Medion GoPal E4245

Medion is renewing its GoPal range. The E4245 has a new design and clearer reworked menu. With its entry-level positioning, it includes several features that are absent on the lower-end ranges of the competition.

Hardware: too many wires hanging around

The Medion GoPal E4245 has a 4.3 inch matte screen (10.9 cm) that offers decent legibility, even in full sunlight. The 480 x 272 pixel definition is sufficient. There's a jack out on the left hand side for connecting a TMC aerial. On the under edge there's a mini USB port which serves to recharge the satnat and link it to a computer. All wiring connects directly to the satnav, which is a problem as they hang around in the vehicle (doesn't look good and can get in the way). On the upper edge, there's an SD card reader, which is appreciable as it allows the user direct access to digital camera memory cards.



The suction pad stand is very rigid and comes with a stylus. It looks very entry-level on the whole.

Design and build: still a little austere

Positioned at entry-level, the E4245 has a black plastic shell with a glossy façade which isn't particularly nice to the touch and picks up finger marks. The general design isn't bad for all that and the finish is fine.

The device starts up in 31 seconds then satellites are picked up pretty fast, even when you're inside. It isn't as responsive as you might like in comparison to older models though this has been improved. Menus are still rather slow. Nevertheless, journey processing times are good.

Menus are still pretty austere but they have the merit of being clear.

Predictive typing is rather good. When typing, letters which can't be part of the name disappear. As you type, 2 places are eventually proposed above the virtual keypad. If you start writing London for example, the satnav proposes the town as soon as you've written the first leter, which is practical.

Display in navigation mode is a little busy because of the window that details the next road to be taken. That said, the display of the journey is clear and the essential is there, including the volume setting. No need to return to the menu to get access to this.

Route guidance: some interesting innovations

The route guidance features are made up of TMC traffic-info and voice synthesis. We won't go into the traffic info again - it's unfortunately ineffective as are most GPS' on the market. The text-to-speech is appreciable, though the voice is still too artificial. Lastly, an economy journey feature allows you to calculate the most economical itineraries.

A new feature means you can retain the journey display when you're in tunnels which means the satnav doesn't have to recalculate the journey when you emerge. On the Medion, it tells you not to panic, it knows you're in a tunnel. Navigation returns to normal as you come out of the tunnel and it picks up the signal again.

Extra features: the strict minimum

No Bluetooth on this model, or MP3 player or FM transmitter. The extra features are made up of an image viewer, an alarm, a rather succinct tourist guide and... sudoku!