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Pharos GPS Phone 600The latest convergence of phone and GPS gets some things right, but not enough for the price. Price:
$699
By Troy Dreier 
If a smart phone is the perfect gadget for people on the go, why not choose one that can help you get where you're going? The Pharos GPS Phone 600 combines a traditional Windows Mobile smart phone with a GPS navigator. Unfortunately, this convergence experiment isn't a successful one.
The physical design is pretty unattractive: It's a big silver brick. At 4.5 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches and 5.2 ounces, the GPS Phone 600 weighs about the same as other smart phones, but it's decidedly less sleek than the GPS-enabled BlackBerry 8800. The 2.8-inch screen is bright and crisp. Accessing the GPS software is simple: Just select the option "Ostia by Pharos" from the Today screen. The menu system could use some work, though. Some of the buttons are large and clear, while others are cramped and require the stylus. This is a problem since you can't access the stylus while the phone is mounted on your window. Calling up an address takes only a few screens, and the phone's maps are clear and colorful. While the display is smaller than what you'll find on the latest devices from Garmin and TomTom, we had no problem reading directions while driving. The maps show up clearly when the phone is in the standard vertical portrait setting, and if you prefer landscape, the software can handle that, too: Just click the Orientation button on the device's left side and adjust your window mount so that it holds the GPS Phone 600 sideways. Oddly, there's no pedestrian mode-a feature we'd expect from a handheld GPS device. Finding points of interest proved difficult: We tried to find a nearby Chase bank, and the nearest one the software could locate was eight miles away, when several others were closer. And that's not our only qualm about POIs. The device contains only one million listings, which is paltry compared with those of most other GPS devices. Subscribe to the paid data plan for $7 a month and you get more than four million POIs. We hate the idea of paying for POIs, which should come standard. Even with the paid service, we got poor results. The interface for looking up a POI is so cumbersome and confusing, it's enough to cause road rage. We like that the software offers buttons for cash, food, fuel, and hotels, the most popular selections, but look for anything outside of that and you'll end up frustrated. The program prompts you to enter a keyword first when looking up a category or a place, which is annoying when all you want is a simple list of locations. The full POI category list is loaded with unnecessary options, such as Mountain Pass or Opera but is missing more helpful entries for shops and groceries. Even when we entered a specific grocery store's name, the software couldn't find its location. If you have a data plan, you can purchase live traffic service for $7 per month. That's inexpensive compared with other GPS devices, but we didn't like the implementation. You need to hit the Power User button on the software's main screen, then select Smart Navigator/Real-time Traffic from a pull-down menu. The program then connects to check on traffic data. The GPS Phone 600 doesn't check traffic automatically. Because this phone is an unlocked quadband GSM model, you can use it with a Cingular or T-Mobile account simply by inserting a SIM card. The device runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 and offers an FM radio (when the headphones are plugged in), a two-megapixel digital camera, a media player, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. We were happy with the picture and video quality, which showed good detail in low lighting. The phone has 128MB of usable storage, and 2GB of free storage is included on the microSD Card. The GPS Phone 600 is a decent smart phone with some GPS capabilities. But if you need to look up nearby businesses while traveling, consider a dashboard GPS or the BlackBerry 8800 instead. Suggested Stories BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Review A versatile smart phone that connects to both CDMA and GSM networks to keep business travelers connected at home and abroad. Top GPS Navigators Whether you're going on a cross-town jaunt or a cross-country adventure, there's a GPS navigator to fit your needs. 26 Things You Can Do With Your Cell Phone You can do more than make calls on your mobile, even if it isn't a smart phone. Compare Prices | Pharos GPS Phone 600 Specifications
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