10. Voice Recognition

The Pocket LOOX supports a limited amount of voice commands for navigation. After tapping on "Voice Command" from the main menu, you can use the voice recognition to say the name of a saved address to start routing to that destination.

You can not, however, navigate any of the menus via voice commands, nor can you enter a new destination. I found the voice recognition of limited value, given that you can really only use it to select a saved address (and even that requires that you tap "Voice Command" first).

11. GPS Signal Strength: The Mighty SiRF

The Pocket LOOX uses SiRF's high performance SiRF Star III 20-channel indoor GPS receiver. This chipset is extremely sensitive and able to maintain solid signal reception even when driving in GPS-challenging situations, such as behind tall buildings, under bridges, through canyons, etc. In fact, during my testing, I was able to get a strong signal even indoors. The signal was so strong that I had to actually go into my basement and cover the top of the Maestro with tin foil before it lost GPS signal.

The integration of SiRF's chipsets into the latest generation of in-car navigation systems has been a watershed event for GPS navigation. Prior to SiRF, line-of-sight to the sky was required to receive GPS signals, resulting in poor GPS performance (or no signal at all) in many cases. SiRF's chipset has ushered in a new era of GPS performance, affording fast signal acquisition and precise positioning that is solidly maintained while driving. Make sure that any new GPS you buy includes SiRF's chipset; I'm always amazed that people buy GPS devices that are old and outdated (and sometimes cost even more than the newer devices with SiRF -- even from the same manufacturer).

Throughout my testing GPS reception was outstanding. The GPS quickly recognized my location, and reception was unflappable, even when driving in midtown Manhattan. I did lose reception when driving through tunnels, but the GPS quickly re-acquired within a few seconds once I emerged from the tunnel

11. PROS

• Good looking hardware
• Small size ideally suited for travel and handheld use
• Unique turn exclusion screen allows you to select multiple roads you want to avoid with ease
• Lots of routing options (including fast car, slow car, pedestrian, & scenic route)
• POI brand icons displays company logos on the map instead of generic POI category icons
• Music player supports MP3, AAC, and WMA audio formats
• Relatively long (5 hour) battery life
• Includes swappable white and black faceplates
• NAVTEQ mapping data (2006 maps)
• SiRF's high performance StarIII indoor GPS receiver
• Light weight (3.9 oz)
• Nicely designed map screen

12. CONS

• Poor documentation
• Cluttered, complex UI
• Very sluggish / slow. Borders on unusable
• When entering an address, pressing the "Back" icon takes you back to the main menu rather than the previous menu, and you have to start entering the address all over again
• Couldn't find some addresses -- quirky address entry system
• Small screen size and small text combined with general slowness makes the Pocket LOOX N100 all but impossible to use while driving
• Highly reflective screen difficult to see in many lighting conditions
  
• No Text-to-Speech (GPS doesn't announce actual street names)
• Voice prompts sound strange - like a drunk woman reading a seductive romance novel (seriously)
• When using the MP3 player while navigating, audio prompts are announced over the music, making them difficult to hear. Some other GPS units pause the music for audio navigation prompts, and then resume music playback.
• User interface needs refinement - some tasks are especially frustrating, such as entering a destination address
• Voice Regocnition feature more gimmick than useful feature
• No Bluetooth

13. Conclusion

I had hoped the Pocket LOOX would become the GPS I travel with - it's good loox (sorry, I couldn't help it) and small size would have made it ideal for bringing it with me on trips and carrying it around in my pocket. Plus, the mp3 player, video player, and video games would have made it an even better travel companion.

Unfortunately, the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N100 (seriosuly, not only is this the least catchy product name ever, but the unit I reviewed actually included a legal requirement that I refer to the product by it's full, un-marketing firendly, name in this review) is ruined by poor performance and its unpolished user interface.

The single biggest problem with the Pocket LOOX is the overall slowness of the unit. Using this frustratingly sluggish GPS for any length of time is an exercise in patience. For example, it takes a full minute for the navigation application to load. Entering text is so slow that you constantly double-hit letters because your not sure if the unit registered the first tap. It's not that any one aspect of using the Pocket LOOX is slow -- it's that EVERY aspect of the Pocket LOOX is slow, from navigating menus to redrawing maps. Performance is so poor that the Pocket LOOX is almost unusable.

Then there's the size issue - the Pocket LOOX has a small screen, so it's all the more essential that software engineers make intelligent use of the screen. Instead, it feels like Navigon's software was designed for larger display GPS devices and simply transferred onto the palm-sized Pocket LOOX without any adjustments. The small text is unreadable from the drivers seat (and almost unreadable even at arms length), and the menus feel cluttered. The on-screen keyboard is much too small, and almost impossible to use with normal sized fingers. The screen is also highly reflective, making it difficult to see in many situations.

I also had difficulty entering in addresses. Frequently the Pocket LOOX would be unable to find an address until I found an alternate input method, such as entering the street name first, or using a zip code or cross street. Browsing through street names is tedious as you have to scroll one line at a time and wait for the small text box to scroll for each line before you can see the entire street name (assuming you can find the destination street at all). Pocket LOOX ships with NAVTEQ mapping data, but was unable to find addresses or POIs that other NAVTEQ-powered GPS devices find without issue.

Pocket LOOX does manage to squeeze in some innovative features, such as Brand Icons, displaying highway road signs, speed limit notification, and many vehicle profile options (there's even a "scenic route" profile). However, overall the Pocket LOOX is too slow, too complicated, and the text layout is too small. Given the relatively high $500 price tag, I also felt the Pocket LOOX should have included Bluetooth and Text-to-Speech. Oh, and did I mention it was slow?