Larry Garfield gets lost, and asks the world's first Palm OS device with integrated GPS to get him home. See if he made it out of the woods alive.
Garmin's long-awaited iQue 3600 is here, featuring a fourth type of radio for Palm OS handhelds; a Global Positioning System (GPS) radio. Even without that, it's a respectable device, but once we got over some interface hurdles the iQue made a solid showing.
Design
The iQue 3600 is slightly larger for a tablet-style handheld though not unreasonably so at 128 x 72 x 20.3 mm and 162 grams. It tapers slightly to be thicker at the top to allow room for the folding GPS antenna. The casing is an attractive grey plastic.
 | The iQue 3600 looks like a normal Palm device, until you open the antenna
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The iQue also sports a 320x480 16-bit color display, complete with a virtual handwriting area. Colors are clear and crisp, and we'd say the screen is about on-par with Sony's recent CLIE screens. The iQue is the first handheld to use the new virtual graffiti system direct from PalmSource as part of Graffiti 2. The PalmSource virtual graffiti system is expected to replace other, incompatible systems, much as the PalmSource HighDensity API replaced the older HandEra- and Sony-proprietary 320x320 display systems. Garmin offers an SDK for 3rd party developers, which will also be available from PalmSource.
All of the usual Palm buttons are here, nicely dimpled, including two directional buttons instead of a D-Pad, and the Memo button has been remapped to the "Que" button. More on that later. There is also an Esc button on the left side that works like the Sony Back button, along with a voice recorder button and a jog wheel (akin to HandEra and Handspring's devices, rather than the Sony scroll wheel). On top of the unit are the IR port, stylus silo, Secure Digital slot, and a stereo headphone jack. The power button is on the top front. There is also a vibrating alarm, and a superb built-in speaker.
The iQue includes a nice leather flip cover that uniquely attaches to the bottom of the device and folds under it. It does not block the serial port or GPS antenna that way, and is well-built.
Connectivity
The most significant connectivity feature of the iQue, of course, is the GPS patch antenna that flips up from the back of the unit. The antenna can be positioned at any angle, and parallel to the ground gives the best reception. Flipping the antenna up automatically turns on the GPS receiver, and displays a brief warning to not adjust the iQue while driving, as it is a distraction from the road. We agree completely, and as with all GPS equipment suggest not driving with it alone.
Getting a satellite lock with the iQue took approximately 1-2 minutes. We did occasionally lose signal despite having a clear sky view, but the device tended to pick up again quickly. Accuracy is very good, within 10 feet in our experience, or about one house-width.
We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the iQue uses the Palm Universal Connector rather than yet another connector. That makes it compatible with the wide array of accessories already available for Palm's handhelds. We don't know when Palm started licensing their connector design to other companies, but we hope they keep doing so.
Specifications
The iQue 3600 runs on a Motorola Dragonball MXL ARM processor at 200 MHz. It includes 32 MB of RAM, of which a roomy 23 MB is available to the user. That sounds like a lot of room, but the includes maps can quickly eat up that space.
Like most handhelds of late, the iQue runs on a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. We ran our usual Atom Smash burndown tests, with the GPS radio off, and the iQue threw its first warning after 1 hour, 52 minutes and finally died at 2 hours, 40 minutes. That's not the most impressive time, unfortunately, especially as the GPS radio will take up more power. Garmin also offers various power accessories.
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