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Mio DigiWalker P550 Reviews

When you are constantly traveling, less gadgets, the better, which is why a PDA-GPS combo like Mio DigiWalker P550 can be an attractive option for mobile professionals. As a PDA, it allows you to organize your various appointments and travel information as well as to provide you with the tools necessary to work on the road. And as a handheld GPS, preloaded with maps of North America and a built-in GPS receiver, it can help you get an appointment said. On paper, the P550 has the makings of an excellent traveling companion, but unfortunately, it just does not deliver on performance. Satellite acquisition time could be slow, and the roads are not always effective. Also, all of these capabilities has taken a toll on the battery from the device, often found ourselves running for the electrical outlet to the nearest power-up. The P550 million is available for $ 399.95, but we would prefer to spend a little more money and get the same, and featured the best performing HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion.

Design
At 4.1 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.6 inches deep and weighs 6 ounces, the Mio DigiWalker P550 has a footprint similar to the HP iPaq rx5900, but we have to say that This is the most attractive of the two with his bright orange and silver casing and rounded edges. Now, we are not calling P550 ugly, rather it’s just a little frumpy and pedestrian. Look for later, the handheld is compact enough to carry and use on foot. Overall, it has a solid construction, although the rear of the unit has a little cheap, plasticky feel.

On the front of the handheld, there is a 3.5-inch 65000 color touch screen with a resolution 240×320 pixels. Though clearly bright and colorful, texts and maps and a few screening did not look quite as strong as the other systems. “At the higher the screen remains readable in a variety of lighting conditions, including bright light Sun. Behind the screen, you will find four quick launch buttons: Maps, Contacts, Power, and the search for points of interest, default. All except the power button can be reprogrammed to launch one Application of the device. keys are large and spacious, so you should have no problems pressing the wrong button. The only people who can give you trouble are the five senses joystick in the middle of the navigation table. It is quite small, so it will require a delicate touch to move in the direction you want to, the throttle acts as a “select” button when you press it in the middle.

There is a SD / MMC card and an expansion slot of 2.5 mm headphone jack on the left spine, while the bottom of the unit, holds a master on / off , a reset button and a mini-USB port. Finally, there is a car antenna connector at the rear.

Mio DigiWalker P550 package with a power adapter, car charger, a USB cable, a vehicle mount (windshield and dashboard), a converter 3.5 mm headphones, a MioMap DVD, the software ActiveSync and reference material. The vehicle was easy to install and holding handheld securely in place during our road test. It should also be noted that the media is designed for holding hands horizontally, so you can change the orientation of the P550 screen from portrait to landscape mode and get an optimal view of your cards.

Characteristics
Like the HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion, the Mio DigiWalker P550 pulls double duty as a PDA and handheld GPS. From its navigation abilities, the P550 is equipped with a 20-channel GPS receiver SiRFstarIII and comes preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of the United States and Canada. The device uses the same browser MioMap found on the company autonomous navigation systems such as portable Mio C520.

You can enter your destination address, a point on the map, a point of interest (POI), or select from your favorite or recent history list. The system has the ability to calculate directions by the fastest, shortest and most economical route, as well as with or without highways, toll roads, and so on. The unit also has a POI database with all major attractions and more specific categories.

The cards are available in 2D and 3D with day and night colors. You can zoom in and out of maps, waypoints to or en route, and use the tool to mark Add Cam security cameras which are located. Also on display is the name of the street you are on, the next round, the remaining distance, the estimated time of arrival, and so on. Of course, you get the text and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, but it does not support text-to-speech feature to talk about the reality of street names. There are options to get a preview Fly over the route prescribed or see a detailed itinerary. The P550 also supports automatically recalculate a route if you get off course.

In addition to the mapping software, Mio launches in a complimentary three-year subscription to WorldMate 2005 Standard Edition. This is an older version than on the rx5900, but the soft does give you some practical tools, such as the current era in the world, weather information, codes of international composition, a packing list , and currency converters, the clothing size, And the measure.

As with PDA capabilities, the Mio DigiWalker P550 manages the old Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Edition. You get to be a Microsoft Office Mobile Suite with mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Outlook and Windows Media Player 10. Other collaborative tools include a calculator, a list of tasks and a notebook. As far as memory, the device has 64 MB of SDRAM for running applications and 2 GB of flash ROM. In addition, you have access to the SD expansion slot for more storage capacity. Although there are no cellular phone, the P550 million has integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi (802.11b / g).

Performance
We tested the capability of GPS Mio DigiWalker P550 in San Francisco, and from a cold start, it took the unit with a solid seven minutes to get a lock on our position under a cloudy sky. The handheld effectively froze midway through the acquisition of satellites, and we had to restart the machine. The right side, after starts were almost instantaneous, and we were impressed by the power and precision of the receiver as he held a fix stable while we rode around the city and put his finger on our site. Route calculations were on the slow side compared with GPS devices, and we do not always agree with the directions. For example, we planned a trip from San Francisco International Airport CNET, the city centre headquarters, and everything was great until the end, when the P550 has instructed us to take a series of turns to arrive at our destination. It was completely incomprehensible for us, because we knew in a more straightforward and simple route that requires only one round. Route recalculation has been rapid, however.

As a PDA, the P550 million is generally a good performer and quite reactive. We had no problems transferring or opening files various Office, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The device was also found our test Wi-Fi access point immediately, and we were able to connect to the Internet without a problem with relatively quick download times. The music and video playback has been excellent with clear sound and reasonably good image quality. However, if you are listening to your music through the built-in speakers, take care not to place the device with the speaker down.

Despite a 1200mAh lithium-ion battery, we found that the P550 million lost its load very quickly. After only a few hours of general use and tooling around the MioMap application, the battery is already half dried, within the next hour we got a notification that the main battery is low - and that was with the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios off. We are still conducting CNET Labs battery drain tests and will update this section as soon as we have the final results, but things are not off to a good start.