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By Jake Richards (JakeRich)
Reviewer
January 15, 2006

Developer/Vendor: iBlue (Review unit provided by Semsons)
Price: US$199.95 list (market priced at about $105 US)
Rating (out of 5):

The iBlue receiver is a well designed, clever BlueTooth GPS receiver. In addition to a phenomenal 30 hour operational time on the battery, it has a novel "sleep" mode where it listens for a BlueTooth signal from a paired device. In that sleep mode it draws very little power, but when it does receive a signal from a known device, it "wakes up" and immediately resumes full operations. Depending on the software you use with it, this design can allow you to have a hands-off GPS operations where you may only have to touch the receiver about once a week.

Testing Environment: Axim X50v with a variety of software

Installation was very easy. The unit is powered by a 1050 mAh Lithium Ion battery that slips into the bottom of the receiver. It comes with a wall charging unit and a retractable USB cable that plugs into the side of the receiver. The charger provides 5v, 850 mA of power. In addition to the wall unit, the box also contained a cigarette lighter adapter that matched the USB cable. The box also contained a CDROM with the utilities and drivers for PCs. No drivers are required for the PPC. On the side of the receiver is a slide switch to turn the unit on and off. On top are three LEDs to show status. The blue LED shows BT status, the orange LED shows GPS status and the red/green LED displays battery/charging status. There is also an MMCX external antenna connector on the side of the unit.

The specifications given by Semsons for the unit are impressive:

The specifications given by Semsons for the unit are impressive:

Antenna
> Receiver Frequency: 1575.42 MHz (L1 band) C/A code
> Antenna Type: Built-in Active Antenna

GPS Receiver
> Technology: NEMERIX GPS Module V3.7
> Satellite Measure Used: 16 channels all in view tracking
> Tracking Sensitivity: -152 dBm
> Operating Temperature: -10C to 60C
> Operation Time: Up to 30 hrs, after fully charged.
> Standby Time: More than 360 hrs, after fully charged.
> Charging Time: 3hrs. (Typical)

Time to First Fix (TTFF)
> Hot Start: 5 seconds typical
> Warm Start: 34 seconds typical
> Cold Start: 46 seconds typical

Accuracy of Position Fix
> Horizontal: 1.2 meters Static CEP 50, 3.0 meters Static CEP 95; 1.3 meters Static Altitude 50, 3.8 meters Static Altitude 95
> Velocity: 0.1/sec 95% without SA

Receiver Configuration
> Baud rate: 115200 bps, Data bit: 8, Stop bit: 1 (Default)
> Output Message: NMEA 0183 (V3.01) – GGA, GSA, GSV, RMC(default)

Physical Characteristics
> Dimension: 69.6mm x 47.3mm x 19.2mm
> Weight: 72g

Physically, the unit is compact. It comes in both black and white. I got a white unit to review. I think the white is a better choice because in the sun the white case will not become as hot as a black case would. It’s your call. See this picture with my X50v:

The unit does not have any feet on it, so the plastic case is pretty slippery. That lack of friction is nice when in putting it in a pocket, but it does present a challenge when you put the unit on the dashboard of your car. In the box, however, is a small rubber mat that can sit on your car’s dashboard with the unit on the pad. The combination doesn’t move at all in my car.

In operation the unit is quick to get a fix, and holds on in pretty poor conditions. It’s not as sensitive as the SirfSTAR III -based units, but it’s still pretty sensitive. I was able to keep a lock on the ground floor of a three level garage most of the days I was in the garage, but did occasionally lose the fix under those difficult conditions.

The battery life is impressive. You get 30 hours of continual operation, or about 350 hours of sleep mode. Doing the math, that means that during full operations the unit consumes 35mA, and in sleep mode it consumes only 3 mA! If you use it 2 hours each day and leave it on in the sleep mode during the other 22 hours, a fully charged batter will last about a week. In practical use, that is exactly what I got! Pretty amazing power consumption. The battery charges in about 3 hours. I was also able to charge the battery just using the USB port of my laptop, so road-warriors won’t have to take any extra power chargers with them, just the retractable USB cable.

To make it work, you pair it up and establish the connection in your software. When the iBlue is first powered on, the blue and orange LEDs light up solid to show that it is functioning. When you have a valid fix, the orange LED starts to flash once per second. When it is paired up with a BT device, the blue LED starts to flash once per second. If it loses the BT signal, the unit automatically goes into sleep mode after about three minutes, with the orange LED off and the blue LED slowing to flashing once every 3 seconds. When the BT unit with which it was paired comes back into range, the unit wakes up, the blue LED flashes more frequently and the orange LED shows the fix status again. The other LED, the red/green one, is mostly off, but is red when the battery is low and green when charging.

I tried the sleep mode with four different GPS routing applications and one utility.

Mapopolis 4.64 (the latest public beta version), when taken outside the range of the BT, reports the GPS loss, then the loss of the COM port. It offers to soft reset. I ignored the offer to soft reset, just tapped the X to make it go away, and as soon as I came back in range, Mapopolis re-established the connection and the iBlue came out of sleep mode as advertised.

iGuidance (version 2.1.3NA) had to be paired with the receiver each time. When I took it outside the range of the receiver, it showed the loss of GPS, but didn’t provide any other error message. When I came back in range, it did not find the GPS, nor did it trigger the iBlue to wake up. I went to the GPS status screen and restarted the GPS, at which time it asked for a re-pairing. As soon as I tapped the re-pair icon, the iBlue woke up and connection was made. From that experience, I would say that the problem was with iGuidance, not iBlue.

OCN5 worked perfectly. When I opened OCN5, having paired the receiver previously and configured OCN5 for it, it immediately connected. I walked away and it reported the GPS was lost. As soon as I walked back into range, the GPS immediately woke up and reported a fix in a few seconds. Of the four packages, this one was the only one to be truly "hands off" operation at all times.

Destinator PN paired and started the unit well. When I walked out of range, D-PN reported the GPS was not to be found, but when I came back in range it didn’t automatically find it again. I had to tap the GPS icon on the main screen, at which time it started the connection process and woke up the iBlue.

GPSDash (version 2.55) also worked well. It paired up with the GPS just fine. When I took it outside the range, it reported the loss of fix, but then immediately reconnected and reported a fix when I brought it back in range and it woke up the iBlue.

Finally, I tested to see if it would exit sleep mode if a non-paired BT signal was nearby. I brought the unit within range of my desktop BT unit and it did NOT wake up. From that simple test I believe that it ignores non-paired BT units in range and only wakes up with a previously paired signal. That selectivity will preserve your battery in the event of coming near another BT device

Conclusions

The iBlue receiver is a well-designed and effective GPS receiver with a unique sleep mode that allows for virtually hands-free operation. It works well with most applications, although the ease of operation is dependent on the software and how it handles loss of BlueTooth connection. The receiver works as advertised, with long battery life and a novel sleep mode that saves power exactly as they describe it in both advertising and the user manual.

Pros:

• Very small, lightweight size
• Long battery life
• Good sensitivity
• Auto-on sleep mode for hands off operations

Cons:

• Slippery case

Chris Leckness (3549 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.