Windows Phone Thoughts: Raising the Ante - the Pharos GPS Phone 600 Reviewed

Navigating with the 600


Figure 16: Pharos bundles a nicely designed windshield mount.


Figure 17: Another view of the mount.

The built-in GPS and bundled navigation software are the things that really distinguish the 600 from other Pocket PC Phones. Let's take a look at how it fares as a navigation tool.

Since the 600 is designed as a navigation device from the get-go, Pharos has included the accessories necessary for it to best fill that role. First and foremost is a high quality windshield mount. It attaches via a suction cup that has tenacious grip and the mount is rigid enough to minimize shaking of the 600 while traveling. The mount pivots both horizontally and vertically so that the 600 can be positioned to your preference, and both pivot points can be firmly locked to retain your settings.

The mount has a power connector for the 600 built in to simplify connecting it to a power source. A car adaptor with a USB port is also included, along with the necessary cables.

Pharos includes a 2 GB microSD card with a complete set of maps for the US and Canada with this model. No desktop client is necessary, since you don't have to designate which maps to include.


Figure 18: Ostia's GPS status screen.


Figure 19: The default view.

Ostia can be run by pressing the dedicated GPS key above the 600's screen. It starts up quickly and displays the screen through which you promise to not use the unit to plan a cross country tour while you're driving to work during rush hour. After the legalese, the first screen displayed is your current location (assuming that the GPS has a fix). The GPS receiver is quick to get a fix once the cold start initialization phase is complete... 30 seconds or less in most cases. And it does a great job of holding on to the signal.