Quickies December 23, 2006

A Holiday Wonder

Mitchell and I will soon be doing reviews on the Spectec SDIO WLAN 802.11b and the miniSDIO WLAN 802.11b�cards, which just arrived today. Although this was exciting enough in and of itself, since we are each using�a non-WiFi enabled Palm Treo�these days (750v for Mitchell, and 700wx for me), there was something else on the Spectec site that caught my eye…something that�prompted me to post this entry�late on a Saturday night when I was essentially done posting�for�this holiday weekend…

Feast your eyes on this – the Spectec SD/SDIO GPS Receiver. Even the most jaded gadget hound must acknowledge the amazing bit of technology presented here: a 20 channel GPS tracking device in an SD card, with a slot to hold up to a 2GB microSD!

This card supports Palm, Pocket PC, & Smartphone. It is WAAS enabled and uses SiRF Star III.

Tell me that this isn’t the coolest gadget you have seen all day?

Click this thumbnail to see the full product flyer…

And here are the specifications:

Electrical Characteristics (Receiver)
Chipset��	�SiRF Start III
Frequency��	�L1, 1575.42 MHz
C/A Code��	�1.023 MHz chip rate
Channels��	�20 channel all-in-view tracking
�Accuracy
Position Horizontal��	10 meters, 2D RMS 1~5 meters, 3D RMS with WAAS, EGNOS corrected
Velocity��	�0.1m/sec
Time��	�1 micro-second synchronized to GPS time
�Datum
Datum��	�WGS-84 (default)
�Protocol (customized protocol can be made if the offer is for more than 1000 pcs)
GPS Protocol��	�NMEA 0183 (default)
GPS Output format��	�GGA(1 sec), GSA(1 sec), GSV(5 sec), RMC, 9600bps
�Dynamic Condition
Acceleration Limit��	�Less than 4g
�Altitude Limit��	�18,000 meters (60,000 feet) max.
Velocity Limit��	�515 meters/sec (1,000 knots) max.
Jerk Limit��	�20m/sec**3
�Temperature
�� Operating��	�-40?~+85?
Humidity��	�5~95% non-condensing
�Power
Voltage��	�3.3V
Power Consumption��	�<95 mA
�Physical Characteristics
Dimension��	�62 mm * 24 mm * 2.1 mm
Weight��	�Approximately 30 grams
Memory: Expansion Slot Micro SD card (TransFlash Card) memory �� Size :� 512MB, up to 2GB
�Other Characteristics
�� Hot start < 1 sec., average; Warm start < 38 sec., average; Cold start < 42 sec., average
�� Reacquisition 0.1 sec. average
�Certification
�� FCC, CE, RoHs
�SDIO Specification
?Compliant with SDIO Card Specification Ver. 1.00
?Base On Bsquare SDIO Now !

Spectec has said they will be sending�one to me, and I can’t wait to put it through its paces!�If you are also interested in buying one, contact Spectec and they will point you to a supplier in your country that can then give you the correct price.

And just to really blow your hair back -�Spectec even offers a DVB-H Mobile Device SD Card…in other words you can turn your Palm or Pocket PC into a�Mobile Digital�TV.�Coolness.

I can’t wait to see what they cram into an SD card next…

Update 12/31/06 – My contact at Spectec sent the following information:

For this version, the driver is support for handheld devices on WM 5.0 OS.
Sooner or later, we are going to support for other versions.
If there is any situation improved, I will inform you the information.
Besides, if there are any customer asking the price for SDG-810 products, please contact “Setec USA“. They could provide them relative information.

I have written to�Setec for pricing, and hopefully I will hear something soon after New Years. I’ve also noticed that Mobile Planet has these up for pre-order, but with no price listed as of yet.

Tags: GPS, HP Palm Phone and Tablet Gear, Microsoft Windows Phone Gear, Navigation Devices

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About Judie Lipsett Stanford

View all posts by Judie Lipsett Stanford

I have had a fascination with all types of gadgets and gizmos since I was a child, beginning with the toy robot that my grandmother gave my brother - which I promptly "relieved him of" in 1973. I have long been captivated by devices that did anything interesting or served a unique purpose - however silly. I can't tell you how everything works – but I am known world-wide for using a product until I have a full understanding of what it does, what its limitations are, and if it excels in any given area...or not.

Jerry Raia

Oh Oh OH OH. I want I want I want
alese

Interesting, but GPS is really one thing that works really well through Bluetooth, so the only reason this would be interesting to me would be if my device wouldn’t have BT. But my last BT-less device was Jornada 545 back in 2000…

What I would be very interested however, would be USB Host SDIO card with ability to add (or at least have) storage. That would be realy usefull on my Universal.
MitchellO

Would be great for turning an Pocket PC with SD into a full featured GPS!! You could easily use this to breathe new life into a old wireless deficient device
Jerry Raia

Your point about BT is a good one alese. The darn thing is just so cool. Sometimes it has to be form over function.
http://www.geardiary.com Judie

Alese, that’s a good point about BT GPS modules, but…but…but! What if you want an all in one GPS solution? With this module almost any PDA can be a dedicated GPS device, meaning it can be used when walking or hiking, too – without gluing the GPS monitor to your head to be read by your handheld. :teasing:

In any case, the cost will be an important consideration as to whether or not this is as good an option as I think it is, but I am not yet sure what it will be.
ctmagnus

The cynic in me is worrying about what happens when you drop your device with this in it.

*Snap!*

One more reason to go for a nice, oblong, BT GPS with no protrusions.
http://www.geardiary.com Judie

Yet another reason why wrist-straps make sense on mobile devices.
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http://palmdiscovery.net maceyr

Wow! This is making me quite excited! The SDIO GPS and the Mobile TV card would be quite interesting considering that the TV card was previously only available in Japan.

Looking forward to your review!
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