AVT Navigator A800 | Reviews | Techie.com.ph
5:43 PM | Friday | 30 July 2010

While the names Magellan, TomTom and Garmin may sound familiar among ardent followers of GPS technology, ordinary Manila motorists may be caught in a bit of a jam. By far, the most popular navigation aid that most Pinoy drivers carry in their glove box is the paper variety – but the AVT Navigator A800 plans to change all that.

In the box

Despite GPS units being popular in other countries, it's only now that fully supported units are being introduced in the country. With other units, it's mostly up to the user to download and install open source maps.

The distributor of the AVT Navigator A800 has partnered with Accu-map, a well-known publisher of fold-out and book type road maps in the Philippines. The unit comes pre-installed with a digital map that is embedded with proprietary data. The map that came with the unit offers a detailed street view of the Greater Manila Area. Included with the unit are a suction cup windshield mount, car charger, SD card, stylus, manual, and external GPS antenna.

As for the unit itself, the A800 is roughly the size of a large touchscreen smartphone or PMP. The 4.3-inch widescreen is one of the most ideal for a GPS device. The 480x272 pixel screen is adequate to say the least, although a higher resolution would have been more desirable since there are visible scan lines when the screen is viewed from certain angles. The touch screen is accurate enough for finger-tip navigation thus negating the need for a stylus.

The hardware

The overall build of the A800 is fairly solid without a hint of flimsiness at all. The front bezel is made from high-gloss plastic that may be prone to minor scratches, although it seemed scuff-resistant during the normal product testing phase. The back of the unit uses a different matte-textured plastic which prevents the unit from slipping even in sweaty hands when removed from its mount.

There are a few buttons such as a sleep/standby button (marked with a power symbol), pinhole reset, and a volume rocker switch. At the bottom right corner is an inexplicably tiny power switch that can only accessed with a ballpoint tip. A standard SD card slot, mini USB port, headphone jack, and GPS antenna port are all part of the unit.

Your way or the highway

Upon boot-up, the user will be asked to choose the operation mode. The A800 can also function as a basic portable media player, but it has to exit the navigation mode. In multimedia mode, it can play still photos, video, and music. When it comes to the core media functionality, it obviously doesn't come close the performance of a dedicated PMP, but it's quite handy if you're in a pinch. Most files played immediately without the need for transcoding, including DivX movies. Just make sure there's a power source nearby since battery stamina is out of the question.

Sattelites in the sky

Accessing settings in the main menu gives you two choices: brightness and touch screen calibration. Once you're in navigation mode, the A800 immediately tries to achieve satellite lock. While it locks on relatively fast without the antenna, attaching it is a must for a consistent satellite lock, especially in more extreme weather conditions.  The antenna's cable is quite long, giving you enough leeway to loop it within a vehicle's interior.

Satellite navigation requires line of sight between the unit and the satellites, so signal lock is lost when going underneath flyovers or MRT tracks and entering tunnels and parking lots. Sometimes, weather conditions can also affect the signal quality.

The A800's main navigation display is both sleek and logical. The streets are color-coded to distinguish the main roads from the secondary paths. Although the color-coding wasn't explained in the manual or the unit itself, we were able to find out from AVT forums.

The user can further select which information to display on the main map such as speed, estimated time of arrival, time and distance to the destination. We've tried a few local GPS units, and we're inclined to say that the A800's street view is probably one of the prettiest.

While in transit, the streets and points of interest are marked with easy to read word balloons. The A800 tries to pack a lot of info on a small screen so it's quite understandable that it uses smaller fonts. There's currently no way to adjust the fonts, so some drivers may find the street names a bit hard to read.

Co-pilot needed

A fair warning for first-time GPS users, wrapping your head around the controls can get a bit intimidating. There is a learning curve involved but the A800 tries to make things as painless as possible.

Setting a single destination can be simple enough, but adding in additional waypoints involves a few steps which can take some time to master. Instead of using icons, the A800 sometimes displays a long scroll-down list, especially when showing points of interest.

Also, the search engine requires you to pre-select the locale before you proceed. It defeats the purpose of using the search since you may look for streets and points of interests and have no idea what city they are in.

In the version we tested, there is no outright street name search. Instead, there is an intersection search. It can be quite frustrating if you are just looking for one street and have no idea where it intersects.

The A800 has another quirk when you're browsing the map. Clicking on any point in the display takes you to that area. There is no click and drag move which is common in other units. You need to make a number of taps in order to get to the other areas in the map.

Speed bumps

Given that the state of GPS road accuracy is still in its early stages in the country, we encountered a few snags when using the A800. The most common error is the unit asking us to make a left or right turn in places where it is prohibited.

Other common routing errors include being led through subdivisions with closed gates or road barriers. In most instances however, the routing engine is fairly intelligent, picking the most logical route to the destination. Still, we recommend a healthy dose of common sense when navigating with any GPS.

Point A to Point B

Several arguments can be made in favor of GPS including the fact it helps you save fuel and time. Still, a case needs to be made why every motorist should have one. Most drivers have cruised along fine with traditional maps.

If other aspects of our lives such as personal entertainment and telecommunication have benefited from constant technological improvements, why should daily driving be excluded from getting an upgrade?