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INTRODUCTION
No geek is complete
with out his or her own star map. Ever find yourself looking at the
stars and wondering “What constellation is that?” or “Is that a
planet?”? Maybe you yearn for the rustic old days of navigating by the
stars and find it might be a lost art. AstroNavigator II sets sail in
an attempt to claim the prize of best star map. Read on to see if it
gets lost at sea or navigates the heavens like the sailors of
yesteryear.
WHAT’S HOT
The biggest change between the
first rendition of AstroNavigator and AstroNavigator II is the super
user interface. I say super because there are few applications out
there today with such an intuitive feel and simplicity. Charting the
stars is difficult enough without pausing to try and figure out how to
locate one in your star guide. The new interface is thumb friendly and for
those of us with smaller screens to work with there is nothing to worry about. I put AstroNavigator
II through the paces on an HTC Wizard and a HP hx2755 to be sure of it’s
usability. To keep it simple, big screen or small screen, it didn’t
matter which device I used as the experience was the same for both.
This is the standard view of the star field.
SETUP
Like any product coming from
the well knowns like Vito, AstroNavigator II’s setup was simple and
easy, if you
can read these words then you can set it up. Installation can be
completed through Activesync or OTA with a .cab file from their site.
PRODUCT FEATURES
The beauty of the new interface
is you do not need a stylus to operate this program. All functions can
be accessed with fingers or thumbs. If you use a smaller device like
the HTC Wizard you can still enjoy its operation. Sliding your finger
across the screen will cause the star field to scroll or rotate. You can scroll quickly through the list of
stars, planets and constellations as well. I was very satisfied with this feature and encourage
this kind of development, with the end user experience in mind. Vito
Technology as done an awesome job on this end.
Zooming is
just as easy as the rest of the menu and program navigation, simply tap
and slide the ball and arrows on the right side of the screen and see
those constellations and stars up close!
Viewing a star up close as simple as moving the slider on the right up.
If you wish
to know more detail you can zoom in and tap on the star, and an info box will pop up with information about everything from Proper name to Azimuth and Elevation.
If you do not have GPS you can still set the Date/Time/Location to where you are and get an accurate star field.
If you have
an internal or external GPS, AstroNavigator II will work together with
it to show you the current star field for your location. When in GPS
mode, a small compass symbol is viewable in the lower left hand corner
of the screen. Tapping that will lock the star field onto your current
location and heading. As you walk around, the star field will change
accordingly to what sky objects are in front of you. If you do not have
a GPS, AstroNavigator is still just as useful. Simply pull up the Positioning Menu and set it to your time/date and position in
the world.
Searching for Stars and Constellations is as easy as flicking your finger.
Tapping on the
magnifying glass symbol on the left will open the search function.
Across the top are symbols for stars, planets and constellations.
Tapping any of those will change the current list view appropriately.
You can use your thumb to slide through the menus effortlessly and tap
on the object you wish to see. AstroNavigator II will automatically
rotate and slide the star field onto your selected object.
If
you find that you want to only view a certain type of sky object, you
can quickly turn these on and off from the View Options menu. Simply
clicking one of the icons will turn that type of object on or off in
your view.
Night mode is easy on the eyes.
Another
luxury that comes with AstroNavigator II is Night Mode. From the
settings menu on the far right you can change between the Normal skin
and the Night Mode skin which is red on black to help ease your night
vision so you can better enjoy your star watching.
Here is a view showing the positions of the Sun, Mercury and some constellations.
Finding a
balance between functionality and aesthetics can be tough. It seems
that Vito Technology has consulted an expert on this as I found
AstroNavigator II’s interface to be elegant and wonderfully thought
out. I compared it to a copy of AstroNavigator I that I have and could
not wait to start using AstroNavigator II again. Well done Vito.
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HELP SUPPORT
The Help and support is comprehensive. A manual
is available in addition to FAQ’s, Forums, and Technical Support
Requests. The responsiveness of Vito is outstanding, as they are quick
to respond to any requests. They also speak Deutsch and Russian. If
you do not know much about astronomy then this will definitely get you
going in the right direction. The manual has a good glossary for
picking up on some new terms so you can impress your dates.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
A
Pocket PC with WM2003 or newer is required along with at least 3400KB
of storage memory. My device shows usage of 7MB of RAM which makes
sense considering the graphical goodness tied in with the 9000+ objects.
BUGS AND WISHES
It
is hard to find something wrong with AstroNavigator II, so I looked at
what it did not have. Perhaps the next version will include some of
these. AstroNavigator is great for novice and experienced alike however
I can see a need for the experienced star gazer to have a star map that
packs a bigger punch. Currently there is no way for the user to
increase the database to 15,000, 20,000 or more objects. Comets, meteor
showers, and the ISS are also not included. It would be nice to be able
to punch up the next eclipse time for a GEO location or even the next
time we can see good ol’ Haley’s Comet.
PURCHASING
Vito Technology’s AstroNavigator II is available from their product page.
It is also available for download OTA through their mobile site and
comes with a 20 minute trial. Once you decide to purchase it, the cost
is $19.95.
PROS
Stylus-free navigation
Accurate with or without GPS
Pleasing interface
CONS
RAM intensive, slow startup
No way to add to database of objects
Database does not include eclipses, comets, predictable meteors or the ISS
| Value |  |
| Ease of Use |
|
| Features |  |
Overall |
|
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AstroNavigator II will come
OVERALL IMPRESSION
with me on all my journeys now. I was very impressed with the visual
appeal and even more so with the usability. I learned a few things I
did not know about the heavens above in the short time I have been
using it and even learned how I could use it as a compass if I was
lacking direction and GPS (which rarely happens 
). If you have EVER
looked at the sky with an interest in the stars, then you should have AstroNavigator on your Pocket
PC, it is definitely worth the money and will enhance any night time
outing where the stars are visible.
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