I was very excited to be handed an HP iPAQ hw6515, complete with a full version of HandyMap?s 3D-Nav mobile co-pilot to punish for a while. But my high expectations were somewhat let down, as a result both of shortcomings in the products and, various sociopolitical reasons in our security-conscious country.

HP iPAQ hw6515

HP?s new iPAQ incorporates cell phone, messenger, PDA and GPS and is much smaller than its iMate competition (iMate PDA2K).

It runs Windows CE 4.2, includes Bluetooth connectivity, a 1.2 megapixel camera and has 64MB or built-in memory, which can be extended with both SD Cards and MMC cards and a full QWERTY keyboard, something especially useful when sending SMSs and using MSN Messenger.

Battery life is not bad, with moderate use, and Bluetooth constantly on, the battery went two days without a charge. But being constantly plugged into the cradle, which supports USB charging, battery life never dropped below 70 percent on any given day. The GPS sucked power though, which would require you to buy a car charger and PDA cradle for the windshield, around R700 (US$107) for both.

The hw6515 is a decent device but it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. For the price, I would have expected to see WiFi connectivity and possibly more than the 128 MB of built-in memory.

Price: Around R6,999.

HandyMap 2005 3D Nav

HandyMap 3D Nav runs nicely on the HP iPAQ hw6515. Provided you keep the GPS connection settings updated by downloading satellite positions every two days, it should also stay fairly accurate.

Voice prompts tell you where to turn, complemented by an on-screen 3D map of your route. There is also an ?offline? map functionality, which allows you to plot routes with multiple stops.

Users can also opt to avoid certain legs of a route if they know the traffic is bad, or if a traffic light is out, and HandyMap automatically reroutes accordingly. Users have a choice of routes, ranging from ?recommended?, to ?avoid highways?, to ?highways preferred? and ?quickest?.

The system politely tells you if you have veered off course, and recalculates on the fly to get you back on the right track.

HandyMap also warns of commonly-placed speed cameras, and includes a number of plug-ins from EZGo for locating restaurants and hotels. It also offers all the features that make GPS software such a must-have, like highway off-ramp information, points of interest and a night mode.

But I was a little disappointed with the accuracy of the maps supplied by HandyMap. On at least one instance I found that map data was outdated. I needed to visit Roseacres hospital in Germiston. I knew it had moved, and where it had moved to, but the GPS took me to the old location, which has been standing empty for a few years now.

Also, the software does not take road closures into account. When I reported this to HandyMap, I was told by a service consultant that HandyMap only includes legal road closures stipulated in municipal plans.

But this does not change the fact that road closures negate route information, and this should be taken into account to avoid frustrating situations where, like I did, you end up making multiple U-turns in order to get out of a road closure maze.

Also, while this is not a problem inherent to the software, I would imagine that, given that the signal needs to travel between the PDA and a satellite thousands of kilometers away, the data on the GPS screen lags the actual position of the GPS by anything between 20 and 50 meters, depending on your speed.

Having said that, HandyMap 3D Nav on an HP iPAQ hw6515 does acquire your GPS position relatively quickly, so you rarely need to sit and wait for a connection before you get going.

Overall I am happy that I had the chance to play with a GPS, and to experience the fact that the technology still has a long way to go before it is 100 percent commercially viable. It is not something that I would rush out and buy.

To give credit where credit is due, the systems work well, but, with a bit of software tweaking and a little more accuracy on the part of the data providers, the system could run very well.

Price: R1,899 includes software, spare battery & car holder