11-12-2004, 05:30 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,186
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Alturion GPS 6: This Way to Spoorwegstraat
"Alturion� GPS 6.0 is the most advanced mobile GPS navigation system. You can use Alturion� GPS 6 as a mobile navigation solution but it is more than navigation! You can track vehicles or persons, download weather information and add/edit roadbloacks and POIs! Planning a trip but unsure about the weather conditions? Alturion� GPS visualizes the weather conditions throughout Europe on your screen and even offers you a day-by-day forecast. If you use a mobile internet connection (GSM/GPRS) on your PDA, you can even get updated information on line while driving."
For some reason, I'm slightly offended that a) I've never heard of this, and b) it's not available for North America. Yeah, I'm a bit impressed. Nice UI? Check. Weather? Check. Customizable POIs? Check. Live traffic info? Check. Skinability? El Check-o. Ability to take you to Spoorwegstraat whenever you want: check-a-mundo. European customers can purchase the standard software only for 129 �, software + serial GPS for 219 �, and the software and a BT GPS for 299 �. Existing users can upgrade for 99 �. If you've used this, pipe up! Does this look like a worthy upgrade from version 5?
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11-12-2004, 06:35 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 10
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More skins for this great GPS software are available for free at http://www.superwasp.net/skins/
And yes, it's as great as it looks ;-)
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11-12-2004, 11:36 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 127
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Ah, if only it worked for the USA I'd be buying now :cry:
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11-12-2004, 11:55 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 10
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by doc
Ah, if only it worked for the USA I'd be buying now :cry:
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You can always ask at [email protected], no idea if they ship to usa but it's worth asking?
oVan
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11-13-2004, 02:11 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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Well according to the Google article I'd found to break the news of v6 http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/comments.asp?id=463 ;-) they do have USA maps now.
The biggest problem with Alturion is that it is very very lacking when it comes to usability and it keeps amazing me that they insist on having a PocketPC run an app that a laptop can barely power! Each time a new version comes out, I try it in earnest (3, 4, 5, 5.3, etc...), but sadly the total absence of mobile optimization remains.
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11-13-2004, 03:23 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 127
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So, what kind of problems does this software have? My Mapopolis yearly subscription runs out next month. 
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11-13-2004, 07:07 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 779
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doc, you can still use mapopolis after your subscription runs out. You just can't download more maps or any newer maps. Before my subscription ran out, I downloaded every state in the country.
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11-13-2004, 10:33 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by doc
So, what kind of problems does this software have? My Mapopolis yearly subscription runs out next month. |
Well it's a bit difficult to know where to start, it's a bit like with Teletype, it's biggest problem is that it's just not "usable", menus are confusing, maps don't scroll properly, zoom boxes don't zoom what you've selected, it crashes, position on screen is 2/3 seconds late, route recalculation can take forever, etc...That's v5.3 not v6 but having been shown v6 in Paris on Wednesday, I didn't see much change, just a few features tacked on to already bloated software. They need to redo this from scratch, really!
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11-13-2004, 10:57 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 10
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Almost all of those problems you mention are from older versions (5.2), 5.3 did fix a lot of them, but v6 is really fast and stable.
Much depends also on the pocketpc you use of course...
Furthermore, it is optimized for ppc, it even includes different executables for ppc2002, ppc2002 with xscale, wm2003 and wm2003 with xscale. And personally I find it a feast to know that both desktop app and ppc app run the same algorithms...a lot of ppcs are running 400mzh+ so it is time to use the power of it.
Just my .02 �
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11-13-2004, 11:35 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 152
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Like I said, I try each version in earnest and I've used everything out there for the past two years, pretty much round the clock I might add so I've got a lot to compare Alturion to ;-) I'm looking forward to using v6, but the fact that you say that "most" of the problems I mention where fixed with v5.3 is not very encouraging as they weren't in my experience. Maybe the v6 I was shown by Mio on Wednesday was a beta but I didn't see much change apart from the 3/4 addition menus (weather, traffic, etc..), that zoom box stil doesn't zoom what you select!
What I mean by "not optimized" is that there's been no visible effort to optimzi the GUI for mobile use to make for easy operation while on the road for instance. Intellinav (iGuidance, Prymenav, Dell, HP, etc...) benefits from a natural flow that maked for one tap operation and so does TomTom, even Navigon. Honestly, if you can, try any of the above and you'll see where Alturion is "missing the boat" and not giving their users the "GPS pleasure" they deserve.
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Linear Mode
