Acer c530 review

Acer's c530 has an integrated GPS receiver and preinstalled CoPilot Live 6 navigation software, so you have only one device to plug into your car's cigarette lighter and you don't need to worry about keeping a Bluetooth GPS receiver charged.

The c530 is more compact than a normal PDA and is closer in size to a smartphone. It also has a 2.8in screen rather than the usual 31/2in, although it still provides the standard 240x320-pixel resolution. The screen is very bright, and text is clear as long as you turn off Windows Mobile ClearType. The huge short-cut buttons provide easy access to calendar, contacts and email, but the joystick is wobbly and imprecise.

The c530's CoPilot Live 6 software can run in either portrait or landscape mode, depending on how you've set the PDA's screen orientation in Windows Mobile's Control Panel. CoPilot's navigation software is very easy to use. To choose your destination you simply select your country, followed by the city or postcode. The c530 comes with full maps of Western Europe installed on an SD card. The software supports only the first five characters of a UK postcode, so you also have to enter a street address. The onscreen keyboard is relatively small, and while it is possible to enter addresses and text using your finger, you'll be better off using the stylus in order to avoid making spelling mistakes.

The software runs fairly quickly, but not quite as quickly as on Acer's P610 standalone GPS system. Even so, it doesn't take long to get a GPS lock and to calculate routes. The c530 took around a minute to find a GPS lock from a cold start, and less than five seconds to plot a route from central London to Edinburgh.

The CoPilot Live 6 software has several map views, which we found worked best in portrait rather than landscape mode. The standard 3D view is clear, and you can also view your travel itinerary in a list. A Driver Safety mode displays only an arrow indicating your next turn, the distance to the turn and the turn instruction, and is less distracting than an animated 3D map. We found that the software got us to where we needed to go, but was occasionally slow to update when dealing with multiple turns in a town. The speaker is also barely loud enough when at full volume, so driving with the window open or the stereo on is difficult.

Acer's c530 will appeal only to a small group of people. It is expensive compared with a standalone GPS, but far cheaper than buying a PDA, GPS software and a Bluetooth receiver separately. If you want to be organised and navigate with a single device, it's a good choice.