by Craig Ellison
When you boot up just about any device from HP, you get a splash screen exclaiming, "HP Invent." This may be pure marketing shtick, but in the case of the new HP iPAQ 310 Travel Companion, it's actually true: The device offers innovation that its competitors don't yet have. When you first open the box, the iPAQ 310 looks just like any other widescreen GPS unit, but once you boot it up, you'll quickly discover that it's far from ordinary. The device features the highest-resolution 4.3-inch screen I've seen, and it delivers gorgeous 3D images. At $449.99, the iPAQ 310 offers most of the features you'd expect to find in a GPS at this price point, including a capable text-to-speech engine, extensive multisegment routing and a handy Bluetooth phone interface. Live traffic, which is not included, is supported with an optional traffic receiver.
Most GPS devices that are built around Windows CE 5.0 have processors that run somewhere between 300- and 400-MHz clock speeds. The iPAQ 310 gains considerably more power from SiRF Technology's new SiRFtitan 600-MHz ARM11 dual-core processor. A new integrated chipset, the SiRFtitan is essentially an SOC (system on chip), and the iPAQ 310 is the first product to use it. One core provides processing for an application, and the other core is an integrated vector floating-point unit for 3D graphic acceleration. The SiRFtitan also includes an ultrasensitive 40-channel GPS receiver. The 4.3-inch screen has the traditional dimensions of a WQVGA screen, but at 800 by 480 pixels, its resolution is nearly three times higher than that of any GPS display on the market. The fast processor, coupled with the high- resolution display, allows the device to render 3D images with amazing clarity. In 40 major metropolitan areas, even buildings are rendered in 3D. (See the slide show for examples.)
The iPAQ packs all this power into a slim 3.4-by-4.3-by-0.7-inch (HWD) unit that weighs just 6.6 ounces together with its 1,700-mAh lithium ion battery. An added bonus: The battery is removable and user-replaceable, so you need never run out of juice. At 0.7 inches thick, the iPAQ 310 shares bragging rights with the Magellan Maestro 4250 as the slimmest personal navigation device on the market. The 310, like many GPS devices, has a windshield mounting bracket with a suction cup, as well as an adhesive disk for dashboard mounting. The mounting bracket can be adjusted vertically, which, combined with a ball-and-socket connection, provides complete control over the positioning of the device on the windshield. The bottom of the device fits into a slot in the bracket, and a simple clamp holds the top in place. Power is supplied to the iPAQ 310 through a mini USB cable that plugs into a port protected by a rubber tab on the right-hand side of the device. Nonetheless, I prefer a device that picks up power from its mounting bracket. It's much more convenient to connect the power cable to the bracket once than to connect it to the device each time you mount it. The iPAQ 310 bundles both an AC and DC power cord, as well as a carrying case to protect the unit when it's not in use.
When you first switch on the iPAQ 310, you immediately notice the sharp, clear graphics. The "home" screen shows time and date, Bluetooth status, battery condition, an icon for volume, and a lock icon to lock the screen. At the center of the display, there's a large icon to launch the navigation program and a series of smaller icons labeled Entertainment, Contacts, Extras, and Settings. The entertainment menu has options for playing music or video, displaying photos, and five games. The music player and picture viewers worked well, as did the video player when handling WMV files, but AVI and MOV files wouldn't play. The "Contacts" feature gives you access to your address book, which you can import from Outlook. "Extras" provides access to a calculator, a three-zone world clock, and the phone menu.
The top-level navigation menu is simple. The large icon in the center of the screen displays the map, along with icons for Go to, Nav extras, Route, and Settings. Icons for accessing the phone dialer, the route status list, the music player, and volume control are displayed across the top of the map view. Along the bottom of the screen are multiple data fields that toggle between various values when touched. There's also an icon showing GPS status, a Menu icon, and a field that posts estimated arrival and travel times. With an active route, the center at the top of the screen indicates your current street and toggles to the name of the next street, distance to the next maneuver, and turn direction. A large turn arrow also appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
You can really see the benefits of the high-resolution screen and robust graphics processor in the map view. Using the scroll wheel on the right-hand side of the device, you can zoom in to a street-level perspective or zoom all the way out to a 2D view. If you tap the screen, additional icons appear briefly. Those icons enable you to toggle between 2D and 3D, zoom in or out, select one of three perspective views, and toggle between the full-screen map view and the normal view with all the icons visible. Two additional icons also let you rotate the map clockwise or counterclockwise—a feature I've not seen on any other device.
To map a route, you simply tap Go to. Options for creating a destination include Address, Favorites, POIs, Home, Work, History, Contacts, Point on Map, or Coordinates—or you can load a pre-saved route. To find an address, you can enter the city, street name, and house number—or navigate to City Center, Street Center, or an intersection. The iPAQ 310 contains the entire Info USA point-of-interest (POI) database with 12 million POIs. You can search for POIs near your current location, near your destination, along your route, or near a point on the map. Another way to find a POI is to search within one of 18 categories or across all categories; results can be displayed by distance or alphabetically. Five vehicle routing profiles, three route calculation methods (short, fast, most economical), and a list of seven "avoidances" let you tailor your route to your preferences.
The iPAQ 310 delivered excellent navigation results. On tests, the text-to-speech function pronounced street names well. And routes generated by the device matched those created by other Tele Atlas–based GPS products I've reviewed. Automatic route recalculation after a missed turn was quick. While traveling through New York City, I really liked the 3D rendering of building detail–something a less-capable processor couldn't achieve. But I did discover that the Bluetooth phone interface, which is linked to the POI database, did not automatically reconnect to my phone during testing, as it should have. I chalk that up to the vast number of phones the device needs to support. Your experience may vary. My only major complaint is with the small typeface used for the data fields at the bottom of the screen. I found myself searching for my reading glasses to read arrival times and remaining travel times.
Overall, the fast processor, high-resolution screen, superb 3D capabilities, and large POI database make the HP iPAQ 310 Travel Companion an excellent navigation device.
