We’ve just received a Navman S100 to review. We will be road testing this system over the coming weeks but thought we’d give a quick first impression of what we think so far.
The S100 is the latest in the ‘S’ series of sat nav systems from Navman and offers several new features over previous models. These include a new ‘Glide Touch’ user interface, junction views (similar to the lane assist feature seen on the Garmin Nuvi 765T
Box Contents
Here are a few photos of the box and contents.
Inside the box you get the following:
- Navman S100
- In-car charger
- Windscreen mount
- NavDesk software (DVD)
- Documentation pack
- USB cable
- Earphone jack converter
Looks
Out of the box it looks similar to previous models in the ‘S’ range, but once you pick it up you’ll notice it feels lighter and has a slimmer design. The S100 has a depth of only 13.5mm compared to 19.4mm with the S50 or S50 3D. The S100 weighs 150 grams, which although 5 grams heavier than the S50 3D, it is 21 grams lighter than the S50.
Navigation
We’re yet to road test this system so we can’t comment on this area yet. We will be publishing more details when we’ve completed our tests.
UPDATE: Our navigation report has now been published.
The S100 includes a new junction assist feature where complex junctions are displayed in 3D with actual signposts displayed on the screen. We think this is a great idea and we’re looking forward to seeing how well this performs.
The S100 also has a new ClearView maps feature which is meant to make the maps look clearer. At first glance the maps don’t look any clearer to earlier models but we’ll reserve judgement until we’ve taken it out on the road.
The S100 includes Text to Speech (TTS), which apart from the S90i, is the only model in the ‘S’ series to sport this feature. TTS means the Navman will speak out road names, so instead of just speaking “Turn right in 50 yards”, it will speak “Turn right in 50 yards onto the A4″.
The S100 does support traffic (TMC) but you need to purchase an optional add-on to use this feature. There is no bluetooth either but this is a feature we never use anyway so was not missed.
Points of Interest (POI)
Our initial tests showed the POI database to be disappointing. This is consistent with earlier models in the Navman ‘S’ series. It was unable to list all nearby petrol stations and was unable to list any car parks at all in our area.
If POI is important to you then we’d recommend going for a Garmin.
Safety Cameras
The Navman S100 comes with a preloaded safety camera trial. We’ll be testing this area when we publish our full review.
The screen shots we’ve seen from Navman look promising. Here is an example. We like how it not only warns you of a safety camera, but it also displays the speed limit (something you don’t get on many sat nav systems).
Glide Touch
The user interface has been given an overhaul and it now uses what Navman describe as ‘Glide Touch’. Unlike previous models where you used left and right arrow buttons to navigate from page to page, such as on the main menu and settings pages, the S100 displays all information on one page and you touch and drag the screen to scroll up and down.
Here is an example of how the main menu looks on the S50 3D. There are left and right arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to navigate from page to page.
The S100 uses a different approach. The arrow buttons have gone and you now glide the screen up and down to view more options.
In theory it sounds a nice idea but so far we’ve found it to be more of a nuisance than a benefit. The touch screen doesn’t always respond to key presses and we’ve found you have to press the screen quite firmly before you can scroll the screen up and down.
We found this particularly annoying on screens where you are presented with a list of options to choose from, such as navigating to nearby petrol stations or ATMs. We tried to select an item from the list but often found our key presses being ignored and instead the screen would try to scroll up.
It seems like the touch screen couldn’t work out the difference between a user wanting to select an item from a list or a user wanting to scroll the list to see more options. We quickly found the user interface to be irritating. Our first impressions is that the user interface is a step backwards from previous models.
Cradle
We’re glad to report that Navman have improved the cradle design. This is something we’ve complained about before with previous versions like the Navman S50 and Navman S50 3D.
The S100 now uses a ball and joint mechanism similar to the Garmin Nuvi range. It’s a big improvement over previous models and we’re pleased Navman has taken notice of user feedback.
Summary
The S100 includes some welcome new features like Text to Speech (TTS) and junction assist to help you navigate complex junctions, the cradle is a big improvement over earlier models too.
But the S100 is let down by the new ‘Glide Touch’ user interface. We found it irritating and fiddly to use with button presses being ignored too often for our liking. We preferred the user interface on earlier models.
Navman continue to make improvements with each release but it needs to improve the user interface and Points of Interest (POI) before it can rival the likes of Garmin.
Buy the Navman S100 from Lemon Digital. Quote “Technical Itch” when ordering for a special price promotion discount.
Buy the Navman S100 Sat Nav from Amazon.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Armen Shirvanian // Dec 8, 2008 at 11:40 pm
From the pictures and description shown, it looks as though it would be quite difficult to get lost while using this navigational device. The way that it shows the streets that the user is on is quite appealing, as it add on-screen labels for road and intersections that are coming up.
2 Navman S100 Sat Nav Review // Jan 6, 2009 at 9:21 pm
[...] Last month we gave our first impressions of the Navman S100. [...]
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