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The iPaq 310 offers text- and voice-guided directions in English, Spanish, or French. In addition, the unit has text-to-speech functionality so you'll hear actual street names instead of generic voice prompts. Maps are presented in 2D or 3D view, and while driving a specified route, the map screen will show you the distance to and direction of your next turn as well as the street name, your current driving speed, estimated time of arrival, and other useful information. One cool aspect about the iPaq 310 is that you get 3D renderings of buildings. This capability isn't available for all buildings but includes most major landmarks, which can be helpful in getting your bearings in unfamiliar areas since it gives you a visual reference point.
The iPaq 310 also features integrated Bluetooth, so you can pair your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or smartphone with the iPaq 310 and use it as a hands-free speaker system. Once connected, you can either use the touch screen to accept or reject calls. Also, if a number is listed with a POI, there's an option to dial out directly from the iPaq 310. Unfortunately, the system doesn't automatically transfer your phone's contact or call history list, though you can synchronize your device with your PC to transfer Outlook contacts. Again, sadly, this feature wasn't available at the time of this review so we weren't able to try it out.
For entertainment, there's a built-in music and video player. Using the expansion slot, you can load up an SD card with your favorite MP3, WMA, WMV, and AVI music and video files, and check them out on the iPaq 310. The players are pretty rudimentary with just the basic functions--play, pause/stop, rewind, fast forward--but it does support playlist creation. Other extras include a calculator, a clock, a picture viewer, and a set of games.
Performance
We took the HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion out for a test drive in San Francisco, and from a cold start under clear skies, it took about 3 to 4 minutes for the receiver to get a fix on our position, while subsequent starts were almost instantaneous. During everyday drives around the city, the iPaq 310 did a good job of tracking our movements, and it was pretty cool to see the 3D building renderings.
We entered our standard trip from the Marina District to CNET's downtown headquarters, and the iPaq 310 was able to quickly return with an accurate route. Disappointingly, the voice prompts were a bit soft even with the volume at its highest level and there was a bit of reverberation. Also, the text-to-speech directions weren't as smooth as some of the other GPS devices we tested as it mangled and chopped up the pronunciation of some street names. However, more concerning is the system's ineptitude at route recalculations. We missed a number of turns to test this functionality, and while the iPaq 310 was quick to come up with new directions, they were completely circuitous. Instead of coming up with a new route, it would try to have us go back to the point where we missed the actual turn instead of plotting a new course from our current location.
We were able to successfully pair the HP iPaq 310 with the RIM BlackBerry Curve and had no problems making calls. Multimedia performance was mediocre. Given the soft-spoken directions, we weren't surprised to find that songs sounded weak and hollow through the systems speakers. We experienced similar results with video, but on the upside, the audio and picture were always synchronized and picture quality was good.
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HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion:
$229.99 - $449.99
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