Panasonic Strada - remains a promise

Panasonic didn’t spoil us with navigation devices until now, but their first Sherpa has arrived and is now lying on my table. It had a time on my windshield too, providing an interesting experience. The navigation market is growing powerfully and this fact has to be taken into consideration by large companies too. Manufacturers with a lengthy history have started making car navigation devices one after the other. Besides old-timer companies, there are lots of others who have entered the business, like Samsung, Sony, Asus and now Panasonic too. The question is that why have they been waiting for so long and why did they let other companies gain a significant market share. It’s clear that now it will cost them much more to enter the market, as they have to buy a part. This has been a great mistake from them; they didn’t believe enough in the business and this will cost them much.

Of course a brand can sell lots of things, but in navigation it won’t matter much if we say: this is a Panasonic. Only response we get is a resigned wave.

Let’s see what is needed for a successful navi: powerful hardware, good software, precise and detailed map, user-friendly interface, stable passive holder, proper price-tag. This is the first time Panasonic makes such a device; no wonder everything’s not perfect. However Panasonic didn’t start up today, the patient could even have survived this operation. This new business segment is not promoted very much yet, at least I didn’t see anything, even though I have all the harmful habits of the targeted consumers: net-addiction, TV watching, button-mania, reading billboards in a traffic jam and I even have a look at free flyers until I reach the first trashcan.

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?

The navi, weighing 275 grams, has a 400 MHz (possibly Samsung) CPU, which is supported by 128 MB ROM and the same amount of RAM. This means that there can be no speed issues. At least that’s what I’ve thought. Unfortunately this is where the second amateur mistake is committed: Strada is damn slow. And even more, the display, which is clearly visible in sunshine too, doesn’t like high speeds, it was unwilling to function if I was touching it too fast, it only worked if I “pressed” the appearing icons slowly. The menu is also inexplicably slow, although there would be no reason to be so. I wanted to make sure that the error was not with me and I had a look at my next test subject and there were no problems with the speed of that. What was it? I will tell you in a few days. I expect all solutions to be sent to the publisher, the prize is a speaker form the ‘60s if someone doesn’t take it until then. :-)

The second amateur mistake (at least from the point of view of Central and Eastern Europe) is the application running on the PNA: Navigon (NAVTEQ) is the one used, which unfortunately cannot compete with iGO either in graphics, or in features, but I have to say that Garmin too humiliates the poor thing. On one hand the regional map is, so to say, superficial; it only concentrates on the essence. The fact that the M9 highway, for example, has been for almost two years now, is something unimportant. We are very happy however, of the POI database with 1.7 million elements, in case we can access them through the maze-like menu. The graphics are even plainer than in Garmin, although we have 3D display. Although the program says that there are no buildings in Hungary, but we shouldn’t care about that. There are large pictures of the Colosseum and the Arch of Triumph from Paris on the box, those are already included. They have a colossal building database of 200 items.

I had no specific problems with the planning algorithm, although there are two funny parts of voice navigation. The female voice says things like “You will reach your goal in 200 meters”; (how does she know?), or “Attention!”, when we exceed the speed limit – well this one scared the hell out of me. The frightening speaker is far from being as powerful as I would have expected. It’s cool, however, that POIs are not simply displayed on the map, but for example in case of gas stations, the company’s name is also shown, thus making things easier. Navigation is said to be enhanced by lane-assistance, which helps us in choosing the lane we need. Here I have again come across the error of generosity: driving on a 2X3 lane road, the software considered it not wide enough to offer its assistance. In exchange we can control it with voice navigation, if we learn how to do so by reading the 500 page manual (although it says everywhere that it’s very easy to handle).

Strada’s full Europe map is somewhat competitive inside the pre-2007 Schengen borders, but it has serious issues at us. It’s capable of receiving TMC with the help of the (attention!) external, separately sold unit. Its battery can officially run for 4 hours without an external power supply, this is very welcome. The USB is only 1.1, another amateur mistake.

The general assembly quality is outstanding; Panasonic was always good at that. Besides navigation, the device can also function as a Bluetooth handsfree, which works fine, and we can also use it for viewing pictures. The greatest shot, movie playback, has been left out, though such a large screen is screaming for such a feature.

At the moment of writing this article, Strada is available for 310-350 EUR, unfortunately the package is far from the others for such a price, not even with the large display. If we’d have a “not really recommended” award, I would give it to the Strada immediately and I would like to advise the dear designers to go and visit a store selling navis and take a look at how is such a device made good.