Archive for February, 2006

Benefon, has announced a new mobile phone with full GPS capabilities. This new phone was created in co-operation with Navteq and is called Twig-Discovery. Twig-Discovery has a color TFT display with 256k colors to help you navigate using the preloaded Navteq maps, and it also supports voice turn by turn instructions.
Benefon is also launching what it calls the TWIG Services. These are divided in three Categories, Basic, Basic Plus and Advanced that will obviously have different charges.

Benefon will showcase the TWIG device at the 3GSM conference next week.

Via IU4

Technorati Tags: gps, benefon, navteq, mobile, phone, twig

Alti-tech Engineering, has announced a rechargeable lithium ion (Li-ion) Power Case for the DeLorme Blue Logger GPS. This case is called GPS Power Case and by enclosing your Blue Logger inside it you can get an increased runtime of upto 600% (from 10 to 60 hours). According to Alti-Tech, placing the Blue Logger inside the case doesn’t have any effect on GPS signal reception.

The case houses a rechargeable Li-ion battery and a recharging circuit which allows alternate sources (such as solar cells or automotive voltage) to charge the unit. The GPS Power Case can of course also be recharged simply by plugging the supplied adapter into a standard wall outlet.

Technorati Tags: GPS, delorme, blue logger, Alti-Tech, GPS Power Case

MP3Car has released Streetdeck, a complete navigation and entertainment system for the digital car. The complete StreetDeck system consists of two parts the hardware and the software. The hardware includes a car computer with some really nice specs.
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RFMD today announced a new software GPS solution the RFMD GPS RF8110. This new software is currently sampling to initial customers and will be publicly available in the Summer. RFMD GPS RF8110 will be showcased at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

Here is the Press Release.
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Garmin, has filled a lawsuit against TomTom in a Wisconsin Federal Court. Garmin contends that TomTom is infringing on five Garmin U.S. patents held by Garmin. Among those patents is one that protects Garmin technology designed to calculate which streets are important enough to a driver’s route to be displayed on the device’s on-screen maps and therefore simplify the maps showing a vehicle’s location.

TomTom rejects Garmin’s claims. However, market analysts called this lawsuit bad news for TomTom and noted that if Garmin wins this case, TomTom will be forced to stop marketing it’s products in the US market.

Via Kansas City Star
Technorati Tags: TomTom, Garmin, lawsuit, patent, infringement

u-blox today announced the signing of an agreement with Conrad, a European mail-order provider.

Conrad has developed a GPS smart antenna based on the u-blox SuperSense LEA-4H flagship module, which is now available at Conrad’s retail and online stores. With its built-in USB interface, low power consumption, unrivaled sensitivity and 17 x 22 mm format, the LEA-4H was chosen for its fantastic navigation performance and low cost.

Read the the whole Press Release

Technorati Tags: gps, u-blox, conrad, antenna, SuperSense

The Register has published at the end of last year a review of the Asus MyPal A636. Not a newly published review but still helpful. Over at the Register they report:

Asus MyPal A636 is a worthy alternative to GPS-integrated PDAs from the likes of Mio and Acer. It’s less successful as a PDA than the others, if only because the hardware has so clearly been designed with satellite navigation usage in mind. As a GPS platform, it’s impressive, with a good, flexible antenna design and a powerful receiver. It’s let down a little by the bundled software, but there’s nothing to stop you switching to a better app later on.

Technorati Tags: gps, pda, asus, mypal, a636

Nokia today announced the Nokia GPS Module LD-3W. This new module is compatible with a wide selection of Nokia’s Bluetooth enabled mobile phones, and what is important is that it is compatible with many of Nokia’s mid-range handsets.

With the introduction of the Nokia GPS Module LD-3W and through our collaborations with navigation industry players such as Wayfinder and Telmap, we offer a compelling range of location based services to the tens of millions of consumers who have one of our highly popular mid-range models, such as the Nokia 6230i or the Nokia 6280

According to the announcement the Nokia GPS module will allow consummers to find their position with an accuracy of 5 meters. In addition to that it will indicate the shorter route to their destination on digital maps provided by Wayfinder and Telmap.

The Nokia GPS Module LD-3W module will be presented at the 3GSM 2006 Congress and is
is expected to start shipping in the 1st quarter of 2006.

Technorati Tags: nokia, gps, module, ld-3w

Technology Evangelist has reviewed the Magellan Roadmate 800 and reports:

Violet’s (Roadmate’s 800)improvements on the basic 700 platform are amazing. I have now sold my Victoria (Roadmate) 760 to a friend, and she will continue to be loved by others. But Violet (the Roadmate 800) is simply amazing. Trust me, if you travel in unknown cities in USA, Canada and even Europe (with a map upgrade) get your own Magellan Roadmate 800, your own Violet.

Technorati Tags: gps, magellan, roadmate, 800, review

While I was searching for more information about the Garmin Nuvi 350 I came across another review. This review was posted a while back in December by Signal Vs Noise and is titled Garmin Nuvi 350: Insanely recommended so I guess you can guess what the conclusion was. Jason at Signal Vs Noise writes

And there’s more… But really, this is such a fantastic product. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so satisfied with an electronic purchase. If you’re in the market for a mobile nav system for your car, bike, motocycle, or just for exploring a new city on foot without getting lost, you simply can’t go wrong with the Garmin Nuvi 350.

Technorati Tags: garmin, nuvi, 350, gps, review