Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 310 Bluetooth 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator by hp
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Digital camera reviews of Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 310 Bluetooth 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Basic Review
Summary: 3 Stars
Actually a 3 1/2 out of 5 star rating
Pro's: lots; cool 3d views, lots o POI's, sharp screen, pairs up effortlessly with my Nextel i880, have used in PA, N.J., N.Y., L.I., Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Denver, S.F., San Jose, Sacramento, got me where I needed to go.
Cons: Freezes up, volume too low
Hopefully, as others have pointed out, HP will come out with a revised version that does not freeze up and that has a louder speaker.
(HP, I hope you take heed to what your customers are saying here, don't blow a good thing, keep up the good work!!)
HP help desk has been very helpful, they have done their best to try to reslove my issue.
They are currently sending a return box via DHL, they will either correct the issue or send me a new unit.
My advice to anyone is to write down the exact error message and relay to the help desk.
If they get enough details, then it will make for better revised model?
Digital camera Review: Broken but fixed
Summary: 4 Stars
This unit arrived factory sealed. After being charged and fired up, it failed to acquire a satellite track. I called HP support. After working my way through the automatted phone system (which doesn't seem to know HP sells a GPS)and multiple disconnects, I was finally able to talk to a real person. She shipped me a mailing package and the GPS was back in my hands in about 1 1/2 weeks.
I can't really tell you how this unit compares with other units. This is my first GPS. These are just my impressions:
1) Documentation sucks !! Both for the unit and the software updating documentation. Even the updated documentation sucked.
2) Maps, POI's, voices, and etc. are all updatable via the web. The updating software is confusing to operate though. The interface is less than intuitive and documentation is again an issue.
3) If found the GPS had many features and options but is less than intuitive to operate. Expect to spend some time learning to work your way through the various screens and options.
4) If you drive a Lexus and are 25 years old, you might be able to hear the speaker. On the other hand, if you listened to too many loud rock band in the 1960's, don't even expect to know there is a speaker.
All in all, I am very happy with the unit and I would buy another one.
Digital camera Review: Complete waste of technology by HP
Summary: 1 Stars
If you examine only the hardware specs, this device has everything going for it. There is almost no other GPS with specs like this... 800x480 display, BT 2.0+EDR, 128MB RAM, 2GB Internal Flash, 600Mhz CPU etc..
However, clearly nobody at HP must have tested this product before releasing it for launch.
I rushed to buy this device based on the hardware specs and a naive belief that HP's software couldn't really be that bad. I was wrong.
This $300+ device functions not much better than another hundred dollar no-name GPS I bought from your local red stapling office store.
What is bad?
1. The audio volume is very low. I simply cannot hear what the computerized voice is saying. How on earth could a tester have approved such a horrible speaker as on this device??? I mean, speakers cost 10cents to manufacture. First it is not a stereo speaker and second the loudest volume setting *cannot* be heard clearly even with all windows shut in the car while its moving.
2. The custom HP content manager application is horrible designed and crashes all the time. I've been unable to sync the 150 or so contacts I have in outlook as their outlook sync program crashes for me in Vista. Since this device runs Windows.CE, there was no need for HP to invent its own contacts and sync software when Microsoft provides one that works perfectly with ActiveSync and Outlook. Unfortunately this silly device will not recognize any outlook contacts sync'd by Microsoft's ActiveSync. Even contacts that are sync'd with HP's own program cannot be used for navigation because the navigation program does not seem to like the format of any of the addresses.
3. The Bluetooth hands free feature is a joke. Rather than connect to your phone when you start the device, it waits until you try to use the phone functionality and then tells you to wait for about fifteen seconds while it "connects" . This occurs as you are navigating on the road and the "please wait" message obscures the map.
4. Waste of multimedia capabilities. Despite the fast processor, gobs of RAM and large display, the included multimedia player does not play the most common formats such as the motion JPEG movies that I captured with my digital camera or any of the DiVX movies that you can download online. It only plays WMV movies which pretty much limits it to to playing the sample videos that come with Windows.
5. Badly designed and unchangeable navigation display. Instead of using the 4.3" wide screen display to provide more situational awareness, the HP navigation program (actually written by Nav'n Go/IGO) is very miserly with screen space and instead of placing the next upcoming road on the bottom of the screen like every other nav system out there decides to place it in a small sideways scrolling section on the top of the display where one's eyes do not look at and where the bright power LED blinds one at night.
6. Long boot times. This devices takes as much time as my computer to start up. Geez!!!
7. Proprietary USB cables and chargers! Whoa! Why does the USB SiG allow these manufacturers to sell "USB" devices that refuse to follow the standards! HP uses an incompatible USB charger so that if you try to save money by using an existing USB charger, the device will appear to be charging but will actually be draining the battery. This applies both to charging via the cigerette lighter and charging via the USB connection to a PC. Apparently HP wants you to fork over a few more dozens of dollars before you can get chargers for both the car, home and PC.
8. Substandard mapping database and points of interest. At least for the Seattle Metro area. It also chooses weird routing for driving to Seattle instead of the most obvious one that every GPS selects.
9. The "3d maps" feature is very useless and simply clutters the screen and slows the device down. I hate it. its a marketing gimmick!
10. There is talk about "traffic" support but there is currently no way to add traffic management to the USA version of this device.
11. Scrolling through POI's and other lists suck. This is not a computer I don't want to have to aim carefully at scroll bars. What is wrong with buttons for paging???
In all I am very disappointed in what HP has produced and I'm sure many other purchasers of this device feel the same way. HP did not manufacture the device, they did not write the navigation software or the operating system. So was it too much work for them to have done a good job of testing this device for quality assurance and fixing the little things before putting it into a little box and *trying* to charge $400 for it?
HP, please take this device back to the drawing board and fix it. Make sure that your testers have actually used competent auto navigation systems like Garmin, TomTom etc...
With the hardware specs of this device the following features should have been implemented:
1. Voice recognition/command. Just like in the built-in automobile GPS navigation systems or even the high end TOMTOM 920
2. Full bluetooth support. Synchronize phone address book. Automatically connect to phone when device is started and phone is nearby. Allow voice calling. Allow data connection via bluetooth DUN or PAN to provide additional features over the internet such as download of routes.traffic warnings, gas prices,movie listings, etc...
3. 3rd Party games & applications download for the multimedia features usage outside of navigation
4. Full video/music player to support common video and audio formats
5. LOUD stereo speakers
If you're from HP and worked on this Device I would really like to talk to you!!!!
Digital camera Review: Could be better
Summary: 4 Stars
HP did a good job of making a stylish looking software for the GPS. A sleek product but not fast enough. Nor is it anything exceptional than other GPS. The price range it is in is definitely cheaper compared to other products.
If you have budget that allows you to but the HP GPS system. Go for it... it got all the stuff you need!
Digital camera Review: Could've been alot better
Summary: 4 Stars
I have extensively used Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellen and Mio before buying this product. The Mio stood out of all, partly due to iGo6 used for UI and mapping. I had been a big fan ever since I bought it. Mio had some shortcomings, bluetooth, time taken to acquire signal etc, therefore I decided to give that to a friend and buy the ipaq. While this product betters the Mio on its shortcomings and is based on modified version of iGo6, I think HP didn't spend enough time in perfecting it. Otherwise this unit would have got full marks from me.
Plus:
-Excellent screen
-Bluetooth
-3d buildings (marketing feature, not that extensively used)
-Games
-Ability to play video
-Excellent mods to improve the unit
-Pro routing features
-Vivid screen resolution
-Extensive POI database
-Ability to speed alerts (More suited to EU)
Minus:
-Bluetooth doesn't syncs phonebook
-Slightly slow to respond
-UI could have been more intiutive
-Unit hangs while searching for POIs in navigation mode