clever stuff.

I'm with T-Mobile and their Web'n'Walk plan (no fixed amount of data per month, just "reasonable usage") and a MDA Vario II handset (Windows mobile). It has an in built GPS receiver which works well with my TomTom that sits on the memory card.

I've been very pleased with the combination - with my old Nokia I needed a separate GPS receiver which if you forgot it was a bit of a sod.....

Cheers

Peter

Reply to
puffernutter
Loading thread data ...

Yeah, "unlimited" data on 3 turns out to be 2 gig or so per month before they think you're taking the piss, I know this because I can easily smash that just using the phone in the span of one *week*, so much for "unlimited"....

(In case you're wondering how I can download 2 gig a week to a phone, I listen to a lot of audio podcasts and the phone can download them directly over 3 when I'm away in a hotel on business)

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

Works fine in: Firefox Opera w3m lynx links dillo

The headers look OK too.

$ lynx -dump -head "

formatting link
"HTTP/1.0 301 Moved PermanentlyLocation:
formatting link
$ lynx -dump -head
formatting link
200 OK Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

W3C thinks it's OK

formatting link
What browser are you using?

Is it OK now - perhaps there was a temporary problem?

Reply to
Alan J. Wylie

On or around Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:50:13 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

can't say I've compared it, but for basic navigation route66 version 8 seems pretty good. pinpoint place on map, or select from a list or from the contact list (I presume you need to have programmed the contact list correctlt for that to work) or it'll search for 3rd-level postcodes (e.g. SA19 8) I think. Having found your end point, assuming it's got the current point from GPS, click on a little icon and select "navigate to", and (for short routes I've tried so far) it takes about 2s, then dumps you into the navigation screen at the start point.

I've programmed an "off-map" position (from GPS) as a favourite point, will try getting it to navigate to there tomorrow :-)

so far, pretty impressed with Route66, btu I have no experience of recent tomtom to compare with.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Sounds fairly basic, most do a full postcode search these days, but that's sometimes an optional extra. You don't really get an idea about which one's better than the other unless you can use them all regularly for a while, which is why bittorrent is you very bestest friend, then you can find out which ones were worth paying for! In my case, only Nokia Maps works well enough to be worth shelling out cash for. I buy the occasional monthly license if I have some difficult driving to do, and can buy a month's worth of routing on the spot over GPRS or 3G if I need to. The rest of the time, it runs without directions for free which is fine for walking around cities.

For the cash though, route66 sounds OK, most of the others are relatively expensive, Garmin being unjustifiably expensive given how awful it is to use. On paper it does the job, but in real life it's usually too much of a faff to bother with.

Shame tomtom doesn't do software any more, particularly things like alternative routes were great compared to the others, the others will do it but not well at all. Garmin appears to be better, permitting you to set a section of road to avoid but it's a PITA to use if you see a jam ahead.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

On or around Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:28:39 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

I can define roadblocks on route66. On a test run today, I deliberately ignored a turn right which it'd decided was a Good Thing (probably, it's 3" shorter) and it more or less instantly adapted and re-routed to the next turn right.

I might try a more deliberate cockup, see how it copes. I can define a multi-point route, and have done, it has the place that's miles off the official "road" in the middle. Will see how it copes.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Yes you can do that on all of them, the best bit about tomtom's approach was being able to avoid "part of route" in a quick and simple way, it would show you a list of route sections such as bits of road, towns, cities and so on and you could click on them to avoid them, it was both simplistic and powerful at the same time, and so ideally suited to on-the-hoof stuff when you see a big jam ahead or hear of something bad on the radio. The problem with the "roadblock ahead" bit is that it only works when you're on the road with the blockage, if you can see a roadblock up ahead just after a junction, or you see the roadblock, pull off onto a side road and then try to plan a new route, then it's useless. Nokia Maps is very poor at this too.

It should be fine, they're all very similar, with differences in the user interface making a big difference in my experience with tomtom being the best, but sadly, restricted to proprietary hardware. Damned if I'm carrying a separate box with chargers etc and swapping it between cars when I've got a phone that does a half-arsed job that's just about good enough.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

Under the three satellites he'd lost before?

Reply to
Carl LHS Williams

On or around Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:07:15 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

hehe. that's my thought. tomtom, with hardware, is pricey, as well, seeing as I've just got the hardware for nowt... I'd have thought that with the new generation smartphones coming out with built-in GPS and so on, it'd be worth tomtom selling the software as an upgrade.

I guess the trouble with caching google maps would be the amount of data - I suspect that it's a good bit bigger than the typical map you get with satnav systems. OK, the omnia has 8GB, and I can fit a card... but I don't want to use ALL the memory for the satnav.

interestingly, a lot of reviews talk of 16GB omnias, well, I haven't seen any on offer, even with more expensive contracts. The implication is that they're 16GB without an extra card, too.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:09:57 +0000 (UTC), Carl LHS Williams enlightened us thusly:

indeed. It also does a pretty good job of tracking in the motor. It did fall over the other evening, but I suspect that was the battery being too low, as shortly afterwards the whole thing went off due to low battery.

Makes an interesting point, if you wanted to use it for a day's hiking in the wilds, a spare battery would be a good investment. It did get quite a lot of use on both GPS and game-playing yesterday, mind. Also the wifi was turned on (interesting to drive through town seeing what networks show up, found at least 2 unsecured ones :-)) but in general leaving that and bluetooth on fulltime is probably bad for battery life. It's only a couple of clicks to put them on if needed.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Their website lists a version to run on PDAs under Windows mobile 2003.

Prices from 87zu to 130zu ish, deep ending on whether you just get the DVD or the memory card plus a GPS receiver.

It doesn't list the Omnia as compatible, but it does list a lot of PDAs including the one I've got.

Reply to
John Williamson

Yes but a very old version with many flaws that will never get addressed.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

I suspected as much, & was wondering if at least the maps are up to date or can be updated?

I'm using Navigon 6 on a Medion PDA at the moment, but they seem to have stopped supporting that and, as the maps are a couple of years old, it's becoming rapidly less useful. The current crop of satnavs all have landscape format or wide sscreen, which I find less than useful, too. I'll probably end up trying out Route 66 or Co Pilot on a PDA.

Reply to
John Williamson

Try coming over here for a visit. Last time I used a sat nav from your place to mine it insisted on taking me down to Carmarthen and thence on the M4. Not content with that it didn't want to let me off the M'way on to the Heads of the Valleys road, but wanted me to carry on. Hooter that, I muttered, as I drove along the A465 regardless.

Reply to
Sena

# Androids, everybody needs good androids...

Reply to
Sena

It fits not with ease into yon pocket.

Reply to
Sena

*No* calls are SFP.
Reply to
Sena

Hmm. Penc satnav. Just tried google map, it hfrq the same route I would - down to Dyfynnog, A470 then over the Rhigos, which it reckons is 58 miles, and an hour and a half.

Via Carmarthen is 84 miles (at which point going via Port Talbot is about 4 miles shorter than the 465->Hirwaun->Rhigos)

You didn't ohl your satnav from Shell or Esso, did you?

Reply to
Carl LHS Williams

My satnav gives you five choices (shortest, quickest, easiest, avoid motorways and avoid tolls) perhaps Fran's has a similar setting?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Mine has 3, shortest, fastest, and the ridiculous "optimised", gawd knows what that does.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

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