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Tony Saigh

Sat nav, mobile email, and Skype all in one package?

By My status Tony Saigh on November 21, 2006 in Skype Mobile.

Yes, we want it all and it seems that we’re getting it all in even smaller packages. This year saw more and more Windows Mobile phones with GPS and this is a theme that seems set to continue next year.

So I thought I’d give a little round up of a few "GPS Pocket PC phones", all of which work great with Skype and also give our large community of Pocket PC Skype users to add their thoughts.

I’ve chosen three models, all of which I’ve been lucky enough to use:

GPSlineup2.JPG

From left to right:

The Glofiish X500 from E-TEN (£439.95)

The HP iPAQ hw6915 (£399.95); and

The Asus P535 (£TBD)

Prices are for handsets only (taken from Expansys) and if bundled with a mobile contract, handset cost can be much more afforable (under £100).

The iPAQ is wider than the other two models and only has a rather dated 1.3MP camera but it does have ad advantage of a QWERTY keyboard (great for using Skype chat, especially if you have an unlimited data plan) as well as EDGE support and comes TomTom software (one free city map only).

The Glofiish device is thinner than the P535 and both have a 2MP camera, GPRS radio. The Glofiish is one of the first devices to support Skype calls through the receiver, which gives a better experience (you don’t need to use a headset for Skype calls or listen through the loudspeaker), so it does come recommended if you plan to use it a lot for Skype.

You may want to look at this comparison of the E-TEN and ASUS devices by Crave on CNET.

So is GPS useful on a Windows Mobile phone? Well aside from the obviously giving you in car satellite navigation, here's a time where I found it particularly useful. I was on a flight to San Francisco and was looking at the Virgin Atlantic city guide video. I then noted down some interesting restaurants and shops I might visit when I got there. I then realised I had my iPAQ 6900 device, so went into the navigation app and was able to locate and save these places as favorites. Once in San Francisco ans when I did have a couple of hours to spare, I had no problem in getting around the city and finding places and was even able to find nearest WiFi hotspots to make free Skype calls.

So it seems we can have it all, after all. We're looking at other ways of taking advantage of in built GPS for Skype, so if you have any ideas do let us know.

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