Void of kludgy antennas, the sleek-looking Fujitsu Siemens' Pocket LOOX N520 GPS handheld is a far cry from attempts of yore despite a good selection of features; Jørgen Sundgot takes it for a ride.
Review summary of the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520:
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Full Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520 Review:
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You've got a boat; a bike; a car - or two - and even a pair of feet, if you look closely. So, what's a poor lad to do if ones navigation isn't par excellence and the financial needs to purchase a separate doodad for every mode of transportation not quite within reach? The Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520, that's what. As befits a handheld, one of the major advantages of this 176 x 71 x 14 mm, 145 g GPS-goes-everywhere-you-go device is its ability to follow you like a trained dog without consistently veering off course.
Don't look at me, look at the road. Oh alright, look at me then.
Quite an attractive device, the centrepiece of the LOOX N520 is its bright and spacious 3.5-inch QVGA display which manages to deliver sufficient detail during navigation despite its QVGA resolution. This is joined by a set of easily-distuingished, backlit controls which provide rapid access to the Navigon Mobile Navigator 5 software, as well as panning and zooming in both portrait and landscape modes. Alas, getting to this point can take as long as a minute due to oddly slow performance of the SiRFstar III GPS receiver in obtaining a satellite fix.
Once up and running, however, the N520's precision is high and the ability to retain a signal quite impressive. Map detail is good, information is up-to-date, voice prompts are clea and concise (although frequent use of the word 'please' could cause the odd gnashing of teeth), the points of interest database extensive and performance impeccable both with regard to route calculation and recalculation. Furthermore, favourites are easily stored and retrieved, while itinerary support is present and flexible - although we're a bit miffed by the inability to look up destinations by street address as opposed to keying in post codes and the likes.
Nice touches beyond required functionality include the ability to poll the Windows Mobile contacts database for routing, while the ability to route to and from map-selected locations (as opposed to addresses) and select profiles for pedestrian, biking and driving use are also appreciated. Speaking of driving, the N520 also comes with a windshield car mounting kit and charger. Maps of the entire European continent are delivered on a DVD; a 256 MB SD card will hold a reasonable amount of data, while the Navigon software also supports TMC data reception to allow for automatic rerouting around congested roads in countries where present.
Beyond navigation
In addition to its GPS abilities, the Pocket LOOX N520 also offers several other tidbits which enable it to run Windows Mobile 5.0 applications with a certain amount of prowess, including a 312 Mhz processor, 68 MB of persistent storage and 37 MB of free RAM; adequate, but nothing more. Wi-Fi 802.11b/g is also included, but the lack of Bluetooth is a tad disappointing as it would have allowed for checking e-mail and light surfing from the comfort of ones car when paired with a phone. Still, the SDIO capable SD/MMC card slot opens up the possibility of an add-on - although not whilst using maps.
Lastly, the LOOX N520 fared reasonably well with regard to battery life, eking out in excess of 3.5 hours when not tethered to its car charger; usually more than enough for day trips which involve a bit of walking about.
Price and availability
The Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520 will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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