Windows Phone Thoughts: Size Matters: Globalsat's BT-328 Bluetooth GPS Receiver

Performance - Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?
In a nutshell, thumbs up. Here are the nitty-gritty details:

Battery Life
Within the heart of the BT-328, a new low-power SiRF GSC2 chipset can be found. Its presence contributes to the receiver's 16 hour battery life, which is fantastic, considering its built-in rechargeable battery is rated at just 1300mAh (compared to the 1700mAh battery of the SiRFstar III-equipped BT-338, which offers a 17 hour battery life). Chipsets aside, the BT-328 also features a power-saving feature where 10 minutes of inactivity will automatically switch the receiver off, though this feature is suppressed when a power adapter is attached to the receiver.

Channel Support
The BT-328 supports up to 12 channels, which falls short of the 20 channels that the BT-338 supports. However, for the average Joe, 12 channels is usually sufficient.

Tracking Sensitivity
The SiRF GSC2 chipset has a tracking sensitivity rated at -155dBm, which is quite similar to the SiRFstar III's rating of -159dBm, and in the real world, it shows. I put the BT-328 through a quick "stress" test indoors and for the most part, it was able to consistently maintain a fix with 6-8 satellites. There were moments when it would drop to 4-6, but not enough of a drop to lose a fix. It was much the same story in the city centre (the tall building scenario).

Initial Connection and Reacquisition Times
From a user experience perspective, I found connection and reacquisition times to be reasonable. On paper, Globalsat tags the BT-328 with an average 8 second hot start time (BT-338: 1 second), 38 second warm start time (BT-338: 38 seconds), 42 second cold start time (BT-338: 42 seconds), and 0.1 second reacquisition time (BT-338: 0.1 second). All in all, the performance of the SiRFstar III and SiRF GSC2 chipsets is quite comparable.

If you love crunching numbers and are interested in seeing the entire specification list, make the BT-328 specifications page your next visit at the end of this review.