Panasonic Strada - remains a promise

When I have received the navi, officially named CN-GP50N, I have seriously started thinking about why they put a cobble in the large box. Besides the navi itself there is a car charger, a passive holder, a data cable and papers enough for making heat through the whole winter season (user manual) – Tolstoy might be a favorite of the company (see: War and Peace). These add up for the weight, there was no cobble inside. The passive holder is the stiff type with multiple fastening points, so it offers maximum stability for the relatively large navi. The car charger’s cable is really high quality, it’s visible that they weren’t saving on the materials used; there’s even a Velcro strap for fastening it when it’s not used. This almost makes us forget the primary amateur feature: the cord doesn’t end in a miniUSB plug, although there is such a connector on the device. So why did they need to give a hard time to users? And to top it all, there is no wall charger in the box.

As I have already mentioned, Strada isn’t small. Of course one of the main reasons for this is the 5” wide, really large display. The case itself reminds of TomTom devices – it has a hump on its back, which is no problem in the car but we probably won’t be taking it on a sightseeing tour. It looks cool, however, on the front, though it has nothing besides the screen (well, not counting the labels). The front of the navi is lacquer-black; it has a shiny, elegant effect. The back is of the standard plastic. There’s nothing on the top, just a really large Strada logo.

On the left we can see an “EXT IN” connector (covered with a rubber pad) and the charger’s connector under the power button. On the right part of the back there is a covered antenna connector and a highly emphasized speaker in the center, I have been really afraid of its volume. The main switch is on the bottom, near a miniUSB connector which is the only connector that doesn’t have a cover. What’s the logic in this?