Garmin Mobile XT The Best GPS Software For Mobile

Garmin Mobile XT has different versions to run on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60. The biggest difference between the two is that you can use touchscreen on Windows Mobile to enter command. For the Symbian version, you can use it on Nokia E61, E66, E71, E90, N78, N79, N82, N95, and N96. The maps I’m using is the City Navigator Southeast Asia NT 2008. The software includes maps for Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Macau. All of these take about 160MB of space on the memory card.


Since Garmin Mobile XT is just a software, it requires a GPS receiver. If your device has an integrated GPS, simply enable it in the software. Else, you will need to hook up external bluetooth GPS to get the software to work. Since a bluetooth GPS could easily cost RM300, it’s better to just buy a new phone with integrated assisted-GPS receiver (A-GPS).

A-GPS enhances the startup time of the GPS to lock satellites within 30 seconds. This requires data connection, be it 3G or GPRS, to the assistance server that helps to speed up the GPS performance. From experience, it only costs 2 cents for the data connection whenever I startup the software. I don’t mind paying this when I’m able to lock in my location quickly from cold start. Other than that, there’s no other subscription fee to pay as GPS has always been a free service

You can set your destination in the “Where to” button. I rarely able to find my destination from the “Addresses” section. So instead of choosing “Addresses”, I would choose “Food / Hotels” and then spell my destination. At least from here, I could easily select my destination.

Once you have set up a route, you are met with a 3D representation of the road and a nice lady telling you what to do. You can change this if you wish as the turn-by-turn voice navigation function has many different voices in the database.

Garmin Mobile XT is a good piece of software. It works on all sorts of devices from a single card. My criticism is sadly due to the lack of thought put into some of the design work, and default settings. The navigation screen also updates far too slow – sometimes, but not always, to the point of being useless. This does depend on the device though – and you will need a decent CPU on board to get the most out of it.

However, what makes Garmin to get a positive conclusion from me, is purely and simply the price. It’s no TomTom, but since that company has all but ditched mobiles and PDAs, it’s good to see Garmin has stuck around, and are improving its software with each release. If you are buying your first GPS-enabled device, then adding Garmin XT to your purchase is an inexpensive way to get started with proper sat nav software.

Garmin Mobile XT The Best GPS Software For Mobile