Smartphone/PDA/GPS

[Brian McVickers]

I'm thinking of getting one of those fancy smartphone phone/PDA combos for work. Then I was thinking of how cool it would be to be able to have topo maps on it as well along with a GPS turn by turn type mapping ability.

Can any of you point me in the right direction?

Thanks!:bowdown:

 

[flyingwil]

Your right up my alley now. I use a PDA for my GPS, and do not own a GPS only unit!

I have a Dell Axim X30H Paired a Bluetooth GPS.

The above photo is my PDA running OnCourse Navigator, which will automatically direct you to your destination along with voice prompts. This Program is great for street navigation, and also has some trails, but is comparable to the new Garmin Nuvi (?).

Depending on what you want to do with it I recommend OutDoor Navigator, and Ozi Explorer, and Mapopolis

Now, when it comes to the GPS, you'll have two choices: Wired or Bluetooth.
I opted for the bluetooth, so I could shove it in my pocket during a hike, and have GPS. The battery life of the GPS can far out do my PDA.

When Looking for your new phone look into the expansion slots... If you want a wired GPS, make sure the memory slot is not a SD and look for CF slot. Another wise move is to make sure the slot is the same as your Camera, that way you can look and send pictures via your phone.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Brian McVickers]

Thanks Wil
Great info
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I figure this out!

 

[+ d]

Wil, I'm wondering why you didn't go with one of the Garmin iQue Pda's with the built in GPS? I've been looking at those units for myself for a while. Just wondering if there was something that turned you off to them? or if there is an advantage to your setup.

I just noticed the Mobile 20 on the Garmin website, which appears to be a Smartphone cradle with GPS capabilities...interesting, might be what mcvick is looking for.

So, there are PDA's with phone capabilities and PDA's with GPS capabilities but as far as i know none with both right? Seems like its just a matter of time. But for now if we want phone+gps we are going that have 2 separate devices...its just a question of which one has the PDA integrated.

What i personally wouldn't want is to have the GPS capabilities bound to your vehicle and the iQue's appear to allow more mobility, especially if you're traveling on foot through the streets of Rome looking for that damn restaurant!

 

[+ d]

oops, cancel all that drivel, just make sure you get a Smartphone that this can plug into...

"The cf Que™ 1620 is a CompactFlash® GPS module with street-level, turn-by-turn navigation applications for personal digital assistants (PDAs) that operates on Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile for the Pocket PC 2003 (original and Second Edition) operating systems. This module features Garmin’s new Que technology, which delivers high-performance GPS location, mapping, and navigation capabilities to handheld devices."

 

[gcec]

I have an i-mate K-JAM, running TomTom, connected to a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Absolutely the dog's b*ll*cks.

TomTom is the best on-road navigation software I've seen in some 8 years of fiddling with this stuff; spoken directions, simple and clear maps, near real time traffic updates, speed camera locations, etc. It will run on most Palm, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile devices.

 

[flyingwil]

Wil, I'm wondering why you didn't go with one of the Garmin iQue Pda's with the built in GPS? I've been looking at those units for myself for a while. Just wondering if there was something that turned you off to them? or if there is an advantage to your setup.

David-

What turned me off was the GPS receiver. I wanted it to be mobile, and did not want the extra size of the receiver. With my set up I can use the GPS on both my PDA and my laptop, that was another plus I was looking for. Also At that time my PDA also was about 2x the speed of other PDA's offered on the market. Speed is important for the calculations needed for positioning and direction calculations.

My set up is also used when I fly. With the flight maps and the topo's and all the other maps using a GPS that uses the memory slot would decrease performance and decrease the speed. In all actuality I would have to load and unload programs to get them to work properly. That would be a pain.

I got my unit in 2004, and since technology has changed, but my system is still not outdated. Some of the newer receivers have built in memory and rids this issue, but still they can not be cross utilized with my laptop.

I picked the Rikaline receiver based upon reviews, at the time I got it, it was not offered in the US... I got it from the UK. It is a great little unit that has the longest battery life of the units offered at the time, and functionality was above par. It has been through many hard landings, bounced through severe turbulence, and fallen countless times off the dashboard with no problems.

I just want a unit that provide the largest array of uses for what I wanted all in one unit.

However now I want to up it to the next level and have a CARPC in the place of the radio... XM, GPS, MP3, Video Recording and playing all in one!

Hope that explains my thinking...

 

[flyingwil]

I have an i-mate K-JAM, running TomTom, connected to a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Absolutely the dog's b*ll*cks.

TomTom is the best on-road navigation software I've seen in some 8 years of fiddling with this stuff; spoken directions, simple and clear maps, near real time traffic updates, speed camera locations, etc. It will run on most Palm, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile devices.

Tom Tom is great for on the road! How does it work off the pavement.

 

[Brian McVickers]

There is also a company called Trimble
that has a software that you can download to just about any cell phone.
For the new phones with the GPS feature that they build in for safety (otherwise useless) the phone can now become a gps.

Not too sure on how the software works on the phones but I downloaded a trial version for my desktop and it messed up my computer! Besides that the resolution was less than impressive, who knows maybe I was using it wrong.

www.trimbleoutdoors.com