Pharos GPS
Pharos Science and Applications, Inc. have been developing premium GPS solutions for Personal Digital Assistants since 1988. They distribute their devices through both internet retailers and physical stores; and while they mainly focus on PDA devices with GPS features, they have also developed a line of Smartphones with Pharos GPS that are loaded with many features.
The scientists and engineers who are responsible for the technical success of Pharos have extensive backgrounds in aerospace, frontier particle physics, and astrophysics, with a focus on development of these sciences for application in the consumer and commercial markets. To assist with this mission, Pharos also employs an “Enterprise Sales” team who has managed to garner partnerships with companies such as SiRF, Dell, Toshiba, Navteq, Hitachi, Tele Atlas, Verizon Wireless, Microsoft, and others. As such, Pharos is looking to truly expand the quality and variety of street navigators available to retail consumers. The two newest devices that Pharos GPS has in distribution are the Pharos GPS Phone 600 series and the Pharos 525 all-in-one GPS Navigation System.
Pharos GPS Phone 600:
The Pharos GPS Phone 600 is a Smartphone equipped with a GPS radio for location-based services and features Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, a SiRFstar III GPS chip, a 2-megapixel camera, an FM radio, Pharos’s own Ostia navigation software, and maps of the United States and Canada. Because Pharos continually works with the US space program and other government organizations that run the Global Positioning System, the quality of their Ostia navigational software keeps improving in different ways than their competitors.
The Pharos GPS Phone 600 is extremely thin and compact, with dimensions of 4.4” long by 2.3” wide by 0.6” high, with a 2.8-inch QVGA touch screen. Strangely enough though, the Pharos 600 doesn’t come with a built-in QWERTY keyboard. While there is a full keyboard on the touch screen, this is one of those instances that having a smaller-sized device without a physical keyboard isn’t practical if you spend a lot of time text messaging or using Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Pharos 600 has about five hours of talk time, and priced between $450 and $700, it is definitely one of the higher-end phones on the market.
Pharos 525 all-in-one GPS navigation system:
The Pharos 525 all-in-one GPS navigation system is a compact and portable PDA device with Microsoft Windows Mobile version 5.0, pocket versions of Microsoft software (including Outlook, Word, Excel, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer for Pocket PC), integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, a SiRF III GPS receiver, 64MB of user memory, a 320mm x 240mm color touch screen, Ostia navigation software, and a 512MB SD card with preloaded maps of the entire U.S. It is an extremely small device, with dimensions of 109.7mm x 59.4mm x 17.6mm. The really great part about the 525 all-in-one is that the WiFi Connectivity lets the user download maps from the internet, thanks to Pharos’ Smart Map Server. Pharos also has a real-time traffic service called Smart Traffic that can be accessed from this device by connecting it to a Bluetooth communications unit.
On a critical note, both of these devices received mixed reviews from leading consumer organizations. The major criticisms were that the devices had too many features for any of them to work very well. There were complaints on the quality of sound from the speakers, the size of the touch-screen displays, the poor performance of the camera on the 600 model, and the size of the manual controls. This completely overshadows the value of the Pharos Ostia software and the real integration of PDA or Smartphones with Pharos GPS technology. Hopefully, Pharos will continue to develop useful new technology and not try to compete with lower-end models that have already cornered the trendy gadget market.
Posted in General GPS Information
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