Windows Phone Thoughts: Navman PiN Review: Directions from Viki

Be sure to register in our forums! Share your opinions, help others, and enter our contests.


Digital Home Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...

Android Thoughts

Loading feed...



Friday, November 12, 2004

Navman PiN Review: Directions from Viki

Posted by Ryan Joseph in "HARDWARE" @ 10:00 AM



Figure 3: The main menu...your wish is Viki's command.

The handheld version is where the real power is. It sometimes takes a few minutes to get a GPS fix, but once it does, Viki knows where you are. The first time I put an address in for driving directions, I was surprised that there was no From field, just where I wanted to end up. Then I realized that it used my current position as the starting point. Way cool. :mrgreen:

For general mapping purposes, SmartST displays a view from straight above with North being up:


Figure 4: The view from above...Viki's watching you.

But when you're en route, the software shows a very cool 3D map view that rotates with your movement so you're always facing your route:


Figure 5: The route view...Viki's guiding you.

When a route is in use, the device speaks directions out loud to you. There are both male and female voices. I chose the female voice and, as I said, found her so helpful that I named her Viki. The speaker on the device is very loud and very clear. Most of the time I left it at half volume and could still hear it over the engine noise.

Viki also seamlessly switched between states. Other GPS software that I've used will work fine until a state border, then it will stop and say, "Loading New Jersey" for a few seconds before going back to the map. Not so with SmartST. It treated it as if there were no break.


Figure 6: GPS status...Viki knows where you are.

As far as the actual directions go, Viki was pretty good, but she didn't know everything. Some of the more notable hiccups were: once she completely didn't know where a massive four-lane freeway was and insisted on showing my position out in the middle of a field...as soon as I got off the freeway, she picked right back up again; once she told me to take an exit that wasn't there; more than once she directed me along dirt or gravel roads that, in my opinion, shouldn't be considered roads at all :?; etc.

Tags:

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...