Pocket PC phones with built-in GPS and powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 are already on sale!

location based services

The time has arrived: Mitac Mio A701, HP iPAQ hw6910 / hw6915 and E-TEN G500 are on sale! By now the only model of Windows Mobile phone with built-in GPS was HP iPAQ hw6510 / hw6515 but due to outdated operating system, we were not recommending it - and now, that phones with built-in GPS powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 are available, buying that phone makes absolutely no sense! (there are many Windows Mobile 5.0 applications that don't work in Windows Mobile 2003)



If you are a kind of person, who spends whole life in one area and whose commute route to work is pretty much the same every day, then Bluetooth GPS (i.e. separate GPS receiver, not built-in) may be enough for you. However if you travel often - either for work, business or leisure - having built-in GPS is a total blessing and makes life much more easier: the hassle with Bluetooth pairing and separate charging of Bluetooth GPS receiver is gone! The comfort of using Pocket PC phone with built-in GPS is simply huge!

Yes, Windows Mobile 5.0 phones with built-in GPS are on sale NOW! March 2006 is the month when HP, Mitac/Mio and E-TEN decided to launch their GPS phones! So to get Windows Mobile 5.0 phone with built-in GPS just do search for "Mio A701", "hw6915" or "ETEN G500" in your favorite price search engine (like for example "Froogle" from Google - but select proper country extension like "froogle.co.uk" for UK and "froogle.com" for USA) and you will get many offers. It is worth using such price searching because one can save in this way even 150 USD or Euro! Alternatively try to use your favorite online shop with Windows Mobile phones - maybe local to your country or the one where you purchased your former phone! Please note: while it is truth that these GPS phones powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 are not available at mobile operators (wireless carriers) yet, it is also truth that several online retailers offer these phones together with subscription and thus cheaper.

Strangely the HP iPAQ hw6910 / hw6915 phones are on sale in Europe already but the launch date in USA is still unclear - strange because HP is acteually a corporation headquarted in the USA...

See also: comparison of all Pocket PC phones with built-in GPS - we recommend you to check out this comparison because HP's tendency to use inferior display (240x240 pixels instead of standard 240x320) may put off some people + GPS phones from other than HP vendors have some nice features like full size SD card slot (Mio A701) and built-in FM radio with RDS (E-TEN G500)... have faster processors and don't use non-standard and inferior 240x240 resolution.

Conclusion: if satellite navigation is something you need often or something that you would find useful, then phones with built-in GPS offer big comfort in this area and Windows Mobile has a lot to offer!


(on image above: screen shot from E-TEN G500 that shows that apart from GPS signal, also RDS data for TMC is being transmitted - see the $RTRDS lines!; please note the icon of satellite in the title bar, that indicates that GPS receiver is getting the location data from satellites and that built-in GPS is operational)

Update about availability: in fact it looks like HP iPAQ hw6900 series will be available in May 2006 and E-TEN G500 will be available in April 2006 - we couldn't confirm 100% their "in stock" availability right now.

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