PDA/Smart - GPS,phone recommend?

[ScottRC182]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend or share experience of any PDA or smart phone i.e the mio a701, N70, or PDA area with the tomtom or ALK Co-pilot software? or even the sony erricson 990i (touchscreen phone thing)
im interested in a phone/pda sat nav solution, i have a pretty decent phone atm (k750i) however i want satnav, rather than going for a bulky tom tom thing would stick out ya pocket a bit in the pub if you were to take it in with you, i want something with an all in one solution,
i know there is a decent samsung phone coming out in q4 with an 8gb hdd and gps built in but thats too far away, there are some similar ones out atm

 

[SingleServingFriend]

I have an O2 XDA 2i PDA with TomTom 5.1 on and This Sirf Star 3 GPS receiver. Previously had a receiver based on the Sirf Star 2 chipset, worked reasonably well unless there was tree cover, ie pretty much all the country roads round where i work.
Got the Sirf Star 3 one after my car got broken into, its brilliant!! Gets signal where ever i am and TomTom seems to run alot smoother with it. Its magnetic too so can whack it on the roof if ya want, handy if you have one of those windscreens that can block GPS signal.

The XDA2i is my mobile aswell as a PocketPC so i carry it with me all the time, the receiver itself can be hastle to carry with you if you don't want to leave it in the car.
Otherwise the kit it spot on. Good combo.

 

[ScottRC182]

col cheers will have a look at them, i was thinking of a handset with a GPS receiver built in

 

[CDC182]

Just as a warning, you might have problems if you get a hand-set with a built in receiver because of the heat-reflecting windscreen...for best results the receiver needs to be lined up with the rectangle at the base of the windscreen.

Chris

 

[ScottRC182]

bugger

 

[Mark5290]

I use a Orange SPV-C500 windows smartphone with a Globalsat BT-318 GPS receiver, the receiver has a 15hr battery life on one charge with constant use, i have had 17hrs use on/off out of one charge before.

The phone will probably only last about four hours from fully charged on its own, so you still need a charger.

The Mitac Mio A701 is the smartphone i want next as it has some impressive features, it is also more powerful than some desktop/laptop computers, and it has the sirf star 3 chipset so may work behind a heat reflecting windscreen, i have had a TT1 work behind a heat reflecting windscreen before.

I think the phone has some issues though running TT software, no doubt someone will make it work before too long.

Oh it is also about £380 to buy.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/25/mio_a701_exposed/

 

[ScottRC182]

check the Eten G500, GPS built in, large touchscreen, no wifi though (which can be sorted via mini sd card)
im waiting for mine to be delivered right now

 

[Mells]

ive got a t-mobile mda compact II with tomtom and it works fantastic.

 

[Jays172]

don't touch the i-mate k-jam, under other names from uk carriers like 02 etc, it's small and has a sliding out keyboard with worse build quality that a renault