Portable devices for navigation today are one of the most popular categories of consumer electronics. Such popularity is justified by the fact that motorists and travelers have finally mastered modern technology and abandoned classic cards. Moreover, portable navigators allow you to track traffic jams, find the best routes and always have current addresses. Modern models 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 the navigator from Taiwan - Explay PN 955.
Equipment
In a nice box, in addition to the navigator itself, there was a place for a completely standard configuration. The owner of the Explay PN 955 will find inside:
- A small brochure with instructions for using the device.
- Two chargers.
- USB cable
- Mount.
The chargers 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).
A USB cable is required for connecting to a computer (maps for the navigator and new firmware are installed through it).
Also included is a plastic car holder that is easy to pick up and remove at any time.
Specifications
The heart of the navigator was the Chinese mobile chip - MTK, based on ARM with a clock frequency of up to 600 MHz. Also under the cover, 128 megabytes of RAM and 4 gigabytes of main memory were covered. The volume of the latter can be expanded with a memory card. Micro SD card sizes up to 16 gigabytes are supported.
The device has Bluetooth version 2.0 for connecting mobile devices, and a GPS receiver with a data refresh 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.
Navigator Explay PN 955 runs on the operating system Windows CE 6.0. Not the best platform, given the fact that there are lots of solutions on a more advanced and convenient Android. But Windows has already proved itself, and supports modern navigation software. Updating the Explay PN 955 navigator is done using a computer.
The device has temperature limits, the device can not 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, “wooden”, does not respond immediately, the frame refresh rate is low, viewing angles also suffer. In principle, working with cards is enough, but the multimedia capabilities are clearly inferior to competitors.
Cards
Maps for the navigator are provided by the Navitel company, namely, the set - Navitel Navigator 5 versions. This is a modern version of the maps, free from most errors and having the most complete data for the countries of the Commonwealth.
The list of supported locations includes:
- Russia has 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 quick route creation. A cold start takes some time (1-2 minutes) to start work, but on subsequent ones, the route is created almost instantly, with a delay of 2-3 seconds. The gadget holds the signal well, does not rebuild the route for no apparent reason.
An important disadvantage of the built-in cards is the lack of traffic data. This option is definitely not suitable for city motorists.
Battery
The battery, unfortunately, is the weakness of the Explay PN 955. The navigator is able to work on a single charge for no more than an hour, therefore you will have to use a charger on an ongoing basis. To do this, you can use the complete charger, powered by a cigarette lighter.
Additional features
Explay PN 955 boasts a good set of multimedia functions.
Its power is enough to play audio and video files. Supported formats include:
This means that the device can be used to watch movies in your free time, listen to music along the way and view photos. In order not to interfere with the neighbors, you can use headphones, since in the Explay PN 955 there was a place for an audio jack 3.5 mm (also known as a “mini-jack").
To fit all the multimedia content, you will have to use a memory card, since 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, since it catches poorly, in most cases you will have to scream so that the navigator hears your speech.