Global positioning system (GPS) devices are still not a common man?s fancy. Moreover, with most phones now coming with built in GPS and Nokia offering voice guided navigation for free, people prefer to opt for a phone with GPS than a stand-alone GPS device. However, a phone still cannot match a stand-alone GPS device when it comes with performance and the MapMyIndia?s navigator S550 is a case in point.
The S550 has a 4.7-inch touch screen that daunts the front of the device. There is a slider power switch on the top, which slides left for power on and right for reset. Although the slider works great, at times we almost pushed the slider to the reset side while shutting the device off. There is just one more button for back function present on the left side on front, which is small, but does not pose any problem with usage. Other than that, the miniUSB port, stand and microSD slots are on the bottom. The device itself is surprisingly lightweight considering the screen size and fits easily thanks to the windshield mount that comes in the box.
The S550 runs on a Samsung 400 MHz processor with 128 MB RAM and 2 GB flash memory. It uses SiRFstar III chip with InstantFix II for GPS connection and also has Bluetooth built-in. The 4.7-inch display has a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels and the touchscreen response is superb. The display is great with large icons and well-detailed maps that utilise the display for ease of use. What is missing here is that even though the device has multimedia capabilities, it misses out on a 3.5 mm audio jack to connect to the stereo system.
The GPS device runs on Windows CE 5.0 with a customised interface. The icons are large and the device is super easy to use. The maps have been upgraded and now support street level turn-by-turn directions in 1,027 cities across India. A user can search over 52 categories of points of interest and over 3.95 million unique destinations. The version 6 of maps even boasts of 3D landmarks in Delhi & Mumbai along with address details.
The device detected and locked on the GPS position in under 25 seconds of boot, which is very impressive. The maps are well detailed, though we did find a flaw with the map in navigation. It failed to detect destination if you choose to park your car on the backside of the building. So, if your destination has a front and back parking, the device would navigate you to the front parking, if you take your car to the back parking, it would ask you go to the front. The system chose the best possible route and updated routes in an instant when we chose to go in a different direction. Setting up location took a minute .
The device?s sound output is very loud. What we did not like was the battery life. The battery life came down from a full charge to just 20% after an hour of usage. However the device excels in terms of GPS performance and with the updated maps it looks better too.
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