Posts Tagged ‘review’

It is more than difficult to find a good GPS review on the Internet. The reason is this: GPS devices all do the same thing. They show your location on an electronic map, and then show you how to get where you’re going. Now, by GPS device I mean a car GPS device that you buy separately from your automobile and either hang from a bracket on your windshield or put next to you on the seat.

So, the key to a good GPS review is understanding the features that various GPS devices offer at each price point.

What do all GPS devices have in common?

All car GPS devices that are on the market today have a touch screen where you can enter information into the unit, such as your destination address. All auto-calculate the route to that address, and all give you spoken directions of some sort as you drive to your destination. In addition to this, virtually all GPS devices come pre-loaded with maps, usually at least of the continental United States, have an internal battery for emergency use, and can toggle between 2D and 3D map views. (3D gives you a slightly more realistic view of what you should be seeing in front of you.)

There are exceptions to all of these rules, but almost all are in the older models.

Who are the industry leaders?

There are three main manufacturers of car GPS systems, Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom.

Garmin sells about one out of two of all the car GPS systems sold in the world. They are known for making a quality product. Magellan was an early leader in GPS systems that can route you to more than one destination. They do not have nearly the market share that Garmin has. Tom Tom is a late arrival who is quickly catching up. According to Tom Tom, their GPS system, the Tom Tom One, is the best selling system in the world.

What are the main features to look for in a GPS system?

In this GPS review, let’s start at the cheap end and work our way up.

You can buy a GPS system for less than $200. The Garmin nuvi 200 and the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition currently sell for less than $200 at Amazon.

As you increase price, the main features you can add are

Voice prompts that actually say the street name

Cheaper GPS devices only tell you where to turn. They say something like, “Turn right, here.” A good feature to be aware of is having the GPS device actually say the street name of the road you need to turn on. So, instead of “Turn right, here,” a better GPS system would say, “Turn right on Highland Avenue,” or “Take a left onto the entrance to I-95.” Devices with spoken street names usually start around $300.

Another feature to look out for is real-time traffic and weather capability

Wouldn’t it be nice if your GPS device could not only tell you how to drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte, North Carolina, but could alert you to bad traffic conditions in time to take a detour? Well, many of the more expensive units can. How does your GPS device know what the traffic is like up ahead? GPS devices that have this capability are tuned to either an FM or satellite radio frequency that broadcasts this information. If your device has this function, then it will usually come with a free trial subscription to this service. After that, it’s going to cost you, but the cost is fairly low, especially considering how useful real-time traffic is. Along with real-time traffic usually comes real-time weather — an added bonus.

Any of the Garmin nuvis from the nuvi 350 up have FM traffic capability. The nuvi 350 runs slightly less than $300 at Amazon. If you want a Magellan that route you around hold ups, you’ll be paying $300 to $350. All of the Tom Tom’s have this capability, even the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition, which is one of the cheapest units on the market, currently running around $200.

Do you regularly use your cell phone while driving?

I know I do. It’s problematic to hold the cell phone in one hand and negotiate your way through heavy traffic on a busy interchange. If your phone supports Bluetooth technology you can get a GPS receiver with that same capability and actually use it to make and receive calls. You answer an incoming call by just tapping on the touch screen. You make an outgoing call by either entering the number in your GPS’s touch screen key pad or by accessing numbers stored in the device — downloaded from your phone when you first set up your receiver. So, now instead of wearing that silly Bluetooth headset and looking like a member of the Borg Collective, you can just have your GPS device do double duty. If you make a lot of calls while driving, this is definitely a feature you need to think about.

As to what Bluetooth is going to run you, the Garmin nuvi 360 is their lowest priced Bluetooth model. It currently sells for slightly more than $300. Virtually all of their upper end products have Bluetooth. Two of the Magellan Maestro series, the 3250 and the widescreen version, the 4250 have Bluetooth. They run around $280 and $350 respectively. The Tom Tom GO series has Bluetooth. They run anywhere from $350 to $900.

Multi-destination routing

It’s not something that I use much, but it’s definitely worth knowing about. Multi-destination routing means you can enter multiple routes into your GPS at one time and it will calculate the best route that includes all of your destinations.

Garmin’s nuvi 700 series does this, as well as a couple of their StreetPilot series. Most of the Magellan Maestro series does this – they can be programmed to hold up to 20 separate destinations. As for Tom Tom, the GO 510 can hold up to 15 routes. As to price, the nuvi 700s run anywhere from mid-$400s to almost $700. The Magellans are slightly less expensive, running from mid-$200s to the mid-$300s. The GO 510 costs slightly less than $500 at Amazon right now. The voice prompts, Bluetooth, and multi-destination routing are three of the more important features to consider.

Also, you want to keep in mind what maps your device comes with. And, almost as important, how many preprogrammed Points of Interest are included in its database.

Points of Interest

(POIs) are names, addresses, and phone numbers of possible destinations, anything from the nearest Starbucks to Yellowstone National Park. The lower priced units come with less than 1 million POIs. That’s not enough, if you’re going to be using this feature. For use outside of your normal travel routes, you really want a few million POIs. Virtually all GPS devices now come with this, except the lowest prices models, like the Garmin nuvi 200, which only has regional maps and less than 1 million POIs. (There’s nothing wrong with fewer POIs, if you’re not planning on needing them, but they sure can come in handy.)

Yet another feature to keep in mind is screen size. The standard size is 3.5 inches. This is measured on a diagonal. So the screen for the nuvi 270, for instance, measures 2.8″ by 2.1″. The so called widescreens measure 4.3 inches on the diagonal. You’re actually getting 70% more screen this way.

Why is screen size important?

It has to do with ease and safety of use while driving. Personally, I like a wide screen, but then again, my car is fairly big and has a big windshield. The difference in price between a regular screen and a widescreen is about $80. That might be money well spent. On the other hand, if you drive a smaller vehicle with less windshield area, the wider screen might be more of a hazard than a safety feature.

Currently at Amazon, Garmin nuvis (their newer product line) run from $179 for the nuvi 200 to $699 for the nuvi 770. The Magellan Maestros are running from $168 for the 3100 to $356 for the widescreen 4250. Tom Tom’s GPS systems are currently priced from slightly less than $200 for the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition, to $899 for the GO 700 (which is overpriced).

Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate. Even with a good GPS review, with all of these confusing choices it’s tempting to just wait for whatever the next model is going to be. What you’re missing by doing that is lots less stress while driving! Imagine, if you’re a guy being able to always (really) know where you’re going despite what your wife or girlfriend says. And, even better, if you’re a woman you won’t have to pester your husband or boyfriend to stop at the local gas station and admit that they’re lost – not an easy admission for a guy. (I should know!)

The full high definition (full hd tv) television goes by very many names and can sometimes be confusing. The television world has picked up with amazing speed and some have not been able to keep up with it. Some call the full high definition television the ultra high definition television. Others call it the true high density high definition television. For the technology buffs the full high definition television is simply called the 1080p.

To give you a picture of how the full high definition TV has won this war hands down you have to learn a bit. The standard TV would work on a resolution of 480. The high definition TV came along and blew this away with its high resolution of 1080i. Now get this, the full high definition TV has twice the resolution of the high definition TV.

Being of higher quality the full high definition TV will therefore come at a different price too. The high definition TV’s start from anywhere around three hundred and fifty dollars and go up to about five thousand dollars. The full high definition TV is priced at almost double this price. If you ask me though I think it is very worth it. Some may say they would rather wait for the prices to come down but this will take quite a while.

If you want to experience the maximum video sharpness of the full hd TV then you will know that size really does matter. If you compare a full high definition TV that is less than forty two inches with a hd TV you will almost not notice a difference. If you therefore intend to buy a full hd TV then you better do it big.

As with many other new technologies out there the competition between the full high density brands is at an all time high. This can be very confusing when you go out to the store to buy yours. I therefore suggest that you do some research to find the world’s leading brands. Some of the brands that I would recommend are; Pioneer kuro, Panasonic viera and the Sony bravia.

As the full high definition TVs’ work on such a high resolution, media manufactures had to adjust to this. Now the DVD’s and discs are all in high resolution formats. Otherwise the full high definition TV would be able to show high resolution but would have no high resolution media to play. They therefore now have the HD DVD and the blue-ray disc for them. These come with the movies and games in high resolution formats of 720p to 1080.

The hardest part of choosing a full high definition TV over, the next thing is the screen type. They come in two distinct types. The first one is the plasma screen and the other is the LCD screen. As per my research the LCD screen is ideal for multimedia entertainment. It is also easy to fit into any environment around the house without a hustle of glare or lighting.

The full high definition TV will then only be left to choose by smaller considerations. One of these is the viewing distance in your house. Some of them are meant to be watched from a far to get the highest quality experience.

Robbie Densmore writes about full hd tv online and best led tv

Nokia 6110 Navigator: The use of Nokia mobile phones had been a part of everyone’s life. As one of the in-demand and known mobile phone manufacturers, Nokia caters the need of every consumer when it comes to mobile phone technology by developing the latest mobile phone unit its workforce could think and create. From the ancient analog phones up to the most high-end cellular phone available in the market, Nokia satisfies the community with its user-friendly mobile phone interface just like the announced Nokia 6110 Navigator built for those who always find themselves lost around big cities.

Sony Ericsson W380: Don’t touch me! Sounds surprising? With continuous research and development, Sony Ericsson continues to improve and push its W-series walkman phones in the market with the introduction of the W380. For the first time in the walkman phone family, the Gesture Control feature will make its debut. The Gesture Control is a motion detector that gives the user the powerful functionality of snoozing the alarm or muting your mobile phone just with the wave of a hand giving the truly “hands free” experience. Aside from this new innovation brought to the market by the W380, Sony Ericsson is also presenting the W380 in a clamshell form factor with two available colors; Magnetic Gray and Electric Purple.

Sony Ericsson T650: The new Sony Ericsson T650 phone is thought to be the successor of the greatly popular phone of the Sony Ericssons very famous Sony Ericsson T610. The new Sony Ericsson T650 phone has a cool stainless steel finish, and has much cooler updates from the previous Sony Ericsson T610. The demand of modern times has resulted into the Sony Ericsson T650 phone, and the prospective success of the Sony Ericsson T650 phone is looking good.

LG KU990 Viewty: Every time our favorite cellular phone manufacturer releases a new model we want it in our hands as soon as possible. We have our personal preferences in mind in choosing the right mobile phone and finding the phones key features is the only way for us to know if it truly fits our lifestyle. Whether its a plain phone or the most high-end phone available, as long as it catches your interest it will be the most ideal phone for you. Better check up one of the new phones that is out in the market nowadays, the LG KU990 Viewty cellular phone.

Sony Ericsson W890: W for Walkman! Welcome the newest addition to the Walkman mobile phone product line of Sony Ericsson, the W890. The Walkman which was one of the most popular products from Sony during the early’90s has made a comeback in the music scene through the efforts of Sony Ericsson when they fused together features of the Walkman and their mobile phones to come up with mobile music.

Bill Bowman reviews and shows you how to find BlackBerry Car Chargers For Sale and Fragrance Gift Sets For Sale online.

LG VX8610: The LG VX8610 is being categorized as the new replacement for the LG VX8550 Chocolate. It is a newly released mobile that has a slider style; which is similar to most of the new cell phones in the market. It just so happens that the touch-sensitive buttons were replaced with four buttons that are standard-type; and surrounds the trackball d-pad. This would be similar to the actual ball being used on certain Blackberry devices. Thus, the LG VX8610 is expected to hit North America in the 2nd quarter of 2008.

Samsung SGH-T809: Samsung SGH-T809 Samsung follows in Motorola’s footsteps with the SGH-T809, and does a very good job of it, much to the chagrin of consumers looking for other slim handsets without having to buy Motorola’s flagship phone, the RAZR, since it seems everybody already have. Unlike the RAZR though, the T809 is a slider phone and as such, the slimness seemed like a miracle. And do not get fooled by its size as the T809 is mightily packed with great features that would definitely inspire a purchase consideration for many people. The T809’s svelte features can not be appreciated fully when viewed straight on though, as this view makes it look a bit bulky. That is until you start turning it to its side when its 1.52 cm thickness makes you wonder how so many features can be crammed in such a slim handset.

Motorola RIZR Z3: The Motorola RIZR Z3 is being tagged by most people as the slide version of the very popular Motorola RAZR phones. And rightly so as the RIZR Z3 does resemble the build and character of the RAZR and even share a lot with regards to its looks and function. It must be noted that the RIZR Z3 is the first slider design from Motorola to be offered to the European and American market.

Samsung SPH-M800: The Samsung SPH-M800 is a new type of mobile which is being prepared only for Sprint. It is indicated that it is, in fact, a North American version of the previously released European F490. This is because it has an array of features similar to the F490. This would go with its 2 megapixel camera, internet and Bluetooth capabilities among others.

Nokia 6630: The Nokia 6630, released last 2004 is, along with the Motorola A1000, a Symbian based 3G capable phone. The Symbian operating system is a great solution for those in search of quick menu navigation, messaging and all around general operations in a handset.

Bill Bowman reviews and shows you how to find BlackBerry Car Chargers For Sale and Fragrance Gift Sets For Sale online.