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...

Some more AppStore apps for the iGPS360

Today a post with a variety of things: an update on three AppStore applications that quite a few people have asked about.

1. The first application is the marine navigation software from Navionics. Navionics currently has a free application on the AppStore called Navionics Viewer.
   
   
   
   I can confirm that this application works with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1 installed on an iPhone 2G (first generation) running 3.0 firmware as well as on an iPod Touch 1G (first generation) running 2.2.1 firmware.
   
   Navionics currently has various maps for a good price on the AppStore:
   
   • Navionics Viewer (free)
     
   • Navionics Marine: US East ($6.99)
     
   • Navionics Marine: US West ($6.99)
     
   • Navionics Marine: US Central ($6.99)
     
   • Navionics Lakes: US South ($4.99)
     
   
   Hopefully this will make a lot of the nautical GPS users very happy!
   
   
2. Then the second application that has been confirmed to work with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1 installed is Geocaching.
   
   Credit goes to Katie who has an iPod Touch 2G (second generation) and she says:
   
   "I saw one your website that you didn't know if your GPS unit worked with geocaching. I tried it out yesterday and it does work! The only reason I got the GPS was for geocaching so I was very happy to see that it works great! I just wanted to let you know so you can advertise that it does work! The app is called Geocaching. It's the official Geocaching app that sells for $9.99. I had to download GPSSerial for it to work, but once I did that it works great! I am so happy with the GPS unit!"
   
   Groundspeak Inc.'s Geocaching app can be downloaded from iTunes here.
   
   Have fun Geocachers!
   
   
3. Then lastly, let's talk a bit about Navigon. The results seem to be mixed among people. Some people can get it to work with the iGPS360 module and GPSSerial 1.1, while others can't. Even from the reviews on the AppStore, it seems that this is the same for people with a 3G iPhone with built-in GPS: some get it to work, others can't.
   
   Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get Navigon North America to work on my iPhone 2G (first generation) running 3.0 firmware with the iGPS360 and GPSSerial 1.1 installed. I get this picture...
   
   
   
   Feel free to leave your own findings as feedback in the comments. Make sure you mention what edition of Navigon (Europe or North America) you are using, as well as the version and what country you are in.
   
   There could be a few possible reasons:
   
   
   1. It could be a serious bug on Navigon's part, not polling the CoreLocation framework correctly.
      
   2. Or it could be a GPSSerial bug (the software is still in beta)
      
   3. A bug in Apple's 3.0 firmware.
      
   
   Hopefully Mathieu from Xwaves will be able to take a look at it soon and make the final verdict. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bug on Navigon's part. But either way, maybe Mathieu can make a workaround for it in the next version of GPSSerial!