Will this satisfy my need for a GPS?

[maryv]

I am a Kindle addict but when I found out the new Kindles didn't have 3G, I decided to look further... especially since I need a new GPS in my car (an update for the Prius built in GPS would cost me over 200 bucks and I don't know how good it is).... so, do you think that the A100 would really work in my car as a substitute? Can I see the screen or is it going to be too shiny? I know the antenna isn't that great, but do you think its good enough. I mostly travel in CA and NV.

If you are using it in your car, how are you mounting it on your dash/window?

What sort of case do you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[flash515]

Not an expert in this but think you will have to put the 3g card in it to get decent gps dont think it has a dedicated gps chip in it. See the thread on the tear down of the A100 by Zorrobyte and it shows where a 3g card was designed to go by Acer need to do some soldering though. Also I want the sim chip accessible from the out side which I think can be done by attaching it in a tray style to the circuit board near where the bar code decal is and put a slot in the case. I want to also use it for gps in my truck and also as a phone so I can get rid of my Crapple Iphone and just use a blue tooth headset like I do now and only have to carry one device. Got a feeling I may have to be the guinea pig in this as no one seems to have replied to my other thread about 3g. Would think that if you want 4g or any new stuff coming depending on your carrier should be a simple upgrade with just a different mini pcie card.

 

[nicknack]

Yes, the A100 most certainly does have GPS built-in to the tablet. I have used it the past couple of days since recently purchasing it and like the big screen in my car, versus using my cell phone. However, there is no way I would use it as a dedicated navigation unit. I have a nav built into my dash but like having my tablet because it is a larger screen, google maps shows much more detail than what my stereo/nav shows, and displays traffic (when connected to my phone using hotspot tether). I use it as an extra device that I keep the map on and then when I'm at a stopping point, I can always look online for something if need be (with my tether to phone app of course).

As for a car mount, I purchased one from Amazon that fits to the bottom of the passenger seat bolt and has a gooseneck that reaches around and is positioned well in my vehicle (Kia Sorrento). It does shake a little more than I would like, but when on a smooth road such as a highway, it doesn't have much movement. Since most of my driving is on highway and that's where I like to use it the most, so far, it works for me. I believe a more stable mount (based on reviews I read) is one that mounts to your windshield. I saw one on Amazon for only 11 bucks or so. I didn't want it because that would mean at the end of the day I would have to take the mount of the windshield every evening since I park on the street. My last car got broken into twice probably because I just kept the mount on the windshield (even though I took my garmin inside). With the floor mount, it is less obvious that you would have a device in your car, unlike the windshield mount. I also didn't want a 7" tablet sitting in my viewing area as I'm driving.

As for the antenna, it does well for me in Florida. It takes maybe a half minute to lock on, after opening google maps, and then rarely loses the signal. The glare on the screen was pretty bad at first, due to the mount I use. However, after repositioning it a bit, I now have very little glare if at all. Placing it on the windshield, I would think would be fine.

Hope that helps...

 

[CarbonSink]

It certainly satisfied my need for a GPS. Here's what I learned:

The Google Maps app that comes pre-loaded requires WiFi to download the maps; it would work fine on my couch, but not in my car; since I know where my couch is, this was not helpful. Also, even if I had 3G and unlimited internet, why download every map every time? Seems pretty wasteful. Yes, there is a fix that will allow Google to cache maps locally, but only so many and what happens when I reach the edge of the map? (Here there be dragons...)

I downloaded the Sygic GPS app and the maps for the 6 New England states and NY (Eastern US). It was free for a week and by then I was hooked. I paid $22US to license it. Updates and more maps are free. IIRC, the maps were about 780M of memory; I loaded them on my 'hard drive' don't know if they can be on an SD card.

There are bunches of 'items of interest' you can turn on: parks, banks, restaurants, gas stations, etc. It blows the doors off my wife's Tom-Tom and the screen is huge (well, by comparison).