Officially confirmed: iGPS360 works with firmware 3.1.2

This is a brief post to update everyone on the iGPS360 module and firmware 3.1.2.

As had already been reported by quite a few users, the iGPS360 works fine with the new 3.1.2 Apple firmware (thank you everyone, for bringing this confirming news early for everyone).

I have finally had some time myself to play around with an an iPhone 3G running firmware 3.1.2 (jailbroken by blackra1n and unlocked by blacksn0w) and I can confirm that the iGPS360 module works fine on the new firmware.

Maybe someone can also confirm that the module works on an iPod Touch 3G (I don't have one of those).

The FAQ and product description on the Orange Gadgets website has now also been updated with this information.

If you feel anything else needs to be updated or added to the website, please let me know.

iGPS360 Tip and Trick

If your iPhone or iPod Touch is no longer new and fresh out of the box, you might have noticed that the fit for accessories that you plug into dock connector becomes a bit loose over time (this is also the case for the iGPS360 module).

Today's post is a tip and trick to tighten up your iGPS360 module (and whatever other accessories or 30-pin USB cables you have). This seems to work very well.

Get a razor blade edge/corner or any other pointed thin and sharp blade edge, like one of those small utility knives or a Stanley blade.

On the dock connector on the module (or any other accessory), you can see a metal cover (see the photo above). The cover has eight slits in it (four on the top and four on bottom; not counting the two outer ones on the bottom). These eight slits create four metal tabs in the metal.

Over time when you plug the iGPS360 module (or any other accessory accessory) a lot in and out of your iPhone or iPod Touch, these tabs get pushed in and the female dock connector on your iPhone/iPod Touch also becomes a bit looser. As such the press fit of the module into the iPhone/iPod becomes looser.

In order to tighten the connection up again, stick the knife edge/point carefully a little bit under each of those four tabs and lift them up a tiny bit, see the above photo. Don't do it to much otherwise it is going to be really hard to get the module/acessory back into your iPhone/iPod. And just as a general warning, be careful no to break those tabs.

This trick will make the connection (very) tight again. Just make sure not to over-do it or break those tabs. You only need to move them back up a tiny bit. Don't make it too tight either. If it seems too tight, very carefully slide the accessory back into your iPhone/iPod very slowly, wiggling it slowly left and right until it is fully seated.

I have performed this trick on one of my older iGPS360 modules and my oldest 2G iPhone (which was a bit loose) and I have a nice and tight fit again now.

If this works for you, post your results :-)

GPS navigation for your iPhone/iPod Touch: Sygic and the iGPS360

Link for iPhone and iPod Touch users here

Link for iPhone and iPod Touch users here

This is the first in a series of upcoming videos that will demonstrate some of the GPS navigation applications that are available on Apple's AppStore.

The first software that is put to the test is the Sygic navigation software. Sygic supports different countries and regions. Click here to see their AppStore listings.

Countries supported are: North America (includes the US, Mexico and Canada), United States (only), Europe, Australia & New Zealand, Russia, South-East Asia, Brazil, and United Kingdom & Ireland.

The equipment used in the video is a first generation 16GB iPhone with an iGPS360 module from Orange Gadgets using GPSSerial 1.1 and running Sygic NAM version 7.71.2 Build 5961 D Map version 7.80.

I purchased their North America version last week for $79.99. Currently they have a sale going on at the AppStore and the North America version is $69.99. If you are in the U.S., you can purchase the United States (only) version at the sale price of $49.99 (assuming you won't be traveling to Canada or Mexico).

Here is the review:

• Start-up time: about 14 seconds.
  
  
• User Interface: Sygic's user interface is mainly made up of icons. After you have used it for a bit, things are fairly easy to find, with the exception of how to change/edit the list of favorites(I had to do a Google search for that to find out how to do it; turns out you need to use the "Manage POI" icon). An awkward thing about the user interface is that it does not respond to the typical iPhone/iPod Touch swipe gestures, that is, instead of swiping the screen, you have to press on an arrow. Take your time to read the guides included in the application and find all of the "hidden" features. As the user interface consists of icons, you can't really tell how deep a certain menu option goes; a typical iPhone table view would have been better for the UI to make things more concise and easier and quicker to find.
  
  
• Routing/re-routing: Sygic automatically re-routes when you go off-route. Recalculation of your route is pretty quick, usually a 3-5 seconds or so. As I was using GPSSerial 1.1 for the video, the video doesn't show this when I decided to take the 405 Freeway instead of the 5 Freeway. But with the upcoming update of GPSSerial (yes, Mathieu from Xwaves has done it again!) you will get a working auto-re-routing feature and also the heading and speed issue has been fixed :-)
  
  
• Route planning: Sygic's route planning menu is quite sophisticated: you can view route instructions (text) or show the route as turn-by-turn images as well as get a route demo. In addition you can enter an itinerary, which means you can add multiple via points into your route before getting to the end destination. Quite neat.
  
  
• Settings: Sygic has quite an extended list of settings that you can change to your likings: from regional/language/voice settings, 2D/2D North up/3D View, daytime/night colors, auto-zoom to screen indicator settings (like speed, time, distance) and quite a few more.
  
  
• List of favorites: you can maintain your own list of favorite destinations and this list is fully manageable/editable through the "Manage POI" icon.
  

Hope the review is useful for you and stay tuned for the next video which will cover Navigon North America...

Looking for distributors

All the preparations for the second production run are in full swing. Purchase orders have been placed and the new production run is scheduled to start in the week of April 20.

There are currently only 85 iGPS360 modules left for sale and if you wish to get yours without having to wait for the new run, you have to be quick. Once these 85 modules have sold, there could be some time that no modules are available till the modules from the second production run come in (most likely in the week of May 11).

In order to take of some of the work of my shoulders that comes with all of the order processing, I am looking for distributors all around the world who would like to resell the iGPS360 in their respective countries/areas.

There will be some requirements if you wish to become a distributor, but overall it should be a pretty straight forward job.

Most importantly, your relationship as a distributor with Orange Gadgets will need to be based upon mutual trust and truthfulness. I still believe in the honor system where people will actually do what they say they will do :-). I put a high value on ethics and morality in general and especially when I conduct business and I expect the same from a distributor.

In addition, customer service is very important and if your customers contact you for questions regarding their orders, you should respond to them promptly. The distributor-customer relationship should likewise be based on trust and honesty. This is how you make, keep, and bring in new customers for your business.

If you are interested in becoming a distributor, send a brief email to distributors@orangegadgets.com with some background information about yourself, any previous experience in distributing (not required), experience in setting up an online shopping cart (or any other way you wish to sell the module) and of course your full contact information.

The minimum order quantity for a distributor will be 10 modules and you should at least have an iGPS360 module yourself so you know its features and how it works.

Please only inquire if you are seriously interested in becoming a distributor. Processing, handling and shipping orders in a timely manner will require effort and dedication from your side.

GPS voice navigation for the iPod and iPhone

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

Link for iPhone and iTouch users here

I have been playing around with software related things the last couple of days.

I decided to upgrade the iPod Touch 1G to firmware 2.2.1 (the video above was taken at firmware 2.2) and I also upgraded the iPhone 2G to 2.2.1.

Unfortunately, I had some problems with both the iPhone and iPod getting stuck at the Apple logo screen after having re-installed/synced AppStore apps on them with iTunes.

So that's why I ended up upgrading the iPod to 2.2.1 (after it got stuck at 2.2) and downgrading the iPhone again from 2.2.1 to 2.2 (after it got stuck at 2.2.1). I think the Apple firmware has a fundamental flaw in the way it boots, trying to rebuild the SpringBoard application list which takes a long time and eventually times out, freezing the iPod/iPhone at the Apple logo screen. I searched online to see if there were any fixes, but none of them worked, so I ended up restoring both the iPod and iPhone.

It looks like things are working again now as I haven't gotten stuck at the Apple logo (I have removed most of the AppStore apps that I had downloaded though and did a reboot after every single package I installed with Cydia).

I also installed the latest beta version of Xwaves' xGPS software to see what had changed in the period I was gone.

There have been quite a lot of bug fixes and additions to xGPS. You can track the development roadmap here. The major new additions for version 1.2 are:

• A first beta version of voice navigation in English is now implemented and the speech engine does a pretty good job of pronouncing the directions (see the first video above). It will need some future tweaks to correctly pronounce abbreviations (like Rd, Blvd, Pkwy, N, E, S W, slashes, etc), but other than that it does a very good job. It would also be nice if the user could set the distance(s) at which voice directions are given; they are currently set at about 400m and 20m before the next turn.


• GPS coordinates are now accessible under the GPS settings menu. It would be nice if they could also be displayed in the bottom menu bar of the map view, similarly to the Google Earth application.


• A Night Mode view is now available under the User Interface settings menu. Night Mode can either be manually enabled or automatically through a timer from 8pm through 7am. The timer is currently fixed, but will be fully customizable in a future release.


• You can also have your iPhone/iPod play music at the same time when using the xGPS application. The voice directions will be played through the music (see the second video above). It would be nice to have the music fade in/out when there is a voice direction.

According to the roadmap, the next official release is scheduled for February 20, 2009. I am sure you are all looking forward to it.