Had a 3 mile or so backup prior to a detour on Rt. 404 in MD, approaching Rt. 50.
I hit Detour, and it took me around some scenic back roads. I had to re-join the backup for the last little bit, but it still saved me from sitting in that 3 mile backup. :shades:
It'll be a shame once everyone gets a GPS, because the detours will all be crowded too!
Having the little "Detour" button is an advantage the newer units have over the old, but it's still not economical enough for me to get a new unit. For now when I choose to detour to avoid traffic, I either have to just look at the map and drive along an alternate path or use the remote to click on an adjacent area and then route to there before routing back to my original destination. Of course while doing all that I am treated to Moaning Mona's "Off course, recalculating" every 2 minutes or so .
The newer units do have a couple of niceties I don't currently have: Detour, POI loader. Mark
My c320 has the Detour button, it just doesn't seem to be as good about taking you off the route you're on. It's strange.
I'll have to get a little more experience with it to be more specific about the differences. I was just impressed that the c340 did better than I expected in that regard.
Just returned from our Annapolis trip. (Sewell, NJ to Annapolis,MD. and back. Entered the Mariott Hotel, Annapolis and away we went. We named our female instructor Claire (Claire also gives voice responses with SPRINT)! She guided us accurately all the way and when we missed the turn in Annapolis for the hotel, Claire said "re calculating" and sure enough took us around a block or so and right to the hotel entrance. On the return trip. hit the "home" thingy and Claire again took us back home with no problems. Again, thanks to all of you "EXPERTS' for your sound advice on a great Garmin unit. NORTSR
I don't want to carry around a bunch of gadgets or leave it in my car, so I think Smartphones with built-in GPS and MP3 players are the way portable nav systems should be handled in the future.
"Smartphones with built-in GPS" won't do you much good if you are not in your cellular carrier's native areas. They only operate using the company's own cellular tower network. They usually cannot work while roaming on other towers.
Cellular phone navigation is not using Global Positioning Satellites. So you can't call their method GPS.
"Cellular phone navigation is not using Global Positioning Satellites. So you can't call their method GPS."
You sure about that?
This is from my cell phone carrier's website:
"The BlackBerry 8800 from Rogers Wireless It’s the thinnest BlackBerry ever and it’s packed with powerful new features to make the most of your time and to do it in style. Built-in GPS, combined with Rogers’ TeleNav GPS Navigator service, gives you routing with turn-by-turn voice instruction*; and, with easy trackball navigation, a full QWERTY keyboard, and expandable memory, the BlackBerry 8800 will save you time wherever your business takes you."
I think GPS tracking on cell phones is mandated for some future date. It has to do with 911 calls. So they can pinpoint where the call is from. Won't be long now.
I had read that it was also true of other services. Perhaps your Rogers unit and others are using newer technology. I'll have to do a bit more research.
Some require you to be in their coverage area to download the initial route, but do not require you to have constant coverage for the entire trip. You use a local GPS (either built in to the phone or a separate bluetooth gps) to track your location. TeleNav for smartphones works this way. You have to have a wireless data plan to download the routes as needed.
There are a few navigation programs that are fully self contained in the phones with all the maps saved onto a media card and require no wireless coverage at all. There are not lots of options at the moment, but there is no reason this cannot greatly improve over the next few years.
The main advantage of the first method is that you do not need lots of storage space to save maps and millions of points of interest and your maps and POI database are always the latest available.
Just ordered a nuvi 660 yesterday from costco's website. It is listed there (until the 11th) for $499 + Tax/shipping. The final delivered-to-my-door price was $543.
I test drove one of the Garmin Streetpilot versions during a recent business trip and it was very accurate throughout the trip. That led me to the decision to purchase the nuvi. My concerns about the smaller screensize (when compared to my 8" Honda Odyssey screen) was misplaced and the portability certainly would come in handy.
I paid $350 plus tax, so I guess it was $367.50 for my c340, but I really needed something that weekend. And it really came in handy because we hit major traffic coming and going.
Guess I could have borrowed my wife's unit if we'd ordered the 660. Works fine, though.
Yup, debated between the 650 and the 680 but ultimately, went with the 660 specifically because of the price (never found a lower price anywhere else on the net) and also the fact that the 660 and the 680 come with the same engine and both have bluetooth too, which the 650 lacked. I was least interested in the MSN realtime traffic updates etc., that the 680 additionally comes with.
You are absolutely right. Waiting for the greatest and the newest is a never ending wait, since something newer/cheaper is always around the corner. Decide what minimum features you need and find the best alternative for the best possible price, as available during purchase.
I would only look at newer models, when several years later, you are ready to upgrade.
Funny thing is I would have been have with another c320!
I didn't think I really needed the Text-to-Speech feature, and would have paid less were the older models still available.
Now that I have it, the TTS features is kinda neat, I guess. A little more info for the driver, less looking at the screen for street names.
Oddly, the best part is that instead of just saying "arriving at destination" it tells you the house number. This is important, because with the old unit I had to go to My Locations, Recent, and then open the Favorite again to read the street number. I would say "Fred" instead of "10502". It didn't even display that number on the screen.
Now, it actually reads out the street number. Went to a birthday party yesterday and it said something like "arriving at 10502 on left". That's a major convenience.
You wrote "the best part is that instead of just saying "arriving at destination" it tells you the house number. This is important, because with the old unit I had to go to My Locations, Recent, and then open the Favorite again to read the street number. I would say "Fred" instead of "10502". It didn't even display that number on the screen.
Now, it actually reads out the street number. Went to a birthday party yesterday and it said something like "arriving at 10502 on left". That's a major convenience."
If that's all that you do, you are missing one of the best functions of Garmin's Text To Speech feature. Once you enter an address, instead of pressing the GO button, press the Save button. You will be asked to Enter Name. You then would enter something like Teixeira and save it as a Favorite.
The next time that you navigate to Teixeira (one of your list of Favorites) that name will be displayed on the screen at the final destination (not the street address) and the TTS will say "arriving at Teixeira" or however it chooses to pronounce the text.
Now, isn't that even more of a "major convenience"?
I borrowed a Nuvi 680 for a trip last weekend and, overall, I think it's a great unit. The one thing that I really dislike about it is the buttons used to input cities, streets, POIs don't grey out as you input them to only allow inputs that are in the database like the factory systems do. Many input experiences resulted in misinputs, going back, doing over, etc. (Of course part of the issue is that I'm usually doing the inputs while driving).
Also the traffic and gas prices feature seems to take a long time to update. Today, after returning to the area, it took about 40 minutes to get the traffic data. By that time, it was no longer so important.
I could live without the TTS feature but I do like it.
I'm unclear about what you were trying to describe when you wrote "the buttons used to input cities, streets, POIs don't grey out as you input them to only allow inputs that are in the database like the factory systems do". Could you please restate it?
From what I've read in the GpsPasSion nüvi forums http://tinyurl.com/yed9d2 Microsoft's MSN Direct traffic service is not worth bothering with. There are very large gaps in coverage, delays in updates and other concerns.
In factory systems such as Toyotas, the screen will automatically disable keyboard keys as you input addresses or POI names making it impossible to input a name, city or street that's not in the system. It's hard to explain if you've never seen it but here's a page I found of somebody else complaining about the same thing: http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2006/10/garmin_nuvi_660_indepth_review.php?page=5
That reminds me, another thing I didn't care for was the ABC keyboard. In a ubiquitous qwerty world, it only makes sense to provide a qwerty mode as well. ABC keyboards slow me down.
Ah, thanks. I now understand what you meant. Yes, my 2004 Accord's Navigation System also limits the keys that can be pressed as you get closer to the correct spelling of the name of the state, city or street. I believe that I can also switch between ABC and QWERTY in the Accord. I'll check tomorrow.
Perhaps those are some of the compromises that miniaturization and price point of pocketable units currently dictate. I can easily live with such compromises.
Anyone use this model? I am borrowing a friends this weekend and am really excited to use it, I am more familiar with the older ones. How does everyone like this model?
A few weeks ago, I bought a Magellan GPS. A few days after I bought it, I returned it. The thing lost the satellite signal in the middle of a 500 mile road trip, and wouldn't re-acquire, no matter what I did.
I don't think that Magellan units are bad. I don't think that this particular GPS was defective. I simply think that portable GPS isn't quite "there" yet. As a previous post suggested, you need an external antenna to guarantee signal reception.
I could have gotten the factory GPS on my new car, but it wasn't worth $2,000 to me. I tried the portable version, and that didn't work. So I'll stick with the ol' road atlas for the time being.
Your post #1039 was in response to post #20 of 1,040 that was posted by cxxviii on December 02, 2003.
According to his profile, cxxvii last logged on here December 29, 2003. I presume that he will not be reading your message.
I do not agree with your contention that "I simply think that portable GPS isn't quite there yet". It surely is "there" and working extremely well.
You also wrote "you need an external antenna to guarantee signal reception". There are hundreds of thousands of portable navigation system users who would say that both comments are not at all true.
You didn't indicate which brand or model of portable unit you tried. Try a good one. You'll like it.
Absolutely true. I am now using a Garmin Nuvi 660 in my WRX (based on your advice) and I am thoroughly happy with it. It compares favorably with my in-built Honda Odyssey 8" NAV screen. I was a sceptic initially and so was my wife (after having used an unimpressive Magellan Hertz Neverlost in the past), about such aftermarket NAV systems but after having had it for the past one week, I am thoroughly pleased with it. The only inconvenience being that after getting to the destination, I need to take it out of its holder and stash it somewhere, due to the fear of theft, while in my Honda, I can simply walk away. Otherwise, performance wise, I am thoroughly happy.
The above poster need to check the below link out.
Especially the link that says: "Units to Avoid", "What to look for when buying a GPS" and also the "Quick recommendations". Very useful, since it shows how stark the differences are between the various NAV units. Their reviews are very detailed too and proved very useful to me.
If you get a Telenav system with a mobile phone, you don't have to worry about theft because you carry the phone around with you anyway. It is not left in the car. Even some factory installed nav system screens are a bit of a theft target especially if they are not really well integrated into the dash and instead appear to be a fancy aftermarket stereo to an unknowing thief. (Honda Civic)
The main disadvantage of Telenav is that you have to have a data plan. If you already have a compatible phone and were already paying for a data plan for web and e-mail access, then it only costs an extra $10 per month for unlimited use. The screens on most cell phones are quite small, but that doesn't matter since it works so well with the voice directions that you don't need to look at the screen to navigate. I can turn my phone face down and get to my destination based only on the audio. Once in a while I may glance at it just to see how many miles it is to the next turn or the final destination. I set the screen to display just large text and arrows indicating the direction of the next turn
You wrote "If you get a Telenav system with a mobile phone, you don't have to worry about theft because you carry the phone around with you anyway. It is not left in the car."
The same is true of my Garmin nüvi 350. It's about the size of a deck of cards and goes in my shirt pocket or my wife's pocketbook.
You also wrote "The main disadvantage of Telenav is that you have to have a data plan. If you already have a compatible phone and were already paying for a data plan for web and e-mail access, then it only costs an extra $10 per month for unlimited use."
How much are you paying MONTHLY for your combination of data plan plus the extra $10? Since my family has no need for a data plan, why pay any monthly fee for use of our excellent portable navigation system?
I already mentioned that the cost of the data plan is a disadvantage, so it doesn't matter the total cost since the total will be the same as it ever was for data plan users. It probably won't make sense for most people to get a data plan for this unless they will take advantage of the other uses of the data plan Many people already use a data plan for mobile web and e-mail access. It is not for everyone. A Blackberry is pointless without a data plan, so Telenav is ideal fro Blackberry users. Why carry around a portable GPS is you don't need to use it everyday? There is even a $5 a month plan for Telenav for those who will rarely use it and don't need the $10 unlimited use navigation plan. People use their cellphones everyday, so it isn't anything extra to carry.
Many good points and you are right that when navigating to a specific address/location, we can follow the voice instructions from the NAV system, with hardly a glance at the screen.
However, I use my NAV system in the "map" mode a lot. In other words, even when I am not "navigating" to a specific destination, I simply put in in the map mode and glance at the moving map (more along the lines of darting glances at the rearview mirror), to get acquainted with the streets through which I am moving along (obviously without any voice instructions) and also the cross streets and the attractions that are not visible from the road through which I am driving, but appear on the NAV screen.
Due to which, I definitely like to have a decent sized screen. The 4.3" widescreen on my nuvi 660 is very good for that, as is the even better 8" widescreen on my Odyssey.
so this was my father's day gift this year. So far, its a neat little toy. I've been carrying it in my pocket for the past 2 days and barely know its there. Its roughly the size of 2 decks of cards side by side.
At some point this week, I have to drive into the next state for a job interview, so that will be its first good GPS test. I played with it at home and was impressed with its accuracy and points of interest so far. It actually registered me just walking around my kitchen (showing movement and the direction I would turn). We'll see how it holds up in a car test very soon and I'll report back.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Actually there's a small "telephone pole" tower right next door and the neighbor gets $600 a month rent for it. I have a 30' ISP wireless antenna in my back yard (and a dish on the house) and all I get is free net access for being the neighborhood AP. :shades:
I'd have a bit of difficulty learning to carry around a gizmo all day (I don't wear a watch for example), but it would be nice not to get lost in the car.
You could try Garmin's MapSource Map Viewer here: http://tinyurl.com/2z64zq to see some of their Boise coverage.
By the way, a lot of cellphone users don't wear watches either. The time is always displayed on their phones. It's also always displayed on my nüvi 350, when in use. I presume that's true for most portable navigation units.
Many people enjoy admiring their 7 or 8" nav screen as they drive along, curiously gazing at side streets, landmarks blocks away and anything else that might seem interesting at the moment so they can familiarize them self with the layout of the city. However, for pure functionality, you don't need the map especially while you are underway. The more basic and clear, the better.
I don't know why people buy watches any more - just to make a fashion statement I guess - lots of the movements seem to be the same from brand to brand.
Between the car clock and the home pc's, it's rare that I need to ask someone what time it is.
It is a bit odd to tap on my wrist as an inquiry and have someone flip open their phone.
Hey, thanks a bunch for that FBI background check on the original post! I didn't know the forum had a statute of limitations on replies. Guess that's something else I need to research, you know, to avoid offending any "sensitive" readers here.
As for the subject of the reply; I'll stick with my own real-world experience vs. the testimonials of others. Unless, of course, those "hundreds of thousands" of users want to pay THEIR money to buy me a "good one."
Comments
Had a 3 mile or so backup prior to a detour on Rt. 404 in MD, approaching Rt. 50.
I hit Detour, and it took me around some scenic back roads. I had to re-join the backup for the last little bit, but it still saved me from sitting in that 3 mile backup. :shades:
It'll be a shame once everyone gets a GPS, because the detours will all be crowded too!
The newer units do have a couple of niceties I don't currently have: Detour, POI loader.
Mark
I'll have to get a little more experience with it to be more specific about the differences. I was just impressed that the c340 did better than I expected in that regard.
On the return trip. hit the "home" thingy and Claire again took us back home with no problems.
Again, thanks to all of you "EXPERTS' for your sound advice on a great Garmin unit.
NORTSR
"Smartphones with built-in GPS" won't do you much good if you are not in your cellular carrier's native areas. They only operate using the company's own cellular tower network. They usually cannot work while roaming on other towers.
Cellular phone navigation is not using Global Positioning Satellites. So you can't call their method GPS.
You sure about that?
This is from my cell phone carrier's website:
"The BlackBerry 8800 from Rogers Wireless
It’s the thinnest BlackBerry ever and it’s packed with powerful new features to make the most of your time and to do it in style. Built-in GPS, combined with Rogers’ TeleNav GPS Navigator service, gives you routing with turn-by-turn voice instruction*; and, with easy trackball navigation, a full QWERTY keyboard, and expandable memory, the BlackBerry 8800 will save you time wherever your business takes you."
Perhaps I jumped the gun in my last message. I know that what I wrote is definitely true with Verizon Wireless VZ Navigator service
http://www.smartdevicecentral.com/article/Verizon+VZ+Navigator/202220_1.aspx
http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/raskin/512
I had read that it was also true of other services. Perhaps your Rogers unit and others are using newer technology. I'll have to do a bit more research.
You have to have a wireless data plan to download the routes as needed.
There are a few navigation programs that are fully self contained in the phones with all the maps saved onto a media card and require no wireless coverage at all.
There are not lots of options at the moment, but there is no reason this cannot greatly improve over the next few years.
The main advantage of the first method is that you do not need lots of storage space to save maps and millions of points of interest and your maps and POI database are always the latest available.
I hope the updates can be "verified" in a timely fashion.
This would save you from map updates every 18 months or so, however often they come out. And about, what, $85 a pop for the major updates?
I test drove one of the Garmin Streetpilot versions during a recent business trip and it was very accurate throughout the trip. That led me to the decision to purchase the nuvi. My concerns about the smaller screensize (when compared to my 8" Honda Odyssey screen) was misplaced and the portability certainly would come in handy.
I paid $350 plus tax, so I guess it was $367.50 for my c340, but I really needed something that weekend. And it really came in handy because we hit major traffic coming and going.
Guess I could have borrowed my wife's unit if we'd ordered the 660. Works fine, though.
I should stop looking because you just know prices will keep coming down! :sick:
I would only look at newer models, when several years later, you are ready to upgrade.
I didn't think I really needed the Text-to-Speech feature, and would have paid less were the older models still available.
Now that I have it, the TTS features is kinda neat, I guess. A little more info for the driver, less looking at the screen for street names.
Oddly, the best part is that instead of just saying "arriving at destination" it tells you the house number. This is important, because with the old unit I had to go to My Locations, Recent, and then open the Favorite again to read the street number. I would say "Fred" instead of "10502". It didn't even display that number on the screen.
Now, it actually reads out the street number. Went to a birthday party yesterday and it said something like "arriving at 10502 on left". That's a major convenience.
You wrote "the best part is that instead of just saying "arriving at destination" it tells you the house number. This is important, because with the old unit I had to go to My Locations, Recent, and then open the Favorite again to read the street number. I would say "Fred" instead of "10502". It didn't even display that number on the screen.
Now, it actually reads out the street number. Went to a birthday party yesterday and it said something like "arriving at 10502 on left". That's a major convenience."
If that's all that you do, you are missing one of the best functions of Garmin's Text To Speech feature. Once you enter an address, instead of pressing the GO button, press the Save button. You will be asked to Enter Name. You then would enter something like Teixeira and save it as a Favorite.
The next time that you navigate to Teixeira (one of your list of Favorites) that name will be displayed on the screen at the final destination (not the street address) and the TTS will say "arriving at Teixeira" or however it chooses to pronounce the text.
Now, isn't that even more of a "major convenience"?
Also the traffic and gas prices feature seems to take a long time to update. Today, after returning to the area, it took about 40 minutes to get the traffic data. By that time, it was no longer so important.
I could live without the TTS feature but I do like it.
From what I've read in the GpsPasSion nüvi forums http://tinyurl.com/yed9d2 Microsoft's MSN Direct traffic service is not worth bothering with. There are very large gaps in coverage, delays in updates and other concerns.
http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2006/10/garmin_nuvi_660_indepth_review.php?page=5
That reminds me, another thing I didn't care for was the ABC keyboard. In a ubiquitous qwerty world, it only makes sense to provide a qwerty mode as well. ABC keyboards slow me down.
Perhaps those are some of the compromises that miniaturization and price point of pocketable units currently dictate. I can easily live with such compromises.
I'm guessing most portables will let you do the same... at least I would hope so!
I do like that is says "Arriving Home" or "Arriving Beach House". I tend to already know where I've been heading, though.
How's the image quality? Any glare issues?
Same interface and maps as the Tom Tom One, I believe.
I don't think that Magellan units are bad. I don't think that this particular GPS was defective. I simply think that portable GPS isn't quite "there" yet. As a previous post suggested, you need an external antenna to guarantee signal reception.
I could have gotten the factory GPS on my new car, but it wasn't worth $2,000 to me. I tried the portable version, and that didn't work. So I'll stick with the ol' road atlas for the time being.
Your post #1039 was in response to post #20 of 1,040 that was posted by cxxviii on December 02, 2003.
According to his profile, cxxvii last logged on here December 29, 2003. I presume that he will not be reading your message.
I do not agree with your contention that "I simply think that portable GPS isn't quite there yet". It surely is "there" and working extremely well.
You also wrote "you need an external antenna to guarantee signal reception". There are hundreds of thousands of portable navigation system users who would say that both comments are not at all true.
You didn't indicate which brand or model of portable unit you tried. Try a good one. You'll like it.
The above poster need to check the below link out.
http://www.gpsmagazine.com/buyers_guide.php
Especially the link that says: "Units to Avoid", "What to look for when buying a GPS" and also the "Quick recommendations". Very useful, since it shows how stark the differences are between the various NAV units. Their reviews are very detailed too and proved very useful to me.
The main disadvantage of Telenav is that you have to have a data plan. If you already have a compatible phone and were already paying for a data plan for web and e-mail access, then it only costs an extra $10 per month for unlimited use.
The screens on most cell phones are quite small, but that doesn't matter since it works so well with the voice directions that you don't need to look at the screen to navigate. I can turn my phone face down and get to my destination based only on the audio.
Once in a while I may glance at it just to see how many miles it is to the next turn or the final destination.
I set the screen to display just large text and arrows indicating the direction of the next turn
rather than a map
You wrote "If you get a Telenav system with a mobile phone, you don't have to worry about theft because you carry the phone around with you anyway. It is not left in the car."
The same is true of my Garmin nüvi 350. It's about the size of a deck of cards and goes in my shirt pocket or my wife's pocketbook.
You also wrote "The main disadvantage of Telenav is that you have to have a data plan. If you already have a compatible phone and were already paying for a data plan for web and e-mail access, then it only costs an extra $10 per month for unlimited use."
How much are you paying MONTHLY for your combination of data plan plus the extra $10? Since my family has no need for a data plan, why pay any monthly fee for use of our excellent portable navigation system?
Many people already use a data plan for mobile web and e-mail access. It is not for everyone.
A Blackberry is pointless without a data plan, so Telenav is ideal fro Blackberry users.
Why carry around a portable GPS is you don't need to use it everyday? There is even a $5 a month plan for Telenav for those who will rarely use it and don't need the $10 unlimited use navigation plan.
People use their cellphones everyday, so it isn't anything extra to carry.
However, I use my NAV system in the "map" mode a lot. In other words, even when I am not "navigating" to a specific destination, I simply put in in the map mode and glance at the moving map (more along the lines of darting glances at the rearview mirror), to get acquainted with the streets through which I am moving along (obviously without any voice instructions) and also the cross streets and the attractions that are not visible from the road through which I am driving, but appear on the NAV screen.
Due to which, I definitely like to have a decent sized screen. The 4.3" widescreen on my nuvi 660 is very good for that, as is the even better 8" widescreen on my Odyssey.
At some point this week, I have to drive into the next state for a job interview, so that will be its first good GPS test. I played with it at home and was impressed with its accuracy and points of interest so far. It actually registered me just walking around my kitchen (showing movement and the direction I would turn). We'll see how it holds up in a car test very soon and I'll report back.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Apple and Mercedes may be working on GPS iPhone
No matter what you do, don't get a cellphone. I understand that it might be pointless since there aren't any cell towers in Idaho.
I'd have a bit of difficulty learning to carry around a gizmo all day (I don't wear a watch for example), but it would be nice not to get lost in the car.
You could try Garmin's MapSource Map Viewer here: http://tinyurl.com/2z64zq to see some of their Boise coverage.
By the way, a lot of cellphone users don't wear watches either. The time is always displayed on their phones. It's also always displayed on my nüvi 350, when in use. I presume that's true for most portable navigation units.
I got it the second time I zoomed in on the area.
You want San Diego, you've got San Diego http://tinyurl.com/25ntwf
Here's Hilo http://tinyurl.com/2cxqgz
However, for pure functionality, you don't need the map especially while you are underway. The more basic and clear, the better.
It's safer to have one less distraction also.
Between the car clock and the home pc's, it's rare that I need to ask someone what time it is.
It is a bit odd to tap on my wrist as an inquiry and have someone flip open their phone.
Sounds like it will be a built-in nav system with an Apple-designed interface that may be similar to the iPhone, but it is not an actual phone.
Communication implies phone type capability, but who knows. I think the real message is watch these gizmos converge.
As for the subject of the reply; I'll stick with my own real-world experience vs. the testimonials of others. Unless, of course, those "hundreds of thousands" of users want to pay THEIR money to buy me a "good one."
The image quality is great and I haven't had any glare issues. I am really pleased with it!