Review : HP iPAQ 310 Travel Companion
Posted by JakeRich on 02/6/08 in GPS, HP, Mobilitysite Reviews, iPAQ
Developer/Vendor: Hewlett Packard (Hewlett Packard)
Price: $449.99 (MSRP)
Rating (3 out of 5):
I watched Chris unbox the HP 310 Travel Companion here. I’m not going to add a lot of screenshots of the system in this review, for two reasons: 1) it doesn’t have the ability to take screenshots natively and you cannot install any third party software to do so, and 2) it doesn’t follow any standard for connecting to a PC, so you cannot use any of the third party remote desktop software to capture the screen. Chris’ video shows the screen resolution and most of the menus, so I encourage you to watch the unboxing.
I really wanted to like this device. And when I first powered it up, I was really impressed. The screen is big, bright and very smooth. The unit itself is a sleek, good looking device, and the window mount is sturdy. I figured it all would look really nice in my car. It does look nice, but unfortunately, the performance of it as a navigation system doesn’t match the good looks.
Testing Environment
I tested the unit in my car, in my basement and in various locations in Northern Virginia.
What you get
Chris’ video shows what is in the box. You get:
- The HP 310, with stylus and a slip case
- Power cord (USB to mini-USB)
- Power adapter for car
- Power unit for wall
- Windshield mount (suction cup)
- Disk for dashboard mounting
- Manuals (warranty) and a CDROM disk
Technical Specifications
According to the HP website, the tech specs are:
- Integrated wireless - Integrated GPS navigation, Integrated Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR
- Processor - Centrality Titan 600MHz
- Operating system - Windows CE 5.0 with custom HP user interface
- Display - 4.3″ transmissive TFT 16-bit RGB depth 65,000 color WVGA 800 x 480 pixel touch screen display, antiglare, landscape orientation
- Memory - 128MB SDRAM main memory for running applications (may vary by country) Up to 2 GB Flash ROM (depending on model/may vary by country) User available persistent storage varies by model
- Weight - 187 g (6.60 oz) with battery
- Battery - 1700 mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable, user changeable battery
- Expansion - High-capacity SD card slot
- Audio - Large speaker for navigation volume, integrated microphone with echo cancellation, 3.5mm 3 pin headphone jack
- Included accessories - Windshield mount with device holder, dashboard mount disc, car charger, standard battery, AC charger, mini-USB cable, carrying case
- Dimensions - 86.8mm x 110.2mm x 18.2mm (3.4 x 4.3 x 0.7 in)
Using the HP 310
Here is a picture of the unit with my Axim X50v, both with navigation software running.
As you can see, the screen of the HP310 is bigger and the resolution of 800X480 makes that screen very smooth, with no jaggies visible at all. It scrolls very smoothly. The built-in non-glare surface makes it very readable, even in bright sunlight. My Axim has a non-reflective screen protector and is, in this picture, running at a high backlight level. The HP310 has a setting to change brightness from day to night, but none to change brightness when on battery or external power. This picture shows the daytime color scheme. Chris’ unboxing shows the night scheme, with blue roads on a black background. With a minimum brightness setting for night, and with the black background, the HP310 is not distracting at night, but bright enough to make use very easy.
The software in the HP310 is based on the system from Nav’n’Go, a company that also sells the same software as OnCourseNavigator6 (link), iGo and the Mio systems (link). The system uses TeleAtlas maps, which have some issues in my area, but the issues are easy to work around given I know of them. In your particular area, if you have map problems with TomTom or any other TeleAtlas based system, you’ll have the same issues with the HP 310.
Navigation begins by tapping on the little house icon in the bottom right. From there you are taken to the main screen, and from there you can select your destination, via points and tell the system to commence the calculations. Route planning is quick. You can display the entire route and look at the itinerary. You can also decide to keep a trip log, if you want, that can later be exported to a .gpx file on an SD card. You can also designate how you want the route to be calculated. You can choose a route for a car, taxi, bus, truck or bicycle. You can choose a fast, short or economical route. And you can turn on or off the automatic recalculation. You can also tell the system to display your position always on a road (snap-to-road) or not. You can tell it to avoid unpaved roads, ferries, cross-border planning, permit-only and toll roads. The options screen has Highways unselected and U-turns selected but both are greyed out and unchangeable. That situation says it will not avoid highways and will avoid U-turns.
In the sound options it has the typical options for volume, but it also has a Dynamic Volume on/off and minimum speed/maximum speed setting. Apparently this function will increase the volume based on the measured speed, compensating for the increased background noise from that higher speed travel. In practice, I didn’t see any difference. The system will issue warnings when you approach POIs designated as “safety cameras.” You can turn this function off, if you wish. The US maps don’t have safety camera information, but if you know of one in your area, you can enter the data on a special screen just for those POI. Of course, that doesn’t help you in strange locations, and if you know where the camera is, you don’t need the warning, but I guess there is some benefit there somewhere.
Regional settings allow you to choose the language, voice and units used in the display. You can also choose whether to update the clock from the GPS signal or not, and chose the time format (12-24 hours).
The system lets you chose languages and voices. I chose American Female, which resulted in a very pleasant voice. The text-to-speech function allows the HP 310 to annunciate street names, so the voice prompting says things like, “Turn left in 400 feet onto Heatherford Place” instead of just “turn left in 400 feet.” Hearing the street name is helpful, particularly in unfamiliar territory.
You can choose your destination from your contacts list, by
- touching the map,
- entering coordinates,
- selecting a POI,
- entering an address,
- picking from recent destinations or via points (history).
The system has capability for TMC, if you have a TMC receiver, but I don’t and there is no TMC in my area, so I couldn’t test that. You can also download a planned map from the HP website.
What worked
What worked well was that the screen is bright, clear and responsive. The voice was understandable, clearly pronouncing each word. It even properly pronounced the name of my street, an accomplishment that no other Text-to-speech system has been able to claim! Menus were finger-friendly and I never had to resort to the stylus. Re-routing was swiftly done and the system seemed to work well finding a new route. I also was able to register the package, get to the HP IPAQ Navigate website and download a system update. It had the option to download maps, but it said my maps were up-to-date, so I didn’t use that function. After the software update, the system soft-reset automatically.
The mount holds the unit firmly when it is stuck to the glass (but see what didn’t work about the mount below) and it was very easy to adjust the screen to an optimum position. The system comes with a suction cup disk that can be glued to your dashboard if you live in a location that prohibits anything from being stuck to the windshield itself. The arm on the holder is short and very rigid and it held the unit without vibration at all.
What didn’t work
The sad part of this device is that although it is beautiful looking, it is severely crippled in functionality compared to the other GPS options using the Nav’n’Go software. Apparently HP wanted to make it easier to use, so they took out most of the many options that Nav’n’Go has in the system, leaving the HP 310 with confusing and inadequate Settings and options. For example, look at the picture of the HP 310 with my Axim X50v. The screen of the 310 is larger, almost as large as the entire X50v, but the amount of map you can see from top to bottom is actually smaller on the 310 than on the X50v. One of the reasons for that difference is that on the 310, the zoom options are limited to Smart Zoom on or off, Restore lock-to-position on or off and Zoom in after find, on or off and that’s all. On the X50v, running OCN6, I can select the parameters for Smart Zoom, including the zoom in and out limits. By tweaking those two variables, I was able to get a setting that gives me more visibility further down the road by making it appear I was “higher” over the road. So, on my X50v I can see Route 29 and Interstate 66, but on the 310, I can just see the red line that is 29 at the fringe of visibility. Another problem was that the HP only showed present location in the center of the screen, not at the bottom as in the original software. That means that half of the display is showing where you’ve been, and only half shows where you are going. That design added to the limits of visibility going forward on the 310. Finally, the upper and lower display bars on the 310 take up a lot of real estate. While the information there is useful, that’s a lot of space! On the X50v version, the same data is tucked on the sides and the upper/lower regions for display are transparent, so you can see the map underneath. Tapping the map brings up some buttons to zoom in/out and to opt for full screen map versus what you see in the picture. Zooming to full screen gives more map data, but then you don’t get the other information about destination time, speed, GPS status, etc. The buttons disappear very quickly, about 1-2 seconds, after tapping the screen so you really do need to concentrate on them when you use them. The jog wheel can also be used to change the zoom, volume and to select menu items, but it was awkward to use when the unit was in the mount.
The POI database was adequate, but it had all the typical problems: not showing locations, showing closed locations, showing inaccurate locations. Entering a contact you could only add the street, not the house number, since the software only navigates to streets and doesn’t tell you which side of the street your destination may be. Because you cannot enter a house number on the 310, when it tried to navigate to a contact point that was on a street longer than one block, it navigated to one end of the road. Given some roads are short, that’s close, but given some roads are very long, that’s bad. Basically, you cannot navigate to or from a contact entered on the HP 310. I can’t say about synchronized contacts, as I didn’t synchronize any into the 310, but given the fact that it doesn’t seem to store house numbers, I suspect you cannot use contacts for navigation, only for controlling your Bluetooth phone.
Now, I do have to say that my X50v is running Andy’s 8.1 skin from PDA Mill but even so, the 310 has a lot fewer options than the base Nav’n’Go software started with (see my review of OCN6 here to see what the 310 could have been). Because you cannot add any third party software, you cannot use any of the screen themes or skins that other Nav’n’Go users can get from that PDA Mill website. What you get with the HP 310 is a so-so navigation system, bundled with a ho-hum media player and Bluetooth phone manager with a beautiful case and screen.
The HP website also has severe limitations. I thought I’d start with a route I travel often—Fairfax, Virginia to Fort Mill, SC. If you want to plan a route there, you get this screen:
I didn’t want to go from Washington to Charlotte, but I couldn’t select Fort Mill, SC or Fairfax, VA as destination or start point. There are limited numbers of cities you can pick, and it doesn’t accept any street names at all. The system requires that you enter the date of the trip (I have no idea why they need that) and the duration of the trip (limited to 7 days, again I have no idea why) and only if it has ALL of that information will it plan. You can download the plan to the 310 by connecting the 310 to your PC and using the HP interface software on the CDROM to transfer the map. You cannot see the route itself on the HP website, and curiously, the maps it uses to show the endpoint of the route were GoogleMaps. After the experience, I wasn’t sure what the point of the website was at all. Not very useful and strangely built.
Speaking of the CDROM, that was a waste of time. All that is on it is the software to connect to HP’s website. You have to download everything from there to connect to the 310 from the PC. What you get is a crippled version of software to sync to the 310, but all it can do is transfer contacts from Outlook and the things you get from the HP website.
The battery is 1700 mAh, but it died on me after about 3 hours of use. It then took over 20 hours to re-charge, and at the end when I disconnected it from the charger it soft reset. In fact, the unit soft resets just about any time you do anything to it—charge it, connect it to the PC, sync contacts, etc. It even insisted on soft-resetting when I tried to charge it from my laptop. I had the 310 powered off, used the USB cable to get it charging (it had gone dead on my way to work, so it needed to be charged for the trip home) and after 9 hours on the charger, it only got to 50% full. When I disconnected the cable and powered on the 310 it did a full restart, even though no data had been flowing between the laptop and the 310.
The windshield mount failed to hold to the windshield more than a few hours at a time. I cleaned the window, cleaned the suction cup and tried to get it to the flattest spot on the glass, but it would only hold about 3 hours before letting go. I eventually just left the thing in the passenger seat of the car as it was more dangerous to have it installed and falling off in busy traffic.
Final thoughts
Many years ago I was going to a formal Navy ball to which a Playboy Playmate had been invited. She was escorted by a Lieutenant who was single, along with the usual entourage from Playboy magazine. My wife, along with the other wives at the ball, was unimpressed, but the males were all fascinated by her glamour. On Monday after the ball, I talked to her escort and asked, “How was it?” His answer has stuck with me for a long time, “She was,” he said, “a pretty face but an empty head. No conversation skill, no personality, no nothing. It was a really awful time.” That kind of describes the HP 310. It’s a beautiful but empty-headed device that performs only adequately.
Pros:
- Excellent screen (800 x 480 pixels)
- Quick routing/re-routing
- Typical POI database, customizable
- Pleasant voices
Cons:
- No third party software allowed
- Some errors in the TeleAtlas database (at least in my immediate area)
- Poor battery life, long charge times
- Awkward interface with minimal options to set the software
- Windshield mount wouldn’t hold to the glass
Written by JakeRich · Filed Under GPS, HP, Mobilitysite Reviews, iPAQ
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Great Review Jake. Wish that it did a bit better for you. Was it good for a 1st try from HP?
Jack,
I completely agree with your review. I actually used the device for a couple of weeks and then just sent it back to HP because I didn’t have the time to spend fully reviewing the product when I had a ton of other things much more pressing. I did send them a long list of issues and the primary shortcomings I noticed were low volume, very short battery life (I too thought it would never charge back up), way too complicated of a menu system, tries to pack way too much into a device and doesn’t excel at anything (although the PDAmill games were fun). I admit the display is beautiful and the 3D maps are cool, but I find running TeleNav on the HTC Advantage is a MUCH better navigation option.
Oops, sorry I meant Jake and not Jack.
That was a great review. You always make reviews very clear and easy to follow. I’ll take the Playmate and use the voice functionality of the HP 310 as conversation!
A job well done, as usual, Jake. Thanks!
Chris, HP is a good company in the PDA business, but a better solution might have been to leave the functionality of Nav’n'Go as it is, write a better user guide, maybe even point to the PDAMill website and let the end users discover the power of the system. By trying to dumb it down, they ended up making it very difficult to use and not as functional as some other systems on the market.
It’s a first try, I know, so I hope they listen to the reviewers and get it right next time. It’s a shame that beautiful device isn’t better prepared for the job!
Sorry folks, but this review is completely off the mark. I’ve had a 310 for over 3 months now and I can honestly say that this is the best GPS I’ve ever owned. With more functionality and flexibility come complexity and a learning curve that might be a little steeper than other, simpler devices. But for those who are willing to take the time to learn how the 310 works, that little investment in time and patience will pay off tenfold. I only started feeling comfortable with the 310 after about a week! To some, that’s unacceptable, too complicated, they much prefer the simpler paradigm of the Garmin product line … And that’s OK - but to knock down the 310 before one even learns how to use it is a bit unfair and misleading.
Lilly-Ann, I don’t know how many GPS units you’ve owned, but I’ve had, used, tested and reviewed dozens. It’s not so much that the HP 310 is difficult to learn. Actually, I knew exactly how it worked, since I had previously reviewed OCN6, another Nav’n'Go variant. It’s that the unit is so much less than it could, and should, have been for its hardware capabilities and price point.
That said, given that you have had one for three months, are there any factual errors in the review? If so, let us know and I’ll revise the review.
Sure, Jake, here it is.
• Wrong fact #1: “The HP310 has a setting to change brightness from day to night, but none to change brightness when on battery or external power.”
Tap the speaker icon in the top right hand corner, then tap it again, and voilà – here’s your brightness control. Did you ever bother reading the manual!
• Wrong fact #2: “Navigation begins by tapping on the little house icon in the bottom right.”
Navigation begins by tapping the Navigation icon on the main screen!
• Wrong fact #3: “…Dynamic Volume on/off … In practice, I didn’t see any difference.”
If you didn’t see any difference, that must be because you didn’t have your settings right, because it does work, and it works very well, as well as my car audio system, a common feature on most recent cars.
• Wrong fact #4: “The voice was understandable, clearly pronouncing each word.”
The TTS voices on the 310, although the pronunciation might very well be fine, are much too low. This is not a hardware issue, as the speaker, albeit not the best, is adequate, but rather an issue with the voice recording per se, which hopefully can be corrected with a firmware update. HP is well aware of this issue.
• Wrong fact #5: “The sad part of this device is that although it is beautiful looking, it is severely crippled in functionality compared to the other GPS options using the Nav’n’Go software…”
I usually don’t bother responding to reviews. I am a firm believer in free speech and everyone has the right to express an opinion. But this site acts as an opinion leader, so to speak, hence the importance that the review and comments be factual. As for the subjective part of a commentary, well, to each is own – by definition, subjective comments are just that – a subjective opinion, nothing more. And that’s fine – but the factual content must be correct, otherwise it doesn’t make much sense any more, does it.
While it is true that HP simplified the Nav’ n’ Go software, in assessing what they’ve done, if one only looks for the former paradigm instead of making the paradigm shift, then of course all you’ll see is confusion … because your mind set is off to begin with. If you were to look at this objectively, you would soon come to realize that HP did a fantastic job with the GUI, which makes the 310 a charm to use – once you learn how to use it! Your example about the HP wasted screen real estate is nothing more than poppycock. When you set the 310 to full screen mode, you have the most beautiful display of any GPS devices I’ve ever seen. And for the sceptic reader, I invite you to visit your Best Buy store and see for yourself. The information at the top and bottom of the screen is not needed ON SCREEN, all the time, but it should be available when you need and it is, just with two quick taps on the screen and voilà!
This whole paragraph of yours is a comparative analysis with the X50, I don’t understand what the heck you’re talking about. With the 310, I can zoom in and out at will with the jog wheel. For heaven’s sake, I can zoom from a close-up view of my screen all the way up to the whole USA map … Of all the reviews I have read, never has anyone complained about the zooming functionality of the 310, and for just cause – there’s nothing wrong with it.
• Wrong fact #6: “The jog wheel can also be used to change the zoom, volume and to select menu items, but it was awkward to use when the unit was in the mount.”
I’ll accept this as a subjective comment because factually, there is nothing wrong with the jog wheel, which is very easy to use, whether the 310 is the mount or not.
• Wrong fact #7: “Another problem was that the HP only showed present location in the center of the screen, not at the bottom as in the original software.”
While you are factually correct here, you’re looking for the déjà vu instead of assessing the 310 on its own merit. If you were to do so, you’ll soon realize that a centre current position is preferable because if affords a better view of your surroundings as opposed to just the road ahead. As a point of reference, it like to see that , oh yes, we just past Main Street.
• Wrong fact #8: “Finally, the upper and lower display bars on the 310 take up a lot of real estate. While the information there is useful, that’s a lot of space! On the X50v version, the same data is tucked on the sides and the upper/lower regions for display are transparent, so you can see the map underneath.”
A comparative analysis still, you’re looking for the déjà vu … No one needs to see the top and bottom blue bars all the time – I navigate in full screen mode all the time and tap the screen when I want to see that information – otherwise it’s off. I don’t need the blue bars to tell me what speed (I use the speedometer) or the ETA (which I looked at when I first mapped out my route)… Just another long tirade about sweet nothing.
• Wrong fact #9: “The POI database was adequate, but it had all the typical problems…”
The POI database on the 310, with >10M records, is nothing short of spectacular – that’s fact!
• Wrong fact #10: “Entering a contact you could only add the street, not the house number, since the software only navigates to streets and doesn’t tell you which side of the street your destination may be. Because you cannot enter a house number on the 310 …”
This is so, so ridiculously wrong, it’s almost unbelievable! Of course you can enter street numbers, and of course you can navigate to specific addresses, what are you talking about! Yes, the contact interface with Outlook is problematic, and many of the contacts are not immediately navigatable – you need to tweak them. But when you say that when entering a contact, you can only add the street, not the house number … this is factually wrong. Just another long tirade for sweet nothing.
• Wrong fact #11: Now, I do have to say that my X50v is running Andy’s 8.1 skin from PDA Mill but even so, the 310 has a lot fewer options than the base Nav’n’Go software started with (see my review of OCN6 here to see what the 310 could have been). Because you cannot add any third party software, you cannot use any of the screen themes or skins that other Nav’n’Go users can get from that PDA Mill website. What you get with the HP 310 is a so-so navigation system, bundled with a ho-hum media player and Bluetooth phone manager with a beautiful case and screen.”
The HP 310 was never marketed as a Pocket PC with navigation software tacked on, but rather as a stand-along GPS device. Just another long tirade about sween nothing … you’re looking for things in the 310 that it was meant for. This is not a pocket PC, it is a GPS device – end of story.
• Wrong fact #12: “The battery is 1700 mAh, but it died on me after about 3 hours of use. It then took over 20 hours to re-charge.”
Now, in all those other GPS devices that you’ve tested in your vast and ample experience, have you ever come across a battery that takes that long to charge? HP, one of the largest High-Tech companies in the world, would be so incompetent as to source such a low-end defective battery in their brand new flagship GPS device? Has it occurred to you that perhaps, your device was defective, or that maybe it wasn’t plugged in properly …whatever, but that there was obviously a problem there? It took 20 minutes to charge my 310 – that’s fact! A nearly completely discharged battery took 4 hours to recharge. That’s fact and a situation that most users would never encounter as most people use their GPS connected to a power source as opposed to running it on battery power. That’s also fact!
• Wrong fact #13: “I had the 310 powered off, used the USB cable to get it charging (it had gone dead on my way to work, so it needed to be charged for the trip home) and after 9 hours on the charger, it only got to 50% full.”
I bet you had it connected to a USB port on your PC, didn’t you! Had you connected it to an AC outlet, you have been able to recharge in 2-4 hours, as clearly spelled out in the manual – Page8. Another long tirade for sweet nothing! Did you ever bother reading the manual … or just counted on that vast experience of yours!
• Wrong fact #14: “Speaking of the CDROM, that was a waste of time. All that is on it is the software to connect to HP’s website.”
You’re so negative… it’s not a waste time at all. You need it to install the software on your computer for synching with Outlook, get map and software updates from the HP web site, etc. Yes, there is a problem with the synchronization with Outlook which will no doubt be rectified in the first firmware update. But to say that it’s a waste time, no, it’s not, the CD-ROM does what it was meant to do, and that’s fact!
• Wrong fact #15: “The battery is 1700 mAh, but it died on me after about 3 hours of use. It then took over 20 hours to re-charge…”
If you were connected to an AC outlet as opposed to a USB port on your computer, then there’s something wrong with the charging circuit on your device – no 1700 mAh battery should take that long to charge, you know that, I know that, so it should have come obvious to you that there was something wrong. As I said earlier, a nearly completely discharged battery took me just about 4 hours to get a full charge back. And that’s fact!
• Wrong fact #16: “The windshield mount failed to hold to the windshield more than a few hours at a time. I cleaned the window, cleaned the suction cup and tried to get it to the flattest spot on the glass, but it would only hold about 3 hours before letting go. I eventually just left the thing in the passenger seat of the car as it was more dangerous to have it installed and falling off in busy traffic. “
I stuck mine once, that’s about three months ago and it never moved! So it’s one of two things – your windshield glass is dirty or your suction cup is defective.
• Juvenile Fact #17: Your final thoughts!
I think you can do better than that – that’s a pretty idiotic analogy.
Now, here are some additional facts that your review could have included but left out, be it purposely or otherwise.
• The HP 310 comes with the best CPU/Chipset available in the industry – the SiRF Titan chipset. Consider this:
o RISC Core:
Up to 600 MHz ARM1136EJ1
Up to 600 MHz integrated vector floating point unit for 3D acceleration
128 KB level 2 cache
o DSP core:
50-300 MHz enhanced DSP for video and GPS
Full DMA support
Direct control to UART, USP, GPIO, and other peripheral interfaces
o Advanced Autonomous GPS:
40+ channels
Up to -166 dBm sensitivity
Up to 2,000,000 effective correlators
With InstanFix technology and up to 2,000,000 correlators, the 310’s performance in terms of signal acquisition and its ability to maintain the signal even under the most adverse conditions is unmatched.
• The display on the 310 is absolutely superb, no other device on the market come anywhere close to it. Again, for the sceptic, visit your local Best Buy store and see for yourself!
Any way, there is so much more I’d like to add to this, but I think this is sufficient food for thought for now. Note that I have no affiliation whatsoever to HP. I own a 310, I have had it since mid December, and I love it. Here is a list of devices that I’ve owned in the past:
Garmin – 200, 250, 350, 260
TomTom – ONE, Go720
I think the 310 is a very very nice device, with a very unique feature set that sets it apart from its competition. If you read user reviews on CNET, Amazon and other sites, you’ll see that some hate it while other love it, and that’s OK. What I didn’t like about your review is your last ‘final thoughts’ comment; and that it was factually wrong in so many respects. I could go on and on but I’m running out of time.
My final thoughts - this is the best GPS I’ve ever had!
Have a nice day.
Regarding Wrong Fact #7 : You say: “Another problem was that the HP only showed present location in the center of the screen, not at the bottom as in the original software. That means that half of the display is showing where you’ve been, and only half shows where you are going.”
Let share a little secret with you, just between us girls, OK: You were driving in 2D mode! Had you been driving in 3D mode, the preferred mode for driving, and referred to as the ‘cockpit view in the manual’, your current position would have been shown at the bottom of your screen…
I think the 310 is a very nice device indeed, but one must at least read the manual and familiarize himself/herselft with it before dismissing it. In this case, given all that I have found wrong with the review, I don’t think you spent enough time with the device, and I don’t think you read the manual either; because if you did, I think your findings would have been much different.
The 310 is far from perfect, it has some major flaws. The TTS voices are much too low, the synchronization with Outlook is problematic, imported contacts are not navigatable unless you tweak them one by one … There are a few more things, nothing that can’t be fixed with a firmware upgrade. But by and large, this is a fantastic device.
Bye for now. Like Arnold, I’ll be back! For, got to run!
Lilly-Ann, thank you for posting your thoughts. I’ll ignore the snide comments about my juvenile humor, ability to read and so forth and concentrate on your so-called-facts. Normally, I like to embed comments to which I am responding, but your post was so long that if I did that, this post would be way over the top, so I’ll refer to your issues by number.
Issue #1 Yes, I read the pitiful document they provided as a manual. The bottom line is that there is no separate brightness setting for battery and external power. They did provide a function whereby you could set day and night brightness settings that change automatically, but no such function could be set for battery/external power. Yes, you can do the tappity-tappity you mentioned, but that is dangerous when driving. I don’t think it is acceptable for a GPS unit to require you to take your hands off the wheel to make a change. In the native Nav’n’Go software there is a more complete set of options for managing the backlight. There is no reason for HP to have dumbed it down.
Issue #2 This is hair-splitting. If you want to be pedantic about it, navigation begins by pressing the on/off button. THEN you can tap the Navigation Icon on the main screen to get to the map display. From the map display, you commence planning by tapping the little house to get to the navigation menu. I figured most folks would know the first two steps and would want to start navigation from the map screen. And from there, you tap the little house icon.
Issue #3 I stand by my statement. It was factual. I saw no difference. I’m happy you think it’s working for you. In my car, there was no perceptible volume increase as I went above the threshold I had set.
Issue #4 Not sure why you took exception to the words in the review, I was actually nicer to HP than you were, but in any event, for me the voice was understandable, clearly pronouncing each word, and the volume was sufficient for my car at all speeds and road conditions. I never had any issue with the voices at all, so I don’t know what the “issue” of which HP is well aware might be. I never missed a prompt because of the voice being either too low or indistinct. And as a text-to-speech the voice is actually pleasant. Most TTS systems are robotic, but the 310 is pleasant. Of course, I don’t usually have heavy–metal music blasting out of the car audio system either, so someone else may have a different experience with the audibility. Or need to get their ears checked.
Issue #5 I stand by my original assessment. Unlike you, I have used and enjoyed the fully functional Nav’n’Go system and I know what HP has needlessly removed. I gather from your comment you have not, so you don’t know what you are missing. It is a waste of screen real estate to have those broad bands at the top and bottom and for them to be opaque. They could have been much thinner, or transparent, or put on the sides of the display instead of the top and bottom. When I navigate, I want to see more of where I am going, and less of where I have been. I know where I have been, I don’t need half the display showing that. I actually usually prefer portrait mode so that I don’t waste the space to the side of me, either, but if the zoom function is flexible enough, that’s not as critical. On the HP, if the location were down the screen, with ¾ of the screen showing where I am going, I would be able to see the next maneuver more clearly sooner, see the upcoming roads and intersections and in general be able to navigate more easily. I only used the X50 for a demonstration of what Nav’n’Go can do in the hands of capable vendors, and didn’t intend to compare to the 310 as a PDA. If I had, the HP is a clear loser, but then, it’s not designed to be a PDA!
The X50 screen is physically smaller than the 310, has lower resolution than the 310, and yet you can see from the picture that on the X50 screen there is more of the upcoming real estate visible. To make the comparison fair, I left the top and bottom bars on the 310 visible because on the X50’s smaller screen the data is clearly visible yet I still see further down the road. If I had gone to full screen, there is slightly more road visible ahead of me (and, uselessly enough, behind me) but then I don’t have the data showing. Yes, I can tappity-tap to get it to display, but again, I’m taking my hands off the wheel to do so. In the review I didn’t say much about zooming except that on the 310 I wasn’t able to see as far down the road because of the smaller number of menu options HP left in from the original Nav’n’Go software. You CAN use the jog wheel to zoom, and I mentioned that, but again, you have to take your hand off the wheel to do so. You even conceded that I had mentioned the jog wheel in your next statement.
Issue #6 To be more specific, I originally mounted the 310 toward the center of my car just to the right of the steering wheel. The jog wheel is on the upper right corner of the unit. In the center of my car I had to extend my arm quite a ways to the side to get to the jog wheel. I moved the unit to the left of the steering wheel, but in that location, although closer, it felt too close to the steering wheel for safety. If I moved it further to the left, looking at it required more of an eye movement and longer time not looking at the road, which to me is more dangerous. Again, I am generally opposed to having to take hands off the wheel to make adjustments when I know the software, in its original state, has functionality to make that unnecessary. In the UK, of course, the situation is reversed and with the unit in the centre (good British spelling) of the car, the jog wheel is closer to the driver and the whole situation improves. You still have to remove your hand from the steering wheel to use the jog wheel, but at least it is close at hand.
Issue #7 I stand by my statement. A center current position is never preferable to me because it always shows too much behind me and too little ahead of me. I want to know where I am going, not where I have been. If you want to have it in the center, you can do that with the native software, but if you want it at the bottom, you cannot do that in the 310. Again, they removed the wrong thing and configured it poorly. By the way, I’ve been consistent in the 20 or so reviews of GPS I have authored in this subject. Present position in the center is always less desirable than at the bottom of the display. To respond to your second post, I was in 3D (Cockpit mode) when I tried it, and it was still in the middle. I just downloaded the user manual from HP to check and there was no direction given to show how to move the present position from that center location. What is interesting is that in the real Nav’n'Go there is both a 3D map AND a true Cockpit display. In the former, the position is in the middle, but in the latter, the position is as shown in the image in the review for the X50v version, toward the bottom. It is apparent that you have not read the manual. On page 57 it says,
As you can see, the display is tilted in the picture provided, so I was, in fact, in 3D mode.
Issue #8 I won’t comment on the personal attack about a tirade, but again, full screen is not a apples-to-apples comparison of the two displays. Yes, in full screen you have a little more data, but never as much as in the original software, even without the added functionality of Andy’s skin. On the original software, I have all of the data, without tapping, AND I can see farther down the road. Game, set, match, to the original softwares.
Issue #9 Within five miles of my house:
1. One POI for a restaurant was in a residential area, no restaurant in sight. (The address for the POI was the home address for the owner, not the restaurant itself.)
2. One POI wasn’t there. Period. Never was there. Just wrong.
3. One POI was closed for business.
4. One POI was changed from one chain to another (two years ago).
5. Several POI that existed were not there (about 20) in a shopping center that has been there a five years or more.
That’s fact. I leave it to the reader to decide if that is, to use your term “spectacular.” But to absolve HP somewhat, the problems with POI are not solvable by ANY software because the databases they use are inaccurate. I didn’t say that only HP suffers from this problem, I did say it was “typical” of the POI dilemma. It’s a hollow claim that “more is better” in the POI area. I’d rather have 5 million trustworthy POI than 10 Million unreliable ones.
Issue #10 Please read carefully what I said. One can enter an address, with number, for navigation, but when I entered a contact directly into the 310, it didn’t ask for or allow street number, just the street name. And when I used that contact for navigation, it went to one end of the street about a mile from the actual address. As I said, I didn’t try syncing from Outlook for contacts, so it is entirely possible that if you enter the number in Outlook, it somehow appears in the contacts list on the 310, but a direct entry into contacts on the 310 will not have a street number because it never asks for it.
Issue #11 There are some places on the web where you can find out how to hack into the Windows CE (not Windows Mobile) software on the 310 and install other products, but I didn’t mention that because HP doesn’t market the 310 as a PDA, just a GPS. What I was trying to point out was that despite the fact it runs WindowsCE 5.0, you cannot get to that interface to use this beautiful device for anything but what it is, a so-so GPS navigation system with games, phone manager and media player. I wasn’t looking for to be a PDA, just wanted readers to know it’s not there (unless you hack it).
Issue #12 In my “vast” experience with rechargeable devices in general I’ve never seen a device take so long to charge. The twenty hours to charge was on the mains power supply, not my laptop. On my laptop USB port it took 9 hours to charge to 50%, but on the mains it still took 20 hours to charge. I’m not the only reviewer to have battery charge problems, by the way. Chris mentioned it in his unboxing and several other reviewers on the web have commented on the poor battery life and long charge times. If you have not experienced it, count yourself lucky.
Issue #13 As I said, it took twenty hours on the wall charger. (And yes I did read the manual. It was less than helpful in this area as well. It said it should take 2-3 hours powered off to charge, 8-10 powered on, but never said that charging from a USB port was slower than charging from a wall power supply. In any event, it took 20 hours, and that’s fact. You may be more successful, in which case I’m happy for you.)
Issue #14 You are right, I was negative. But it’s because the unit was so much less than it could have been. Yes, the CDROM does what it was apparently meant to do—install a crippled sync software package and allow you to connect to the HP website. But all of that empty space on the CDROM could have been used for so much more, like a real user manual instead of the one they included.
Issue #15 Not sure why you repeated your comments on the long charging times, but once more, it was on the WALL CHARGER that took 20 hours. Unlike your experience with it, it never charged in any faster time. And since it was mentioned in other reviews and on Chris’ unboxing video, I came to the conclusion that it was functioning as HP planned, charging slowly. Maybe you got a “bad one” that is charging faster than designed? I did see that the manual makes the claim of 2-4 hours with it powered off, but it didn’t turn out that way in practice.
Issue #16 Did you not read my review? If so, you weren’t paying attention because you missed my sentence that said “I cleaned the window…” Fact is, it fell off every 3 hours or so. That’s a fact. As for blaming the issue on a defective suction cup, well, that’s a problem for HP, isn’t it?
(Juvenile) Issue #17 Sorry you don’t have a sense of humor.
Not numbered comment about facts left out: Ahem, actually I did say some of that. I cut and pasted the tech specs from the HP website, so I used what they think is important as tech specs. As for the marketing claim that the GPS receiver is “unmatched” I’d say that it is about average in sensitivity. My GlobalSat 338 and iBlue757 worked just as well as the onboard receiver in the 310. That said, the receiver in the 310 worked well, but then, I’d expect it to do so. If it hadn’t worked, I would have commented on it in the review.
Not numbered final comments: I am glad you like the 310. Compared to what you have said you have used, it is pretty good. But compared to what I have used over the last 7 years, it’s not. There are better options out there. What is sad is that the 310 could have been an absolutely fantastic device, if HP had simply left the software as it came from Nav’n’Go, if they had left the options in, if they had actually used it in practice before they released it and if they had spent any time at the multiple GPS-fanatics websites to see what users think is important. It’s obvious that they did not do their homework. I do hope they listen to the reviews and comments to see how they need to change the device to be all of what it could be. Frankly, with not much effort, they could have a fantastic device here. Just set it free, HP.
I was well intended to come back with more comments but given your response here, there no point. My intention was not to get argumentative about this but to have a healthy dialogue and hopefully set the record straight.
There was nothing snide about my comment regarding your final thoughts - it is juvenile, but that’s only my opinion, which is no better than the next person in line. But there’s nothing snide about it.
Yes, I used the word tirade … because you in fact go on and on and on about nothing … but that’s not a personal attack! How can this be a PERSONAL attack - for it to be personal, I would have to know you personnally and since I don’t, then there is NO personal attack, is there? I attacked the review, I did NOT attack you personally!
You’re correct, I haven’t had your exposure and haven’t had the opportunity to try and review so many different devices. But you have - I’ve rerad some of your reviews before. I said in my initial post that you were off the mark on this one, and I don’t think I’m wrong. Sorry if that hurts your feelings and sorry if you took some of my comments personally, but your review is off the mark.
Any way. Let’s just agree to disagree. You like the X50 and you don’t like the 310, and that’s OK. You say there’s nothing wrong with your facts, I think otherwise. If we all liked the same things in life, and were all thinking alike, life would be unbearable. I’ll let you have the last word - as for me, that’s the end of this ‘dialogue.’
Take care.
I would like to thank both jake and lillyann for their in depth review of the 310. You both made outstanding points. This is my first Nav. And I was lucky enough to get it for $199 off of amazon. I have had mine for only 3 days and I am loving it. I love the bluetooth option, works great while driving oro sitting in my house. The three routes I have programmed were dead on. The TTS volume is not loud enough, but I listen to my radio pay attention to the screen when I know I am coming close to a turn. I have not charged my unit since the initial charge three days ago. Jake and Lilly, Thanks again!!!
My IPAQ is now dead. I have only had it for a week. Doesn’t power up after a week. HP sent me a box to ship it back for review and repair. Not reliable.
testing if the name is associated to the email.
The name is not associated to the email. Anybody can can use any name and post any message. Under normal circumstances, there will be no doubt, but reading Jason Gurley’s first post, where a lot of details was provided, I am intrigued why the second post does not have info or details at all. Just wondering.
Both of his posts were posted from the same email address. I do not like the fact that we can do what you did though. I am going to look into this and see if there is something I can do. I can make it where you have to be registered to comment, but I really don’t want to do that.
I did not post the “test” message above. My second post simply states, the unit will not power up. HP did all they could for distance support, but none of the tests worked. They have sent me a box to send the unit back to their factory for review and repair. I was loving it, now I am frustrated that it just quit working.
I recently purchased the 310 never having owned one before. I read both Jake and Lilly-Ann’s comment. For starters, I could not indentify some of the problems described by Jake. I could see the beauty of 3D navigation (with on the background high-res mountains), but this could be dangerous as it takes your eyes off the road.
When one inaccuracy in a commentary is noted, unfortunately the rest must be viewed critically. Thank you, Lilly-Ann for providing your comments as it is up to the individual to verify them and to judge if this will affect your decision to keep the 310 or not. I decided to keep mine.
If you have been driving on the right side of the road as in Britain, you are obviously critical of any aspects of driving on the left side of the road. Being familiar with the many GPS’s may just provide a negative view on anything that is different from the rest you are familiar with.
Don, I’m glad you like it. I stand by my review.
BTW, I live in Virgina, not UK.
Jake,
I think you were too sensitive about your review. I can see that you gave your sincere opinion, but you should take the opposing point of view in the spirit in which it was given. I have an HP to go with a TomTom and I agree with Lilly-Ann on most points. I also agree with some of your criticisms of the unit, as it does have some software flaws, but most can be easily remedied.
HP had cut out the Pedestrian mode and carpool lane functions, I have found simple hacks on line to restore them and they work. Same for overspeed warnings.
You had said you cant ad 2rd party software, but this is not true. I have added Windows Total Commander CE (CECMD) and used this to add TCPMP (media player) in the Games Folder, all of which are freeware. I have seen one poster use a Pretec card and get WIFI to work and he added document readers and large keyboards. Anybody can add 3rd party programs in the Games Folder, and some even launch CECMD from the SD card after a reboot and run other navigation software, for example, OziExplorer CE.
The 2 glaring flaws that are not fully user addressable are the on/off button logic and the low volume of the TTS. The volume can be improved a bit with a software hack, but the better solution may with HP upgrading the voice quality to the higher frequencies used by the likes of TomTom. I saw this online:
“high-quality TTS voices that were adapted from TomTom v7. I believe they are 32kHz version which is better the 11.6kHz version that comes with iGo8.”
On another point, the early production models with model number F86…. were flawed and withdrawn. They were replaced by the much better F97…. series which had way less issues.HP did a software upgrade in Dec. that helped a bit as well.
Here is my listr of recommendations to HP to make this unit a slam dunk winner:
1) Fix the on/off logic
2) Make other maps available
3) Make TMC traffic available in the US
4) Restore original iGo functionality like PED routing, Carpool lane routing, etc.
5)Increase TTS volume/quality
6)Make the factory default Restore pack available (so modders can fix any screw-ups and they can lower their cust service costs. (actually, now that I have discovered how to enter Engineering mode, I can do a restore to factory default myself, but it is a risky procedure).
Please take this in the friendly spirit in which it is given.
Infama, thanks for the post. When I review a unit, I review it for what it sold to be. In this case, the 310 is advertised and sold as an All-In-One GPS unit. Yes, there are hacks available in the Internet to do stuff like add third party software to the unit, but to the typical GPS user, those hacks may be intimidating. My point is that HP could have made it easier, but chose not to. They could have done a lot of things, including just leaving the software as the developer developed it, but they chose not to. Your fix-it point 4 gets at part of the problem, but until and unless they decide to make it easy to add third party software, that isn’t really a feature of the unit. Frankly, if they adopt your fix-it point 4 and just put the original software on the system it will be a significant improvement. The original iGo software is much better than this dumbed down version.
Jake,
Thanks for the reply. I hear what you say, but I need to clarify one point. Before this, i have never used Windows CE, so I am no expert, yet I was able with tips on line to do all that. I am no computer expert, but I can potter around.
I had never used iGo befor, so i cant comment. However, the H runs a modified version of iGo2008 and that is NOT YET commercially available. Perhaps in your position, you had demo versions to play with though…
I find the array of options staggering on this machine. i basically can do just about ANYTHING the competitors can do. I can only think of 3 functions missing that other available offerings can do at present, Reality View, Lane assistant and selective named route exclusion. The HP does routes exclusion by distance only. Every other cutting edge function exists like, Where am I? ..a la Garmin, screen lock, disable snap to road, 3D mapping, contour mapping, tracklog, GPS accuracy readout, user changable battery, 3d party application loading in the Games folder, 2 Games in he stock unit, elevation readout, destination side of road readout, auto time zone switch, GPS AUTONOMY (extremely fast fix), 2 million effective GPS correlators!!!, satellite graphics screen, auto day/night switching, etc, etc etc.
This unit has it all, and can still be improved. SCARY!
Infama,
I bought the unit for exactly the same reasons you do - flexibility. I will putter around with WinCE. As I indicated I see all I needed to have from a navigator.
The elevation of where you are at is indeed something that I appreciate, working on the hill top here in Burnaby - confirmed at 310 m.
Other problems I read was the small screen as the screen buttons take up so much of the screen. By the touch of the screen you have a full screen without screen buttons. Neat!
I am still amazed at the superb 3D mapping with the sharp mountains on the background - exactly as I see through my windshield. It think you called it contour mapping.
One thing I am still trying to do is how to effectively cancel a trip to a certain destination. I am sure you could do it easily somehow.
You are way ahead of me in exploring this jewel.
Don,
To cancel route, depress the scroll wheel on the right side of the unit and that will bring up the option in a small window.
Great info can be found on the forum at http://www.gpsreview.net (as well as a useful review) and also at this section of the gpspassion site:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=71
General info:
Ipaq 310/314/316 firmware update for North America will be on the server to download this week, the versions for Europe early next week. Both via content manager tool that you download from http://www.ipaq.com.
Not sure about 312.
infama, I read your review. I am glad you liked it so much.
I still stand by my review.
Jake, no problem,
I understand views will differ, as well as needs. For me, its an amazing combo that pushes the envelope of available GPS technology. It may not be right for everyone, but it is a hit for the target market at unbeatble price!
One thing I dont understand in your review. You say the PIO database is adequate and that all GPS suffer from this due to the source databases. If that is so, then logically more MUST be better, no? 12m out of a possible 25m is by far the most anyone offers. There is no 5m database that is of a higher quality, so by definition, the HP must be the best on offer.
BTW,
The HP is back down to $199 plus shipping at Amazon (via FactoryDirect).
infama, in the case of POI my experience is that more is definitely NOT better. The problem is that the sources used for POI just aren’t that good, and adding more data means that it is more likely you will see more bad data because to increase the POI count the vendors have to include databases of lesser validity. By bad data I mean things like closed locations, changed locations, etc. None of the vendors actually check the POI data, they simply don’t have time/resources to do so. As I said in one of my replies above:
[quote]Within five miles of my house:
1. One POI for a restaurant was in a residential area, no restaurant in sight. (The address for the POI was the home address for the owner, not the restaurant itself.)
2. One POI wasn’t there. Period. Never was there. Just wrong.
3. One POI was closed for business.
4. One POI was changed from one chain to another (two years ago).
5. Several POI that existed were not there (about 20) in a shopping center that has been there a five years or more.[/quote]
The problem is not quantity, it is quality. And as I said to add more POI to the database the vendors have to add more sources, which introduces more errors and inaccurate data. As I said, it’s not unique to HP, it’s endemic to the situation. And by adding more POI entries, the search system slows down, and the likelihood of me selecting one of the bogus results in an unfamiliar area goes up because there are more of them to choose from.
MORE is NOT better. It’s just more.
The above is a subjective issue. All POI’s are not verified, etc.
This should not have been mentioned together with the comments about the iPAQ 310. What I rather see is: my Garmin ABC tells me to turn left on a one-way street going right, whereas the Mio XYZ doesn’t. This is endemic to the GPS’s except for the Mio XYZ; therefore, the Mio XYZ is superior to the Garmin ABC.
Infama, there is no point in further analyzing Jake’s comments, nor to have him agree that his review is flawed based on inadequate knowledge of the iPAQ. He is standing by his comments rightfully or wrongfully. As Lilly-Ann mentioned this is not a criticism on Jake as a person, but on his review.
Good discussion on reviews here! Don, the challenge for reviewers is that EVERY system has errors, so a reviewer can always find a case where System X says “right” and System Y says “left.” For me, as long as the errors are not egregious, I tend to let them not make a difference. What I look for is overall usefulness, ease of use and fit to the task. Admittedly, those factors are all subjective, which is why I try to describe WHY my comments are made. By providing that information, I try to let the reader make an informed decision. If what I don’t like doesn’t matter and what I do like sounds good, buy it! On the other hand, if you read and agree that what bugged me would bug you, then keep looking for a better solution. If you test a unit and observe something different, or you can figure out how to change what I observed, post it and I’ll acknowledge your discovery.
What’s interesting is that infama is actually in more agreement with me than he thinks. My strongest criticism of the 310 is that it could have been so much more than it is. In one of his posts infama said
Ok I give up on the HTML tags! What I was trying to say was that in one of his posts infama said, “4) Restore original iGo functionality like PED routing, Carpool lane routing, etc.” That was my point. Just restore iGO to what it can be and the 310 gets a lot better.
But Jake,
This is why the target audience matters! I have on my own restored those functions!
I was only asking HP to do so for the sake of people who are more intimidated to do it on their own and also to give HP an improved stock feature set that can help them in better marketing the product.
Based on the reliable feedback I have received, the imminent firmware update will address many of my requests about…though I have no details.
Will you do an edit/update to your review if HP makes the changes I set out below?
1) Fix the on/off logic ___YES, this week
2) Make other maps available ____YES in 2-3weeks
3) Make TMC traffic available in the US__Yes, in 3 months
4) Restore original iGo functionality like PED routing, Carpool lane routing, etc. _____Yes, this week
5)Increase TTS volume/quality_____Done in Dec, Improved this week (release of full TTS version 2)
6)Make the factory default Restore pack available (so modders can fix any screw-ups and they can lower their cust service costs. (actually, now that I have discovered how to enter Engineering mode, I can do a restore to factory default myself, but it is a risky procedure). ________Yes, in a month or 2.
This list may be optimistic in parts, but is still realistic. I am pretty confident about 2,4,5 and 6, but am really hopeful about point 1!
I can’t do an update/edit to the review because I no longer have the review unit. It was returned at the end of the review period. If HP (or any vendor) wants me to review an updated unit and provides one for review, I’d be happy to do a new review of that unit. To the extent it addresses my concerns, the new review would point out the changes. I’ve done that before in reviews for MobilitySite/Aximsite. For now, the review stands.
On your comment about target audience, again you and I agree. The target audience of that unit is the buyer of an All-In-One GPS unit, not a hacker or PDA user. Even a simple “hack” that you feel comfortable with is not appropriate for a first-time GPS buyer with no PDA experience.
What I think HP should have done, as I have said in the review and in several posts since, is simply let iGO work as it does out of the box, give the system a true sync/install process so that end users could more easily install additional games, etc, and use all that beautiful display and power.
We agree on some points for sure.
The target is mass market, but HP has not marketed it as an all in one. It is position as a pure PNA (GPS unit). Retailers like Amazon try to pass it off as PDA, all in one.
HP could not have done what you said with iGo, because iGo is 1 year late, still not launched yet! Additionally, HP and Mio wanted a leg up on the competition and had thei own modified versions commissioned. Perhaps not all of the iGo bugs were worked out last October! This is why firmware updates are lsowing trickling out now.
HP is probably swamped with development on the recovery pack, trip planner, SD card maps (iGo dependent, so they have to wait for the iGo8 launch), nav. software tweaks, sync software update, on-off switch correction, TTS volume, MC traffic, etc, etc
Kudos to them for getting the hardware near-perfect from day 1, and for delivering adequate software. From now on, I expect to see steady and significant improvements, because this hardware platform is so advanced, that it will be ahead of the pack for another 6 months and competitive for at least another year. As it is, the unit is very usable, despite minor quibbles.
I think this machine will be developed into “being all it can be”. For only $200, I am gladly in for the ride.
Cheers
When I say “All in one” I am using that in the context of GPS units, where AIO means a single unit in which the maps, software and receiver all all combined into one unit. By that definition, the HP 310 is an All-In-One GPS unit, competing with other AIOs from Garmin, Magellan, etc. It does have some bells’n'whistles that other AIOs don’t, like the games and multimedia, but it’s NOT advertised as a PDA by HP. So, I reviewed it as an AIO by the GPS definition. If they try to say it’s a PDA, my unhappiness goes way up because of the fact that hacks are required to do anything with it as a PDA.
As for iGo being a year late, I’m not sure what you are referring to. I have had OnCourseNavigator 6 (iGO rebranded) for almost a year now. It’s not version 8, but nothing keeps HP from using it if they choose to do so. If what they are peddling as production is really beta version 8, then they ought to say so.
Here’s the link to nav’n'go where you can see that version 2006 is still available and they talk about iGo8.
http://navngo.com/pages/global/eng/igo_8_description
$200? That must be the employee discount price! ;-)
$200 is the Amazon price. Go there now and you will see for yourself. It is now via Factory Direct, but Amazon itsef has run $199 specials since Jan…normally on Fridays. I bought mine early Feb, and I already have a TT920! BTW, unless things have changed since my time, employee discount prices are never as good as commercial discounts!
I Left HP 7 years ago when Carly did the crazy merger! Indeed, the few contacts I have left there know nothing about the machine. Even the sales people for Supplies are clueless. I am no HP shill, as half of the company is Compaq and I have never liked anything from Compaq in the past. indeed, iPaq is a Compaq brand name!
iGo8 is what I am talking about . iGo6 is old stuff and HP clearly wanted to go cutting edge. It is not beta at all, it is a cut down version running on Win CE, just like for Mio in their 620! NavnGo is making iGo8 versions for Windows MOBILE, so there is no direct competition. iGo* was originally planned for release last year at this time. As you can