Windows Phone Thoughts: Raising the Ante - the Pharos GPS Phone 600 Reviewed

Figure 32: The Split Map and Arrow view.

This is the Split Map and Arrow view. It combines the simplicity of the previous view with a glimpse of the map.


Figure 33: Text based instructions.

Figure 33 shows the text list of instructions. You can tap on each of the instructions to display a graphical version of the turn below.


Figure 34: The Options menu is streamlined... or sparse, depending on your viewpoint.

System options are displayed in Figure 34. Among the options that can be set here are route preferences and Daylight vs. Night View.


Figure 35: The dark side of Ostia (AKA the Night View)

Figure 35 shows the Standard Map view using the Night View option.

Information provided while you're on the move is similar to that of other navigation programs. One difference from other programs is that Ostia gives you a warning such as "left turn ahead" and then sounds a single loud ring at the point of actually making the turn. Competitors such as TTN6 give you a similar advance warning and at the point of the turn, give another voice instruction such as "now turn left". The bell certainly gets your attention, but if you were distracted when the previous warning was stated, the bell may go off and you won't know what to do without looking at the screen. Not a big deal, but I prefer the final instruction over the bell.

Generally, Ostia's routing seems to be capable. However, the first time I used it, I ran into an unexpected problem. Just to get a feel for the program, I set it up to navigate to a local restaurant, a route with which I'm very familiar. As we were driving there, I saw an upcoming turn for a road with which I'm not familiar. It turns out that this road is a dirt road leading into a quarry, blocked by a locked fence. There's no street sign on the road and it doesn't even show up in TTN6. I've lived in this area for 8 years and, to my knowledge, there was never a publicly accessible road there. I didn't have any similar issues during the rest of my testing, but it was certainly an unusual glitch.

Smart Navigator
As stated earlier, Pharos offers a subscription service called Smart Navigator. It includes Real-time Traffic and POI Finder, and goes for $7 per month, $18 for 3 months or $66 for 1 year (all USD). When you register Ostia, you can sign up for a 3-month free trial of this service.


Figure 36: Looks like there are a few trouble spots on the Milwaukee freeway system...

Real-time traffic can be useful for commuters. For selected cities with real-time traffic information available, the service displays colored icons next to highways on its standard maps which describe the current traffic flow. I found no legend for the colors, but I believe green means normal speed traffic, yellow means a minor slowdown and so on to red and black.


Figure 37: Most of the displayed trouble spots are due to "the fourth season"... you know, Spring, Fall, Winter and Construction.

The traffic service will also display warning icons for incidents, such as closed roads, accidents, etc. Tap and hold one of the icons and details about the incident will be displayed.

The POI Finder has lots more categories and POIs than the rather meager list included with the software. But I did some spot checking and there were no POIs included in the POI Finder that were not part of the TTN6 standard list of POIs, so the value provided for this part of the service seems limited. Assuming that the list for the POI Finder service is frequently updated, it could be helpful in finding new restaurants, stores, etc.

Other services offered include Maps on Demand and Follow Me. My understanding is that these 2 services are free to registered owners of Ostia. Maps on Demand allows you to download maps from outside of your standard map set, which could be useful when traveling abroad.

Follow Me allows owners of units such as the 600 to track other owners who join a group for this purpose. After joining, when a group member is using the GPS and has an internet connection, other members can track him or her using their own Pharos unit or a Pharos website for this purpose.

The 600 as Navigation Tool - Conclusions
The 600 has all of the basics down… a sensitive GPS receiver that acquires a fix quickly and holds on to it, a nice bright screen and a high quality windshield mount included at no extra charge. But I was underwhelmed by the latest version of Ostia, especially compared to TomTom Navigator 6, which I recently reviewed. Navigation basics are fine, but Ostia has some issues with the details. The limited selection of available POIs, with major gaps in the information, along with the rather clunky implementation of some aspects of POI search, puts Ostia more than just a little behind TTN6 in this key area. Limited options in information displayed on the navigation screen are another minus. The navigation glitch that would have taken me onto a non-existent road was hardly confidence inspiring. Finally, after experiencing the polished interface of TTN6, Ostia's menus and icons look somewhat dated and rudimentary by comparison.