Disqus
I’ve just bought a new car – and it’s got Sat Nav (of sorts) inside – maybe I should clarify what exactly is in there. It’s a CD-driven system, running off what I believe may well be a TeleAtlas set of maps. The entry of destinations is via a scroll wheel, with a “head-up style” of display in between the speed/revs dials.
Anyway, what I have found is that this Sat Nav is faster and more accurate than both a dedicated Sat Nav system or a Mobile phone with GPS on-board! I have been conducting an entirely unscientific experiment over the last few days, running the car’s system against Sat Nav units, and some mobile devices over the last few days – this has leads me to some interesting conclusions:
• Accuracy – the cars system is more accurate, that’s for sure. It will announce when to take turns at precisely the right moment, rather than remaining quiet until after the turn, as other portable units do
• Laggy – the car’s Sat Nav is fast with the calculations required both initially to plan a route, and also with dynamic route updates whilst driving – both portable Sat Nav units and mobiles are slower at calculating / changing routes.
Why could this be? Well I could postulate:
• More processing power available in in-situ car unit (+ mains powered)
• Better/more satellites reception enabling better accuracy
• No Graphical display to update (well not a 3D map anyway), so runs faster
It might well be a combination of some or all of these reasons, but nonetheless, the car’s Sat Nav is a quicker unit, with accurate directions, that rarely falters.
Have any of you compared your car’s Sat Nav with those packages that Mobile Handset offers? What’s your opinion – should cars come with it as default? Let us know!
[Image via: Which.co.uk]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
