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back to article O2 XDA Guide satnav phone

Taiwan's HTC is currently doing very well with its Touch series handsets and it's been no secret that O2's very similar XDA range of Windows Mobile phones are actually made by the same company. Indeed, the O2 XDA Guide is very similar to the Touch Cruise, with the focus firmly on satnav and A-GPS, but also incorporating a 2.8in …

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  1. TeeCee Gold badge
    Stop

    No big.

    "......the keyboard is a little too cramped to use with ease when it's stuck to your windscreen."

    Take it out of the cradle then. Of course, you can't do this while driving, but then not being able to do so will save you six points, a fat fine and a possible jail sentence for fiddling with the thing on the move anyway.

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  2. Paul M

    Haven't I seen you before?

    Haven't gone through all the specs but it looks and sounds exactly like my old XDA Orbit 2 which I swapped for an iPhone (boo hiss!!!)

    As much as I liked the Orbit 2 this seems a bit of a backward step for HTC - a 2.8" screen just isn't good enough these days and was one of the main reasons I got rid of it.

    And Co-Pilot is at least as good as Tom Tom IMHO.

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  3. Bassey
    Thumb Up

    CoPilot

    There is a very good reason why O2 UK always use CoPilot instead of TomTom. O2 UK own Manx Telecom in the Isle of Man and TomTom maps don't cover any of the UK's offshore Islands or Crown Dependencies. It's a shame because TomTom's routing is probably superior. However, the integration between the guide and CoPilot is good (and you make no mention of it).

    The cradle has a small magnet in it. When you put the guide in the cradle, a finger-friendly menu pops up giving various SatNav short-cuts. The menu can be disabled but I've found it to be quite useful - particularly the "home" and "favourites" buttons.

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  4. Chrome

    @Haven't I seen you before?

    I was thinking exactly the same thing... It is *very* similar

    Incidentally I just recently upgraded from the Orbit2 to the Ignito (Diamond) and I love it... The screen is gorgeous!

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  5. James
    Thumb Down

    Yesterday's OS

    And with no dedicated Windows hard button, they'll never release an official Windows Mobile v6.5 ROM for it. Useless.

    Mine's the one with the HardSPL.

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  6. Scott Mckenzie

    CoPilot

    In my experience CoPilot is the best all round Sat Nav app for a phone out there.... i prefer the TT interface, the Garmin routing - the CoPilot seems to bring the two together very well.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    CoPilot

    Personally I am not a fan of CoPilot, contrary to the other views here.

    I have the o2 Orbit with CoPilot and have used it for a few years now, and although it is often a reasonable product I have found some serious flaws, such as:

    -it is virtually impossible to get the routing balance right between motorways and A-Roads. I travel a lot in the Midlands and there are many A and M roads that can be used as alternatives, however if you set motorways as preference copilot will try to route you down motorways as a preference, even if this means adding (in one case between South Derbyshire and the M1 North on the A38) about 20 miles and a trip through Derby centre at rush hour. And vice-versa.

    -The detour is pointless. I have an option of 2 junctions I can take off the motorway to get home, and if I set the detour to take the earlier junction due to congestion copilot takes me off the motorway at the earlier junction and then straight back on to the motorway. Literally - take next exit off motorway - at roundabout take second exit back onto motorway.

    -trip duration is entirely dependant on type of road - if you define an A road as 60MPH it assumes 60 on any A class road, even if it is a 30 zone through a city. It has no concept of rush hour and no allowance for road location.

    -If you disagree with a route for any reason it will just try to get you to u-turn back onto the preferred route regardless - my old Garmin had a no u-turn option but copilot has none such. If you then hit detour it will still try to get yo back on the original route but instead by going round the houses rather than just either a new route or a quicker u-turn.

    In short - if you obey the routing without argument or fail it will get you where you want to go, but show any initiative or reaction to events and you might as well just switch it off.

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  8. Andrew Baines Silver badge
    Stop

    Does it work as a phone though?

    I have an 02 XD Orbit 2. Love it as a pocket computer, but as a phone, it sucks. The soft keys are too small to enter a number reliably (I have big fingers), so I have to use the stylus just to call.

    As for Copilot - it keeps wanting me to leave the motorway, go round a roundabout, then back on at the same junction. It struggles with turn left vs bear left.

    I thought about an iPhone, but needed to use a phone as a modem, and to connect properly to Exchange for email without using IMAP (don't want to rely upon data connection just to read email). So for now, I'll stick with the XDA, but look carefully when my next upgrade is due.

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