jiggylessziggy
29-12-08, 05:06 AM
We head back out on the road again and this time it’s to give the locally-developed K-One N870 GPS unit a test drive.
THE N870 GPS unit from K-One Technology is a Malaysian-designed product made by a Malaysian company.
However, this isn’t some cheap GPS unit — the N870 is actually a premium standalone driving GPS unit with some nifty features of its own.
What you get
Other than the GPS unit, the N870 box contains pretty much a *standard set of accessories, i.e. a charger and a custom suction cup holder for your car *windscreen.
The N870 itself is a nice-looking device — the glossy black design looks good and the plastic construction feels very solid in the hands.
The unit is powered by a 400MHz Samsung ARM processor and runs on a version of Windows CE.NET 5.0 with a custom interface designed by K-One.
On the hardware front, the unit comes with an FM transmitter, an SD card slot and Bluetooth *wireless.
K-One does not give any *information on what GPS chipset is used in the N870, but it locked on to satellites just as fast as SiRF Star III chipsets, so whatever the case, there are no complaints in this department.
The FM transmitter is not for listening to radio, but instead for you to stream the audio driving directions to your car stereo simply by tuning in to a particular station on your car radio.
The Bluetooth, on the other hand, is to allow the N870 to pair with your mobile phone and act as a car handsfree device.
Oh yes, there’s a little standard A/V connector on the bottom of the device that connects to a reverse camera which you can apparently get at most car *accessory shops — once connected, the N870 can *actually act as a monitor for the reverse camera. Nice, but since we weren’t *provided with the camera, we couldn’t really test out this feature.
The N870 also has a couple of features not connected with navigation — namely it comes with a multimedia software player than can handle most video formats as well as MP3 audio.
In use
When I first opened the box, I was quite surprised that the car suction cup holder for the device was rather short — I have a windshield that extends pretty far forward and I was worried that the holder would sit out too far in front for comfortable viewing.
However, the holder itself can be positioned in quite a variety of angles and I found that I could *position it high up, just below my rear-view mirror, for the best *viewing experience without obstructing the view from my *windscreen.
Turn it on and you’ll be *presented with a very bright, 4.3in screen that’s easily viewable outdoors.
The GPS itself has very few buttons — most of the interface is touch-based, although there is a button on the right side to bring out the pop-up menu to access other features.
One thing I noticed with the N870 is that the audio is LOUD — I found that I didn’t have to turn the audio level all the way up to get an acceptable volume level, and in fact cranking volume all the way to the top is akin to having the unit shout REALLY loud at you!
Navigation on the device is quite a standard affair — maps are sourced from Malsingmaps.com and the navigation interface itself seems to based on the popular MapKing software.
With the kind of audio level you get with the N870, the Bluetooth handsfree function works really well when answering calls, although I’m not too sure it’s any safer to make calls with the N870’s pop-up numeric keypad.
You also get a choice of eight different types of voices — ranging from English, Bahasa Malaysia to Vietnamese.
Battery life is very good — I *definitely can run it for most of the day without having to worry about charging it.
Conclusion
The price of RM1,550 may sound a little steep for a standalone GPS car navigation unit, but *considering the features and that an equivalent Garmin Nuvi with Bluetooth and FM radio *transmitter would cost WAY more, the price of the N870 is *actually quite reasonable.
The unit itself is solid in terms of build quality and features, so there’s very little to complain about here.
If you’re looking for something a bit more feature-packed than all the sub-RM1,000 GPS navigation *devices out there, the K-One N870 is worth a look.
Pros: Solid build quality; *extensive connectivity options; very loud volume possible; A/V *connector for reverse camera.
Cons: Nothing significant.
N870
(K-One Technology Bhd)
Standalone GPS car navigation unit
GPS chipset: Information not available
Operating System: Microsoft Windows CE.NET 5.0 Core Version
CPU: Samsung S3C2440A, 400MHz
Memory: 64MB RAM, 32MB ROM
Storage: SD expansion slot
Display: 4.3in (480 x 272pixels) TFT LCD
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion
Software: MapKing
Other features: Bluetooth, FM transmitter, Audio-video (A/V) input, multimedia playback
Dimensions (w x h x d): 122 x 82.5 x 23.5mm
Price: RM1,550
Website: www.k-onegps.com
THE N870 GPS unit from K-One Technology is a Malaysian-designed product made by a Malaysian company.
However, this isn’t some cheap GPS unit — the N870 is actually a premium standalone driving GPS unit with some nifty features of its own.
What you get
Other than the GPS unit, the N870 box contains pretty much a *standard set of accessories, i.e. a charger and a custom suction cup holder for your car *windscreen.
The N870 itself is a nice-looking device — the glossy black design looks good and the plastic construction feels very solid in the hands.
The unit is powered by a 400MHz Samsung ARM processor and runs on a version of Windows CE.NET 5.0 with a custom interface designed by K-One.
On the hardware front, the unit comes with an FM transmitter, an SD card slot and Bluetooth *wireless.
K-One does not give any *information on what GPS chipset is used in the N870, but it locked on to satellites just as fast as SiRF Star III chipsets, so whatever the case, there are no complaints in this department.
The FM transmitter is not for listening to radio, but instead for you to stream the audio driving directions to your car stereo simply by tuning in to a particular station on your car radio.
The Bluetooth, on the other hand, is to allow the N870 to pair with your mobile phone and act as a car handsfree device.
Oh yes, there’s a little standard A/V connector on the bottom of the device that connects to a reverse camera which you can apparently get at most car *accessory shops — once connected, the N870 can *actually act as a monitor for the reverse camera. Nice, but since we weren’t *provided with the camera, we couldn’t really test out this feature.
The N870 also has a couple of features not connected with navigation — namely it comes with a multimedia software player than can handle most video formats as well as MP3 audio.
In use
When I first opened the box, I was quite surprised that the car suction cup holder for the device was rather short — I have a windshield that extends pretty far forward and I was worried that the holder would sit out too far in front for comfortable viewing.
However, the holder itself can be positioned in quite a variety of angles and I found that I could *position it high up, just below my rear-view mirror, for the best *viewing experience without obstructing the view from my *windscreen.
Turn it on and you’ll be *presented with a very bright, 4.3in screen that’s easily viewable outdoors.
The GPS itself has very few buttons — most of the interface is touch-based, although there is a button on the right side to bring out the pop-up menu to access other features.
One thing I noticed with the N870 is that the audio is LOUD — I found that I didn’t have to turn the audio level all the way up to get an acceptable volume level, and in fact cranking volume all the way to the top is akin to having the unit shout REALLY loud at you!
Navigation on the device is quite a standard affair — maps are sourced from Malsingmaps.com and the navigation interface itself seems to based on the popular MapKing software.
With the kind of audio level you get with the N870, the Bluetooth handsfree function works really well when answering calls, although I’m not too sure it’s any safer to make calls with the N870’s pop-up numeric keypad.
You also get a choice of eight different types of voices — ranging from English, Bahasa Malaysia to Vietnamese.
Battery life is very good — I *definitely can run it for most of the day without having to worry about charging it.
Conclusion
The price of RM1,550 may sound a little steep for a standalone GPS car navigation unit, but *considering the features and that an equivalent Garmin Nuvi with Bluetooth and FM radio *transmitter would cost WAY more, the price of the N870 is *actually quite reasonable.
The unit itself is solid in terms of build quality and features, so there’s very little to complain about here.
If you’re looking for something a bit more feature-packed than all the sub-RM1,000 GPS navigation *devices out there, the K-One N870 is worth a look.
Pros: Solid build quality; *extensive connectivity options; very loud volume possible; A/V *connector for reverse camera.
Cons: Nothing significant.
N870
(K-One Technology Bhd)
Standalone GPS car navigation unit
GPS chipset: Information not available
Operating System: Microsoft Windows CE.NET 5.0 Core Version
CPU: Samsung S3C2440A, 400MHz
Memory: 64MB RAM, 32MB ROM
Storage: SD expansion slot
Display: 4.3in (480 x 272pixels) TFT LCD
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion
Software: MapKing
Other features: Bluetooth, FM transmitter, Audio-video (A/V) input, multimedia playback
Dimensions (w x h x d): 122 x 82.5 x 23.5mm
Price: RM1,550
Website: www.k-onegps.com