|
Feature Set
With their first
line of GPS navigators released last year,
H-K wisely stuck to the basics with their
navigation. Perhaps that was the reason
navigation worked so much better on Harman
Kardon's devices than on some other
navigators produced by manufactuer's whose
core business was not GPS.
With basic nav nailed down however, Harman
Kardon added a full feature set into this
year's models. All of the new models -- the
GPS-310,
GPS-510,
and
GPS-810,
-- come with text-to-speech for spoken
directions with real street names, a photo
viewer and MP3 player. The GPS-510 adds a
video player. The GPS-810 has the same
features you'd get on the top-end model from
any manufacturer, including , bluetooth
connectivity, traffic data capability (from
TMC Clear Channel), and an FM transmitter
that will deliver both directions and music
through an open channel on your car's stereo
system.
|
|
Use the unit's touch
screen to enter address
locations.
|
Navigation
The main
purpose of any car GPS device is to take you
reliably from point A to B. Here the
GPS-810
performs nicely indeed, providing several
options for finding your destination. To get
going you can select either a street
address, a specific point of interest such
as a gas station or restaurant, a recent or
saved destination, a postal code, or an
intersection (if you're not sure of the
exact address). To speed up text entry, the
unit employs an intelligent auto-completion
feature that displays only the letters that
spell an item in its database. This greatly
reduces the letters from which you have to
choose to tell it where you want to go.
Once it knows
where you are headed, the device offers you
the choice of shortest distance or most use
of freeways or other high-speed arterials.
You'll also find a trip planner that lets
you lay out and save multiple destinations,
as well as avoidance choices for routing
your trip away from borders, toll roads,
unpaved roads, ferries, and more. If you
take a wrong turn or need to use a detour,
the GPS-810 will automatically re-route you
and get you back on your way.
And how did the
GPS-810 perform out on the road? In a word,
admirably. The responsiveness of the device
and excellent user interface make it a joy
to use. The GPS-810 also has an extremely
fast and accurate GPS signal processor, so
it locks, calculates and recalculates
routes, and responds to commands quickly.
One of the hardest things for a manufacturer
without a long history in building GPS
navigators is getting the routing algorithms
correct, so it was nice to see that Harman
Kardon seems to have gotten this right. In
most cases, the device decided on logical
and efficient routes, too--something that
can't be said of all GPS devices out there.
Setup and
Interface
Setup is as easy
as turning the device on, since it comes
loaded with maps of the U.S. and Canada. On
first bootup, choose from English, Spanish,
or French language options for the spoken
directions and interface menus.
Interacting with
the GPS-810's touchscreen is delightfully
intuitive and reliable; there's really no
need for a stylus or navigation buttons,
which simplifies things on the road. The
division of the main interface into four
main quadrants is a helpful touch, and it's
refreshing to see manufacturers moving away
from awkward icon-based menus. Instead of
drilling down through lists of icons, all of
the GPS-810's options are presented on
simple, color-coded shapes. That said, we
were a little puzzled by the use of the
"Source" menu key, which takes the user back
to the main menu from any point in the
interface. It's a useful feature, but why
not call this the "Home" button instead?
The screen itself
is sharp and clear, offering great
resolution and clarity in all driving
conditions. The map screen is a sight to
behold, offering delightfully crisp 3D
images, as well as excellent responsiveness
when zoomed and panned. Likewise, the
interfaces for music and video playback are
pleasantly uncluttered, responsive, and well
thought-out. One problem in our unit,
though, was the lack of a sleep mode. The
device's screen will stay on at full
illumination when it's left idle--even when
running on battery power. There's also no
sleep button on the device.
Hands Free Phone
That Really Works!
Using Bluetooth
wireless capability to allow GPS navigators
to function as hands-free phone kits is
becoming more popular, especially as more
states pass laws that prohibit in-car cell
phone use without a hands-free kit, so lots
of navigators are sporting the feature these
days. However, this is an area in which the
GPS-810 really shines, primarily because of
the dual microphone and Harman Kardon's
patented noise-cancelling technology.
Most GPS navigators have a single microphone
located in the center of the device, which
can make you sound garbled on the other end.
The GPS-810 has two microphones, one on each
side of the device, so both passenger and
driver can use the hands-free phone kit and
come through clearly. Also, Harman Kardon
has installed the same kind of
noise-canceling system they use in their
high-end audio products, to further enhance
intelligibility.
Multimedia
The GPS-810
strives to be much more than just another
GPS device in a crowded market, and that's
likely why Harman Kardon has polished the
multimedia features of the device so well.
With support for MP3 and WMA music files,
the music player has a refreshingly
intuitive user interface and good sound
quality. It's a cinch to browse music on
your SD card by artist, album, genre,
playlist, and song. Another nice touch is
that you can keep the music playing while
the unit is in navigation mode.
Video playback is
equally straightforward. The device
recognizes WMV9 or MPEG-4 AVI video files
and presents them in a scrolling list. Press
a title and you're off in movie land,
complete with smooth framerates and minimal
jitters during high-action sequences. We did
encounter a format incompatibility with an
AVI file encoded in the DIVX format.
Attempting to play the file freaked the
GPS-810 out, and a hard reset was required.
Harman Kardon is very clear about which file
formats are supported, but many folks might
inadvertantly attempt to play a DIVX-encoded
AVI instead of an MPEG-4 AVI. Broader format
support would be a welcome addition.
To ease some of
the pain of getting your movies and TV shows
into the right format for the GPS-810,
Harman Kardon provides a brief guide for
Windows Media Player users. Mac users will
have to use third-party media encoders to
prepare their videos for the GPS-810.
Lastly, battery life when playing back
videos was surprisingly good. After a
two-hour movie the GPS-810 was only down to
a 40 percent charge.
Design
The GPS-810 is
solidly built--something we expect from
Harman Kardon--and it instills a sense of
confidence that it can survive the bumps of
bruises that come with the mobile lifestyle.
Measuring approximately 4.5 inches wide by
3.5 inches high, and a little over half an
inch thick, the device is only a little
chunkier than your average PDA or Smartphone.
The clean lines of the GPS-810 are enhanced
by a complete lack of buttons; all
interaction with the device happens between
the touchscreen and your finger. In the
interest of simplicity, there is not even a
stylus that can fall to the floor and roll
under the seat of your car.
The only button
you'll find on the device is the recessed
power button on the top, right next to the
SD card slot. The slot accepts cards with up
to 4 GB of capacity. There's also a small
jog wheel on the right side for volume and
display brightness control. Below this dial
you'll also find a mini-USB port that serves
double duty for both charging and
PC-to-device data transfers, as well as a
standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.
Meanwhile, you'll find a pinhole reset
button on the bottom, as well as a hold
switch on the left side for deactivating the
touchscreen. Lastly, the back of the unit
sports a small audio speaker and a port for
an optional GPS signal booster antenna.
Related
products
|
