Thursday, August 31, 2006

Pharos Traveler GPS 525


Pharos Traveler GPS 525. The first Pocket GPS to combine WiFi, Bluetooth and Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 in a small, sleek device. Travel with confidence. Pharos Traveler GPS 525 goes everywhere you do, helping you navigate streets and highways anywhere in the US with confidence. It comes preloaded with the top 50 U.S. metropolitan maps. Pharos Traveler GPS uses GPS satellites and digital street maps to show you where you are, locate points of interest, or set a route to your destination. By combining advanced navigation technology with an integrated wireless Windows Mobile device and VOIP capability, the Pharos Traveler GPS 525 is the first pocket-sized GPS device built expressly for the mobile professional.

On our road tests, we found the GPS 525 fairly simple to use. The only major downside was its small screen, which made it especially hard to tap out letters on the unit's tiny on-screen keyboard. The GPS 525's voice-prompt vocabulary also blurts out cryptic phrases like "in one mile exit highway," or "slight right." Since the Pharos lacks text-to-speech conversion, you'll have to look at the screen to confirm the street name for your turn—something that could have you fumbling for your reading glasses.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

The smallest GPS-enabled watch - Casio GPR-100


GPS receivers are getting smaller and smaller: this one fits on your wrist! Maybe there is some mass conspiracy to tackle an overweight epidemic among humans, or maybe folks these days are running just for the fun it, but regardless of the real agenda, Casio is cashing in on the statistically-driven-jogger craze by unveiling the GPR-100. Similar to other arm-dominating contraptions we've seen, this waterproof wristwatch syncs up with GPS satellites to calculate the time, speed, distance, pace, and averages of your run, while keeping track of your route should you deviate from the beaten path. Hailed as the "world's smallest GPS-enabled watch," the unit combines all the goodness found in your average wristwatch with the swank abilities of GPS in order to better analyze your exercise. You also get a "fully automatic" calendar, stopwatch, alarm, and even a backlight for those late night excursions. The biggest dig on this otherwise fanciful little timepiece is the battery life; the rechargeable LiOn apparently lasts just 2 hours in "normal operation," while legging out 4.3 hours in "low power mode." While this GPS watch will certainly attract less negative attention compared to earlier efforts, the compactness comes at a price -- at a whopping $476, you might be better off evading the GPR-100 entirely this September, and redirecting your energy (and cashflow) towards that tried and true Nike+iPod setup.