Garmin Announces New iQue 3000 GPS Handheld

FIRST, there's the little discussed single-radio Bluetooth problem, meaning I can't use my Bluetooth radio for "A" while using it for "B". For example I can't use my Bluetooth mouse, nor my Bluetooth headset, nor my Bluetooth internet etc while I'm using the BT GPS. Furthermore, I have to "disconnect" whatever other device I was using. Too fiddly for me, and I'm a wonk. I can't imagine the rest of the world putting up with this.

SECOND there's the whole Bluetooth pairing thing which is harder and less reliable than simply hooking up a cable or placing the device in a GPS sled/cradle. But Karl you ask; are you forgetting what a pain in the a_s cables are? Nope. Read on.

THIRD Palms acting as GPS's can't run on battery power. Let me repeat that. If using your Palm as a GPS, you need a cord. Period. Sure, you can operate without for a while, but odds are, most of the time your battery isn't 100% fully charged, and the rest of the time you probably want to be navigated more than 30 or so. Don't forget that you might actually want to USE your palm once you get there, and don't forget that you may want to navigate home.

FOURTH BT GPS receivers need power too. Even if you're lucky enough to not run out of palm power, you may run out the batteries on your GPS Receiver. So you have to plug THAT in now too. So now instead of having ONE power cord from your cig lighter to your windshield-mounted GPS enabled palm cradle, you've got TWO power cords and a fiddly wireless connection.

I had a windshield mounted GPS cradle with a single power cord to the cig lighter. It held my palm where it could see the satellites, could be seen by me. Bonus was it charged my palm while I was using it! When I got out of the car, I took the palm with me, left the cradle behind. Like a detachable-face radio, Nobody would ever steal it. It was made by NavMan but I had to modify to use it with my T3. Now I'm on a T|X and can't use it anymore because some bonehead at Palm keeps on changing the pinout on the connectors.

They call this Progress?

-K

...so what does the '256 MB preprogrammed microSD card for Europe and Australia' mean vs the NA 128MB one (that presumably is just an empty 'non-preprogrammed' card)?

Oh yeah - and where are the usual trolls who claimed Garmin was on the list of manaufacturers that were no longer / would be no longer doing Palm OS? Well? Come on u whinny pseudo-prophets - usually we can't get u losers to shut up.

Any particular (in layman's terms, please!) differences between Garmin's implementation of Garnet vs. Palm's FrankenGarnet? I know they handle 320*480 & the status bar a bit differently but I assumed they were essentially identical. Do they use the standard Palm audio API, btw?

A shame they didn't include a removable battery in this one!

rsc1000;
Yes, it's the first Palm device AFAIK to use MicroSD (not Mini!). Again, I DO NOT see this as a good sign. Garmin has, in all fairness, taken to using TF/Micro SD in some of their other consumer-level GPS devices (I saw a $300 one with a tiny color screen at Target last week) so I guess it kinda/sorta makes sense. I assume they will be selling ROM TF cards pre-loaded with maps at their hideously overpriced accessory MSRP (have you ever seen anyone charge as much as Garmin for things like PC serial cables, cig lighter adapters etc?)

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

Nice mini-review, there, KV. Thanks. Are these new chipsets doing anything noticeable with regard to power consumption in your experience with the GlobalSat 638? And is that the right model number? I can't find anything in Google for it.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

I for one, just bought my family a Casio digicam because it uses SD cards, and a I can swap it with my Treo and use my exisiting SD cards! I specifically rejected Sony (stick) and Fuji proprietary mem card) for this reason.

Plus the Sd cards are finally moving into reasonably priced territory.

All together now, can you say "planned obsolescence"?

Change is fine... *When* it's time, not before. Palm, and now Garmin have a habit of jumping in with both feet too early (which is about the only thing these two seem to do 'early'). The likes of Apple can afford to do that, not so much Palm and the coat-tail riders.

The MS camp got the timing better SD. The only clever people on our side was HandEra putting in both. There are *STILL* more card devices I can put in my HandEra 330 (after lo these many discontinued years), than I can in my Tungsten C.

> Nice mini-review, there, KV. Thanks.
> Are these new chipsets doing anything noticeable
> with regard to power consumption in your experience
> with the GlobalSat 638? And is that the right model
> number? I can't find anything in Google for it.

Ooops - you spotted my mistake... the model details are in fact GlobalSat BT338. That's what happens when you write most of your posts immediately before sleeping!

All I can say about power consumption is that my 338 unit contains a 1700 mah Lithuium Ion cell and I tend to run it from that all the time whilst 'out and about' (Can't be doing with the wires in my car). The new SiRF III chipset is meant to be far more power-efficient than the older chipsets, whilst also being able to track weaker/reflected/refracted GPS signals rather than just strong ones. In short, it is a pleasure to use and was an inexpensive + simple upgrade for my GPS rig.

I haven't tried running it with my T3 on battery power only, as I rely on it being fully charged when I get to customer sites.Instead, I keep my Palm charged up in the TomTom supplied T3 powered cradle which mounts to my windshield and connects to the front 12v socket in my dashboard. I then keep the GlobatSat supplied 12v adaptor in the car's rear-seat 12v socket to recharge the BT338 if caught short - but haven't needed it yet.

You can see a detailed review of this receiver at the following URL where it scores 98% (and that was with the early 2005 firmware)...

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/bt338.php

Hope this helps,

KultiVator

p.s. Have any of you guys checked out the new Gravitar/Thrust influenced game 'MoonFighter' on www.Astraware.com yet? IMHO it's one of the best old-school arcade games on the Palm and actually pushes the hardware quite hard, with large multi-layered Parallax scrolling playfields (on the T3 at least) - but its the free-roaming retro gameplay that's the star and is something of beauty to run on any decent OS5 Palm. It's also on offer for just 10 USD (50% off), making it my easiest software purchase of the past couple of years!

David - are you sure this uses a different kernal???

I think it was Ben Combee who mentioned this.

So does GPS really require a level of real-time capability that is beyond that?

GPS receivers do, I'm sure. I don't know if the receiver runs in a process in the same kernel or has it's own embedded system and processor, but calculating position is a matter of comparing differentials in the time required for radio signals to reach the receiver from different satellites--certainly very small fractions of a microsecond, right?

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

Visit www.AstraWare.com and check it out!

KultiVator

p.s. I am in no way linked to Astraware - I just like to promote innovation when I see it!

> This is a very clean and attractive looking design.
> Nice work Garmin.

What a good start to 2006. Nothing to WOW about on the tech specs, but a really slick looking device, that builds something useful on top of the (formerly) Palm platform.

I'd have liked to see TomTom bring out something more like this, rather than their new 'One' unit. This Garmin unit has a nicer look for consumers and better screen resolution (TomTom units are only 320x240 pixels, which makes roads look blocky compared to the same software running on my Palm T3), even if their software tends to follow a little in TomTom's wake.

I think there's more surprises to come this year - I can feel it in my bones!

Good observation. Yup, now that I think about it, no one but Handspring & Palm & Tapwave (and they had their own API) have released OS5 units supporting multi-directional directional controllers. All of the OS5 Sonys had the up/down buttons combined with the jog wheel. All of the Garmins are up/down only. So much for a few relaxing rounds of gaming when you've navigated yourself to a hotel room for the night with your iQue! ;-)

P.S. I detest the Treo-style navigation. The T|T was superb in regards to data input and functionality. Great OS5 "classic" one-handed navigation *AND* Graffiti 1. PERFECT!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

It's just yet another thing that Palm has changed without any:
1. Warning
2. Prefs menu option to revert/change between "methods"
3. Tangible evidence that it's "better" other than the fact that it's what their cashcow uses. I have been fiddling with the Treo-style navigation since the T5 and I STILL get turned around in many apps with it (especially VersaMail).

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

It does.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX