RPV Blogster

Navigon Live traffic is a instore purchase. It is most useful in f=downtown like traffic situations or busy highways/exits etc. There was various ways for decision making process.



You can make Navigon decide on traffic info automatically or you decide. Often while driving it is difficult to make decisions, so if I am driving I will set to decide automatically. If I am a navigator or passenger, I make it on demand, so I can make a more educated decision based on circumstances. Still traffic LIST preview being absent is a big drawback in Navigon.


The above screens show what happens when a traffic is detected. This is on the mode Consider Traffic Information -- On Request.


Another traffic congestion.

Labels: iphone navaigator review

Reality views!


Portrait modes

Driving on the bridge above bay. Most of other time it was fine Garmin usaed to show I am on bridge, road, this time, Garmin showed I am on ocean for a long time.

iphoneGS Navigon MobileNavigator review. After getting a iphone 3GS, I was fascinated having a turn by turn GPS function on it. Only Navigon had succeeded in having a functional one at this time. I heard jailbroken ones have, but I don't want to trust a car navaigation except from known companies. TomTom is preparing one to release, but being an early adopter, I want to try Navigon. Surprisingly, I give full marks to it. It is just awesome on my phone. A battery drainer for sure, but the fact that I always have my navigator is very powerful, can be used as pedestrains, on car, on bus etc. I have put the icon on the first page.



Entering addresses is very intuitive, Take me home is as in other PNDs. Set the SD maps and display street names. Currently in version 1.0 there is NO talking street names, a feature I miss most. I contacted Navigon and they promise it will be available later as an update from itunes. This is a very important feature. Also the standard voice is not that good, I wish they introduce more speakers.


Route profile has several options, I am not sure what optimum exactly is. There is Fast and Short options. The routes are same as Garmin Nuvi 350 when I used both side by side for couple of trips. After Garmin 350, this is the GPS that I am excited about. I really hope Navigon brings in tons of software updates to make this as a number one!


Its easy to mark current location and use it for later routing. Also POIs are quite intuitive. I include the screenshots and they should give an idea for people to see what Navigon offers.




These are two 3D shots, Note that once iphone is turned, landscape is automatically shown. Not sure what people prefer, but I seemed to prefer potrait mode in 3D.


This is the 2D view of the same screen which was in 3D in above diagram.


Night mode is shown (dark one). It does not change automatically based on time. This is a feature request. Note that POIs are shown in map and it is very handy while driving.


Spotlight search can be used to launch Navigon as well. Overall this has a fast startup time and Apple choosing Broadcom chip seem to be a wise decision. Definitely few improvements are needed, speak street names, POI pohone numbers, multiple speakers, Ipod controls for voice. But for the way it is advertised it is great and definitely worth for iphone.

Labels: iphone navaigator review

Got many abstract board games recently, Danish Solitaire - Simple and very engaging. Idea is to arrange the pegs so that the three diamonds and middle row all add to same number - 20,21,22,23,24, There are many unique solutions. Eg 240 for 20 and 24. 256 for 21 and 23. A computerprogram can generate all the solutions in around few minutes depending on how efficient it is. Solving mentally is a challenge despite its simplicity.

From Dr. Tom Coburn, MD Senator of Oklahoma who among many others have listed wasteful expenditure by President BHO. What happened to American Greatness that produced Cars, computers, Light Bulbs and Rockets that was built by capitalism and innovators. America seem to have lost her nerve. Public schools in general are pathetic, (except for some star districts), art colleges are becoming horrible, social and moral values are long gone.

STIMULUS PACKAGE : TAX PAYER MONEY at WORK. HORRIBLE!

• $2 billion earmark for FutureGen near zero emissions powerplant in Mattoon, IL
• $39 billion slush fund for "state fiscal stabilization" bailout
• $5.5 billion for making federal buildings "green" (including $448 million for DHS HQ). What!
• $200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities
• $275 million for flood prevention
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries. Why ? Are we a charity nation?
• $650 million for the DTV transition coupon program
• $307 million for constructing NIST office buildings
• $1 billion for administrative costs and construction of NOAA office buildings
• $100 million for constructing U.S. Marshalls office buildings
• $300 million for constructing FBI office buildings
• $800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities. Why ?
• $10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners
• $1.3 billion for NASA (including $450 million for "science" at NASA)
• $100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program
• $10 million for urban canals
• $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars. Why, they are so toxic.
• $1.5 billion for carbon capture projects under sec. 703 of P.L. 110-140 (though section only authorizes $1 billion for five years)
• $300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees
• $198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters
• $255 million for "priority procurements" at Coast Guard (polar ice breaker)
• $500 million for State and local fire stations
• $180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities
• $500 million for wildland fire management
• $110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• $522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
• $650 million for abandoned mine sites
• $75 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth
• $412 million for CDC headquarters
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $160 million for "volunteers" at the Corp. for National and Community Service
• $750 earmark for the National Computer Center in MD
• $224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico
• $850 million for Amtrak
• $100 million for lead paint hazard reduction. Stop importing toys from china, silly.

I wrote a review of Motorola ZN5 with TMobile firmware before. While the phone is great, tweaking it to add applications is a bit painful as TMobile has locked 3rd party applications. This is a review of the same phone with unbranded firmware being flashed and looking at screenshots and photos. People may ask how the flashing will affect the phone, camera quality etc and I present the details here.

The guys at Motomodding.US has done a great job in making the unbranded firmware available and giving the instructions. The forums are extremely great resource and the site is very good for Motorola users. To flash the ZN5 with the firmware listed on the link, one has to make sure the bootloader is 06.2B. I go through the flashing process first, but the review is actually is about the unbranded software and the camera performance. Briefly, press * and # and press power button, then connect the phone to computer, use the RSD Lite software and the firmware that has to be loaded. r6637_g_81.11.17r_128_lp0003_gsjpixl00ecommna.



The flashing process takes around 5 minutes, and after the phone reboots you have the new software. The menus are rearranged a bit, but overall most of the basic actions are same. I present several screenshots of differences. One major advantage is that of installing third party java applications. Google Maps, GMail, Opera Mini are very easy to install. Native Push email works great with Gmail with POP3 settings. IMAP should work fine too. So these are big advantages over TMobile stock firmware.



The initial screens are as above. Note the rearrangement of icons and easier to read descriptions of ringer settings.



I installed the applications under Games. It comes with two standard great games (full version and not demos as in TMobile branded version). Installing applications is very easy. Using Wifi, default browser is used to go to respective websites and download java apps. It will be unlocked and ready to use by default. Great! Also notice the connection options under Data connections. This is new. You can set it to use Wifi, and then default to Cellular if wifi is not available. These are basic settigs and TMobile has locked them out. TVOut has more options too under new firmware.



Games screen on new unbranded firmware.



Push email is a biggest advantage of this new firmware for me. I can get alerts if new gmail arrives. You need to manually setup the POP3 server, SMTP server, use SSL, use Authentication. Gmail account settings page also has the details and you should have POP3 enabled on mail service. You can get IMAP also, and I will be changing to IMAP after seeing POP3 performance for few days. I have not been able to get corporate email yet through IMAP, but I am sure it is possible. TMobile has locked this feature for use only in their data plan not WiFi. I have only wifi and no data plan as of now.



Not sure what this means, but it did not work eventually. I will explore this more. This is also not available in unbranded firmware.



Camera functions as exactly same, I am giving screenshots and many more sample photos to just clarify if someone had questions.


Viewer screens.



Couple of other screens. Reorganized, looks cleaner and logical in unbranded version.

I go into presenting photos taken with ZN5 below. The camera is definitely an asset to have when you travel for local errands, visiting libraries etc. I give some use cases of visiting a library and taking pictures of something that you find interesting. This is in indoor lighting, low light enabled, and some of closups are in macro mode. I took outdoor ones in landscape and normal mode. All are 5 MB original, so you can download and load up in your editor and view EXIF information if you like. I hope blogger does not change the image information or image itself.



An image and associated EXIF information.



Indoor library shot, Macro mode of Fortune magazine year 1931. Check out the price of Chrysler in 1931.




Check out Visit India ads back from 1930s. Very interesting they had tourism promotion back then itself. Current Promotions at Incredible India.



Panaromic Image from ZN5.



Macro photography. Tree bark on a outdoor and Webster dictionary on a indoor setting.


Outdoor photos.




Indoor and an outdoor photo.

Overall the unbranded firmware is superior to TMobile branded in that all restrictions are removed. I wonder why US service providers hinder the software so much. And I was initially skeptical if I should take the plunge, but I have done it in past for other Tmobile phones like Dash for putting WM6. On ZN5, it is a Linux based system, so I like it even better. The 4 GB flash drive is a big bonus. In this review I have not reviewed any 3rd party applications or Music player etc. They are in my original ZN5 review whose link I posted in the beginning.

Let me know your comments!

Can be worse. Is there a clarity in this or does it signal a mess ?