Acer N35 GPS

I just wanted to own a GPS for a long time, and recently I could get this PDA with integrated GPS at last.

First of all, I'd like to share with you why did I chose this one, among all the choices available.

What's a GPS?

GPS means Global Positioning System. A GPS receiver is a piece of hardware capable of calculate the position using the signals received from at least three satellites of the GPS network. Civil use GPS receivers can calculate our position in the globe with a precision of about 15 m.

Why do you need a GPS?

First , i'm a techie, so I love to have this kind of stuff. The second reason is for using it in the car. I'm traveling quite a lot nowadays, and having a co-pilot who knows all the addresses and how to reach them is a good point. I also wanted to use it when trekking, and use it in my motorbike. So I don't really need a GPS, but I like to have it.

What kind of GPS are available?

A good bunch. Let's try to do a little resume, with their pro and cons:

Stand alone GPS: These are the simplest ones. Just a receiver, and a LCD text display where you can see longitude and latitude. More expensive models have programmable waypoints, graphic displays, connection to pc.... They cost from about 120€ (about 80 pounds). They use to work with batteries. This kind of GPS use to be water and dust resistant, so they're the best fro trekking, mountain bike, and so on.

Stand alone navigators: This GPS are quite more expensive, and complex. This kind of navigators use to be a little box with a color screen, and a good size memory for maps. They don't have batteries, so they use to be especially designed to be mounted on cars. Price above 600€ (400 pounds). They're great if you can effort the price, and you only want it for the car.

Gps receivers: This kind only receive the GPS signal and calculate the position, but it need a computer to be connected to in order to be useful. It's the simplest and cheapest kind. There's a few sub-kinds:

• Cable: they connect to a computer or PDA using a serial or USB cord. It's the cheapest option, but depending of the model it could need external power supply. Price from 70€ (47 pound)
• Bluetooth: they connect using bluetooth wireless connection. They always need batteries (rechargeable or disposable), and they're a bit expensive. If your computer or PDA have bluetooth they can be the best choice. The GPS won't "suck" your PDA or laptop battery, but you have to carry a replacement for the GPS batteries. Prices from 120€ (80 pounds)
• Card: They use a PCMCIA or SDIO (Secure digital or Compact flash) slot to connect.. Not a bad choice, they convert your PDA or laptop in a portable GPS. In the case of PDAs, the main problem is that they use the external memory slot.. If the PDA only have one, you can't have the GPS and memory at the same time, and the maps used by navigation software use to need a good amount of memory (over 100 Mb). The other problem is that the GPS antenna use to be a little big,, so it makes a little more difficult to carry the PDA in the pocket, for example. Price from 120€ (80 pounds)
• PDA with built-in GPS: They're a bit thicker than standard PDAs, and it's price quite higher than a PDA without GPS. The main advantage is that you have a all-in-one GPS navigator, and a personal assistant in the same price, so if you planned to buy a PDA, and you also wanted a GPS, they're the best choice. Price from about 300€(200 pounds)

Why did you buy the Acer?

In my case, my first idea was to add a GPS receiver to my old Palm M515. I didn't want to pay a lot, so my first choice was a cable GPS. Unfortunately, most I've found needed external power, so they're not useful in the motorbike or for trekking.. The M515 don't have bluetooth (too old), so bluetooth receivers were discarded too. The M515 only have one SD memory slot, so I couldn't have a card-type GPS and memory, so it were discarded, also.

Two months ago I found two PDAs with a built-in GPS for a very interesting price, 300€ (200 ponds). The Airis 509 and this Acer N35. After reading a lot of forum about GPS and PDAs, I found that both models were more or less the same quality, and their processor were similar in power. I finally choice the Acer because it look better built than the Airis.

What about the PDA?

The first though is that it's pretty bulky. It's the price you pay for the GPS, and a pretty big screen. Once you try for a while you realize is not so big, and you can carry it in a shirt pocket without much trouble.

The design is not very spectacular nor fancy, but quite elegant in my opinion, but the silver and black plastic doesn't look bad, and for now there's not a single scratch on it. The same can be said about the buttons.

Buttons and designs are more or less like any other PDA. The only one difference is a little plug in the left to connect an external GPS antenna, included in the pack. And, of course, the built-in GPS antenna, in the rear side of the PDA. In order to connect the GPS function you have to flip it out, and seems there's no way to make it work without it, except plugging the external antenna.

The speaker sound is pretty strong, but not top quality. The sound is a bit "metallic", and not very good for music, but voice reproduction is loud and clear enough. Same for the mic: great for voice messages, but not for music recording. (anyone uses PDAs for music recording?) : )

The processor is a Samsung 266Mhz, and can handle most software pretty well... Only with the last games for PocketPC you can think you need a faster processor.

The USB port is a 1.1, so don't expect high data transfer rates. In fact, the upload speed to the memory card is quite slow (about 4-5 minutes for 110 MB), son if you have a card reader/writer in your PC you'll be using it usually.

The battery last quite a lot. About one or two days of normal use. Using the GPS, the battery last 3-3'5 hours of continuous use.

The Acer come with a preinstalled Windows Mobile 2003, and a good bunch of software, like a Pocket Officce (word & excel), an Internet Explorer, Messenger, Windows Media, and some other stuff. I guess it's more or less the same as most Pocket PC.

The OS is pretty simple to use and learn, at least if you use Windows usually. Everything has a "Windows feeling", included the usual Start button on screen, or the Control Pannel. Even the directory structure is quite similar.

Accessories

In the pack you get some useful accesories, like a car craddle, to attach the PDA to the car's windshield, a car power adaptor, to "feed" the pda, and an external GPS antenna. Apart of that, the usual bunch of USB cable, power adaptor, drivers, manuals and so on.

The GPS.

The GPS reciever works pretty well... It only takes a few minutes (2 or 3, usually) to get your position in cold start. Once it get a position you can swith off the PDA, and if next time you swith on the GPS you're close to where you switched off (in time and place terms), the GPS gets the possition in just a few seconds. Most of the time the reciever have 7 or 9 satellites located. Only in city, with high buildings and so on the number is reduced to 4 or 5 satellites. Of course, in tunnels or indoor the GPS signal is completely lost. From 4 satellites the possition is pretty acurate, with about 5 meters as maximum error. The GPS reciever can calculate altitude and speed pretty well too, and im willing to test it in a plane... : )

Resuming, I think it was a great purchase. For less than 300€ I have a PDA much better than my old Palm 515, and a GPS reciever. Unfortunately, navigation software is pretty expensive, so you need to invest a few more money to get a fully functional navigator.