GPS Passion Reviews the GPS Features of the HP iPAQ hw6515

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=166' target='_blank'>http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=166</a><br /><br /></div><i>"This article will focus on the GPS aspects of the hw6515 but since it is now my main PDA I'll say a few words about that. The novelty here is the A-GPS module for 'Assisted GPS' so we'll spend some time trying to understand what this is about before some side by side comparisons with a 'traditional' PDA+SiRFstarIII Bluetooh GPS combo to see how it stacks up."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/ekkie_hw6515_gps.jpg" /><br /><br />If you've been curious about the GPS features of the HP iPAQ hw6515, then you'll want to check out this GPS Passion article. Interestingly enough, the reviewer is also very lavish in his praise of the hw6515, calling it "the most useful PDA" he's ever owned (in the eight years he's been using PDAs). Anyway, the article compares the GPS features on the hw6515 with those provided by a BT-enabled SirfStarIII GPS receiver. Some of today's top GPS receivers use that same SirfStarIII chipset, so that's not a bad standard for comparison.

[Menneisyys]

Great comparative review! Liked it very much.

The most important part of the conclusion:

"the actual chipset (RF and baseband modules) appears to be far less capable than the SiRFstarIII chipset to acquire and track GPS signals. This could come down to the use of a tiny antenna on the 6515 but absent any other Globallocate consumer solution, it's hard to tell. I, for one, appreciate the convenience of having a GPS available at all times with the option of using a SiRFstarIII Bluetooth GPS for improved accuracy when required, but quite a few European users have complained that they were getting poor guidance."

[gpspassion]

Thanks for the link guys. Hey I REALLY love my 6515, I sense some surprise at this statement ? ;-) It's hard now to go back to a PDA, even the great x50v, without a GSM module and a keyboard.

On the GPS aspects, yes it's too bad the innovative LTO based AGPS is not integrated with a SiRFstarIII chipset, that would be the ultimate combo, there might be some different strategies there at play though.

[Jerry Raia]

I am impressed with the GPS features of mine. I have used it with Streets 2006, Mapopolis and gpsdash. All work well with it.

[gpspassion]

What version of Quick GPS do you have on yours ? It should be noted that the tracking problems it has are really when dirving at a good speed, in Mapopolis you can deactivate "snap to road" to see what's going on.

[Jerry Raia]

The driver version is 1.21

[gpspassion]

And no particular problems, even when driving around with Mapopolis ? It would be nice if they offered a downloadabe upgrade, provided it upgrades the actual GPS firmware not only Quick Connect, which is not something that's been established yet.

[Jerry Raia]

No problems. I'm not a heavy user either so things that may jump out at some I might miss. I'll keep playing with it though.