Archive for March, 2006

Novogo is a brand that has recently received quite a bit of press attention because of their Novogo V series that was originally presented at the 2006 CES. At the beginning of March Novogo presented a new line of products at the 2006 CeBIT, the Novogo S series. This new line of products will be powered by an Intel PXA255 processor (400 Mhz) and will have a 3,5 inch touchscreen with a resolution of 240×320 pixels. The models of the S series will have the voice activation feature previously seen at the V series. The GPS chipset used will be the SiRFstar III with an integrated antenna and the maps will be provided by Navteq. The Novogo S series will come in four different flavors the Novogo S30, S50, S70 and S90.

No information about pricing and availability yet.
Via GPSandCo
Image used courtesy of GPSandCo

Yesterday, Navman besides the iCN 720 and iCN 750 has also announced a new model in the iCN500 series, the iCN 530. This new Sat-Nav device is using the second generation SiRFStarIII and has a 3.5inch touchscreen. Some of the other features of the Navman iCN530 include the back-on-track technology, 3D-map view and turn-by-turn voice instructions and an optional traffic pack that enables the iCN530 to iCN530 receive live TMC traffic updates.

The iCN530 is expected to start shipping in April with a price of 399€ (£299).

Via PocketGPSWorld

Technorati Tags: GPS, Navman, iCN530

Navman has announced today three new devices of the iCN series. The two top of the line are the iCN720 and iCN750. Those two new units have 4 inch (480×272 pixels) LCD widescreen displays and use the second-generation SiRF Star III chipset. The most impressive of all the features of the iCN720 and the iCN750 is that they feature a new technology called Navpix. So what is NavPIX? Both the devices have an integrated 1.3 MP camera that allows the user to take pictures of any place they want. This pictures are tagged with the coordinates of the place that the photo was taken and can be used as custom POIs. Users can upload their Navpix pictures at Navman’s website and share them with each other. This is a brilliant idea in my opinion and as the database of these Navpix POIs gets larger it will be an extremely useful resource for travallers around the world.

Both the units are expected to start shipping in May with a price of 599€ (£399) for the iCN720 and 699€ (£549) for the iCN750

Via PocketGPSWorld

KDDI, a Japanese company that offers GPS services for mobile phones is releasing a new version of their service using 3D maps. This new service will uses a Java application that was developped from Navitime. I really like the look of the maps in the screnshots, they are really cartoonish and remind me of the Adventure games I used to play a “few” years back.
Via Akihabara News

Garmin today announced two new portable GPS navigators that come preloaded with both land and sea maps, the GPSMAP 378 and the GPSMAP 478. Both of them expected to be available in late May
with an expected street price of $1199.99.

Here is the press release :

OLATHE, Kan., March 27 /PRNewswire/ — Garmin International Inc., a unit
of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), today announced the GPSMAP 378 and GPSMAP 478
– two amazingly versatile and portable GPS navigators that come pre-loaded
with a comprehensive set of maps and charts.
“Our customers want GPS navigators that come pre-loaded with the
cartography that they need, and the GPSMAP 378 and 478 fit the bill. These
two units are the ideal companions whether you’re sailing coastal waterways,
boating on inland lakes, or driving across North America,” said Gary Kelley,
Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “With optional XM WX Weather
capabilities, the GPSMAP 378 and 478 are the only portable units on the market
that can also let mariners and motorists know what kind of weather to expect
during their trip.”

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SysOnChip is about to release a new GPS device the Looket G7. The Looket G7 is a portable Sat-Nav system based on Win CE with an embedded SiRF Star III chipset and will provide turn-by-turn directions to your destination using both voice and visual guidance. Besides navigation this new device will also offer multimedia features since it can play MP3 and WMV files.
The technical specifications of the Looket G7 include:

CPU: Samsung S3C2440A RISC Microprocessor 300Mhz
OS: Microsoft Windows CE.NET 4.2
Memory: 64MB SDRAM 32MB Flash ROM
Display: 3.5″ TFT LCD touch screen with 320*240 resolution
Expansion: 1 SD/MMC card Slot
Battery: Rechargeable and Removable Li-ion Battery
Dimensions: 115 x 73 x 20 mm

The Looket G7 is expected to start shipping on the 31st of March with a price of $399.00

Via GPSPassion

Garmin has announced throught their blog that about 20 new marine products that were announced last November are now available. These products are Garmin’s 2006 lineup of chartplotters, fishfinders, and BlueChart g2 cartography and by now they should be available in stores around the world. You can read the announcement here.

Besides the Magellan Roadmate 3000T that we mentioned in our previous post, Magellan is about to release another new GPS system, the Magellan RoadMate 860T. The design of this new GPS device is basically the same as the Magellan Roadmate 800. Some of the new features compared with previous Roadmate models include Traffic alerts, an integrated mp3 player Magellan SayWhere text-to-speech feature. The Roadmate 860T will have a 3.5″ hi-resolution color touchscreen screen, a 20GB hard disk, SD card slot, turn by turn visual and voice guidance, over 6 million POIs and the user will have the ability of adding extra custom POIs. In addition to all of the above all the standard features of the latest Roadmate series will be available like QuickSpell, SmartDetour, SmartVolume and Night View. The 860T will come preloaded with NAVTEQ maps of fifty USA states, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The Magellan Roadmate 860T is expected to start shipping in early May with a price of about 800$

Via GPSPassion

Magellan is about to release a new compact automotive GPS System the Magellan Roadmate 3000T. This new GPS device that is pictured on the left has a new design compared with the previous Roadmate models that combines and to be honest I like this new rounded design. The 3000T has a 3.5″ hi-resolution anti-glare color touchscreen, 4GB hard disk with SD card capability for additional user storage, integrated MP3 Player and Picture Viewer. Some of the other features include:

Preloaded maps (Navteq) of 50 USA states, Canada and Puerto Rico.
3D bird eye and 2D map views
Turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance
Over 6 million POIs
SmartDetour
Auto Re-route
Automatic night view (The displayed map background color switches to night view at sundown)
SmartVolume™, the volume automatically increases at speeds over 45 MPH
QuickSpell (sorts, searches, and checks spelling for rapid address entry with minimal keystrokes, accelerating your data entry by matching letters to the available destinations.)
Optional traffic module

The Roadmate 3000T is expected to start shipping in late April with a price of 600$

Via GPSPassion

Earlier this month Pioneer has announced the AVIC-X1BT SatNav Systemwhich features Bluetooth and iPod connectivity. The bluetooth connectivity allows users to leave their bluetooth enabled mobile handset anywhere in the car and control it via the touch-panel display of a standard keypad. Memory dialling and full phone book access are also supported. Some of the other key features of the AVIC-X1BT include:

- Map Coverage for 26 European countries
- Advanced search, (re-)routing and guidance functions
- 6 view modes (incl. Driver’s View and Vehicle Dynamics Mode)
- Built-in RDS-TMC tuner for real-time traffic re-routing
- DVD-Video/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3 playback
- Fully motorised touch panel display

The AVIC-X1BT is expected to start shipping this month.