[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

I have a friend coming down middle of May from US.

I am looking to buy a GPS for around $100. As i see from the forum, Windows CE based ones would cost around that much. My questions

1. What features do i look for.
2. Where to buy ?
3. What softwares (Paid and Free) can be used on these.
4. Can I connect my Laptop/Mobile via bluetooth and use Google maps to check ?

I am confused after reading too much

I own mio c320 which is 4.3" GPS and runs windows CE 5.0
answer to your queries
1. All win CE GPS systems are similar with few differences like screen size, Audio out socket, charger slot type etc., For example mine has a 2.5mm audio out and charges via USB
2. amazon.com etc., or other retailers like kadooli.com and newegg.com. Google is your frield
3. You can get mapmyindia and satguide softwares(no idea about price). I personally use OziexplorerCE(40$) along with google and openstreetmap maps, You can also buy garmin mobile XT and use garmin maps
4. Most of these units come with SD card, you can transfer data either via USB cable(connected as storage or activesync, your choice) or simple take the SD card out

[bharanidharang]

thanks for your answer, few more follow up questions

1. If it charges via usb how much battery strength does it have when going out on a long trip.
2. Yeah, i saw it on amazon and might buy it through them.
3. if i choose mapmyindia software does it give me just a map or voice navigation too ?
4. Maybe I have not investigated much, but can i calculate log/capture information

thank you so much for your help.

[tsk1979]

1. It has USB car charger, so battery strength does not matter, but all these units can last 1-2 hours on battery power
2. Try newegg also, sometimes thats cheaper
3. no idea
4. That depends on the software. For example satguide destinator does not have tracklogging feature

[bharanidharang]

thanks. i have mailed mapmyindia too... meanwhile reading overall reviews for the same model. might buy it.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

... 3. if i choose mapmyindia software does it give me just a map or voice navigation too ? ...

Mapmyindia provides voice guidance - selectable voice and accent. Pretty good. I prefer the British male voice - pronounces Indian street names correctly, though it has its peculiarities: 'S B M Colony' is read out as 'South B M Colony'!

The American female voice is rather strident and irritating - as if having the wife as a back-seat driver is not enough, it screams out a staccato 'Turn left' or 'Turn right' when you are near the suggested turning. You really can't make a mistake unless you rebel!

[bharanidharang]

ah. Thankfully my wife is bad with navigation. One of the reasons why i am in the marked for a GPS

I mailed mapmyindia guys and I get a reply that they dont have a software for this model. Just asking me to buy their GPS devices.

[tsk1979]

tell them you want software for mio c230. Its the same thing with a smaller screen

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by prajwalkashyap

Nokia AF Track may not work with N70.

Prajwal

I don't see why ? N70 will require an external bluetooth GPS receiver...

Sportstracker also has this nice feature to upload tracks to the sportstracker website which can be shared with your friends or with everyone, if you choose. Very useful indeed.

Also, if you use your phone's camera to take shots while Sportstracker, it searches for all media during the same timeperiod and can upload and place it on the tracked route :-)

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

4. Maybe I have not investigated much, but can i calculate log/capture information

The mapmyindia software can record the trip, but can only be used with its own software. Cannot be exported or used in other software, as far as I know.

It works on the navigator device as well as on a Windows mobile.

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by prajwalkashyap

I am downloading the whole of south India at zoom 15. And then I'll select a few cities for zoom 16 & 17. I think that should be ok.

Prajwal

Well, you can do that, I was pointing out to an optimum storage space & download time w/o losing out on road map detail. Each zoom level increases size of map tiles by ~100-200%. So, it makes sense if the 'info content' of the tiles at the higher zoom level is more than that at lower zoom level. About a year back, even Mysore city did not have more road info at zoom level 15 vs 14 on google maps. So, this is the tradeoff I referred to from my downloads of most of South India and of Goa several times over past 2 years ...

@DerAlte, info on one-ways is non-existent on mapmyindia navigation in Bangalore. What I really like about the iNav WF is the quick re-routing it does on my N95 - so you see the one-way, take another road, and the software calculates another route in time for the driver to not stray too far off. Otherwise, iNav WF has way too many issues as I reported in one of the threads here in detail.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

... I get a reply that they dont have a software for this model. Just asking me to buy their GPS devices.

Funny answer and not very smart! They would make more margin on just the s/w + map, and they go and almost lose a prospect by not being on the ball. Hope they follow TBHP .

Originally Posted by tsk1979

tell them you want software for mio c230. Its the same thing with a smaller screen

With the standardization at call level in WiMo, how different can it be?
* Even if you use a hi-funda UI library, in the interest of economics, even the library vendor will make the library device-independent as far as possible
* The GPS interface (built-in or external) work over pretty much standard interfaces (COM ports, NMEA/Garmin protocol)
* None of these ISVs (maybe Garmin apart) can afford to develop / test / maintain multiple device-dependent versions!

The problem in most cases are the people one talks to at these companies. If they have their heart in it, they make the impossible possible. If they are just doing their job, one is unlikely to get what is logically / physically available.

@tsk, is there a way (even if it is in the works) one can get voice guidance with Ozi + OSM?

[bharanidharang]

is it illegal to upload the cache information onto rapidshare and share it with others.

if not, can we all do it for different parts of India and people who travel around can choose what they want and download ?

[satish_appasani]

Mapmyindia are some crazy guys. I wanted to se their s/w on my HP Windows Mobile 6.0 PDA (No phone). They say it won't work. I don't understand why a s/w that works on a device will not work on another device with the same o/s. Does it use any phone features? I wanted to risk and buy their s/w for my city. But their attitude stopped me.

One more thing funny about these guys is you have to acivate their trial s/w with an SMS. Whay can't they have an option to activate over GPRS.

My PDA is central to my lifestyle. For data i connect it to my Nokia phone over B/T. For GPS i have a BT GPS receiver.

[NetfreakBombay]

That is sad.

With this attitude they are virtually pushing users towards piracy. Local Cell phone repair shops will soon figure out all loopholes and would start installing this software + maps for few hundred rupees.

OTOH most of would like to pay actual price and get proper version. That is if they don't make buying this software impossible.

[bharanidharang]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

tell them you want software for mio c230. Its the same thing with a smaller screen

same answer. i think i will go ur way and check out oziexplorer.