Doug Raeburn
11-12-2003, 06:30 PM
As wireless capability becomes more widely available in Pocket PCs, hardware manufacturers are developing more products to leverage this capability. With its new iGPS-BT Bluetooth GPS receiver and the bundled Ostia navigation software, Pharos goes for the two run homer... not only is the GPS wireless, but Ostia has advanced features for those who have wireless Internet access. Let's go on a road trip to check out this great new hardware/software bundle!<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-0.jpg" /> <br /><br /><!><br />With factory installed navigation systems for cars still commanding premium prices, a Pocket PC-based navigation system can provide a good measure of the functionality of those systems for a fraction of the price. And the Pocket PC-based systems are evolving to take advantage of the changing face of device technology. Early designs of GPS add-ons for Pocket PCs were based either on CompactFlash or on an iPAQ expansion sleeve, requiring the Pocket PC to be mounted on your windshield. Such units are still available. But the latest wireless technology allows the GPS receiver and the Pocket PC to be physically separate. This opens up mounting options for the Pocket PC, which no longer needs to be mounted on the windshield, and allows your passenger to play navigator (along with Jawbreaker, if so desired).<br /><br />So how is life on the road with Pharos' iGPS-BT? Let's find out... I'll drive and you take shotgun.<br /><br /><span><b>The Hardware</b></span><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-1.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 1: Receiver and dock separated</i><br /><br />The iGPS-BT is a compact translucent device, 2.3" x 3.4" x 1", weighing three oz. with its lithium polymer battery. It's a two-piece unit, consisting of the small GPS receiver which slides into the larger dock. The dock contains the battery and serves as the charger. If you're a heavy duty GPS user, you can buy an additional dock so that you can charge one battery while using another. The battery itself can also be swapped. Battery life is claimed to be approximately six hours of continuous use on a single charge.<br /><br />The kit that I received had lots of pieces. It includes a car charger, a vent mounted PDA holder and a DC charging adapter. The DC charging adapter is a handy splitter that allows you to connect the iGPS-BT and your Pocket PC to an external power source at the same time. It doesn't come with its own charger because the charging adapter allows you to charge the GPS battery with your Pocket PC's charger. I didn't try the PDA holder, since it requires putting Velcro on your PDA, something that I'm disinclined to do.<br /><br />The kit also includes a nylon pouch with a belt loop for the iGPS-BT. Finally, the whole works can be stored in a high quality nylon travel case.<br /><br />In use, the translucent iGPS-BT has the requisite blue lighting so that you won't forget that it's a Bluetooth device, and to ensure that your passengers will ask you about the cool-looking glowing blue thing on your dashboard. It has non-slip feet on the bottom so that it doesn't slide around in use. My car has a little place just above the instrument cluster that fits the iGPS-BT perfectly, and I never had any problems with it moving at all.<br /><br /><span><b>Setup</b></span><br />Since we're dealing with hardware, PC software and Pocket PC software, there are a few steps to the setup.<br /><br />The first thing you do is install all of the software. The installation consists of standard Windows PC and Pocket PC installation routines. Simple and straightforward. When you're done, you have the Pharos MapFinder software installed on your PC, and the Pharos Ostia navigation software installed on your Pocket PC.<br /><br />Then you're ready to tackle the hardware. First you set up the Bluetooth service. To do so, turn on the iGPS-BT and then go into the Bluetooth Manager on your Pocket PC. Set up a new connection using the "Explore a Bluetooth device". You'll find the iGPS-BT offering a service of GPS RFcom. A PIN number (provided, of course) is required to establish the partnership. Save this service as a shortcut.<br /><br />Next, start up the Ostia software. Under the Tools menu, they have the Receiver Wizard, but it doesn't really work for the iGPS-BT. Under Tools - Options - Select Comm, you set the port to COM8. Apparently this is the port that is always utilized by this service.<br /><br />That's it... tap on the red smiley in the toolbar and you see a message box that allows you to enable the GPS. In my case, the connection occurred in under five seconds.<br /><br />One caveat... the main memory of my iPAQ 2215 is fairly full, so I decided to install the Ostia software on my SD card. Then when I started using the software, the automatic location of addresses from Contacts didn't work, nor did the voice instructions. I found out through the Pharos site that they recommend installing the software in main memory. When I did so, everything worked correctly. Of course, you can (and must, given the size) install the maps on a memory card.<br /> <PAGEBREAK> <br /><span><b>Maps</b></span><br />Before you can use the iGPS-BT, you must install one or more maps on your Pocket PC. You do so by running the MapFinder software on your PC. It displays a map of the entire US, including Alaska and Hawaii, broken up into 327 sections. As you move your mouse over the maps, a box displays showing a description of the map, the CD that the section can be found on (there are three), and the size of the map. Double click on a section to select it. You can also drag the mouse to select multiple maps.<br /><br />An alternative is to enter a city or zip code, allowing the software to select maps within the number of miles you specify from that city or zip code. This worked OK, with one downside... it selected only maps that are completely contained within the radius specified. The result was gaps between some map sections... smaller maps at the edges of the selection area were selected, but some maps between those smaller maps and the maps at the center of the selection area were not selected, because part of those maps extended outside the selection area. It would make more sense to me to have it select all maps that were within the selection area, either partially or completely.<br /><br />Once you've selected the maps that you need, MapFinder can copy them to your Pocket PC through ActiveSync, or directly to a card reader. For convenience and speed, you can also copy the maps to a hard drive so that you don't need to swap CDs.<br /><br />These maps are not small... if I select all maps for my entire state (Wisconsin), the total space required is 98 MB. This does include a little bit of neighboring states. But if you're going to take a long trip, you may need multiple memory cards to hold the maps. Which also means that you can't plot an entire long route in one shot, a shortcoming shared with other products, and mostly a factor of memory limitations rather than design issues.<br /><br /><span><b>Routes</b></span><br />To set up a route, load all maps for the origin, destination and all maps in between. Ostia can load up to 10 maps at a time, but they recommend a maximum of three for optimal performance. One of the options allows you to set this maximum.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-2.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: Find Menu</i><br /><br />A route is started by using the Find menu. Here you can set your origin and destination, or set up a Multi-stop route.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-3.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 3: Origin and Destination selection options</i><br /><br />The same selections as shown in the above figure are offered for origins, destinations, and multi-stops. You can enter addresses directly, or specify intersections if you don't have the exact address handy. To make things a bit simpler, Ostia can provide locations through addresses in your Contacts, or by selecting a Point of Interest (POI). In addition, recently used locations can be displayed and selected. And finally, you can save a location as a favorite and select it from your favorites list.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-4.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 4: Find By Address - enter street name</i><br /><br />Recent locations, contacts and favorites are simple selections from lists. Addresses require multiple steps. First, you enter the address number. Then begin entry of the street name or number. As your street name becomes more distinct, the list box below will list matches for street names that contain the address number. Select the correct street and tap Next.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-5.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 5: Find By Address - select city</i><br /><br />Cities that have that address will be displayed. Select the correct city and you're done.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-6.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 6: Points of Interest - categories</i><br /><br />Points of interest also require a couple of steps. First, select the desired category and tap Next.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-7.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 7: POIs for selected category</i><br /><br />Matches for that category within the loaded maps will be displayed for selection.<br /><br />I found the basic POI functionality in Ostia to be a bit disappointing compared to some of the competition. The main issue that I have is that the base categories don't include restaurants. When I'm traveling, restaurants are key POIs for me, since many highway exits offer little more than fast food. If you want something a bit more substantial or healthy, you have to search. And Ostia falls short here. The Smart Finder feature (more on this later) is a great solution for this, but it requires an Internet connection. So if you aren't Internet enabled in your car, I guess it's Burger King or nothing. By contrast, PowerLOC's Destinator 2 software provides an extensive list of restaurants and doesn't require Internet access to display them. <br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-8.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 8: Multi-Stop Route</i><br /><br />Multi-stop routes are a welcome addition to Pocket PC GPS software. This is the first program that I've used that has this feature. To use it, select your origin and destination normally, and then use Multi-stop to select up to 10 intermediate stops. When you tap on New Route in the Find menu, the dialog box in Figure 8 is displayed. Check the Multi-stop Route box and Ostia will start at the origin, route through the intermediate stops and then route to the destination. Even if you don't have multiple stops, this feature can also be used to "nudge" a calculated route to a favorite highway by creating a stop nearby. A very useful feature.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-9.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 9: Smart Finder search criteria</i><br /><br />Smart Finder is one of two Internet enabled features of Ostia, collectively called Smart Navigator. It can find POIs within a specified radius from your current GPS location, your destination or your origin. It includes a much wider range of POI categories, including restaurants. You can also specify keywords, if you're looking for a steak place, pizza, Chinese, etc. And the lists can be more up-to-date due to the Internet access to more dynamic lists.<br /><br />As with the standard POIs, first you select the desired category. Since I missed the restaurant category before, I'll select that one.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-10.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 10: Smart Finder - information about matching item</i><br /><br />A list of restaurants matching the criteria is displayed, and you can display details about a selection. Options from the detail display include creating a route to the POI, setting it as a stop, accessing a website for the POI, or calling from a phone-enabled PDA.<br /><br />I recognize and appreciate the power and convenience of the Smart Finder feature. However, until wireless Internet access in a car is more widely available, a more robust standard set of POIs should still be offered.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-11.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 11: Smart Traffic - setting display thresholds</i><br /><br />The other component of Smart Navigator is Smart Traffic. If you're Internet enabled, you can access traffic information for selected metro areas. You can specify the speed range in which you're interested in the dialog box above.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-12.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 12: Smart Traffic - map display</i><br /><br />Traffic speed on major highways is then displayed on your map via the dots on the map. The color of the dot shows the speed. As you can see by all of the green dots, freeways in Milwaukee on a Saturday afternoon were running smoothly.<br /><br />Smart Traffic is a subscription service, currently priced at $3.95/month billed annually. A trial period is available.<br /> <PAGEBREAK> <br /><span><b>Using the Routes</b></span><br />First, let me say that of the Pocket PC GPS programs that I've used, Ostia produced the most straightforward routes. For all of the programs, I used a relative's house about 12 miles from home as one test route. One of the other programs, regardless of the settings, had me going on every back road between my place and the destination, with turn after turn after turn. Far too complex a route. The same origin and destination in Ostia produced a very direct route, using the same main highways that I would have used myself. It just seems to have better routing logic overall.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-13.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 13: Satellite display</i><br /><br />To use the route, we must enable the GPS. This is done by tapping on the red smiley and tapping on Yes when it asks you if you want to enable the GPS. The smiley then turns yellow as the GPS attempts to acquire satellites. The figure above shows the Satellite screen, which displays the satellites that the GPS has acquired, along with their signal strength. Once the GPS has acquired enough satellites, the smiley turns green and we're ready to motor.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-14.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 14: Map view</i><br /><br />This figure shows one of the display modes provided by Ostia, which they call the Map view. It displays a large portion of the map with a small text direction on the bottom. The green arrow on the left shows your next turn, with the distance to that turn below it. The center describes the turn, and the red figure to the right shows the distance to the destination. Your position is displayed by the red arrow on the map.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-15.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 15: Split Arrow & Map view</i><br /><br />The Split Arrow & Map view shows less map and more text. The estimated time to the destination is additional information provided in this view.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-16.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 16: Arrow/Text view</i><br /><br />Next, we have the Arrow/Text view, which eliminates the map display completely, and adds the name of the road that you're currently on at the bottom. You switch between the map views by tapping on the green arrow in the toolbar.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/raeburn-oct03-pharosbtgps-17.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 17: Text view</i><br /><br />Finally, we have the text view, which shows the list of directions for the whole route.<br /><br />As with most Pocket PC navigation software, Ostia offers voice prompts. It comes with a set of female voice commands, and it has the capability of using customized voice commands as well. Pharos promises to offer additional voice sets on their Web site, although none are available at the time of this review. The voice prompts are very clear, and my 2215 can virtually scream them out. You're given advance warning about your next turn just before you reach it. The distance before the turn when the warning sounds varies by speed... the faster you're going, the longer the distance before the turn when the warning sounds. Then just as you come up to the turn, a loud bell sounds. I liked this, because it's very easy to hear and very distinctive. Prompts include such instructions as "right turn ahead", "highway exit ahead", "you are off route" and "arriving at destination". If you tap on the instruction box on the screen, the voice prompt for the next turn will sound on demand.<br /><br />If you do get off route, Ostia will attempt to reroute if you have Auto Reroute enabled. Otherwise, it will just keep bugging you about being off route until you somehow get back on the route. I left Auto Reroute enabled.<br /><br />I missed one feature from a competing product. If you're on a particular road for an extended period of time, such as a long stretch on an interstate highway, you won't get any voice prompts since there aren't any turns. So you may get a bit inattentive regarding the routing. Ostia treats turns the same if they're two miles or 200 miles from the previous one... you just get the standard advance warning just before you must make a turn. Destinator 2 has a feature where it will give you "way advance" warning under such circumstances, such as "left turn in two miles". This gives you plenty of time to make necessary advance lane changes if you're on an interstate highway. Such a warning would be a welcome addition to Ostia.<br /><br />There are two methods for zooming. One is to drag down from left to right on the map to zoom in, and up from left to right to zoom out. The other is to tap on the "+" and "-" buttons on the toolbar when in Map view. I'm a bit puzzled by the operation of the latter, however. Tapping on either the "+" or the "-" brings up a box with an arrow that you drag up or down to zoom in or out. If both buttons just open this same box, why have 2 buttons in the first place? To me, it would make more sense for the "+" button to zoom in one level and the "-" button to zoom out one level, as the arrow is difficult to use while on the road. A little interface tweaking would be helpful here.<br /><br />These quibbles aside, I was very impressed with Ostia overall. I found Ostia's performance to be very speedy, definitely more so than the competition. To be fair, though, I haven't tested the others on this particular Pocket PC, so different hardware and Pocket PC 2003 as opposed to Pocket PC 2002 may account for some of the difference. I experienced an occasional lockup that required a soft reset, but they were few and far between... certainly fewer than I had experienced in the past with other products. I would describe Ostia as being very stable overall.<br /><br /><span><b>Support</b></span><br />I found support from Pharos to be quite responsive. With each of the two inquiries that I sent to them via e-mail, I got a response in one day, and each response showed careful consideration of my questions.<br /><br /><span><b>Gotchas</b></span><br />When I first signed up to do this review, I planned to use my iPAQ 5455, which was recently upgraded to Windows Mobile 2003. While I was able to achieve a connection between the iGPS-BT and the 5455, the connection would drop after about a minute, and I'd have to soft-reset the 5455 to establish a new connection. I tried several things at the suggestion of Pharos tech support, but at this point I wasn't able to rectify the problem. As reported earlier, the iGPS-BT and my iPAQ 2215 worked very well together.<br /><br />My other issues:<br /><br /><ul><li>The lack of restaurants as POIs when not online<li>The rather baffling design of the zoom buttons</ul><span><b>Where To Buy</b></span><br />The iGPS-BT can be purchased from <a href="http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/pharos/dept.asp?cat_id=801">Pharos' Online Store</a> for $369. This includes the Ostia navigation software.<br /><br /><span><b>Specifications</b></span><br />Pharos claims that the iGPS-BT will work with any Bluetooth enabled Pocket PC, using either built-in BT or BT through an add-on card (as noted above, it may not work with every Pocket PC). The Ostia navigation software supports any Pocket PC, from Pocket PC 2000 to Windows Mobile 2003. It requires approximately 1 MB of storage space and should not be installed on a storage card. In addition, a storage card is necessary for maps, since their size would quickly fill up the main memory on most Pocket PCs. <br /><br />I couldn't find any specifications for the PC-based MapFinder software... all I can say is that it works flawlessly with Windows XP.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />The iGPS-BT works very well with a compatible Pocket PC. Connections are strong and reliable. Satellites are acquired quickly. And I appreciated the convenience of NOT having to attach my Pocket PC to the windshield. The package is very complete, and some very useful accessories, such as the DC charging adapter and the high quality case, are included.<br /><br />Ostia 6.0.2.51 is one of the more impressive Pocket PC navigation software packages. I like the interface design... commands seem to be more easily accessible than with the competition, and operation is very speedy indeed. It always seemed to create very direct and logical routes, as opposed to the "tour of the back roads" that I experienced with some other products. And the biggest advantage of all is the multi-stop routing capability, which is a first among the products that I've used, making Ostia seem quite similar to PC-based navigation software such as Streets and Trips.<br /><br />While it would benefit from a little beefing up of the basic POI functionality and a few interface tweaks, Ostia definitely raises the bar for Pocket PC navigation software. Matched with the convenience and portability of the iGPS-BT, Pharos has provided a very capable and desirable navigation package.