06.01.07
GPS Road Testing - Nokia Navkit Head to Head with the N95 and TomTom 510
The only real way to gauge whether a GPS works well or not is to put it on the road and see how accurate and quick it is to assist. As readers here know I’ve received a Navicore Navigation kit for review and I’ve been putting it through the paces. This (30 min) video is a side by side road test of the Nokia N800 Navkit with the N95 and a TomTom 510 GPS.
The package includes a great windshield mount, the Nokia LD-3W GPS, a car charger, memory card and necessary software. You can see the unboxing here in case you missed it previously. In general, it’s a solid piece of kit, though there are a few issues I should bring up right away…
For starters, it’s seriously slow at doing lookups for where you might want to go. I don’t know whether this can be fixed in future updates, but for now it takes several minutes to find a place or address. This is something that is both frustrating and disappointing. When compared to stand alone GPS systems or the Nokia Maps application it seems as if something is wrong with your tablet. As you can see in the video above, my Tablet has a few issues with locations… the slow, locking issue and also a write error with the memory card - which does not prevent you from completing a task, but is disconcerting at best. I believe that my memory card issue occurred while I was trying to update the software via Parallels. I can’t seem to fix the error and have decided to simply leave it for now since I can still use the software effectively.
Less critical, but equally annoying there is no way to change the orientation of the map do that you are driving up. Instead North always finds its way back up which can make a quick scan of your surroundings tough at times.
Once up and running, the Navicore display is pretty solid. You can see (and read) the road you are on as well as the next turn. There are time and distance indicators to help predict your arrival or next move - pretty standard stuff and just good to see that it’s there. There are options for voices and language and accents if you like. I tend to lean towards british women on my GPS systems.
Compared to the N95 Nokia Maps option, I would lean towards the tablet (even with the mentioned issues) since you will be able to take advantage of the larger touch screen and with the full US loaded on the SD card, there’s no need to worry about being out of cellular coverage which will most definitely prevent the N95 from locking in on your position. No cellular = no downloading of the local map view when the GPS is acquiring a signal. As I’ve said in the video, I would probably still choose to use a standalone GPS for the car and not my Tablet. I found my TomTom to be easier to work with, much easier to read and it is considerably more adept and figuring out my path if I choose a known shortcut — which GPS systems never seem to offer.
PS - This is the longest video with the most editing I’ve done. If it’s too much, please let me know…
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Nokia N95 blog - Nokia N800 vs Nokia N95 vs TomTom 510 GPS said,
June 1, 2007 at 6:23 pm
[…] Jonathan Greene (Atmasphere) has made a 30 minute video in which he compares the Nokia N800 internet tablet with a Navicore Navigation Kit versus the Nokia N95 and versus the TomTom 510 GPS. […]
Anthony said,
June 2, 2007 at 4:57 am
You are able to download the maps on the sd card via nokia’s maploader and use it with the n95.
Jonathan Greene said,
June 2, 2007 at 7:27 am
I know… one advantage though of both the TomTom and the N800 Navkit is the whole country is already loaded on the system.
Si Brindley said,
June 2, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Nice test. If only you’d filmed it when it was less bright outside, so we could see the screens.
Jonathan Greene said,
June 2, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Thanks - I had to do during the day… with two kids it’s tough to get out at most times at night for a test drive.
Sawyer said,
June 2, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Why does my video stop and restarts when it gets to the part where you type the address into your N800? Its fully downloaded.
Jonathan Greene said,
June 2, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Sorry I don’t know… Feel free to try and watch it directly on Blip here - http://atmasphere.blip.tv/file/250019/
GPS Tracklog said,
June 2, 2007 at 9:26 pm
tracking device for your car. Via Digg. DeLorme takes on Microsoft Streets & Trips, offering the Earthmate GPS LT-20 and StreetAtlas USA 2008 for $69.95. A tablet, Nokia N95 and TomTom GO 510. Guess who wins. A bunch of marketing bull…. Billing the Satmap Active 10 as “the ‘world’s first to offer fully integrated digital maps and GPS hardware,’ meaning that users can purchase additional map cards that include detailed imagery of counties, regions,
Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » N95 vs TomTom 510 vs N800 navicore kit said,
June 3, 2007 at 11:02 am
[…] 30 minutes of video for you to get stuck into here, giving a really in depth look at the N95 and N800’s Navicore GPS kit, and then pitting them against the TomTom 510. […]
Stefan Constantinescu said,
June 3, 2007 at 3:33 pm
What did you use to record this?
Jonathan Greene said,
June 3, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I got a new camera … Canon HV20. Shoots in 1080i HD and I uploaded a 720P AppleTV file to Blip.
TabletBlog.com by ThoughtFix: NAVKIT review - my bad said,
June 4, 2007 at 3:09 am
maemo.org - Planet Maemo said,
June 4, 2007 at 3:44 am
snoyt said,
June 6, 2007 at 7:00 am
The N95 allows to preload maps on a memorycard too. Currently upto 4GB cards are available. I guess. US would fit. Europe is about 1 GB. This is an error in you blogpost. The only reason to allow network downloads on the N95 is if you allow for AGPS support and mapupdates.
snoyt said,
June 6, 2007 at 7:02 am
I can’t watch the video past the first 20% of the total length.
Jonathan Greene said,
June 6, 2007 at 7:26 am
I’ve found that if I am in an area without coverage I cannot initiate the GPS. With minimal coverage I can get going, but have had major issues getting a zoomed view on the map.
Not sure why you can’t see more than 20%. If you try clicking over to the BlipTV page - http://blip.tv/file/250019 - there are some other version options which might work better for you.
Nokia news, reviews » Blog Archive » N95 vs TomTom 510 vs N800 navicore kit said,
June 9, 2007 at 3:48 am
Navigation with the Nokia N800 at wolfgang.lonien.de said,
July 24, 2007 at 11:37 am
[…] MaemoApps […]
said,
July 25, 2007 at 4:39 pm