[ampere]

Originally Posted by jassi

check the screen size and quality as well as other features on this
Sony Ericsson

The screen does look good ! Most of these phones I must say have come up with iPhone like screen (Not comparing them to iPhone though).

But then you pay 30K for that phone right? One can make his/her setup at a much cheaper option. Max 10K for a decent GPS + 6-10K for decent phone. Though they will be two separate gadgets to be maintained. To me that works perfectly well, as I do not need my GPS all the time for daily commute or shopping or going around the city. Only when on travel, I take my GPS along.

That is why I was looking for cheapest GPS on a phone, which would serve me for personal navigation and not automotive navigation.
Nokia 5230 for example contains a GPS for 8K. One can also load MMI for 2.5K and that should work well. You also don't need to bother for a screen size in this case, as its more of a personal navigation.

[jassi]

^^ well my aim is to replace a camera and a camcorder with above xperia x10 - may not work for others though who prefer to lug around a professional camera and a camcorder (along with phone and gps) around the necks for vacations.
Anyways as long as it works to each their own :-)

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

they will co-ordinate with the mfgr/seller and get the replacement/fix etc. But what happens if 20NORTH itself goes 420SOUTH

right sanjay, that is thought that was pondering me, i had a feel of MMI ZX150 yesterday and found that not upto the mark,
the build quality is not that great,
suggestion for satguide MOOV 560, its a 4.7" screen, a MIO make,

[sanjayc]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

right sanjay, that is thought that was pondering me, i had a feel of MMI ZX150 yesterday and found that not upto the mark,
the build quality is not that great,
suggestion for satguide MOOV 560, its a 4.7" screen, a MIO make,

Ruchir,

Are you talking about this SatGuide Moov 560, SatGuide

The specs are not great. For appx 16K, you are getting 64MB built-in RAM, Win CE 5.0, 400 Mhz Processor, and 480x272 pixels screen resolution, battery backup of 2 hrs. No doubt these are one of those Chinese - no brand devices, which will actually cost <6K.
While for navigation it should suffice, but for video playing, it will be lousy.
Bluetooth handsfree needs to be tested.

If I were in your position, let me see what I will do:

In my car, when I am travelling this is what I need:
- Navigation Device (15K)
- LCD screen for watching videos (8K)
- Portable Music player like iPod Touch where I can store all my multimedia (15K)
- Phone (10K)
- Digital Camera (8K for min 6 Megapixels)
- Video Camcorder (min 720p/SD card capable, 25K)

Now assuming that I might already own few of the devices above but if they are >2 yrs old, I will opt for an upgrade.

Let's look at HTC HD2 smartphone which will cost about 32K. If offers
- Capacitive Touchscreen Display 480x800 resolution (better than iPhone)
- 157 grams weight with battery
- 1Ghz Snapdragon processor (fastest avlbl as of today)
- 5 megapixel camera
- Windows Mobile 6.5
- Internal GPS
After adding MMI/Satguide navigation software (2K+), this can be all-in-one device.

Another killer device is going to be Android based Sony Xperia with better hardware features than the above + 8.1 MP camera. Price expected to be in similar range. I am not yet sure if navigation software will be avlbl for android yet but google maps surely can be downloaded.

Not to speak of Window Phone 7 series being launched by Oct this year.

Mind you, standalone navigation devices are going to be dead in a couple of years time. Both Google/Nokia are offering free turn-by-turn navigation software as of today.

With a touchscreen based Windows smartphone or iPhone or Android phone, you have best possible phone, navigation, music+video player, still photo capture. You might have some compromise on the video recording quality but otherwise for appx 35K, you have complete ICE in your pocket.

[ruchirtnt]

Dear Sanjay, it is not a chinese make, it is device of MIO which are quite good GPS makers

[sanjayc]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

Dear Sanjay, it is not a chinese make, it is device of MIO which are quite good GPS makers

Have you seen it yourself? There is no mention as such on the Satguide website.

MIO or not, a resolution of 400x272 and 400 Mhz process will not be suitable for video viewing. As mentioned already, purely for GPS navigation capability, it should be fine.

EDIT: Ok from the device image, I can see it is MIO brand printed.

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Have you seen it yourself? There is no mention as such on the Satguide website.

i have requested for a Demo, and technically this device has a resolution: 480 x 272 pixels (WQVGA, and with Processor Main clock 2443-400MH
i think it is good enough for video playing.

[sanjayc]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

i have requested for a Demo, and technically this device has a resolution: 480 x 272 pixels (WQVGA, and with Processor Main clock 2443-400MH
i think it is good enough for video playing.

If you compare the hardware specs of this and VX140 is the cpu speed 400 in this compared to 372 in VX140. The resolution is the same in both. In fact 480x272 on a 3-3.5" screen may be ok but for 4.5-4.7" screen, it will look pixellated, if seen from a near distance - that crispness will not be there. Further, the thing which is not advertised is the color reproduction - if it is anything less than 65K colors, viewing photo/video will be useless. If your primary concern is video, there is no way such PNDs can give you satisfaction, becos of technical limitations. Unless you want to view videos recorded on 1.3 megapixels mobiles.

With the 7" which I purchased (equipped with Samsung processor 400 Mhz), video playing is smooth only if you convert a DVD-quality video to a PSP/IPOD quality video and that too save the video in Mpeg/2 format (less compression)..if divx/xvid format (which is high compression), these low speed processors just are not able to cope up.

But anyway, just check the demo and let's know the feedback. Do you have a SD card ready with sample video files to check?

[ruchirtnt]

in that case, i am thinking of going only for a GPS system, MMI has launched a new road pilot GPS @8000 only so it will be a better bet, as it is cheaper also and works for navigation only , i can do away with video play and bluetooth and for that i will buy a different gadget someday

[sanjayc]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

in that case, i am thinking of going only for a GPS system, MMI has launched a new road pilot GPS @8000 only so it will be a better bet, as it is cheaper also and works for navigation only , i can do away with video play and bluetooth and for that i will buy a different gadget someday

Now that video is out of the way.

But don't you have a Nokia mobile. Does it have GPS? If yes, you can use the free Nokia/Oi navigation software. In case the maps are not avlbl for your city, then just buy the MMI/Satguide navigation software for Symbian OS for appx 2K and load onto your mobile - it will be as good as the PND, if not better!

Which Nokia do you have?

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Which Nokia do you have?

your advice of video quality is right, i cannot club two pleasures togther, LOL
Business and pleasure cannot be mixed together,

i have a E71 with only 2.4" screen so that is why looking for a dedicated GPS for usage and making my car different from the regular lot.

[shamanth]

I have experienced this issue in MMI, When i search for small villages in find places, it shows place not found. But when i browse through the map and see, the same Village is in the map, and i can click on it and Navigate to that village.

This shows that even though maps has 1000's of places marked, the search don't recognize these places exists. Any of you guys also facing same issue? Is satnav better in this search feature?

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by shamanth

I have experienced this issue in MMI, When i search for small villages in find places, it shows place not found.

@shamanth, how is the video play of your device, if it is good enough i will go for VX140 than LX130

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

@shamanth, how is the video play of your device, if it is good enough i will go for VX140 than LX130

Video quality is nice and crispy, there is no pixel getting struck or anything, VX140 plays any .AVI video files.

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by shamanth

Video quality is nice and crispy, there is no pixel getting struck or anything, VX140 plays any .AVI video files.

i suppose same clarity could also be observed in LX130 as well, and how about installing windshield mount when my windscreen has a Sun film, will it not effect the sunfilm