Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 Review

[andrew]

The superb, diminutive and bestselling original Freedom Keychain GPS receiver for Treo and Centro smartphones (below right) is now even better and smaller thanks to the release of the Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 model (pictured below left). The new and...

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[Treo Musketeers]

Andrew,

For those of us that are ignorant in the world of GPS, can you explain how this works? My understanding is that in addition to a GPS receiver, one has to have a monthly subscription to one of the GPS software companies (TomTom, Garmin, etc.). How is that accomplished? Is there an additional fee for the software and then the monthly subscription fee? What do the monthly subscription rates cost? Has anyone done a review on comparing the various GPS servers (e.g. cost, services, etc.)? Thanks.

Stu

[LotusLord]

I could be wrong, but as far as I know, its a one time fee for both the software and the receiver and you're set. Google Maps also supports it so technically you could get it for free.

[skoenig]

Hi Treo Musketeers,

There's two generally accepted flavours of GPS navigation out there.

The first, and most common, is to buy a GPS receiver and navigation software (usually bought as a bundle) for a fixed one time price (unless you want map/software updates for which there is a yearly fee - you don't normally need this). You connect the receiver via bluetooth or cable to your smartphone and install the software on a memory card. The software reads positional data from the receiver via the cable/bluetooth and then plots a course to your destination. It continues to monitor the receiver to check your progress and via comparison with previous reading calculate things like direction, speed etc.

Pros: It's all yours, you can use it with multiple devices like a laptop etc. No subscription or usage fees. Does not rely on phone reception.
Cons: Need cables, chargers etc. Often difficult to make or receive phone calls esp. when driven (though you shouldn't be using your phone anyways )

The second slightly newer flavour is to to use a navigation service - usually provided by your carrier. This is either subscription based via monthly fees or usage based via journies. This works by getting the position of the phone using it's built in GPS receiver. Built in GPS is a marketing con really. There's posts about it here and elsewhere. Essentially most phone have a limited GPS built in so they can perform e911 operations that will allow emergency services and law enforcement to getthe location of the phone. It uses a combination of limited GPS and cell tower reception differentials to get your location.

Anyway, the carrier or service reads this data and either sends you turn by turn instructions (to an app on your phone) or dictates the directions as you drive.

Pros: No cables, dongles or clutter. No large upfront costs. Usually more up to date maps. Works with a larger range of phones - usually any phone capable of running J2me or Brew - for the app on the phone.
Cons: Just a few uses and you might as well buy a bundle. Needs cellphone reception (normally).

Hope this helps explain things. It's how I think things break down but feel free to put corrections anybody...

~ Steph

[Treo Musketeers]

Thanks Steph. I appreciate the info and that you presented it in a way, that even closet geek can understand. While I was asking for my own knowledge, I felt sure others may want to know as well. I knew if I did a search of forums and reviews, I probably would've found the answer, but I figured there were probably a lot of other people like me, who were ignorant. The Freedom Keychain sounds like a great receiver, but I knew there was more to it then just buying the receiver. Thanks also to LotusLord.

Stu

[taddyman]

I have owned a Sprint Centro for months now and it has proven itself to me so I want to expand its usefullness incrementally.

The Freedom Keychain GPS is very interesting to me, but is it a good choice in my case? Is anyone using one along with the updated Google Maps on a Centro? If so how do I set up that interface and what does that set up deliver, as what I hope would be a good but minimal GPS starting point?

In the long run I will invest in software to give me TBT voice commands and more bell and whistles with this set up. Ideally that software would be a one time purchase and would be stored on my Centro, not the Micro SD card, unless it can coexist on a card with NV Backup. My Centro has 57 of 68mb free at this point so memory is not an issue.
TIA,
Tad