Thought users might like to hear my thoughts on this very cheap 7" device running WinCE6 R3.
Google MID X10 and you will find lots of refs to it.
Its a 7" screen with 800*480 resolution. I have it running MemMap, Sky demon & Pocket FMS .. all from same MicroSD card. Apart from ensuring you get the right version (road angel build) of mem Map, you do not have to do any WinCE fiddling (like installing miopocket, .net etc).
Alos it does run Active Sync (or MDC in Vista/W7) properly .. but this buried in the settings.
My main concern was whether the screen would be bright enough. If you have a bubble canopy (a la Eurostar, Sportcruier etc), then in direct sunlight it wd be too dim, I think. I fly a CT and there is a bracing tube along the top of the cockpit just above eye level and about 12-14" in front of one's face. I fashioned a good support to position from this bar. Worked a treat and it was a pretty bright day today.
Ran it from battery which is said to ahve 6-7 hr duration. Not sure its that good but I cd easliy believe 3+ on full brightness. But you can use cigar lighter charger (not USB unfortunately).
Its very slow to acquire a GPS fix but once it has seems pretty good. SUGGESTION for Tim here. PFMS changes the colour of the plane icon to designate quality of fix .. default is black for no fix, red for poor fix and green for full fix. Works great as you are always looking at the icon. Stops those annoying alerts.
BUT the mobile version still needs improved ergonomics in my view:
- It should be possible to increase the size of the menu items. With this big a screen that wd be no problem.
- There is room for some programmable buttons .. eg invert route
- The altitude and other data readout size cd be increased .. say by 50%
- Size of time readout is small too.
- Trackup often lags behind and does not right itself quickly enough. I am used to the track line being vertical .. at times it was often 15 degrees off vertical. Then caught up after a minute or so. Especially happens after direction change at a way point.
Well that's my first impressions. Feel free to add comments, ask Qs or send PM so we can chat on the phone.
David