GPS Shootout review

It’s only when your GPS routes you the wrong way up a newly designated one way street that you realise your system is out of date. I was driving to a wedding a few weeks back using my trusty TomTom 5/O2 IQ combination as always when the aforementioned navigation catastrophe occurred. During the lengthy technophobic rantings from my wife that followed I was struck with an epiphany. It was time to upgrade. The price of peace can indeed be a costly one but in this case I decided £100 seemed a small price to pay.

For many people, the word GPS is synonymous with TomTom. Indeed this was true for me also, until I investigated a little further into navigator software world and discovered a plethora of other options. Unfortunately, as is so often, a vast choice can often bring about the “can’t see the wood from the trees” syndrome and I was weighed down with choices before me. It was at this point I realised another famous 4WM shootout review was inevitable. To this end we’ve kindly been provided with the 6 of the most commonly used Pocket PC hardware and software GPS navigation systems available today. For your pleasure we will individually review each of the products below, and then finally, we will pit one against the other in an all out, no holds barred, head to head comparison.

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Jon Rubinstein, the purported savior of Palm Inc. (PALM), officially took the reins as executive chairman and head of product development for the troubled smartphone maker.

Rubinstein assumed his position as Elevation Partners wrapped up its acquisition of a 27% stake in Palm. The private equity firm paid $325 million for the investment, and the company will pay a special dividend of $9 a share.

“I’m really glad it’s all official,” Rubinstein said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires late Wednesday. “We’ve been rolling a bit, but we can really roll now.”

Rubinstein, who was instrumental in developing the iPod for Apple Inc. (AAPL), will take over a company that has a storied history of innovation but has recently faltered. The company embarrassingly scrapped the Foleo, a “companion” device for the Treo that was widely panned. The company warned it was delaying the release of a new version of its dated operating system.

A new operating system is among the chief priorities for Palm, Rubinstein said. He added it will take 18 months before new products come out.

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We saw one of the newer editions in Sony Ericsson’s Walkman line at CTIA today, the thin and lovely W910. We’ve seen this fella here and there, so we won’t rehash what’s under the hood, but suffice it to say we’re suitably impressed. Oh, we’re also happy to report that the loud bang we’d heard mentioned while opening the slide didn’t seem to affect this unit.

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We waited, and waited, and waited — no announcement from AT&T yet — but we secured a Pantech Duo, live and in the flesh! First off, the device is really small. The keyboard is worlds better than the Helio Ocean, and while it might not be fair to compare it to the Ocean, it is more or less the same concept. 3G on here is such a pleasure, and while we’re not talking about Windows Mobile 6 Professional, Standard works just fine for this little handset. Battery life is a concern, especially with a 3G radio, but since we just got it we don’t have a real gage on battery performance. Voice quality and sound quality sounded crisp and clear as well. Final note: if you saw the Pantech Duo dummy display unit, you’ll notice the device slide out both ways simultaneously. Not the case on the real unit because of the spring mechanism. Not too bad for a device we called out a year ago, right?

UPDATE: There’s an “IPM Power Mode” entry in Settings, with “normal”, and “turbo” values. On turbo the device seems much faster, could this be a power-saving mode that also scales the CPU?

Click on over to our Pantech Duo gallery!

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