A good GPS and Bluetooth combination in the MIO P550

Category: Review on Mitac MIO P550 GPS Mobile Navigation System

Posted by: 7-Apr-2007

Strengths: Works well, provides a sturdy handheld when it comes to Bluetooth features. good for the price as well. Uses Windows Mobile 5.

Weaknesses: Not very light and not meant for Mac or Linux users

After the MIO P350, the P550 does not feel like as it is a new product comes to mobile navigation systems. As I weight both the units in my hand I am cognizant to the fact that the weight remains a major difference between the two with the P550 weighing a lot more than P350. However, curiously gets the better of me, and I ignore the weight issue and plunge deeper into the functionality of the unit to understand how it works

The GPS part of the PDA works quite well and since that is the main reason for most users to buy this unit, it gets a good rating of eight on ten on that front. However, a GPS unit cannot just remain a GPS unit for long and there is whole range of connectivity features crammed into the PDA (no wonder it is so heavy!). the P550 has very good quality Bluetooth features which makes this GPS-enabled PDA an excellent purchase. On the pricing front, the P550 is also good a good buy since it offers both GPS and mobile connectivity features.

For Windows users, there is more reason to purchase this unit since it is based on Windows Mobile 5 making it really easy to use ( but then making the P550 quite useless for Linux and Mac users) and the ability of an external keyboard makes the PDA even more easy to use. However, do keep in mind that because of its GPS capabilities, the unit is not all that mobile.