Travel: June 2010 Archives

iOS 4 first impressions part 6: MotionX GPS Drive 5.0 not quite a Garmin killer, but...

user-pic
By James Lockman on June 25, 2010 9:16 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
I took a trip to Boston yesterday, and decided to let the Garmin StreetPilot C340 and my iPhone 3GS with iOS4 and MotionX GPS Drive 5.0 go head to head.

MotionX GPS Drive features spoken turn by turn directions, but you must pay a fee to access them. The $3 per month or $25 per year access charge from FullPower is quite reasonable, considering the $10 per month from AT&T (discounted to $6.99 recently). The cost of the app is also quite reasonable, at $2.99 for iPad and $.99 for iPhone.

My Garmin requires periodic map updates, and I had purchased the NüMaps Lifetime Maps package over a year ago. I strongly recommend that to anyone who has a Garmin device. I had updated my device a few weeks ago, so I am confident that its maps are as current as they can be.

MotionX GPS Drive pulls its maps from the air via 3G or WiFi (if it has a connection), so if you have a 2GB data plan, you might want to watch your data usage come the end of the month if you rely on MotionX GPS Drive. Relying on cloud-based maps, though, make its maps theoretically more accurate than the Garmin's, especially as you near the end of the quarterly update cycle for the Garmin.

Operationally, Drive's interface is reasonable if a bit crowded. It has more options than the Garmin, and it features walking as well as driving directions. Other Garmin devices feature walking directions, but the C340 is intended as a driving only device. Drive can operate in Portrait or Landscape mode, and I recommend a window mount for anyone who will use Drive as a daily GPS device. I propped the iPhone on the dashboard near the Garmin, which has a dedicated charging stand.
MotionX GPS Drive 1MotionX GPS Drive 2MotionX GPS Drive 3

The two systems began chatting at me almost simultaneously once I got moving, and provided similar instructions. While Drive gave me "get ready to turn" followed by "Turn now" instructions, the Garmin lets me know long in advance what's coming up, and then reminds me to "Turn right onto xxx Street" when it's time to turn. Since I was doing some in-town driving first, the "prepare to turn" messages from Drive got to be a little annoying, but they would be welcome in unfamiliar surroundings.

I intentionally left the programmed route to see how the devices would respond, and they both gave the same instructions to return to the desired route.

On the highway, I noticed that my iPhone battery was getting low. I had the iPhone plugged into my charger, and when I turned off Drive, the iPhone charged as expected. Hmm. This morning, I fired up Drive, set a route, and plugged the iPhone into my computer. Although I wasn't going anywhere, Drive gave me periodic reminders to get moving. While attached to the computer, however, the battery charged as expected. I will need to investigate this further, or get another charger. It could also be that the car 12V port can't push as much current as the computer can while charging, resulting in a net loss of charge in the battery in the car.

The position of the iPhone matters when driving. I put it in different positions on the dashboard and on the passenger's seat, and found that not all locations were favorable to GPS reception. While pulled over to take a call, for instance, the iPhone lost signal, but the Garmin kept right on tracking.

Background operation in iOS 4 is also nice. Rather than using the built-in iPod interface, you can use iPod to control your music. I am an audiobook listener, so I like having access to the chapter list in the built-in interface. Also, since Mail runs in the background, I was able to know when emails arrived that were pertinent to my trip.

Assuming that I can resolve the charging issue with the car, I believe that I could use Drive while traveling. The Garmin is certainly more battery-efficient, but toting two devices while traveling is a drag. I can't forget that I got the iPhone so I could combine my Palm T5 and my Motorola flip phone into one unit. I don't believe, however, that I'll toss the Garmin just yet. 

Enhanced by Zemanta

iOS 4 first impressions part 3: MotionX GPS

user-pic
By James Lockman on June 22, 2010 8:40 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
Took a hike with the boys this afternoon and tried out MotionX GPS on the iPhone 3GS and its new background Track Recording capability. In previous versions, one needed to turn on the GPS and leave the app running in order to track. If you hit the power button or opened another app, it would stop background tracking. In order to use it, therefore, you would turn down the screen brightness when it was tracking. Regardless, the iPhone would warm up considerably when tracking. This led to some pretty poor battery performance when using the app.

Today, we went out for a 40 minute hike with about 42% of battery life remaining.

I was able to switch to email (which pinged every 15 minutes with new emails on the hike) and other apps while hiking, and the Track Recorder never missed a beat. I was able to hit the power button with no loss of tracking as well. We took some photos and uploaded to Facebook, surfed the web, and sent some email as well. When we returned to the house, I had about 22% of battery life left. Looking in the app tray, I discovered that I had 16(!) apps in there, which could be a contributing factor to the giant power suck. Based on this rate of consumption, though, we should be able to go gout for several hours and get decent tracking data before having to recharge the phone.

Well done, MotionX. I finally feel like I can use the GPS the way it was intended.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Legislation in Chicago hopes to keep McCormick Place relevant

user-pic
By James Lockman on June 7, 2010 10:40 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
The Illinois General Assembly broke the union death grip on McCormick Place, making the venue more competitive for conventions and trade shows #AdobeCP


One of the long standing complaints from vendors in venues like McCormick is the requirement that they use union staff to move booths in to and out of the arena, plug in electrical connections, move carpeting, supply food, and more. According to the press release,

The new law calls for:
  • New labor work rules that reduce crew sizes, require less overtime pay and eliminate hassles for customers.
  • Expanding exhibitor rights, allowing customers to do their own work, regardless of booth size.
  • The appointment of a Trustee, former MPEA CEO Jim Reilly, to oversee operations during an 18 month transition period and select a private manager for McCormick Place.
  • Restructuring capital debt to allow the MPEA to further lower costs to customers and put the MPEA on sound financial footing.  
  • Allowing shows to select outside electrical and food service contractors.
  • Auditing contracts to ensure savings are passed on to customers.
  • Make recommendations to whether Navy Pier should remain in control by the Authority or become an independent entity. 
No mention is made of how the unions feel about this, but I imagine they aren't happy. Under the law, though, the unions do continue to operate in McCormick Center, and to provide the default set of services for vendors. Vendors will be able to choose their own contractors, however, which is what makes this law so bold.

The law is aimed at retaining a specific longtime customer of McCormick Place, the Graphic Arts Show Company. It produces shows such as the venerable Graph Expo and Print. I have worked as a presenter at these shows for Adobe and others over the years, and have been shocked at the amounts of money vendors must spend to exhibit. Not to mention how expensive it is for staffers to feed themselves and travel to and from the hotels to the venue. I have watched the number of exhibitors dwindle in recent years (including Adobe, who hasn't exhibited at a major Print Industry show in the US for a couple of years now), and it comes as no surprise that GASC would lobby for concessions to make its show more affordable for vendors.

The value of trade shows and conventions is severely diluted when big name attendees don't show, citing booth costs. These booth costs are driven not so much by the convention organizers but rather by the venue. It was not uncommon for a large booth's costs to exceed $1 million for an extended show, and that amount doesn't include the cost of staffing the booth. Having worked at many of these events and watched as the vendor's teams sit idle while waiting for an electrical worker to show up and connect a twist-lock plug that's sitting right out on the open, I appreciate the bold steps that the Illinois legislature have taken.

Let's hope this precedent extends to other trade show cities like Las Vegas, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and others. Let's also hope that companies like Adobe will return to these events and boost the relevance of the convention overall.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Create Entry
« Travel: May 2010 | Blog Home | Archives

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries in the Travel category from June 2010.

Travel: May 2010 is the previous archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.