GPS Technology Reviews for news, guides and reviews of GPS hardware, software and services including Handheld GPS, Outdoor GPS, GPS PDA, GPS Phones and Auto GPS Navigators

The word “convergence” summarizes the focus of many handheld mobile device manufacturers. How many mobile cell phones don’t come with a digital camera as standard now?
The miniaturization of electronic components is what makes convergence possible and it is the miniscule size of the recently reviewed breakthrough technology SiRF Star III GPS Chipset which makes the Mio A701 GPS Phone possible. Promoted as a GPS Phone, the Mio A701 is a smartphone with a wider range of capabilities including; Microsoft Office Mobile, audio (mp3) player, video player, camera, picture viewer, calculator, calendar and voice recorder.

The Form

The Mio A701 has an attractive form with large radius rounded corners and smart shiny black and silver coloring. The front is dominated by a 2.7 inch, 65K color LCD touch screen display which has LED backlighting (for long life and low power consumption). The display has a usefully large 320 x 240 resolution. The remaining portion of the Mio A701’s front is occupied by four software navigation buttons – two of which are preset to launch Windows Media Player and GPS Navigation. The A701 doesn’t have a keyboard – only a touch screen operated virtual one.

On the smartphone’s left side is a volume control and on the bottom edge is a mini USB port, mains power female socket and docking connector. An SD memory expansion slot is on the right hand side. The camera and a speaker are located on the back.

The Mio A701 ships with a mains power adapter, USB cable, stereo headset, a belt clip-on carrying case, cigarette lighter power cable, and a swan-neck-style windshield mount.
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On December 25, 2006, Russia successfully launched three modernized GLONASS-M satellites to join its existing, partially complete, GLONASS global navigation satellite system. The GLONASS -M series of satellites have an additional navigation frequency for civilian users, a longer (seven year) service life and updated antenna feeder systems.

A new satellite series, GLONASS –K, with reduced weight (cheaper to launch) and a further increased operation lifetime of 10-12 years, is expected to enter service in 2008. India and Russia have an agreement for India to share the development costs of the GLONASS-K series and launch them from India.
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Epson has announced its development of an “ultra-sensitive, ultra-compact global positioning system (GPS) module (S4E19863 series) to meet high demand from manufacturers of mobile phones and other handsets with GPS functionality”. A telling feature aligning the module with the stated applications is the small form factor which Epson claim is the world’s smallest at 7mm x 6mm x 1.28mm.

As is their practice, Epson have developed the new GPS module from their own knowledgebase of GPS baseband processors and A-GPS software. Epson state that the new GPS module has a broad detection range capable of obtaining satellite fixes even for weak indoor GPS signals.

The module supports the three 3GPP-compliant positioning modes – MS(Mobile Station)-Based, MS-Assisted and Autonomous. This means that while the module can take advantage of assisted GPS (A-GPS) modes it has the onboard computing power to also autonomously establish its location through multiple GPS satellite fixes.
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The SiRF Star III chipset family has proved a watershed innovation GPS chip architecture by offering impressive performance improvements to the GPS receiver manufacturing industry. They have been adopted by major GPS manufacturers including Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. The SiRF Star III chipset family was developed by SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. (SIRF – Nasdaq Stock Exchange) of San Jose, California.

There are three primary reasons why SiRF Star III chipsets are a revolutionary (evolutionary) development compared to previous products:

1. Faster fix times

As covered in more detail in our GPS technology overview, GPS satellites emit coded GPS signals designed to enable the receivers to recover necessary positioning information. By acquiring the signal of a minimum of four satellites, and determining the difference between signal transmission and reception times a GPS receiver can triangulate and calculate its latitude, longitude and elevation.
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The C300 series Garmin StreetPilot is a suitable choice if you’re are new to using GPS (yes, a newbie) or attracted to a simple to use automotive GPS system without too much detail. The C300 units have less gadgetry and less likelihood of inflicting techno frustration. If you have geek tendencies and love more detail and more functionalities, then The C300 series is probably going to be a bit light on for you.

Functionality

The first thing noticeable about the C300 series portable automotive GPS systems is that there are no buttons. All functions are available through the touch screen activated user interface.

There are only two choices on the top level of the interface software being; View Map and Where do you want to go?. The where to software button brings up an icon rich sub-menu for various services and points of interest (POI) which can be sorted by distance from your current location. The interface simplicity might try the patience of those more proficient or experienced users who wish to access detailed information quickly.
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In many scientific endeavors the full range of beneficial outcomes are not, and often cannot, be foreseen. It is an element to consider in the current debate over the value of moon bases or manned missions to Mars. It was one such unexpected beneficial outcome which allowed the

August 2006 formation of Hurricane Ernesto in the eastern Caribbean to be predicted two days in advance when contemporary weather models failed to predict its formation at all.

When the United States launched the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites it believed it was launching infrastructure for accurate terrestrial position determination. It is now apparent that it was also launching the part of the infrastructure for a weather observation system capable of vastly improving the accuracy of weather prediction models.
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TomTom ONE is TomTom’s entry level mobile GPS unit which has a powerful range of features delivered for a budget satisfying price. It has received numerous awards including best GPS unit in the 2006 Pocket-Lint Awards.

Things to like about TomTom ONE include; a simple to use interface with easy to follow 3D maps, touchscreen capability, quick startup to satellite signal lock of 20 seconds or so, nice clear voice instructions, a simple yet effective mounting system, traffic updates available via Bluetooth, quick recalculation of your route if you stray off course, facility for multiple waypoints and use of the same Version 5 navigation engine as other current TomTom devices.

Software

It seems to be a common opinion that the TomTom Navigator 5 software is simple and intuitive to use. The software is comprehensive for all but the more advanced users and is certainly effective for a car based GPS system. Some features more advanced users might miss are coordinate entry (latitude + longitude), route logging and other fairly exacting analysis functions.
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Waiting for satellite locks to obtain a location fix can be frustrating if you’re in a hurry. To determine its position a GPS receiver needs to know the exact position of each satellite broadcasting the signals it is analyzing. Obtaining a fix can be slow due to factors including GPS satellite position broadcasting loops lasting 30 seconds and satellite signal interruption by ground clutter (buildings, vegetation etc.) re-booting the entire position-fixing process.

For a first GPS fix seconds after startup, TomTom have announced the introduction of a free service, QuickGPSfix. The service is available for GO910, GO710 and GO510 users from the TomTom website. The QuickGPSfix service provides predictions of satellite orbits for up to seven days for downlaoad to TomTom devices when they are connected to a PC or Mac running TomTom HOME software (available for free from the TomTom website).

All the satellite position data is distilled down to the small easy-to-download ‘QuickGPSfix’ GPS data file. The data is valid for 7 days and needs to be refreshed regularly for QuickGPSfix to continue working.

Multifunction

Magellan are moving with the current trend of convergence of functionalities into a single device which started with PDA phones and music player phones.

The Magellan RoadMate 6000T can be paired with a mobile phone using Bluetooth wireless technology for hands free phone calls. Other top line inclusions are a music player and picture viewer. A first is the integrated traffic receiver for LIVE traffic incident reports.

Display

The 6000T’s backlit TFT screen is an adequate 3.5 inches diagonal (320 x 240 pixels resolution) which conveniently adjusts display lighting for ambient lighting levels. The screen is touch sensitive for easy interactivity with installed software applications.

When displaying your current position the Magellan Roadmate 6000T can show a standard 2D or eye-in-the-sky 3D view.
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The Garmin Nuvi 300 series has 5 models including the Garmin Nuvi 300, 310, 350, 360 and 370 which share mostly identical features.

Some of the notable common features of the Nuvi 300 models include:

• 3.5 inch antiglare TFT touchscreen (320 x 240 pixels),
• rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with up to 8 hours life,
• SD card adapter for storing and loading new maps, music and image files,
• text to speech (nuvi 350, 360 and 370),
• 3D map view,
• auto re-route,
• Bluetooth hands free calling (nuvi 310, 360 and 370),
• mp3 player,
• audio book player,
• picture viewer,
• FM Traffic compatible,
• world travel clock, currency & measurement converter, calculator,
• Garmin Lock (anti-theft),
• Maps preloaded into solid state internal memory.

Navigating with the Garmin Nuvi 300 Series

Entering a destination can be achieved by typing in the address or selecting a POI (point of interest). The map database features some six million points of interest including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, attractions, entertainment, shopping, emergency services, post offices, camp grounds, movie theatres and ATMs. European versions can come with a preloaded safety camera database containing the location of safety cameras for parts of Europe.

To assist in finding an address there is a search facility allowing users to search for addresses and points of interest (POI).

Garmin provide a free preloader application (which can be downloaded from their website) for you to import customized POI. It provides the ability to upload POIs created by others from your PC to your Garmin unit.

A useful selectable feature is a proximity alert which notifies the driver of upcoming custom POIs. Up to 500 waypoints with name and graphic symbol can be entered.

The Garmin nuvi 350, 360 and 370 models have text-to-speech capable for reading out street names rather than just announcing the turn direction. It provides confirmation that you are on route without looking at the navigation display.

Garmin Nuvi 300 Series GPS Maps

Garmin Nuvi 300 models come with City Navigator NT maps (NAVTEQ) pre-loaded into internal solid state memory

300 and 310 Preloaded City Navigator NT data for one European region or country

350 and 360 Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America or Europe (full coverage)

370 Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America and Europe (full coverage)

The City Navigator maps contain information on highways, interstates, business and residential roads with attributes such as turn restrictions, speed categories and other navigation features. There is an SD expansion slot for adding other maps.

SiRF Star III GPS Receiver Chip

A SiRF Star III receiver chipset, a winner of PC Magazine’s Award for Technical Excellence, provides the GPS capability for all Garmin Nuvi 300 models. The SiRF Star III chipset is a WAAS enabled for improved accuracy however, its inherent accuracy makes the WAAS enabling less important. Accuracy for the SiRF Star III is 2.0m for position and with 0.01m/s for velocity accuracy. Hot and warm autonomous times to first fix (TTFF) are less than 1s and less than 35s respectively.

Multimedia Capabilities

All of the Garmin Nuvi 300 models have multimedia entertainment capabilities including an MP3 player, Audible Book Player and Picture Viewer. The MP3 player has some useful menus enabling users to see album art and browse music by the artist, album, song or genre. Music can be dragged-and-dropped from the SD card. It is possible to wire your Garmin Nuvi into your car sound system using an audio output jack and enjoy larger speakers and surround sound. The Audible book player comes with a subscription to Audible.com from where you can download from their library of some 35,000 books.

Bluetooth Wireless Technology

Bluetooth wireless technology enabled cellular phones can be combined with the Garmin Nuvi for safe hands-free mobile phone use while keeping ones eyes fixed on the road. Incoming phone calls pop up on the display and a tap of the touch screen accepts the call. As with other systems, any other audio is automatically muted during phone calls. Calls can be made using the nuvi’s touchscreen keypad. A handy convenience is being able to access phone numbers associated with the POI making it simple to call ahead.

The Garmin Nuvi 300 series models all come with Garmin Lock which is an anti -theft feature that disables the unit from performing any functions until enter a specific 4-digit PIN or take the unit to a predetermined location.

Live traffic for automatic re-routing around traffic problems is available with an optional receiver and activation by subscription.

Read Hand’s On User Reviews and Compare Prices

Have a look at the competitive prices at Butterfly Photo for

Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS Vehicle Navigator 0100053800
Garmin Nuvi 370 GPS Vehicle Navigator 0100053878

The Garmin nuvi 350 has been a favorite with Amazon purchasers and has been at the top of their Best Sellers list for a considerable time. Read the user reviews and check prices for the nuvi 300 GPS navigators below.

Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Garmin nüvi 360 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Garmin nüvi 370 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

Compare prices with TheNerds.net for the

GPS, NUVI 350 BILINGUAL
Garmin nuvi 360 GPS Receiver
GPS, NUVI 370, NORTH AMERICA

Resources

Garmin provide an extensive FAQ database for their GPS products.

Garmin’s owners manuals (PDF) for the nuvi 350, nuvi 360 and nuvi 370

You can compare the Garmin nuvi 300 models with Garmin’s comparison database which gives you side by side comparisons with differences highlighted.