is useful while going for long trips where it would be nice to get a big picture view while you do not intend to change your current position. You can also specify how far the stretch must be before going to this mode. Note that, it mode is optional and even opt not to use it.

3D life:

Watching life in 3D is something unique and inexplicable. The 3D buildings included in the HP 310 sat nav, is one of the coolest features. They are simply beautiful especially while driving and going past the same. This capability is not available for all buildings but includes most major landmarks, which can be helpful in getting your bearings in unfamiliar areas since it gives you a visual reference point. We can choose the setting of how far away you could spot your building, quality of the terrains and the display of the elevated roads. The map view is so realistic, that it shows climbing the hills and even going down hills precisely. Hence, this device shows both terrain and buildings. The one and only one dial on the right side allows you to adjust the angle of viewing. Rotate the dial up to get a closer view to the ground level to see those mountains or big cities.

Speech:

The iPaq 310 Touch Screen Sat Nav System offers text- and voice-guided directions in English, Spanish, or French. In addition, the unit has text-to-speech functionality so you will hear actual street names instead of generic voice prompts. Performance is the part where the IPAQ 310 Travel Companion simply lets you down completely. The navigation voice is not up to the mark and the voice is very difficult to interpret as the sound is very feeble. This makes it even more difficult to understand instructions. The sound never lets us down while playing MP3 music or your favourite games. We can only hope for a better supplement for new voice recordings from HP.
Transparency:

HP has solved the major screen problems with transparency included in the ipaq 310 Travel Companion. The screen is truly magnificent with a very fast refresh rate owing to the powerful chipset and plenty of RAM. Importantly, the text for road names is legible to read and attractive as well. The icons appear light and they also do not interfere with the map when compared to other screens which would get rough with too many icons. Here, you would find things interesting while you travel. In a travel, when we turn left or right, our IPAQ displays the intersection in as well as distance to that intersection in a very nice fashion. Along with it the screen has umpteen data to display like the dialler, music application, turn indicator, time, time to destination and home. The potential disadvantage is that there is little space for the name of the street to appear. In fact, only 10 characters appear and the remaining has to be scrolled. Gladly, much of the mess are corrected in the full screen mode.  In the full screen mode you could see your map, intersection and the distance. This in turn gives you a good navigation experience.

Plan your moves:

With the IPaq 310 GPS Navigator, you can plan your routes at your own wish. You need not create routes on your computer or plan the routes in your GPS while you are in the car. Further, you could plan trips on ipaq.com and then move those routes into this travel buddy. The website offers you with map updates, firm updates etc. There is no provision to transfer the contact directly from computers address book. The reason possibly being that, the address taken from it might have spelling errors and weird punctuations. Our device successfully had the intelligence to make a dozen correct mappings out of hundred contacts available.

Navigation:

Procedure to find the address is fairly a simple task. The list is pre filled in with the last state, city and street we selected. This feature allows you to jump to which ever part of the process you need to change, for example, while going to a different street but the same city as previous entry just click the street field to start. Locating addresses might sometimes show streets that have similar spellings but in a different city from what you intended. This would be helpful if the street does not belong to the town you selected. The display at times can pose to be irritating. While typing the city name, the level of the battery, date, and few icons stick on the screen using the extra space.

Bluetooth:

The iPaq 310 also features integrated Bluetooth, so you can pair your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone or smartphone with the iPaq 310 and use it as a hands-free speaker system. Once connected, you can either use the touch screen to accept or reject calls. Also, if a number is listed with POI, there is an option to dial out directly from the iPaq 310. Unfortunately, the system does not automatically transfer your phone’s contact or call history list, though you can synchronize your device with your PC to transfer Outlook contacts.

Performance:

Makers are very stubborn when it comes to performance of the HP 310 Travel Companion GPS. No matter what they can afford to lose, they simply do not seem to mess up with performance. As users, we too are simply driven by this term.

Signal Reception:

With our IPAQ the first thing to consider, of course should be the reception of signal. The receiver takes about 3-4 minutes to fix the position initially while subsequent starts are quick. This tracks movements quite easily during the daily rides. The display of 3D building renderings is simply cool. During everyday drives around the city, the iPaq 310 does a good job of tracking our movements, and it was pretty cool to see the 3D building renderings.

Voice:

The voice delivered is a bit soft even at the highest volume level. The conversion from text to speech is not without glitches and reverberations. The pronunciation of street names appears chopped and imperfect. Also, the text-to-speech directions were not as smooth as some of the other GPS devices we tested as it mangled and chopped up the pronunciation of some street names. However, more concerning is the system’s ineptitude at route recalculations.

Route Calculations:

We missed a number of turns to test this functionality, and while the iPaq 310 was quick to come up with new directions, they were completely circuitous. Instead of coming up with a new route, it would try to have us go back to the point where we missed the actual turn instead of plotting a new course from our current location. Route recalculations are at times erroneous. The loading of the routes is a bit slow, and what happens is that, instead of coming up with a new route this device tries to go back to the point where we missed.

Multimedia:

Making calls between IPAQ and any other phone posed no problems. Multimedia performance is bleak especially with the songs sounding weak and hollow through the speakers. Hence, the same problem persists with the video but on the other side the audio and video are very well synchronised and the picture quality is truly good.

Charging:

Looks like the USB port uses a special extended mode where the data lines are used to specify what type of charging should be done. Without that you will end up in trickle charge mode which is actually so weak that it does discharge the device over time.

If the right signal is present however the device switches into fast USB charge mode, accepting more current than the standard 500 mA. As a result in fast charging mode the device recharges in about two hours. The strict requirement also extends to the car charger, make sure you do use the cigarette lighter adapter provided in the box even if you may have a prior installation in the car.

Package Contents:

The Package contents of HP Ipaq 310 include Stylus, USB cable , Carrying case , AC power adapter , Car power adapter and Automotive windshield mount.

Warranty:

An HP product is always assured with top quality. No matter how best the makers are warranty is something that is associated with the maker’s ethics. This HP IPAQ 310 Travel Companion comes with a one year parts and labour warranty and 90 days technical support for software. The additional offers vary from region to region.

Verdict:

The HP Ipaq 310 Travel Companion GPS device has its own plus and minus marks. This device satisfies the better half with its quality and also frustrates the other with its GPS. Few settings and control appears hidden if you do not properly know to look at it. Hewlett-Packard has tried to approach the settings and controls from another perspective than other GPS devices. What happens is that if you are an advanced user you are bound to get frustrated with the controls. Hence, here we have a product that remains neutral to be precise. On one end, if you are looking for a device which you can buy from the shop open it from the box and simply drive away with it you might give a shot to more straight forward substance.

On the other side, if you are an experienced user and care to spend some time with the manual, you might feel this to be one of the perfect GPS. With amazing features stuffed, this could make you feel exactly as if it is tailored to the way you wanted a GPS system to be. In the meantime, if you are looking for a midlevel to advanced in-car GPS, we would suggest the Mio DigiWalker C520 or the Garmin Nuvi 660.

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HP IPAQ 310 Car Sat Nav System – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	HP
Model Name	HP IPAQ 310 Travel Companion
Display	4.3-inch Transflective color TFT with antiglare
Resolution	800 x 480 pixel touch screen with LED backlight
Dimensions	4.3 inches w x 0.7 inches d x 3.4 inches h (110.20 x 18.20 x 86.80 mm)
Weight	6.6 oz (187 g)
Input devices	Touch screen, stylus
Operating system	Windows® CE 5.0
Processor	SiRF Titan 600MHz ARM11 Dual-Core processor
Memory	128MB SDRAM
Flash memory	2GB ROM
Audio	Large speaker for navigation volume, integrated microphone with echo cancellation, 3.5mm 3-pin stereo headphone jack
Ports	1 mini USB, 1 headphone/line-out, 1 microphone in, 1 GPS antenna
Slots	1 microSD
Multimedia	Digital Player, MP3 and JPEG formats supported
Wireless	Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
GPS	Advanced SiRF embedded GPS receiver with InstantFix time-to-first-fix acceleration
Software installed	HP navigation software with text to speech guidance and web based trip planning, digital video player, digital music player, picture viewer, games, Bluetooth hands free, calculator, world clock and contacts with Outlook sync
Highlight Features	Preinstalled POIs, 2D / 3D map perspective, Hands-free calling via Bluetooth
Included GPS accessories	Stylus, USB cable, Carrying case, AC power adapter, Car power adapter, Automotive windshield mount
Battery	Removable/rechargeable 1700 mAh Lithium-ion
Power supply	AC Adapter
Warranty	1 years parts and labour 90 days technical support

When you think of buying a satellite navigation system, the brands that are likely to immediately come up in your mind include Garmin, Magellan, TomTom and even Mio. But the motherboard stalwart has changed all that perception by introducing its own range of satellite navigation devices. In the following review, we will see about the stylish and yet affordable Asus R300, which is targeted at teen drivers. We say this because, it is firstly marketed as a multimedia device first and GPS second, even though it is a solid navigator. Being aggressively priced, the Asus R300 is loaded with features that put it in league with the much more expensive devices. Asus has not broken any technology barriers with the R300, as you would expect to be seeing in a budget device.

Design:

Slimmed down:
The last two or three years can be named as the slim down era with each manufacturer claiming that they could produce something the thinnest. The revolution was kick started by Motorola V3, which was closely followed by Nokia and then came the manufacturers of PDAs, laptops, external drives and now, our own GPS devices. The Asus R300 too is one of those thinnest GPS devices in the market with the dimensions being (H x W x D) 3.2 x 4.0 x 0.5 inches. The R300 features a small 3.5″ 65k colour TFT LCD display of resolution 320 x 240 pixels. The auto dimming feature of the device is appreciable. When used in the car connected to the DC power adapter the Asus R300 also turns itself on and off with the car power.

A USB slot is provided for PC interface. This Asus R300 sat nav includes a memory card slot for external memory cards and a 3.5mm jack for connecting headphones. The battery is swappable and has 1300mAh of power.

Installation:
The Asus R300 GPS Navigator comes with a suction cup mount that articulates well to get the best view while driving. The suction cup holds well, even on rough roads and over pot holes. With most of the GPS devices, you can simply take it out of the box, plug it in and you are probably ready to drive. Unfortunately, setting up of the Asus R300 is not that simple. You will have to install the battery first, move the minuscule slide switch on the bottom of the unit to the ‘ON’ position; note that this is separate from the actual power button and acts more like a hold switch, and insert the microSD card. Unfortunately, none of these steps were documented in the printed quick-start guide. After figuring out the starting sequence by ourselves, we had the device up and running in just a few moments.

User Interface:

Main Menu:
When the R300 is first booted, you will arrive at the main menu which will give you access to video players, photo viewer, music player, Bluetooth Phone interface, device settings and Navigation.

You will be able to change the basic features with the help of the basic settings menu and in this menu, you will be able to adjust the language settings, backlight, date and time, Bluetooth settings, volume, to align screen and view system information.

You only need to enter letters or numbers in Asus R300 Satellite Navigation System when you cannot avoid it. You can type with your fingertips on the full-screen keyboards and you can switch between various keyboard layouts, for example ABC, QWERTY, or numerical. Though there is a choice of keyboard layouts offered, but we found that it was bit of a challenge to tap over the correct letters irrespective of the configuration; a stylus would have helped. Of course, that might be partly because of the small display. The R300 supports auto zoom, but not auto volume, and even at 100 percent, we feel that the volume could have been louder and this is also an issue while using the Bluetooth phone interface.

Overall, the Asus R300 is kind of easy to use. Though the menu system is a bit more complex than we have seen on the other devices, we were able to adapt quite quickly.

Maps:
The Asus R300 Hand held sat nav includes the maps of France and all the major roads across Europe. This sat nav supports 2D and 3D viewing of maps. You will be able to change how the map looks; you can tilt it, rotate it or scale it to best suit your needs while you are creating, planning or following a route. You can customise which icons and buttons are visible. You can, for example, hide the battery status icon.

Features:

When it comes to features, most manufacturers cut them down in their budget models. Fortunately, Asus is not one of them; it has equipped the R300 with abundant features. Being built around a Samsung 400 Mhz processor and the industry standard SiRF III receiver, the Asus R300 sat nav features 128MB of flash ROM and 64MB of SDRAM. A 1.3 million POI data base and Tele Atlas maps is also offered on a 2GB Micro SD Card. It uses Windows CE 5.0 Operating system and its internal antenna integrated with a high sensitivity SirfStar III GPS receiver.

Navigation:
The navigation software on the Asus R300 is based on Nav N Go’s iGO 8 software. The previous version of this was used on several devices including Mio’s DigiWalker C220 and C520, Novogo’s S700 and the V7 NAV740. The R300 is one of the early birds to use the iGO 8 version of the software. This latest version adds in 3D visualisation, in which you will be able to actually see buildings and landmarks along your route. It has not yet been implemented in the regular suburbs, but we were able to see various landmarks in 3D.

Asus R300 starts by displaying the Navigation menu in Simple mode. The fastest way that you can start navigating is by tapping over the find address tab. There are a number of ways by which you can select your destination, and they include:

• Using the selected location on the map.
• Enter a full address or part of an address, for example a street name without a house number or the names of two intersecting streets.
• Enter an address with postal code. This way you do not need to select the name of the settlement and the search for street names might be faster as well.
• Use a coordinate
• Use a saved location:
• a Favourite
• a POI
• The History of previously set destinations and waypoints

We had mentioned that the navigation starts in Simple Mode; there is an Advanced mode too. In simple mode, you have easy access to the most important navigation functions and the basic settings only. Whereas, in the Advanced mode, you have access to the full functionality of Asus R300.
You can check the details of locations like address, coordinates, nearby POIs, by tapping the location on the screen. The Cursor, which is a red dot with radiating red circles, appears. The address of the location is displayed at the bottom of the map. During navigation, this line shows the Current Street and house number information. Tap on the cursor button to open the Cursor Menu and tap over the Info button to see the address, coordinates and the list of nearby POIs.

Route calculation and Recalculation:

Asus R300 Handheld Personal Navigator calculates the route based on your preferences that include route calculation method and vehicle and route types. The device automatically recalculates the route if you deviate from the proposed set of steps.

Itinerary and Track Logs:

Itinerary has the list of nearest route events and driving instructions. When you are on a map, you will be able to display the itinerary in two ways. The first one is on the cockpit screen, tap the area between the turn preview and the travel data. And, in the advanced mode, tap over the menu or itinerary tab to get to the Itinerary list. R300 can also log the track that you drive. The track log is a recording of how your GPS position changed and it is independent of the route Asus GO calculated.

Option range:
The Asus R300 GPS System offers six vehicle profiles including car, pedestrian, bicycle and others. It also supports eight road types and four routing types including fast, short, easy and economical. The Asus R300 Satellite Navigator automatically detects the mode of travel and displays information accordingly. You are also allowed to save your routes, including destinations and route preferences. This is actually one of the most useful features that are not seen in most of the other GPS devices.

Multimedia in Asus R300:
The 2GB microSD card that comes with a SD adaptor has about 367MB free for your multimedia files. It is notable that the R300 GPS also accepts cards of up to 4GB. As we copied an assortment of videos, MP3 and Image files, on to the microSD card, we found that, like most of the media players found in GPS devices, this one too is quite basic. The device plays the MP3 files without any issues, but we were really surprised when the R300’s photo viewer quickly resized the 3.0+ MB images and presented them in slideshow. When we tried playing the AVI files from our digital camera, MP4 files that were created for our iPod and the WMV files on the video player, however, only the WMV files played successfully.

Points Of Interest:
As with most of the current GPS devices, it has many Points of Interest pre-set in the system. Thus users can now easily find the nearest gas station, airport or hotel. POI icons are quite large so you can easily recognise the symbol. The icons are also semitransparent: they do not cover the streets and intersections behind them.

It provides accurate route guidance and timely voice instructions. It provides users with a facility to store past locations and favourites. It was disappointing to see that the POI database of Asus R300 does not include phone numbers, especially, since with the Bluetooth feature you will be able to dial them directly from the device.

Connectivity:
The settings menu allows you to establish Bluetooth connectivity to you mobile phone for hands free calls and enable the FM transmitter to broadcast audio to your car stereo, along with a set of other general device parameters. Though the R300 was able to easily connect to our mobile phones, it was not able to read the contact list or even the call list. When we dialled a few test calls from the large on screen keypad, the receivers said that we sounded somewhat muffled and was difficult to understand what we said. When we made use of the handset’s speaker phone, the audio quality on both the ends sounded much better.

FM Transmitter:
As with virtually all of the FM transmitters in any of the sat navs that we have tested, the signal from the R300 was not strong enough to silence the background static, and the resulting audio was distorted. Like the Bluetooth interface, the FM transmitter is not a feature we would bother to use on this model.

Smart Zoom:
Smart Zoom feature of R300 is a lot more than just a usual automatic zoom; While following a route calculated by R300, for instance, when approaching a turn, it will zoom in and raise the view angle to let you easily recognise your manoeuvre at the next junc¬tion. If the next turn is at a distance, it will zoom out and lower the view angle to be flat so you can see the road in front of you. While driving without an active route in the device: Auto Zoom will zoom in if you drive slowly and zoom out to the limit set here when you drive at high speed.

Day and Night Colour Schemes:
The R300 uses different skins (colour schemes) during the day and during the night. Daylight colours are similar to paper road maps and the night colour schemes use dark colours for large objects to keep the average brightness of the screen low.

Asus offers several daytime and night colour schemes. It can also switch automatically between the daytime and the night scheme based on the current date and GPS position a few minutes before sunrise, when the sky has already turned bright, and a few minutes after sunset, before it becomes dark.

Languages and Voice:
The Asus R300 has an extensive choice of 34 languages, along with several voice choices for each of them. Unfortunately the device does not support text to speech conversion, and so, the street names are not pronounced.

Package:

The package contents of Asus R300 includes a car holder, charger, a support CD containing the full manual and map, a quick start guide, a micro SD card, USB cable and a warranty card.

Warranty:

Asus offers its R300 GPS device one year limited warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

In the budget GPS space, manufacturers face the ultimate challenge of choosing the kind of features to include while still keeping the price of the device down. And to the credit of Asus, the R300 has been loaded with goodies you would normally only see in more expensive devices. This device can be used as a GPS system as well as an entertainment hub. Some of the irresistible features of the R300 include Multi segment routing, multiple vehicle and road profiles, excellent language support and route saving feature. The text to speech feature was really missed. Still, directions were given at appropriate intervals, and the R300 correctly guided to the respective places. They could have dropped the Bluetooth phone interface and FM transmitter, neither of which works well. Still, at this cost, the Asus R300 offers a lot for a little. Overall, this is just the right choice, if you are in the market for a stylish GPS device that packs the features, but does not cost you a fortune.

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Asus R300 Portable Sat Nav System – Technical Specification Details

Manufacturer	Asus
Model Name	Asus R300 Satellite Navigation system
GPS Application	Car, Pedestrian, bike and bicycle
Colours Available	Silver, White, Pink and Brown
Dimensions (H x W x D)	3.2 x 4.0 x 0.5 inches
Weight	140 grams
Display	TFT Touch-screen
Resolution	65K Color, 320 x 240 Pixels (QVGA)
Display screen size	3.5 inch
Navigation views	2D and 3D
Expansion type	Micro SD Card Slot (up to 4GB)
MP3 Player	Play/suspend/forward/backward/next/previous, Play Lister
Maps included	Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Vatican City. The map coverage also includes the connecting roads of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and the Russian Federation
Voice	Navigation instructions
Connectivity	USB 1.1, Bluetooth 2.0 (with Handsfree function)
Audio	Built-in speaker 3.5 mm stereo earphone jack
Navigation	Vehicle and pedestrian navigation
GPS Processor	Samsung 400 MHz application processor
GPS Chipset	SiRF STAR III GPS chipset with internal antenna
Operating System	Microsoft® Windows® CE .Net 5.0 Core version
Address Book	Yes
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Version 2.0 HS (Headset) / HF (Hands-free)
Included accessories	TMC: Real-time traffic and weather information, received through FM channel and displayed on device. Entertainment: Pre-loaded software for accessing digital music (MP3) and image files (Photo)
Power	Power status LED indicator
Features	Preinstalled POIs, Speed limit warning, Speed Camera warnings, 2D / 3D map perspective, Hands-free calling via Bluetooth
Additional Features	Light sensor Optional TMC module (depends on TMC service availability) FMT availability depends on validity in different countries
Battery type	1300 mAh, rechargeable Li-ion battery (Swappable)
Package contents	Car mount Car holder Car charger Wall charger (Manufacture option) USB cable
Warranty	One year

Acer is one of those companies that have its fingers in a lot of pies and it does not come in as a surprise to know that it offers GPS devices, even though it is not one of the brand leaders. You might be aware of the fact that TomTom dominates the market, mainly because of its usual excellence in its set of features and performance. However, since Acer has its own dominance among corporates, the IT managers might consider the Acer navigation systems for its roaming workers.

The previous two GPS from Acer, the d150 and N35 were not particularly impressive or even satisfactory for that matter, and it seems to be a third time lucky case. While both the d150 and N35 were functional, they had poor build quality and feel and the software included in both of them, were not anywhere near user friendliness.

Design:

Cool looking:

As far as the design is concerned, the Acer P660 Portable GPS Navigator is a huge step forward from the awful D150. The P660 is undeniably good looking with is pleasing four inch wide screen display and being sleek, it can be even compared with TomTom’s 510. It is pocket friendly too; how can it not be with the dimensions of (H x W x D) 23 x 81 x 116 mm and weighs just 195 grams. Since GPS device is pretty much number one in the list of things stolen from a parked car, your pocket is where you want your GPS to be as soon as you leave your car. It is not just the dimensions and weight of the GPS that are commendable, the angular corners and buttons too enhances the overall design of the device.

Navigation:

Just beneath the display, there are large and easy to press plus and minus volume buttons, with a smaller button labelled ‘Navi’ in between these. The Navi button allows you to switch between the main navigation software and the main controls. The buttons are backlit and so, they light up when pressed or permanently plugged in.

Ports and connectivity:

In the bottom edge of the device, there is a mini USB port used for charging, and it is hidden by a plastic cover is a connector for an optional car mounting kit. On either side of this port are two slider switches, for either hard or soft resetting of the device. Though it was stated that there is a stylus offered with the package, we did not find one in there; or we might have missed it. Anyways, make sure that you have something with which you can access these switches; because, if your device freezes up in middle of a journey, you will just be stuck. This was a common issue in the very first model, but ever since the firmware update, it never occurred again.

On the top edge of the Acer P660 Sat Nav device is the power button that is placed sensibly placed bang in the middle, with a headphone connector in one corner along with a connector for an external GPS aerial the other corner, in case you would require it. Since both of these are covered with hard flaps, you will not even know that they are there. At the rear, there is a speaker which is reasonably loud and clear.

Memory and Maps:

There is a SD card slot on the right hand side, along with a 256MB card supplied that contains the CoPilot Live maps for UK and Ireland. Street-level maps for the UK and Ireland are included, but only the major roads of Europe. Do not let a satnav with major roads of anywhere persuade you, since it is the smaller roads you are likely to be driving to, and where you will most need guidance. Maps for Europe are also offered on CD and you will be able to transfer them over to the SD card by hooking up through the USB cable. However, if you want more than the United Kingdom on the card at the same time, you will have to purchase a larger SD card; and this is no hardship considering how cheap they are these days.

Set-up:

The very slim and svelte impression of the receiver unit will be totally lost by the time you have attached the hefty windscreen mount, plugged in the power cord and connected the TMC aerial, which you are supposed to attach with two tiny suckers and route around the perimeter of the windscreen. It looks a complete mess and to cap it all, there are a few performance woes too, about which you will see later.

User Interface:

CoPilot 6:

The Acer p660 Satellite Navigation System is equipped with the Premium edition of CoPilot, which can be launched from the main screen. From the home screen, the built-in photo viewer, MP3 player and contact database can also be accessed. There are five program icons on the main menu panel that includes Navigation, MP3, Photos, Contacts and Settings.

Via settings, languages, backlight settings and date and time can be managed. Strangely, the volume can also be accessed from here, but what we do not understand is, why would anybody take the trouble to delve deep into the settings to adjust the volume? But, the menu also provides you with the option to turn off the screen tap sound. The CoPilot offers full seven digit postcode support for the UK, which is very essential and another benefit of this top end P600 series device is the bundled TMC receiver. Software wise, the mapping data is offered by Navteq, which is a premium option.

More like a PDA:
The set of additional abilities of Acer P660 apart from navigation is a clear indication that it is based on Windows Mobile 5.1. But, we wonder if anybody would really want to carry around images on their GPS device. The photo interface is hardly of any use as it is not that intuitive as you have to manually select each thumbnail to get it to display each of them in a slideshow; it does have some funky transactions though. The MP3 player is quite basic, but with the device being sleek and coupled with a headphone socket, it is just about feasible to imagine that you might use it as an MP3 player.

One thing about the device that impressed us straight away is its display quality as its colours are very vibrant. First time that CoPilot navigation software is fired up, it runs through a brief tutorial to get started. Overall, it is an easy to use device, though it does betray its Pocket PC origins at times.

Menus and screens:

The PDA optimised interface will be reminded in many of the screens with a number of options. To get to all the options, you have to make use of the scroll bar on the right hand side down. And again, this kind of a set up makes sense on a PDA, but not on this device. On the TomTom navigator, you have to move left and right to access further via large, easy to use icons and not up and down through the awkward to hit arrow keys. Despite these shortcomings, as long as you are not attempting to use it on the move though the Acer is still quite reasonable to navigate once you have got to grips with it.

The interface of the Acer P660 is quite impressive. You will find a list of favourites and a return trip button which what it says on the tin and directs you back from where you came, without you having to key in a location. Something that really impressed us was, when you attempt to route to an address when you do not have GPS coverage, it asks if you would like to route from your last location or to just wait for a GPS signal. How Polite of it?

Customisable:

The onscreen display is excellent with highly customisable sections that are placed underneath the map that is capable of displaying information such as the name of the road that you are on, the destination, the current time and your ETA. The actual 3D display is reasonably clear with a blue arrow for your car over a red line displaying the route. And the widescreen display means that there is room for a next turn arrow on the left side of the screen with plenty of room for the map on the rest of the screen. A safety mode comes in replacing the map view with a simple arrow and instruction and this can be set to kick in at a speed of your choice.

Navigation:

Plotting a trip on the Acer 660 Sat Nav is quite straight forward. Just press the New Trip button and then you can enter the address or search through the all important post code. From this menu, you can also choose from a recent list. Most people under estimate the value of the ‘Recent list’; it eliminates the hassle of re-entering the addresses again if it is already available in the list.

There is a Menu button that sits at the bottom left, which then pops up vertically and offers you with access to other functions such as Views. From the Views menu, you can choose to view 3D modes or itinerary that shows you each stage of your journey in text mode and choose to avoid parts of it. In the same screen there is a Mode button that allows you to switch between Guidance, Planning and Walking mode. Unfortunately, the Planning mode seems to be a bit difficult to use, while the walking mode did not really do anything to speak off. While it shows the path to where we were going in a large thick pink line, but whenever we tested it in this mode, our location did not change.

However, the biggest limitation is the lack of a pre-trip planning mode. You cannot enter a “travel from” location, which means you cannot see how far or how long a trip will take until you get a GPS fix at the place you want to depart from.

Extract addresses:

Yet another way of entering the destination is via the Contacts tab, which extracts the addresses out of the vCards. ActiveSync software is offered by Acer and we dreamt of transferring all our contacts from Outlook, but irrespective of what we did, the ActiveSync did nothing even though it was able to recognise Acer and sync. In order to get the contacts on to the device, we had to copy them on to an SD card as vcf files and then manually import them; the whole process was very clunky. Surprisingly, Acer was able to successfully pull out the addresses and allowed us to plot the route. This is the first time that we have seen a pocket PC based GPS exhibit such a feature.

QWERTY keyboard:

If you intend to enter the address manually, then you will get a non QWERTY keyboard that fills the large display. However, to enter the numbers, you have choose the numbers tab and wait for the numbers screen to come up. This is the way the regular Pocket PCs work, but is simply makes no sense on a GPS when you are entering a postcode and have to switch between the numbers and letters. It was also disappointing to see the system responding sluggishly when entering the addresses. All these factors together make the process very tedious and almost impossible to do so when the car is on the move, as you would spend too much time on looking at the display and you will most likely crash, totally unacceptable.

Clumsiness:

The slow responsiveness of the device while entering address might be mainly because of the smart address system, which predicts what you will be entering next. So, when you enter a postcode, it enables only the letters that could possibly follow it. Though it seems to be a very neat trick, you will have to pay for it with a sluggish response. After each and every selection, you have to click over the next button, which is even more annoying. The next button is an elongated one, but is surrounded by other buttons, so it is very easy to miss it off and muck things up, making the overall process take much longer than intended. Overall, it gives the impression that the user interface is optimised to be used with a stylus on a PDA and is just not for the fat fingers in a car.

Features:

Moving on to the internal features of the Acer P660 GPS, it is powered by the 400MHz Samsung S3C2440A processor and also sports 64MB of RAM for system memory and another 64MB for the OS. Yeah! We can hear you saying, it is almost as though it is a Windows Mobile powered PDA; we thought so too. Its GPS Chip is the ubiquitous SiRFStar III.

Point Of Interest:

The Point Of Interest database works in a different way to the sat nav systems that we had tested before. Rather than moving exclusively through the categories, the best way to search for the place you are looking for is to search for what you are looking for, and then narrow the search down to ‘looking near a city’. There are categories too, but rather than presenting them all in a drop down menu, you can only view them one at a time; the idea is extremely poor. For instance, to select an airport or garage for example, you have to scroll down a list. After that you can narrow the field by selecting a likely candidate from a list. However, the information given is limited to a phone number, so if you want to find a restaurant in a strange town, you will find you are on your own. However, with perseverance, we managed to get the Acer P660 get it to locate all the numerous locations we searched for, so we cannot be too critical. It is all in there, it is just that it is a pain to find it.

Traffic Message Channel:

Another feature that most people will be interested will be the Traffic Feature. For Acer 660, this feature is provided by the TMC add on. When you plug in the receiver into the bottom of the device, the power cable then goes into that. The Traffic Message Channel’s signals are broadcasted over FM radio, which the GPS unit can pick up and integrate into your planned route, automatically re routing you around the blockages. It sounds really great in theory along with the advantage over TomTom Traffic in that you do not have to subscribe to a traffic feed. However, we encountered two major issues with it; first of all, in addition to requiring an external TMC receiver, you will also have to run an aerial cable round the edges of your windscreen. The suction cups offered are rather puny and it is awkward to fit and frankly unsightly. Secondly, it just does not work that well. Though it managed to take some reports the first day, it failed to pick up other a major incident that was being announced on all the Traffic news reports. We simply would not trust it to really help me on a long term basis.

Speed Camera Alert:

As expected, the Acer P660 has also got a speed camera database. This is shown with a yellow box that reports the speed limit and your current speed along with a distance count down. Overall, it has been done nicely, but, unfortunately, it was not up to date and was missing several cameras that we passed.

Managing Contacts:

Tap on contacts tab of the main menu to get the contacts screen where you will be able to view, create and edit contacts. As we had mentioned earlier, you can then use this later to find this contact’s address quickly on your GPS device, or send panic information to these contacts through your Bluetooth enabled phone.

Bluetooth:

To access the Bluetooth options, tap on the Bluetooth icon in the top right hand corner of the Main Menu Screen. You get the options of Bluetooth Enable, Connect Mobile and Dial. To activate or deactivate Bluetooth, tap the Bluetooth Enable button. To use your Acer device as a speakerphone for your mobile phone, tap Connect mobile. The Bluetooth must be enabled, and phone must be paired with device. To make a call from your device, tap Dial and A keypad will then appear on screen. Use the keypad enter a number, then tap Dial and when this call is ended, your device will still be paired with your phone, and will continue to act as a speakerphone, until you disable Bluetooth.

MP3 Playback:

There is a MP3 icon in the main menu and, when it is tapped, an MP3 screen appears.

Just tap on the tracks that you want to play and tap the play button to play the tracks. The media player screen appears and the first song begins to play. The MP3 player application has the basic operations of play, pause, skip forward, skip back, adjusting volume, changing the order of tracks, repeating tracks, browsing for tracks and deleting a track.

Photo viewer:

Tap on the Photo tab in the main menu and you will get the photo viewer screen which allows you to view either individual photos or slideshows on your device. You will find the photos in folders. Tap on a photo to highlight it and then tap on the play button to view them.

In the photo viewer application too, you get all the basic operations like zoom in and out, previous and next photos, browse photos, view full screen photo, slideshow and rotate photo. To copy a photo or photos from the SD/MMC card to the device, tap on the photo that you would like to copy and tap on the folder button. Browse to the place where you would like to paste the photo(s), then tap the folder like button again. The photos will then be copied to this place.

Battery:

The only disadvantage of the thin dimensions of the P660 is that, as a result, the battery cannot be huge. It is just a 1200 mAh Lithium ion battery and you would get a battery low message just after three hours. If you wish to make use of the TMC receiver that is available in the P660, you will have to keep the device plugged in with the car lighter socket charger.

Package:

Inside the package, you will find a carry pouch and a mains adaptor that helps you justify the price, but the CoPilot software puts the Acer out of the running. The other package contents include car mount, car holder, charger, wall charger and USB cable. Acer offers accessories options of an External GPS antenna and External TMC module with antenna.

Verdict:

Acer keeps persevering with sat nav and the good news is that, the products are getting much better. The p660 is thin, light and good looking, but is also a bit sluggish. Our overall experience with the Acer P660 GPS device was quite enjoyable. It did its principle job and got us to destinations that we were not familiar of, without any fuss with the female voice giving clear instructions. While the navigation software itself is quite good, navigating the device takes a while getting used to. Our biggest gripes of the device was the sluggishness while searching, the need to scroll up and down to reach out for all options and even the disappointing performance of the TMC unit. At the end, we thought that it is the latter issue that will stop you from buying this over a TomTom, as we have found its Traffic service provided over mobile phone and Bluetooth to a much more effective and elegant solution.

Cost wise, the Acer P660 is well positioned, coming in at the same price as the TomTom 510 with TMC, with the added advantage of offering maps for all of Europe on CD, compared to just the UK and Ireland with the 510. When it comes to the unit design and the look and feel of the software, it is a huge leap forward over Acer’s previous units; but we have to say that there is still plenty of room for improvement in terms of the interface design. If you are not a big fan of TMC and looking for something other than TomTom, then Acer P660 is very much considerable.

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Acer P660 GPS System – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Acer
Model Name	Acer P660 Satellite Navigation system
GPS Application	Car
Colour	Black
Dimensions (W x H x D)	116 X 81 X 25 mm
Weight	195 grams
Display	LCD widescreen
Display screen size	4 inch
Navigation views	2D and 3D
Memory type	Total capacity: 64MB 2GB flash memory model also available
Expansion type	SDRAM
MP3 Player	Yes
Maps included	Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Vatican City. The map coverage also includes the connecting roads of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and the Russian Federation
Voice	Navigation instructions
Connectivity	Mini USB 1.1 client (2.0 optional) SD/MMC slot (Supports up to 2 GB)
Audio	1W built-in speaker 3.5 mm stereo earphone jack
Navigation	Vehicle and pedestrian navigation
GPS Processor	Samsung S3C2440A 400 MHz application processor
GPS Chipset	SiRF Star III AL chipset and firmware solution
Operating System	Microsoft Windows CE 5.0
Hardware command Interface	Volume control hot keys Main Menu/ Navigation hot key
Address Book capacity	Maximum capacity of 300 contact entries
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Version 2.0 HS (Headset) / HF (Hands-free) Send location
Included GPS Software	CoPilot 6
Included accessories	TMC: Real-time traffic and weather information, received through FM channel and displayed on device. Entertainment: Pre-loaded software for accessing digital music (MP3) and imagefiles (Photo)
Power	Power status LED indicator
Power saving options	Auto-off function for touch screen backlight
Battery type	High-density rechargeable 1200 mAh Lithium Ion battery
Battery charge time	3.5 hours charging time from empty to full capacity
Recharge options	Wall charger Car charger USB cable
Package contents	Car mount Car holder Car charger Wall charger (Manufacture option) USB cable
Accessories	External GPS antenna External TMC module with antenna
Guarantee	One year

With the introduction of TomTom XL LIVE IQR, the satellite navigation maestros are certainly on the measure of combining the best of both the worlds. The latest model of TomTom’s widescreen satellite navigation system comes in a low-end price with high-end features like Live, which is a service of the pricier GO range. This move is a one that makes good sense as the Go models can be a little over the top for a UK driver who simply wants navigation for holidays and the occasional far-flung wedding. This 200 pound satellite navigator sits right at the top of TomTom’s lower-end XL range, and it boasts to be the only XL model of the company to use its Live technology. With the availability of Live technology, the GPS will be able to link to the internet, which allows it to download the traffic warnings and some other information.

The new XL Live IQ Routes edition Sat Nav Unit has connection to latest real-time route information, including TomTom HD Traffic, Road Angel Safety Camera Alerts, Local Search with Google and Fuel rates, and so, you will always have anytime-anywhere access to useful and relevant information en route, saving you heaps of time, money and fuel. Thus, it is clear that the TomTom XL LIVE IQR is a Jack of all trades for sure, but is it master of any too? Read our complete review of the model to find out.

Simple and Stylish Design:

At the very first glance of the device, you will find that the XL Live looks very similar to its higher end Go cousin. TomTom XL LIVE IQR sports an uber-wide 4.3″ touch display and possesses the same general interface. The screen is bright and is a convenient size to glance while driving. The construction is quite solid with neat black bezel and sleek lines that measures (H x W x D) 123 x 80 x 18mm, however the mount and suction pad makes it about 40mm deep; a dimension that you will easily able to throw into most bags or even cargo pants pocket without too much of hassle. The 4.3” display handles all the controls, save for powering on and off the device; a discrete button on the top handles that job. In the bottom, there is a mini USB that accepts power from the 5V source in your car and also updates the unit through TomTom Home software on your PC or Mac.

Installation:

However, you will find the differences between the XL model and GO to be obvious as soon as you try to mount the XL in your car. Instead of the streamlined Active Dock screen attachment that is offered with the new Go Live models, this XL model only has the Easyport model of XL and One range. This unit makes the process of moving the device from car to car very simple as the mount can be left attached. But, we also have to say that the sat nav is not that easy to detach and reattach to the mount; you will have to plug in the USB connection for the car power adaptor first. One thing that we never forget to mention about is the suction mount. Some of the mounts will not last you journey, spilling your precious sat nav into the footwell somewhere on the M1. The EasyPort Mount of TomTom is not just secure, but is also blindingly easy to use. We just cannot fathom why others do not follow the suit.

Interface:

Standard:
The overall interface of the XL LIVE IQ Routes Edition Sat Nav device follows the standard design of TomTom and it has not changed for a few generations now; yet, the menus have been streamlined for recent iterations. Little is the change in the menu system that TomTom has been having for years now. While the competitors strive to find some sort of innovative twist in their interface, TomTom remains to be the easiest one to actually use. Being able to input numerals and alphabets from the onboard keyboard is just an example, which means you will be able to enter a postcode a straight forward action.

Detailed displays:
The map occupies the lion’s share of the display along with a bar beneath, offering you with pretty much every single piece of information about your journey that you probably might want to know. The plain presentation of this bar makes the morass of details feel rather opaque at the beginning, but it will be extremely handy when you get used to it. And the traffic bar down the side is similarly functional.

LIVE Snapshot:
LIVE Snapshot feature offers the user all the relevant information on your surrounding from the word go. You will be able to get all the real-time information at a glance, including traffic conditions, safety cameras and fuel prices, making your drive more relaxed.

Maps:
The TomTom XL Live IQR is currently only available with full European maps for forty two countries and it is also the first UL LIVE device to be offered with HD Traffic functionality beyond the United Kingdom, although it still just covers Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The map also includes the connecting roads of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. If European mapping does not interest you, there will also be a UK-only version of the XL LIVE that costs a few pounds lesser. Tom Tom offers its Latest Map Guarantee, entitling you to a free map download if a newer map is released during the first 30days of your purchase. Simply download via Tom Tom Home and check out all the other additional free features you are entitled too.

Navigation:
Setting up your XL LIVE IQ route is extremely easy, for both immediate use, as well as for future planning. To navigate, tap on the “Navigate To” option in the main menu followed by “Address”.

When you enter an address, you can choose from the options of city centre, street, house number, postcode and crossing or intersection.

As soon as you enter a destination, XL LIVE IQR presents the routes and turn by turn information in a very clear way. Once the route calculation is done, tap on done and your TomTom satnav will warn you about any traffic delays and immediately begin to guide you to your destination, using both spoken instructions and on-screen directions.

Alternative Route:
Once the route is planned, you might have to change something about the route, without changing your destination. For this, tap over ‘Find Alternative’ in the main menu or, you will also find this option in the route summary screen. A ‘Recalculate Original’ option is available if you prefer to go with the original route after all.

Avoid Roadblock:
The ‘Avoid Roadblock’ option is available if you spot a roadblock or a line of traffic ahead. You are also given an option to choose how much of the route ahead you wish to avoid and you get options of 100m, 500m, 2000m and 5000m. Then, the XL will look for another route from your current location to the destination. If the roadblock seems to be clearing off, tap on ‘Recalculate Original’ in order to return to your original route.

Travel Via:
Travel Via option allows you to change your route so that it passes a particular location, perhaps to pick up your friend on the way. And when you do this, a marker is shown on the map for the location that you wish to travel via. You will be able to choose the location in the same way that you choose the destination and so, you will be able to choose from the options of Address, Favourite, Point of Interest and Point on map.

Additional Options:
Some of the other options offered by XL LIVE include ‘Recalculate Original’ to return to the original route without deviations to avoid roadblocks or travelling via particular locations. ‘Avoid Part Route’, as the name indicates, avoids a part of the route and there is also a ‘Minimise Delays’ option to recalculate you route such that it avoids the traffic problems as much as possible. Note that, this button is only available with TomTom Traffic enabled.

View Map:
Some people criticise the visually basic map display, but in reality, you would want to be keeping your eyes on the road and not watching the pretty flit by on your sat nav. But when you are in need of some more info, TomTom offers clear lane guidance with signage. To see the map in the same way that you might look at a traditional paper map, select the ‘Browse Map’ in the Main Menu. The maps in TomTom XL LIVE IQR can be viewed in 2D and 3D modes.

The Options menu sets information shown on the map, which includes Points of Interest, Favourites, Traffic and under the Advanced option, you will also find Names, Markers and Coordinates. Position the cursor at a location on the map and tap the cursor button and then, you will be able to choose from a wide range of options including Navigate There, Set Position Marker, Find a POI nearby, Correct Location, Add as Favourite, Add as POI and Centre On Map.

Features:

Features wise, Tom Tom XL Live IQ Route Widescreen Sat Nav lacks none of the major innovations that have made the last couple of GO Generations which are one among the best all round sat navs on the market. Of course, there a few features compromised and in that list, gone is the excellent voice  activation system that allows you to control most aspects of the GO LIVE verbally, just after a single press to kick off the feature. Sadly, there is no Bluetooth connectivity or FM radio transmitter built-in. Out of all these omissions, it will probably be Bluetooth that will most sorely ruled and this will be because, you cannot hook up the XL LIVE feature to your mobile and just use it as an in-car hands-free kit.

TomTom LIVE:
When we experienced TomTom’s Live system in shape of its GO 540, we could immediately say that it was certainly a huge leap forward in the technology of SatNav. However, in testing we also found that it was not just perfect, however, we still think that the Live Technology will remain to be one of the most significant development for some years. The Live Technology had remained as a premium feature requiring monthly subscription and as we said earlier, is available in only the top of the range devices.

HD Traffic:
Fortunately, the core Live features has been left unchanged. The main advantage of the Live feature is HD Traffic which goes far beyond the capabilities of the usual RDS-TMC traffic services that are offered by other manufacturers. We can blabber a thousand words just on what is HD Traffic and how it works, but in a nutshell we can say that it provides updates on more roads than services based on the TrafficMaster camera information. The HD Traffic information are also more frequent as they are delivered to you via the mobile data link every three minutes rather than over an FM radio signal every fifteen minutes. In our long term testing, we found the HD Traffic system to be more effective at avoiding nasty traffic jams than anything that went before and less often does it demand second-guess suggestions from time to time.

Fuel Prices Service:
The other features of Live also revolve around the built-in mobile data link. The Fuel Prices service links into the petrol station category of the Points Of Interest database that allows you to not only find you convenient pumps, but also the cheapest ones (now, there can be none around who will not be tempted to use this feature). You will be able to find the fuel stations and prices nearby, on your route or at any location you wish to choose. The prices are regularly updated for each of the fuel types, and surprisingly, we have found them to be accurate most of the time.

Google Local Search:
The LIVE service also incorporates Google Local Search; a feature that offers access to a much larger database of Points of Interest than what is stored locally on the device and also goes far far beyond the usual categories. For instance, you will be able to find pet rescue centres and racing tracks by name and approximate locations without the need to enter the full address. The mobile data link allows you to download the very latest safety camera locations and weather forecast information for any destination including Europe. In a nutshell, with the Google Local Search you will be able to punch in pretty much anything and get the local live results that are ideal for finding a chemist or pie when you really need one.

IQ Routes:
As in the case of most of the latest TomTom XL satnavs, the XL LIVE model also incorporates the IQ Routes. We really loved the fact that TomTom makes it very simple for you to plot out your route for a certain time of day in the future, giving you a decent indicator of your actual time of arrival, rather than the one based on theoretical maximum speeds on the roads. It is also intelligent enough to know that motorways do not always make for the fastest driving, but at the same time, minor roads make a poor selection. As most of us know, it is all about experience and TomTom seems to be getting them just right with its IQ Routes stepping in with its local knowledge to guide you along. Hence, instead of just using the speed limit or distance to calculate the optimal route, this feature also takes into account some of the real average road speeds at particular times of day. For instance, if a route is always jammed during rush hour, IQ Routes will calculate a quicker option through less frequented streets when travelling during that period.

Advanced Lane Guidance:
The TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Sat Nav System  also incorporates the Advanced Lane Guidance feature, which is TomTom’s take on the now ubiquitous full screen graphics that makes sure that you are in the correct carriageway in a complex motorway junction. This information pops up ahead, giving you ample time to avoid the mad scramble across from one lane to another when you realise that your turning is rapidly approaching.
For some exits and junctions, an image shows the turn and lane that you must take. For the other exits and junctions, the XL shows the lane that you have to take in the status bar. If you do not prefer the images, select Hide Lane Images in the preferences menu and to turn the guidance off, tap on Change Preferences -> Status Bar Preferences and clear the check box of show lane guidance.

Route guidance is just excellent.

TomTom Safety Alerts:
The TomTom Safety Alerts service warns you about a variety of locations including:

• Safety camera locations.
• Accident blackspot locations.
• Mobile safety camera locations.
• Average speed camera locations.
• Toll road camera locations.
• Traffic light camera locations.

Map Share:
With the availability of the Map Share feature means that the task of updating maps within the TomTom community is just incredibly simple. TomTom Map Share feature allows you to correct errors on your map and also share those corrections with other people of TomTom Map Share community and hence, also receiving them.

For instance, if you find a street that has been recently blocked to traffic which was open before, the Map Share feature can be used to correct the map and then share correction with the other Map Share members. Some of the map share correction options available are, Reverse Traffic Direction, Edit street name, Change turn restrictions, Change road speed, Add missing POI, Edit POI and Report other error. This feature can be used to send and receive map corrections during the first year after the map’s release date. This means that one year after the release date, you will no longer be able to send or receive map corrections for that version of the map; you will still be able to make corrections to your own map for use on your own device. You choose the type of corrections you want and each time you connect your TomTom XL to TomTom HOME, the map is automatically updated.

Types of Map Corrections:
There are two types of map corrections. One correction is the one that is shown immediately on the map and these include changing the traffic flow of a street, blocking or renaming a street and adding or editing POIs. This type of change is immediately shown on your own map. You can hide these corrections at any time in the Map Share preferences menu. The second type of correction is the one that is reported to TomTom but not shown immediately on your map. These include, missing streets, errors in motorway entrances and exits and missing roundabouts. This type of correction is investigated by TomTom and once verified, is included in the next map release. These corrections are therefore not shared with the Map Share community.

Finally, to join the MapShare Community, tap on Map Corrections in the Main menu followed by download corrections made by others and then tap on join. A few correction preferences are also offered, which includes the trust level slider that allows you to choose the type of corrections from the Map Share community you would want to use on your maps, decide on if you want to share your corrections with others and show or hide the report button in Driving View.

Other XL LIVE Services:
Some of the other XL LIVE services are TomTom Weather and QuickGPSfix. The TomTom Weather feature gives you five day weather reports for any location on your map and the QuickGPSfix contains information about GPS satellite positions which helps your TomTom XL find your position faster.

Subscription woes:
Although the TomTom XL Live model is much cheaper than any of the GO Live models or GO range itself, the LIVE services cost exactly the same. Three months of free trail is included in the package, but after that, the prices start at the rate of £7.99 a month. Remember that some of the basic features line safety camera updates come under the LIVE service and it will just be a mere two years before the subscription cost equals that of the unit. Although the LIVE Services are undeniably good, you still need to be a very frequent traveller to justify the extra expenses. Eureka! We found you a way out, you could always subscribe it just for the month that you are heading for holidays and you do not have to have the service when you do not need it, perhaps for 10 months of the year, takes the sting out of the ongoing costs.

Points Of Interest:
Of course, you also get Points Of Interest with your TomTom with the phone numbers where available. With the availability of the Google Search feature, you will be able to get to virtually anyplace. TomTom also allows you to manage your POI such that, you could create POI categories of your own and POIs to them. For instance, you can create a category known as “Friends” and add all your friends addresses as in POI category. You can also add your friend’s phone numbers with their address, so that you can call them from your XL LIVE. The options available to manage POIs are, Add POI, Warn when near POI, Delete POI, Edit POI, Add POI category and Delete POI category.

European Motoring:
Yet another feature that is new to TomTom XL LIVE IQR Satellite Navigation System is the added support for European motoring. TomTom has a really huge following in its native Holland, but you will also benefit from HD Traffic in Germany, France and Switzerland and other Live services too depending on your territory.

Not a Portable Media Player:
The company has always made clear that GPS is simply about navigation and not about entertainment and so, the model will not be a portable media player for you.

Voice:
The instructions and warning voices of the XL LIVE are loud and clear. To change the voice used by the device, tap over Voice Preferences in Preferences menu and finally on Change Voice button.

Safety:
TomTom has also offered a lot of safety preferences which you will be able to set in the preferences menu. The options offered include:

• Hide most menu options while driving
• Suggest driving breaks
• Show safety reminders
• Warn when near places of worship or schools
• Warn when driving faster than allowed
• Warn when driving faster than a set speed
• Warn not to leave the device in the car

Performance:

When we took TomTom XL LIVE GPS System for a test drive, the planned route worked well as long as we stayed on it. But, when forced off track by a road closure or with a wrong turn, it was disappointingly slow to calculate the new route. At one point, we even thought that we might have to stop for the device to catch up. We have seen heaps of other GPS devices that plot new routes much quicker and almost instantly in most cases.

Battery life:

The unit does sport an internal battery, but on journeys over a couple of hours, you would really want to just make sure that you have got your cable packed in.

Guarantee:

The Tom Tom Go 740 Live comes with one year manufacturer’s Guarantee.

Verdict:

TomTom XL LIVE IQR has become one of our favourite sat navs. The display size is just practical enough to know your route at a glance and the HD Traffic just contributes to an already leading navigation system.

It is really refreshing to see the LIVE feature already filtering down to the less pricey members of TomTom’s Sat Nav range. But, with the subscription still costing a lot, we cannot say that it is really live for the common masses. We really cannot criticise TomTom for offering the feature in a lower-end model without annoying the GO LIVE owners, but it still dilutes the XL LIVE’s argument to some extent. While it is about £100 cheaper than the equivalent GO LIVE 740 with full European maps, the identical monthly subscription fees means that it is not quite the value proposition , even though it is still a great satellite navigation device.

Check TomTom One V4 Sat Nav Review in this website.

TomTom XL LIVE IQR GPS System – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	TomTom
Model Name	XL Live IQ Routes Satellite Navigation system
GPS Application	Car
Colour	Black
Dimensions (W x H x D)	118 X 80 X 25 mm
Weight	170 grams
Display	16:9 LCD widescreen
Display screen size	4.3 inch
Display resolution	320 x 240 pixels
Navigation views	Turn by turn
Memory type	2GB Internal Flash Memory
MP3 Player	No
Maps included	Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Vatican City. The map coverage also includes the connecting roads of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and the Russian Federation
Voice	Navigation instructions Voice command recognition
Connectivity	GPRS Connectivity with three months LIVE services USB 2.0
Audio	Optimised integrated microphone and speaker for high quality hands-free functionality
Compatibility	Windows and Mac OS X 10.3 and above
GPS Module	Highly sensitive GPS chipset
GPS Receiver	Highly sensitive GPS Receiver
Features to reduce driver’s stress	Latest map Guarantee Active Dock Advanced Lane Guidance
Features to save time and money	HD Traffic IQ Routes technology Safety Alerts Fuel Prices QuickGPSfix
Enhanced safety features	Hands free calling Help me – emergency menu Safety preferences
Additional features	8-digit postcode Real-time traffic information High quality speaker QuickGPSfixT and high sensitivity GPS chipset Built-in receiver for LIVE Services Advanced lane guidance Text to Speech Light sensor for an optimal view TomTom MapShare technology Speed camera locations from Road Angel
Included GPS Software	TomTom HOME
Included accessories	Tom Tom XL Live GPS device, a suction cup, a docking station with USB Cable, 12-24V cigarette lighter adaptor that is suitable for cars and trucks, a CD ROM containing Tom Tom Home Software, Quick Start Guide and User Manual
Battery type	Internal lithium ion
Battery life	Three hours
Guarantee	One year