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| ClieSource Reviews CLIÉ Car Cradle |
by Scott Raulinaitis, Editor - 9/12/2003 - 3:45pm EST
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Reggie at ClieSource has done another great review of a PDA/GPS solution. This time he's reviewed the PEGA-CC5 clie car cradle that we told you about a couple of months ago. While not cheap, it would seem to offer everything you need for a CLIÉ TG50 or NX73V/80V.
Unfortunately, Reggie discovered that the FM transmitter for broadcasting MP3 audio to your car stereo appears to offer poor audio quality. The really bad news is that you have to use a PC to plan your route and then transfer that information to the CLIÉ. Later, if you get off route while driving, the CLIÉ will tell you that you're off route, but it can't recalculate a new route on the fly. Worse still, Sony appears to have locked out the ability to use an alternative GPS software application when using the cradle, so the recent Mapopolis Navigator application may never work with this cradle. Of course, GPS software isn't cheap and if you're going to have to spend money on another software package, that's even less reason to buy Sony's solution over a Bluetooth or serial-cable GPS solution for your CLIÉ.
I was initially excited about the potential for this product, but the flaws are too severe. I like the idea of the car-friendly user interface which offers larger buttons and fonts and I hope that, if nothing else, 3rd party developers will incorporate some of those ideas into their GPS applications.
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