Portable navigation devices are one of the most sought after categories of consumer electronics today. Such popularity is justified by the fact that motorists and travelers have finally mastered modern technology and abandoned the classic maps. Moreover, portable navigators allow you to track traffic jams, find the best routes and always have up-to-date addresses. Modern models also have multimedia functions, you can watch movies and listen to music on them.
This review will focus on one of the most affordable devices on the market. This is a navigator from Taiwan - Explay PN 955.
Package
In a nice box, in addition to the navigator itself, there was a place for quite standard equipment. Owner of Explay PN 955 will find inside:
- A small brochure with instructions for using the device.
- Two chargers.
- USB cable.
- Mount.
Chargers included in the kit are different. One of them allows you to charge the gadget from the mains, the other is necessary for charging from a car cigarette lighter (which is extremely important, since the device does not hold a charge well).
USB cable is required to connect to a computer (viait installs maps for the navigator and new firmware).
Also included is a plastic car holder, which is easy to pick up and remove at any time.
Specifications
The "heart" of the navigator is a Chinese mobile chip - MTK, based on ARM with a clock frequency of up to 600 MHz. Also, 128 megabytes of RAM and 4 gigabytes of main memory are tucked under the lid. The volume of the latter can be expanded with a memory card. Micro SD flash cards up to 16 GB are supported.
The device has Bluetooth version 2.0 for connecting mobile devices, and a GPS receiver with a data update rate of 1 hertz. There are problems with connecting mobile phones and using them as a modem, not all models work equally well, some do not connect at all.
The Explay PN 955 navigator is based on the Windows CE 6.0 operating system. Not the best platform, given the fact that there are many solutions on a more advanced and convenient Android. But Windows has already proved itself, and supports modern navigation software. The Explay PN 955 navigator is updated using a computer.
The device has temperature restrictions, the device cannot be used at temperatures below -10 degrees and above +50.
Display
On the front panel there is a small 5 inch LCD-display with a TFT matrix and a low resolution of 800 by 480 pixels. The screen, like many similar devices, is “wooden”,does not respond immediately, the refresh rate is low, viewing angles also suffer. In principle, it is enough to work with maps, but multimedia capabilities are clearly inferior to competitors.
Cards
Maps for the navigator are provided by the company "Navitel", namely the set - "Navitel Navigator" version 5. This is a modern version of the maps, free from most errors and having the most complete data for the Commonwe alth countries.
Supported locations include:
- Russia – 118,335 cities (of which 2,018 are detailed) and a huge database of addresses, more than 1,100,000.
- Belarus – 19,160 cities (of which 119 are detailed) and 266,487 addresses.
- Kazakhstan – 6,635 cities (of which 37 are detailed) and more than 150,000 addresses.
- Ukraine - 25,256 cities (of which 79 are detailed) and 675,104 addresses.
- Finland – 13,594 cities (of which only one is detailed) and 15,000 addresses.
The new version of the navigation service supports the function of quickly creating routes. A cold start takes some time (1-2 minutes) to start working, but during subsequent ones, the route is created almost instantly, with a delay of 2-3 seconds. The gadget keeps the signal well, does not rebuild the route for no apparent reason.
An important drawback of the built-in maps is the lack of traffic data. This option is definitely not suitable for urban motorists.
Battery
Battery, unfortunately, is a weak pointExplay PN 955. The navigator is able to work on a single charge for no more than an hour, so you will have to use the charger on an ongoing basis. To do this, you can use the supplied charger, powered by the cigarette lighter.
Additional features
Explay PN 955 boasts a good set of multimedia features.
It has enough power to play audio and video files. Supported formats include:
- MP3.
- WMA.
- 3GP.
- MOV.
- MP4.
- JPEG.
This means that the device can be used to watch movies in your spare time, listen to music on the way and view photos. In order not to disturb your neighbors, you can use headphones, since the Explay PN 955 has a place for a 3.5 mm audio jack (also known as a “mini-jack”).
To fit all multimedia content, you will have to use a memory card, as the main memory will be occupied by the operating system and navigation service.
The device also has a microphone, but using the navigator as a headset is not a good idea, as it catches poorly, in most cases you will have to shout to make the navigator hear you.
