----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Arrigo" <n0oxy@charter.net>
To: "GPS: Mobile Geo Users List" <mgeo_mailing@codefactory.cat>
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 10:43 PM
Subject: [MGeo] comparison of Mobile Geo and Way Finder Access, part 2
> Hello everyone. As I mentioned in the main part of my comparison of Mobile
> Geo and Way Finder Access, I wanted to do some more testing with the roots
> in Mobile Geo too and from where I work. I was able to do that, and will
> include my findings in this message. I will also answer some questions
> people have emailed me since posting the review. Thanks to everyone for
> your
> kind words on the review. It definitely was worth the work. Ok, let's talk
> about the tests I did with Mobile Geo today. I have tested Way Finder
> Access
> several times with this trip, so already knew the results it would give.
> The
> receiver I used was a Holux m 1000, I have several receivers and I will
> include a section on what I think are the best ones in a bit. Once on the
> bus, I did a search for my place of work which Mobile Geo had no trouble
> finding. If I had created the root from where I live, it would have
> suggested taking the highway, which the bus doesn't do, and, in theory
> would
> have recalculated the root. However, by the time the root was created, the
> most direct root was the one that the bus would take, pretty much a
> straight
> shot on one street, then one turn, and then about a quarter of a mile to
> the
> destination. Once on a root, the number 6 key is very handy, it will tell
> you how far to go until the next turn. Again, one suggestion here, it
> would
> be nice if Mobile Geo provided a way to turn off the way point number
> announcements. When we reached about 0.44 miles, Geo announced that the
> turn
> was coming up, it then announced when it was time to turn, and did this
> before the bus actually turned, very good. I do think it would be nice to
> have an option to also automatically announce a turn several times farther
> back, perhaps in one mile. In Way Finder Access, you can use the guide
> view
> in a vehicle root to tell you when the next turn is, and the female voice
> will give the automatic announcements I mentioned in my first message. Ok,
> the bus makes the turn, and Geo announces a quarter of a mile to the last
> way point, which is the destination. It then announced 500 feet to the
> destination. However, once the bus got there, Mobile Geo fell a little
> short. I am actually able to get off the bus right in front of the
> building
> I work in. So, I was right in front of the building, and Geo indicated
> that
> I was still 170 feet away from the destination, which of course was
> incorrect. The GPS quality at this point was good quality, 23 feet. On the
> other hand, every time I have tested this with Way Finder Access, the
> female
> voice announces that I have reached the destination as the bus pulls up to
> the building which is correct. So, at least for this particular root, I
> must
> give the advantage to Way Finder Access.
> Now let's talk about the trip home. This was another chance to test Mobile
> Geo's reroot feature. Once on the bus, I entered my address and once the
> vehicle root was created, I checked the next turn. Once I saw what it was,
> I
> knew it would reroot because the bus was not going to go that way. Geo
> announced the turn once we got close, and of course the bus passed the
> turn.
> Mobile Geo then announced that some of the way points were skipped, but
> once
> we got farther off the root, it did recalculate the root successfully. By
> the way, at least around here, it's much easier to comprehend the turns on
> to streets then highway exits like the root I did on Friday. The names of
> the highways around here are definitely very long. Ok, at this point I
> canceled the root, since my main reason for doing a vehicle root here was
> to
> test the reroot feature, and Mobile Geo did just fine. Once off the bus, I
> have 4 blocks to walk to get home, and today was quite chilly, about 29. I
> created a padestrian root to my address, and took off at a pretty fast
> walk,
> it really was chilly. I did go ahead and leave the look around
> announcements
> on this time, and it worked well. Somewhere in the last block, Geo
> announced
> that I was getting close to the destination. When I got to the walk way
> for
> my apartment building, Geo did not indicate I had arrived. I checked the
> next point with number 6, and discovered that it thought the destination
> was
> 93 feet away. This time, the GPS quality was Waz quality, 10 feet. There
> is
> a setting in Mobile Geo to determine when the arrival is announced, I
> think
> it defaults to 12 feet, perhaps I need to increase that a bit. Again, for
> this root, Way Finder Access tells me I am at the destination when I get
> to
> the front walk for the building. I plan on doing more testing with Geo on
> some other roots, perhaps increasing the arrival distance, but for now,
> here
> are my thoughts. The instructions are good, and the user should have no
> trouble following them. If you are taking a highway root, you may run in
> to
> some very long names, however, this is not an issue with Mobile Geo or any
> other GPS program, it's how they are named in the map database. The user
> may
> need to experiment with the arrival distance setting to determine what
> works
> best for them, as it looks like I will need to do. When it's not quite so
> cold, I may repeat this root and see where Geo actually says that I have
> arrived.
> A few other features about both products I want to point out. In Mobile
> Geo,
> once you set a destination, you can do 4 different things. Create a
> vehicle
> root, create a padestrian root, use the getting warmer method which will
> not
> create a root, but will just indicate if you are getting closer to the
> destination, or you can simply set the destination and not do anything. In
> that case, Geo will indicate when you reach the destination, but will not
> create a root. This might be good to remind you when it's time to get off
> the bus. Way Finder Access has a couple other features for how roots are
> created that I didn't mention, besides padestrian and vehicle roots, it
> also
> provides a setting for taxis. This really wouldn't apply in the U.s, but
> apparently in some places, taxis are allowed to go places that other
> vehicles are not. You can also choose whether to allow the use of
> highways,
> and whether to avoid tole roads if you have any of those in your area. We
> don't have any of those here, but I know some places do such as Florida.
> One
> other thing I will mention with regard to Way Finder Access, since you
> need
> to pay for data useage, if you decide to go with an unlimited data plan,
> you
> can do other things with it besides using the GPS program. The phones that
> Way Finder Access works with also can do email and browse the web, which
> you
> may find useful.
> Now I will answer a few questions people have asked. If I forget anything,
> please let me know. What about the licensing policy for both products. The
> good news is that both products are not tied to a certain hand set, you
> can
> move the activation from device to device. In the case of Mobile Geo, and
> Mobile Speak for windows mobile smart phones, which is required for Geo to
> work, you need to deactivate the product on the first device, then
> activate
> it on the second one. For Way Finder Access, there is no need to
> deactivate
> anything. Just enter the activation code on the new phone and the license
> will transfer. If you want to use the product on the first device again,
> you
> will need to reenter the code on that device. In some ways this is better,
> as there are situations where a phone could be damaged to the point that
> it
> cannot be used to deactivate a product. In the case of Mobile Speak and
> Mobile Geo, you will need to provide proof that the phone is lost,
> damaged,
> stolen, whatever the case may be in order to get your license back. This
> is
> also the case for Symbian phones for the screen readers, talks and Mobile
> Speak for Symbian phones, but at least it won't be an issue for Way Finder
> Access.
> What about GPS receivers. Which ones are the best to get? I have 7
> different
> ones, and some are more accurate than others. I have found that receivers
> with an MTK chip set are the most accurate. The ones I have that use this
> chip set include the Holux m 1000, the Global Sat 821, and the Global top
> G33. The global top receiver actually uses a newer chip set than the other
> 2, it's 51 channels, and is the most accurate receiver I have, though you
> won't go wrong with the Holux or Globalsat receiver either, which use a 31
> channel MTK chip set. All of these receivers are especially good for
> walking. Another popular chip set is the Surf Star 3. This chip set is
> decent, though I don't think it's as accurate as the MTK chips. I do have
> a
> receiver that uses it though, it's another globalsat model, I think it's
> the
> 350. I have 2 receivers that I don't know exactly what chip set they use,
> if
> anyone knows, please tell me. One is the Garmin bluetooth receiver, and I
> do
> find it to be fairly accurate even when walking, though it appears that it
> does not get the Waz signal. Another one is the bluetooth receiver made by
> tom Tom. This one is good when driving, but is not a good choice for
> walking, I have found when walking around with this receiver, streets are
> indicated to be much farther away than they actually are. The last
> receiver
> I have is made by Ebon, it uses a sky tracker chip set. It's 65 channels,
> and I had high hopes for this receiver. I haven't tested it with Geo yet,
> though that is something I want to do, but with Way Finder Access, the
> results were mixed. It actually seems to work a bit better when walking,
> but
> when I was on the bus, it was almost as if the receiver was following
> behind
> in a separate vehicle, that is, a crossing would be indicated 200 feet
> ahead, then on the next update, it would be something like 400 feet
> behind.
> The jump in distance is not nearly as large with my other receivers. The
> only thing I can think of is that this receiver has a very slow update
> time.
> Perhaps someone might be able to jump in and shed more light on if this is
> what could be happening, but I do want to see how this receiver performs
> with Geo, think I may do that tomorrow. Again, if you want the most
> accurate
> GPS, go with a receiver that uses an MTK chip set.
> What about the program working in the background while you do other things
> with your phone. In the case of Mobile Geo, you will continue to hear look
> around announcements and root instructions as usual. You can also switch
> to
> a Mobile Geo key lay out in Mobile Speak, and issue commands to Mobile Geo
> while in other programs by pressing the home key followed by the
> appropriate
> number. For example, let's say you were in Windows Media Player and you
> wanted to know about your next turn. Press the home key then press number
> 5
> on the keypad, you may need to do this a few times to get to the Mobile
> Geo
> key lay out. Now press home and then press number 6, the next turn will be
> announced just as it is when Mobile Geo is the active application. With
> Way
> Finder Access, you can still follow a root, that is, if the female Way
> Finder voice is active, she will give you the turn instructions, but while
> in other applications, you cannot find out what you are close to or use
> the
> guide view. For this you must switch back to the way Finder Application.
> So
> for being able to run in the background and still provide the same
> information, Mobile Geo has the advantage.
> I have confirmed that their is a bug in Way Finder Access with regard to
> telling you what points of interest you are close to. I don't know if this
> also happens with the European maps, but it definitely happens here in the
> U.S. There are definitely many more places in the database that Way Finder
> Access does not include in the places near by view. To confirm this, I did
> a
> search with Mobile Geo for the places around where I live. I then took 9
> of
> those places, and did a search for them in Way Finder Access. 8 out of the
> 9
> were found, yet these are not mentioned at all in the places near by view.
> I
> really hope this can be corrected fairly soon, I would consider this to be
> a
> major bug.
> I'll go ahead and cover one more topic in this message, it's not directly
> related to Mobile Geo or Way Finder Access, but I did get a few emails
> asking about it, and since Geo only works on Windows Mobile and Access
> only
> works on Symbian, I will provide my views on which platform I believe is
> better. First, let me say that both are similar in many respects. They
> both
> use a cursor pad to navigate up down left and right and an enter or select
> key to choose an item. Both platforms provide the typical smart phone
> applications, such as contacts, call history, a calendar, email, a web
> browser and a media player. There are 2 screen readers available for both
> platforms, though if you want to use Mobile Geo, you must be using Mobile
> Speak, Geo won't work with the other Windows Mobile Screen reader, Smart
> Hal
> from Dolphin. For the Symbian phones, you have the choice of Talks from
> Nuance, or Mobile Speak for Symbian phones from Code Factory, and both
> work
> with Way Finder Access. Now for the advantages and disadvantages. One
> possible disadvantage of Symbian phones, at least in the U.S. is that they
> only work on GSM networks, in this case AT&T and T-mobile. So, if you want
> a
> Symbian phone, Sprint and Verizon are not options. As I said in my first
> message, I do believe GSM is better, you can refer back to that message
> for
> my reasons. If playing protected content, especially windows media
> protected
> files is important to you, a windows Mobile phone is the way to go. I
> think
> the newest Symbian phones can play regular Windows Media files, they can't
> play protected content. If web browsing is your thing, the browser on
> Symbian phones beats Mobile Internet explorer, hands down. Even for
> sighted
> people, I have read several articles that say internet explorer is the
> worst
> mobile browser. The browser on Symbian phones on the other hand, uses
> Webkit
> which is the same engine that is used in the Safari browser which is what
> is
> used on the Iphone. The Iphone is considered to have the best mobile web
> browser, and the browser on Symbian phones works just as well. The screen
> readers for Symbian phones provide most of the functions available on
> desktop computers as well, such as the ability to move by link, heading,
> etc. On the Windows Mobile side, the most that is provided is the ability
> to
> move from link to link, there is no way to move by heading or to search
> for
> text on a page. both platforms work quite well with handling email. When
> it
> comes to stability, again there is no comparison, Symbian wins that one.
> The
> phones boot faster, they shut down faster, and they don't slow down over
> time the way Windows Mobile phones do. This happens whether or not a
> screen
> reader is used. After reading my email on one of my Windows Mobile phones,
> I
> must reboot it because it will likely crash if I don't, and it will also
> run
> very slowly. This is not at all the case with my Symbian phones. So, all
> things considered, if I had to choose which platform I think is better, I
> would say Symbian. There is one more disadvantage for Symbian phones
> though,
> although it's related to the screen readers, not the operating system or
> the
> phones themselves. For Symbian phones, the screen reader license is tied
> to
> the phone itself, if you get a new phone, you must pay a fee to get a
> license for the new phone. On Windows Mobile phones, you can transfer your
> license from device to device without charge. I really hope this license
> policy comes to the Symbian phones as well.
> Well everyone, once again, thanks for reading part 2 of my GPS program
> comments. Feel free to contact me at n0oxy@charter.net if you have any
> other
> comments or questions.
>
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