I got a new toy today for my Sprint PPC-6700, an i-Blue GPS. And for $149.95, it’s a pretty good deal since it also includes iGuidance 3 software and a vent mount.
It was a bit tricky to get everything working though. But, I was able to eventually able to get it all working. So, hopefully my experience here will help someone else out.
Though the iGuidance software is not one of the best, the one thing that made me choose it was that I can install it on both my laptop and my PPC without worrying about licensing. It was simple to install on the laptop, but I couldn’t get in installed on my PPC the first time, nor the second time. I didn’t have enough room in the main memory to install it, so I selected to install it on my 2 G SD card. But, it said the install failed. And I couldn’t reinstall it. I had to do a system restore to completely uninstall it to reinstall it again. But, it still didn’t work. Fortunately though, the cab file got onto the SD card. So, I manually installed it from the PPC and was then able to install it to the storage card.
Next step was to get the GPS and the PPC to talk to each other through bluetooth. There are some detailed instructions at Setting up GPS on Windows Mobile 5. I had to do the registry hack to see the GPS icon. And I tried to setup the intermediate driver, but couldn’t get the two to communicate.
I had also bought an USB bluetooth dongle (yes, it really has a king of spades on it) for my laptop, so I tried to get that working. The USB driver installed the first time and was able to talk with the GPS. I installed the map of Georgia on the laptop and the GPS and laptop was immediately talking (the blue light was flashing quickly and the orange light was on). But, it was not able to get any satellite signals from inside the house. But, at least I knew the GPS could talk via bluetooth.
I then tried the PPC again, but this time without using the intermediate driver. I used the “0000” password, and serial port, COM 4. And on the iGuidance software selected COM4, 115200 baud. And then it was able to talk with each other. But, it was only able to get satellite signals when I went outside.
The PPC iGuidance software seems to be pretty decent. It gives voice commands and the user interface works well. But the laptop version doesn’t have much to it. I guess they don’t expect people to be driving around with a laptop.
Overall, I’d recommend the iBlue/iGuidance package from buygpsnow.com. For $150 for a GPS and software, it’s a pretty good deal. Delivery was quick and they have a support forum too. Only negative I experienced was it was a bit difficult to get everything working, but eventually it all worked.
Links:
iGuidance 3.0 Previewed
iGuidance 3 Review
iBlue Review