Keomo's Personal Navigation is the perfect example of why, sometimes, it's best to keep things simple. While a satnav device should ultimately be reviewed on its navigation, if the other features are there then they must also be brought into the equation. And, unfortunately, the Keomo Personal Navigation's multimedia features are all present and incorrect.
Ironically, Keomo's pet name for the Personal Navigation is 'Navi-tainment', and you'd be forgiven for assuming its multimedia functionality was impressive. You must first install ActiveSync to transfer files from PC to PND, but be sure to, ahem, pay attention during setup or the newly transferred media will go to the wrong folder. Our first MP3 file transferred okay, but it then refused to copy any more. Music played as it should - not during navigation - but videos corrupted, the Keomo Personal Navigation displayed only the images it liked, and we still haven't succeeded in transferring an eBook. The instructions were no aid and, while Keomo's support site acknowledged these as common problems, it provided no remedy.
Keomo claims its Personal Navigation is a plug and play, works out-of-the-box device. We can't vouch for this as our review model shipped with European maps and a Dutch interface. However, that we managed to work around this speaks volumes for the usability of the interface. We weren't so impressed with the Keomo Personal Navigation's touchscreen, and found it unresponsive without the stylus. The windscreen mount, meanwhile, allowed a pleasing viewing angle and, although it is very stiff, it won't wobble about during use. Build quality is decent, although there is some confusion between the physical volume button and that on screen.
Despite our initial problems, the Keomo Personal Navigation is a nice navigator. It isn't as accurate as the Acer v200 Travel Companion we also reviewed, but boasts more transportation modes and POIs (points of interest). However, the Keomo Personal Navigation offers nothing in the way of customisation options or voice prompt settings. It, too, has a multistop planner, with which you are able to reorder your stopovers, but this is far less intuitive to use. Plus it supports seven-digit postcodes - apparently. We couldn't get it to navigate using one. Lastly, be sure to select 'Track up' rather than 'North up' from the settings; choosing the correct exit from an upside-down roundabout is interesting to say the least.
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