Another Android phone has been unveiled by Digi this week, but not the model that you used to see before. It is Garmin-Asus A10, a smartphone with GPS from.. Garmin, yeah. At a glance, you can tell that this is GPS focused smartphone.
GPS no longer a special feature in smartphone when GPS app is available at almost all smartphone platform, from free version such as what is available on Nokia smartphone via Ovi Maps to the like of Tom Tom or Papago that available in iOS or other Android smartphone. But if you’re looking for smartphone that has deep integration with GPS, perhaps this phone is for you.
The pricing is quite attractive especially if you’re willing to sign up for 24 months that give you huge discount worth of RM900 in return . The packages also comes with free car kit worth RM249 if you sign up now. The overall package is pretty much a bargain if you can live with good GPS but with so so performance on the device. As usual, hit the source link to browse the phone page
If you have Garmin Nuvi navigation devices from following model , take a note folks. Garmin is recalling it due to possibility of battery faults. Before you even get panicked, please check the serial number here to confirm your devices are on the list of the recalled product.
200W, 250W, 260W, 7xx and 7xxT (where xx is a two-digit number) model numbers may be affected
Garmin® Announces Limited Recall of Certain nüvi® Personal Navigation Devices
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today that it is voluntarily recalling approximately 1.25 million nüvi personal navigation devices (of which approximately 796,000 units were sold in the United States) that contain batteries manufactured by a third-party supplier within a defined date code range and that have a specific printed circuit board (PCB) design. Garmin has identified potential overheating issues when the third party supplier’s batteries manufactured within this limited date code range are used in certain Garmin devices with the PCB design. It appears that the interaction of these factors can, in rare circumstances, increase the possibility of overheating, which may lead to a fire hazard.
This issue has been identified in less than ten cases in total involving certain nüvi models. None of the reported incidents has caused significant property damage and no injuries have occurred. Nevertheless, given Garmin’s longstanding commitment to safety and customer satisfaction, Garmin is proactively recalling nüvi units with the specific PCB design and with batteries from the specific date code range out of an abundance of caution. Garmin strongly urges customers to go online to determine if their nüvi device is one of the few nüvi models affected by this recall and, if so, to participate in the program. Only the 200W, 250W, 260W, 7xx and 7xxT (where xx is a two-digit number) model numbers may be affected. These units were sold worldwide.
To determine if a unit is affected, customers can visit www.garmin.com/nuvibatterypcbrecall. They will be asked to enter their nüvi’s serial number, and if their unit has the specific PCB design and contains a battery from the specific date range, they will be given instructions on how to return their nüvi at no charge. Garmin will replace the battery and insert a spacer on top of the battery next to the PCB before returning the nüvi to affected customers free of charge. If customers are unable to access the website, they may contact Garmin through one of the phone numbers below:
• In the United States and Canada, call (866) 957-1981
• In North America and South America outside the U.S. or Canada call +913 397-8200
• In Europe, Middle East, and Africa, call +44 870 850 1242
• In Asia, call 886/2.2642.9199
• In Australia, call 1800 113 738; and in New Zealand call 0800 427 652
Owners should not attempt to remove or service the battery on their own. To ensure that the unit’s battery is replaced as part of this recall, please return any affected unit directly to a Garmin-authorized facility, using the procedure outlined above.
Garmin is making every effort to cooperate with customers, dealers, and regulatory agencies worldwide, and the company apologizes for the inconvenience that this issue may cause.
Garmin does not expect this recall to have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows. The battery supplier has agreed to share the cost of replacement battery packs and all other costs of the recall program.
Like me, I bet you you’ve never heard of WayWay. But you may have heard of Papago, the navigation software that’s powering this stuff. So now you know it is a GPS unit, that’s making its way to my car (after losing my way in Melaka recently) because of its attractive price for 4.3 inch GPS unit. Yes, it is from PC Fair if you ask me from where I got it. Sweetening the deal is Rm50 voucher that can be spent on anything at Fotokem.
I’m not very good in GPS related thingy, so anything that can provide me with clear point to point navigation is good enough to me. Besides that, additional functions such as MP3 player, photo viewer and even ebook reader are such a bonus although it will hardly going to be used. You can read the full features below. The map it is using is from Malsingmaps. Not to forget that it uses Windows CE as the OS.
Q4331i Features:
1. SiRF Atlas-IV, CPU, 500MHZ.
2. Fashionable and ultra-slim design. The thickness is only 13.50mm.
3. 4.3” TFT LCD screen with sensitive touch panel.
4. Has removable and rechargeable Li-Polymer battery pack
5. Built-in high memory capacity of 128MB.
6. Additional storage via MicroSD Card slot
7. In-built 2GB Internal Storage
8. Supports USB 2.0 High-Speed connection
9. Multimedia Player Support
10. Games, calculator & conversion tool function
11. Multiple language support
After using it for 2 days, it works well so far. The map as well as the point to point navigation instruction are accurate. This is true for Cyberjaya, Cheras and KL areas only, the location where this GPS has been tested. In average, it took about 1 minute to lock the GPS signal, but sometimes it could be shorter than that. In terms of battery, it lasts for about 2 hours and the chassis could be little bit warmer as you use it longer. So that’s all my summary of this GPS unit until today. Interested? Check this page out.
The GPS set comes with in-car charger , suction GPS mount and USB cable. Additional accessories such as AC charger, leather case and screen filter come with additional charger.
In this video, I only recoded the feature of this GPS unit, rather than how it works.
One good reason why Nokia should stay exist is, their phones are made to cater different type of people, and without sacrificing some of it’s great feature. One such phone (that I wait to reach the store) is Nokia 2710. It is not a fancy phone, far from having typical smart phone design such as massive touch screen or snapdragon processor like the rest of trendy smart phone available in the market.
But the fact that this phone is equipped with GPS and capable or running Nokia’s Ovi Maps make this phone appeal to a lot of people who needs cheap phone with GPS but doesn’t need all those fancy stuff that they not gonna use.
The price is it’s single biggest advantage. A quick googling reveal the price is gonna be around 110 euro (162 US dollars) or RM535 (USd1 = RM3.3) according to Gsmarena. Well, that’s almost equal with Garmin 250, the cheapest GPS device from Garmin.
Good news that this phone is gonna be here soon as stated in Nokia Malaysia website. In case you plan to get a unit of GPS device, you can wait little bit longer if you prefer to have phone with GPS functionality instead. But with screen size measuring only2.2″ and 240 x 320 pixels in resolution, you got to be ready to open your eyes wide to view the direction on the screen.
As some of you might already know, Nokia has released brand new Ovi Map with turn by turn navigation function, or GPS in Layman term. The new Ovi Maps which so far only compatible with Nokia’s latest smartphone, is available free of charge in more than 70 countries.
Unlike Google Maps which use data (internet) connection to run its turn by turn function, Nokia Ovi Maps doesn’t need that, although it still need data connection to occasionally update the maps. The release is like killing a bird with 2 stone. First, this is brilliant move as most Nokia’s smartphones (at least in this country) are running Garmin software which charge small fee to use it (I know there is ehem version for it). It surely hit Garmin and other GPS company that sell GPS software for Nokia phone. Secondly, Nokia has silently sent the message to the world particularly it’s rival, that they can offer better maps (from Navteq) with turn by turn navigation which is more practical to the rest of the world rather than specific for one region.
Beside a good camera, GPS is also one of the sought after function in smartphones nowadays. This is especially true for non geeks or person that looking for device with multiple function that easy to use. Whereas geeks will looks for OS or new technology that offer tonnes of stuff to explore and intuitive enough to use.
Having this maps gives Nokia an edge over it’s smaller as well as rising rival. This could be lethal weapon that Nokia really needs to explore mature market where the demand for high technology is extremely high and crucial to boost Nokia smartphone market share in near future. The only thing it lack now is fine OS (Maemo or S60) that capable of throwing strong challenge to Android, iPhone, WinMo , and Android or even WebOS.
Now back to the maps, I have a chance testing the Ovi Map briefly the day it was released. I don’t own any Nokia smartphone, but a friend of mine lend me his brand new E72, to get this maps installed. It is not a secret that most Nokia smartphone users that I know, aware of Ovi Store, but never had intent using it. So I have brief lecture with them about the benefit of having apps in your smarthone, and bla bla bla.
Well, after went through some installation process, I’m now ready to see how it’s work. I made a short journey from the office where I work at Cyberjaya to restaurant nearby that I have recorded below.
For turn by turn navigation in Ovi Maps, it has 2 mode which is Walk and Drive. Other existing option such as My Location, Places and etc is still there.
I use ‘Drive’ mode which Nokia has explained it very well on their website as “The Free turn-by-turn drive navigation, with voice and visual guidance in over 70 countries. Includes real-time traffic information, lane assistance, speed limit warnings, and automatic re-routing to help you arrive safely and on time“. Sound familiar?
I can also set the ‘home’ destination’ which will be stored in the maps for later use. That’s why if you watch the video carefully, the routing shown in the screen (in blue) is different from what we’re heading to. My sincere apology, that the video quality is bad. I merely want to see how it works, accuracy and etc. The outcome does not disappointing. As expected, the maps and route is accurate and able to bring us to the destination. It is short video indeed, and does not provide enough credit that it is going to works on other areas. Cyberjaya is not a big city although it is touted as Intelligent City, with roads that doesn’t change for years. So it make sense that the map is accurate, but if you test it at city center with frequent traffic change, the result may different
There are 3 view mode you can choose from, which are 3D, 2D and another 1 that I forgot. Enough said, you can find more feature here, or download it directly to your mobile phone from Ovi Maps or this page. Now I wish that I have compatible Nokia’s smartphone that able to run this GPS..
