As I said in the previous post, I decided to save 40 Euros and go for the Level One folding Bluetooth keyboard instead of the Stowaway version. So of course, what do you do when you save 40 Euro? Of course, you go out and spend it immediately.
I was getting really annoyed with my fat old Bluetooth dongle flapping about in the car when I tried to use it today. Its old and ugly so I went out and found and alternative. Its a no-brand, 20 Euro Bluetooth dongle and its a great solution.
With the other 20 euros I bought a generic windscreen suction holder for a PDA, rotated it through 90 degrees and found that the Vega sits in it very nicely. Having paired the Bluetooth with my 3G mobile and downloaded Real Player at home, I put it back in the car, started up the BBC Radio 1 stream from the UK (that’s something I really miss in Germany – English radio.) and went for a smiley, if slightly dangerous drive. I also tried out another Skype call on the move, streamed a few audio tracks from my home server and had no problems at all. A successful test. If only I’d had an HSPDA cellphone I could have streamed some TV from home but, and possibly lucky for my Vodafone account, I haven’t got the HSDPDA phone yet.
Tomorrow I’m picking up a Bluetooth GPS module and I’ll try out some basic GPS software and the StreetDeck software that Thoughtfix tested recently, There’s no European maps available yet (In fact, the whole issue of navigation on a full Windows XP-based PC needs to be discussed because apart from StreetDeck, nothing appears to be touch-optimised. In fact, I was speaking to JKK from the Origamiproject forums who’s done a lot of GPS solutions testing for XP-based operating systems and he’s found that most of the software needs a keyboard and a co-driver or good auto-insurance policy!)
I really think I’ve found a cracking Car PC solution in the Vega despite the lack of built-in Bluetooth. Its a better size for a car than the eo v7110 (that I also tried using in the car but couldn’t find anywhere to mount it without blocking the air ducts or my view of oncoming lorries!) and to be honest, with the smaller memory footprint of XP Home its more efficient. You don’t need handwriting recognition in a car and speech recognition is going to be difficult. All you need is a stack of buttons (the Vega has a great button layout) and some screen gesture software. The 4-5 our battery life is also something that helps keep the cable count down too.
Oh, and the 20 Euro Bluetooth stick that flashes blue
Regards
Steve / Chippy.
Browse more UMPC products in the Carrypad product portal. We’ve got specifications, images, opinions and links to many product related news and reviews.
