Quickies: MapQuest, FullCharge, SD Audio

Posted By: As Listed Thursday, August 2, 2001 7:05:03 AM

MapQuest has a new method for getting driving directions onto handhelds. AvantGo is no longer necessary. Instead, a Palm application is loaded onto the Palm that displays the requested driving directions. Turn by turn maps with text can also be displayed. The MapQuest viewer also allows users to store more than one route . -Andrew Cancelosi

eXtend has introduced the FullCharge International Travel AC Adapter for the Visor Deluxe and Palm III/VII series. It operates on 100v to 240v AC power, allowing recharging worldwide. It works with the FullCharge rechargeable solution for non-rechargeable handhelds. The International Travel Kit sells for $50. -Joyce Harvey

ARM Holdings has announced its ARM SD Card PrimeCell peripheral design methodology. Despite its intimidating name, it is just a design for system-on-chip Audio devices using SD cards. Manufacturers will take this design and make actual devices from it. "We consider SD Cards to be a technology with a great deal of potential, due to their small form-factor and broad industry backing," said Chris Jones, PrimeCell product manager, ARM. "Our solution offers silicon manufacturers the opportunity to integrate SD Memory Cards into a vast array of products, giving a secure, high data-density solution for next generation products." - Ed

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MapQuest - not yet

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 9:16:20 AM #
Doesn't seem to be any different before - at least around where I've been looking. Same old (irritating) AvantGo set up.

Any idea when they'll make the switch?

RE: MapQuest - not yet
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 9:19:24 AM #

Just go to http://www.mapquest.com. The new feature is posted on the home page. You have to generate driving directions, the new feature hasn't been posted for the maps section yet.

RE: MapQuest - not yet
palmcoder @ 8/2/2001 9:25:09 AM #
go to the "Driving Directions" section and enter two locations. When the resulting directions are returned, there's a button labeled "Download to PDA". This will actually download a PRC that's placed on your PDA on the next HotSync.

IMHO, the PRC is much more useable than their AvantGo channel. The directions are broken down into several sections (overview, map, individual steps in the path).

You can store multiple routes and beam routes to other Palm powered devices.

From their point of view, they were probably looking for a way to save $$. Given the amount of traffic on their AG channel, I'm sure they were paying a pretty penny to AG each month.

-pc-

RE: MapQuest - not yet
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 9:50:02 AM #
OK, BUT -
How much more memory does the PRC take up vs the AvantGo format??

RE: MapQuest - Great Service
hockeychiro @ 8/2/2001 10:25:56 AM #
I just tried MapQuest. Wow, what a useful site and service. I now have another function for my m505 to perform. I downloaded the directions and the accompanying map and it works slick. I installed it to my SD card (running out of standard memory) and it worked great. You just scroll through the directs with the up down buttons. I couldn't be easier. Thanks

MQ PRC size
palmcoder @ 8/2/2001 10:36:13 AM #

yikes. I just checked the size of this PRC and it weighs in at a hefty 234K with one route included.

whoa.

I wonder how much space would be saved if you could exclude the map images.

RE: App Size
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 11:08:51 AM #
I think we're past the point where all apps need to be tiny and we criticize them if they aren't. I'm not in favor of bloat but you can now buy a 64 MB or even 128 MB expansion card. Freaking out because an app is a couple of hundred kilobytes is so 1990s. Like the guy said, it runs fine from SD. Reserve your RAM for the stuff you run every day and put everything else on an expansion card. That's what I do and it works great.

Yeah, I know there are plenty of you out there who don't HAVE expansion slots but I hope you realize that you are now behind the curve. In the coming months more and more stuff will be out that you can't use. it's like the days when hard drives started appearing on PCs. Everyone with dual disk drives struggled along for a while but eventually had to upgrade. Should Microsoft have not released Word 3.0 because it wouldn't all fit on a floppy?

-Rob Zombie

Mapquest - About Time

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 9:29:38 AM #
It's about time they got a better way to get mapquest onto your pda, Advantgo was such a pain. The maps look great on my IIIc. Nice...

RE: Mapquest - About Time
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 1:53:15 PM #
Very practical app. I think everyone downloading will be happy with the results. It is interesting the way the app was designed to bring up one step at time if needed.

Mapquest PRC

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/2/2001 11:16:21 AM #
Superb.In the past I've used Mapblast via Avantgo for business and personal travel in the UK.
I've just tested the new Mapquest app. and it is simple and looks neat on my IIIc.
I rarely use a traditional road atlas anymore. MY IIIc and Nokia 8210 are all I need.


Great, but needs minor tuning....
epetrack @ 8/2/2001 12:41:25 PM #
It does look good! I installed both the app and a route/map on my MMC card (using M505), using MSMount. It does open, but in checking memory usage, it copies the map *back* to RAM and leaves it there. So while I think you can save RAM memory by moving the app to the card, you don't really save space by moving the route/map... I've seen 1 or 2 other apps with this- I suspect they could fairly easily address this if they choose to....

RE: Mapquest PRC
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/3/2001 7:18:29 AM #
I just wonder how long it will be before they include advertisements in the PRC file. You all know that is going to happen. Nothing worthwhile is free.

MapQuest

kemp ruffner @ 8/5/2001 8:48:58 PM #
Not sure why everyone is so enthralled. I find it often only loads a request for a user-id & password - requiring multiple synchs, if it works at all.
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