GPS with a local edge
THE Malaysian satnav market is certainly a crowded one these days. Customers are spoilt for choice with the myriad of offerings available.
With many opting to use their mobile phones to navigate, satnav makers today need a very strong draw to attract customers.
For local GPS maker Amtel Cellular, they feel their Lokatoo A1000 (i) GPS Navigator has that edge with maps powered by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).
What’s the ace up their sleeve? GPS locations that can be located by typing in the telephone number. Nice… well, sort of. More on that later.
Let’s begin this review by getting one major fact out in the open. The A1000 (i) has both positives and negatives that are often at odds with each other and – depending on the user – can either prove frustrating or very useful.
Confused? Read on.
The first contradiction is the Satnav Sally the unit comes with. She has a nice voice and she is quick to let you know how far you have to go before you have to make the necessary course adjustments.
Nothing wrong with that, you may say. However, while this feature is fine and dandy when you are on the highway or on a country road with your next turn off kilometres away.
When it comes to city navigation, Satnav Sally does tend to get a bit, well, naggy. She is like a backseat mother-in-law and nanny all rolled in one.
Again, for some people – especially those who are not so good at looking at visual cues on a satnav – this is a good thing. For others, it is not. Thankfully for the latter, Satnav Sally has a mute switch. And, throughout the duration, she remained muted during city testing of the review unit.
The next contradiction you will face is the size of it. The A1000 (i) feels almost as big as
a mobile phone tablet and, for old eyes like mine, that can only be a good thing.
Yet, at the same time, due to its size, it can cause a bit of a blind spot in your forward driving vision. I suspect the A1000 (i) is best suited for something the size of an Alphard or a Peugeot 5008 rather than a rinky-dinky town runabout.
The third contradiction comes with the much-vaunted search-byphone number option.
Let us start by saying that it works, it works very well, et cetera, but for one small problem: the search option seems calibrated towards commercial phone numbers listed on TM’s Yellow Pages.
This means that if you are looking a Secret Recipe restaurant in Ipoh Garden, the A1000 (i) will gladly direct you there in a prompt and orderly manner.
However, if you are looking for your home phone number, it does not exist in the database. Instead, you get the closest Yellow Pageslisted number to the one you typed in.
So, what does this mean for the Lokatoo A1000 (i), hit or miss? The answer is somewhere in between.
The A1000 (i) is probably a good unit for those of us who find TomTom too complicated and Garmin too limited in their user customability.
Its ace in its sleeve is also a good idea and a big draw but it could have been a bigger draw if residential home numbers could be found on its database.
However, one good thing I have to say about it was the way it took me to a favourite seafood restaurant out in the boondocks via a roundabout but more scenic route that was enjoyed by all.
For that alone, the A1000 (i) is worth having a look at. Just be prepared for its many contradictions.