Dopod D810/Trinity GPS Question

[Redbo1000]

Fellas and ladies,

I have heard good things about this phone (the OZ variety anyway). My question pertains to the GPS chip. Is this chip comparable to the SIRF-III (or something similar) in MIO A701? How is the reception/accuracy in the major cities? Melb, Sydney, Perth in particular?

Is there a "better" unit coming around the corner soon-ish? Ideally FM tuner would be good.

Also I am looking to ebay a bluetooth handset. Any cheapish (<$50-60) ones worthwhile spending molah on?

Cheers

[tdub]

I don't have anything to compare too, but use in suburban Melbourne with TomTom and was blown away by the accuracy.

Also even have it working indoors, where another GPS device we have at work requires an external antenna outside for it to work.

[emay]

A few years ago I had an external GPS receiver by TomTom. In my car (with nice dark windows) I could only get a fix if I held the receiver near the sidewindow, no fix at all anywhere else in the car. With the Trinity I can have the device anywhere I like in the car and get a fix all the time.

[saminegm]

Fellas and ladies,

I have heard good things about this phone (the OZ variety anyway). My question pertains to the GPS chip. Is this chip comparable to the SIRF-III (or something similar) in MIO A701? How is the reception/accuracy in the major cities? Melb, Sydney, Perth in particular?

Is there a "better" unit coming around the corner soon-ish? Ideally FM tuner would be good.

Also I am looking to ebay a bluetooth handset. Any cheapish (<$50-60) ones worthwhile spending molah on?

Cheers


It is not a SIRF III Chip but a Qualcomm Chip. I have the TomTom Bluetooth Mouse Mk-II which has a SIRF III and performs slightly better than the Trinity. I will sell that Mouse anyway, cause the difference is so small that I prefer not to carry 2 items around...

[Antzzz]

Comparison of several PDAs with internal GPS units here:

http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=175&page=6

Including both the Mio A701 and the Orange M700, which is the Trinity by another name.

Basically the conclusion was that the Qualcomm chipset used in the Trinity is not as good as SIRF3, but is not too bad.

I have a BT SIRF3 module (purchased before the Trinity) and I haven't noticed any significant difference in performance between it and the Trinity internal GPS. Though I'm not working it that hard - mostly using it in suburban, open type environments where a GPS lock is not difficult.

[Redbo1000]

Thanks fellas... I was also trying around melbourne suburbs with excellent success... It also locks to GPS indoors (takes a while though)!!!

[Moaske]

The only drawback to the Qualcomm is that it takes quite some time to get a first fix (cold start), and even forget about getting a fix at all if you're already moving around...
The performance when it has a fix, is truely remarkable though. Worth of notice; because of the Qualcoom performing the GPS, the GPS won't work if you have the phone shut down...