Hi,

I have an iPAQ 310 in hand for testing with SeeYou Mobile. It works very
nicely. It is a beta version at this point, but it is already great. I
tested it using the 310's built-in GPS. The screen is larger (4.3 inch
diagonal WVGA) than my iPAQ hx4705 and iPAQ 210 (4 inch diagonal VGA
screen). It is higher resolution than both those devices. The hx4700 and
210 are 640 x 480 pixels (portrait orientation) and the iPAQ 310 is 800 x
480 pixels (landscape orientation).

I haven't done any testing in sunlight yet, but the iPAQ 310 looks slightly
brighter than the iPAQ 210.

If you want to use it with an external GPS such as a Cambridge 302 then the
only working option (sort of) at this time is the K6 Bt BlueTooth module.
It makes it possible to receive GPS data from a 302 or other device. I
tested the K6 Bt with my iPAQ 210 and hx4705. It worked great at sending
302 GPS and pressure altitude data to the PDA using SeeYou Mobile (no other
soaring software works with it at this time). I was also able to exchange
MacCready data with the 302.

However, for some reason the serial connection with BlueTooth and the K6 Bt
is not a simple and straightforward one. I was not able to get SeeYou
Mobile to send a task declaration to the 302. I was also not able to
download a flight log from the 302 using SeeYou ConnectMe or the Cambridge
300 Utility. Hopefully SeeYou will get those features working eventually.
I also tested the K6 Bt unit with Glide Navigator II and the Cambridge 300
Utility and a simple GPS test program for the PDA, but those software
programs did not work with it.

I think that the iPAQ 310 will be a great option for someone that wants to
use SeeYou Mobile on it and use its internal GPS. It is a very nice
portable system. I will offer mounts and power cables on my web site soon.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com


"brianDG303" wrote in message
...
Lots of us run flight software on a PDA and complain about the dim and
hard to read screen and can't help noticing those big bright GPS's we
get to drive around with. It looks like SeeYou Mobile will soon run on
some GPS platforms and it's now in beta running on the HP IPAQ 310
(Travel Companion) family.

These are available for $180 factory refurbished or for $225 new.
There are a ton of reviews to google and I'm not going to repeat that
information here, but a few things- the overall size of the 310 is a
little smaller than my IPAQ 3970 but the screen is a little bigger.
The 310 is a landscape only display and measures 94mm wide by 58mm
tall.

Screen brightness- The 310 is 4x the brightness of the IPAQ 3970 and
the same brightness as most other automotive GPS’s. There are other
advantages to the 310 over a PDA, the anti reflective coating is state
of the art so no aftermarket glare film is needed, and those cut the
light output by at least 16%. The crispness and contrast of the
screen, which is off the charts, help a lot. And the easy to adjust
mount combined with fair off-angle viewing allows the unit to be
adjusted to an angle that will minimize glare.

Other news of interest: already an outfit in Europe has connected an
HP 310 running SYM 3.1 beta to FLARM via a serial to bluetooth
adapter, there is a link to a video of this, as well as a link to a
comparison photo of SYM on a 310 and a PDA on the Naviter forum site.

PocketFMS, PDA flight software for powered flight, is ahead of
everyone else in this game and have a longer list of PNA's that will
run ported software. This will give a clue as to which PNA's are good
candidates for this conversion in the long run and what attributes
they'll have. The firmware (I think that is the limitation) of each
PNA's version of WindowsCE determines some of the features. (I don't
know much about operating systems and am on shakey ground here,
corrections invited) For instance, The 310 display runs in landscape
mode as opposed to PDA's portrait, and for flight software it seems
like portrait is better. The firmware (or whatever) of the 310 does
not allow it to be run in portrait, other PNA's will. The PocketFMS
people use the bluetooth connection to integrate ZAON traffic alerts
so this is another possibility for gliders.

Brian