Archive for January, 2007

XM and Bushnell Outdoor Products, today presented the Bushnell ONIX 400 at the 2007 CES in Las Vegas. According to the Press Release:

The ONIX 400 is the first fully integrated portable handheld device that can simultaneously access GPS location data, XM’s 170 plus channels of acclaimed music, sports and entertainment and personalized local real-time XM weather information anywhere in the United States.

Some of the Features include

• 3.5″ 320×240 pixel full color LCD screen
• Embedded 64MB Micro SD card for data and map services
• Rechargeable Li-Ion battery

Not much but let’s wait for more information.
This new device will become available this summer.

Image Via Orbitcast
Press Release

Sanyo announced today two new Portable Navigation Systems, the Easy Street NVM-4070 and the Easy Street NVM-4050. As the naming of the devices suggests the NVM-4070 is the higher end model of the series. The additional features of the NVM-4070 compared with its little brother are:

• Real-time traffic data available through the Traffic Message Channel
• Image Viewer
• Plays MPEG4/Divx video clips
• Hands-free calling through Bluetooth equipped cell phone.
• Transfer MP3 and JPEG files wirelessly from Bluetooth equipped phone to NVM-4070
• Store up to 500 contacts for quick calling using Bluetooth equipped phone.
• Built-in FM transmitter to play music wirelessly from NVM-4070 over a car’s stereo

The common features and specifications of these two devices include”

• 4″ wide touch-screen display with anti-glare
• SiRF Star III GPS module
• 2D and 3D maps
• Turn-by-turn voice guided instructions
• Built-in GPS antenna
• Continental US and Canadian map data (Navteq) pre-installed on 2GB internal NAND Flash Memory
• MP3 Player
• Navigation Software: Navigon

The SANYO Easy Street NVM-4070 and NVM-4050 will be available in the U.S. in April 2007 at an MSRP of $599.99 and $499.99 respectively

With a press release today Mio announced that it will be showcasing at it’s CES booth a new GPS device the Mio DigiWalker C520. According to the press release it will have a widescreen 4.3″ screen and Bluetooth support. Another interesting feature is the split-screen display, which will allow for address lookup or route information while the map is visible. I also expect it to have rich multimedia features since the call it “widescreen portable navigation and entertainment device”
The C520 is expected to become available in the first half of 2007. No information on pricing yet.
Now the people attending the CES go get some pictures and more information (North Hallbooth #6330)

TeleNav unveiled today TeleNav Traffic™, the first mobile phone-based GPS navigation service with intelligent traffic notification and rerouting functionality.

From the Press release

customers using TeleNav GPS Navigator, a turn-by-turn, GPS-enabled voice and on-screen navigation service, will have access to TeleNav Traffic™, a new capability that regularly monitors traffic and proactively alerts users of slowdowns and incidents along their routes. With just one click, TeleNav Traffic will reroute users in order to minimize travel time, taking into account the latest traffic conditions.

TeleNav Traffic will covers 50 US “Markets” and the data are refreshed every 5 minutes.
This service will be free for existing customers of TeleNav GPS Navigator until June 30 2007 and after that it will cost $3.99 per month. It should be mentioned that it is an addon to TeleNav GPS Navigator and not a standalone product.

Currently Supported Phones

• Sprint Motorola KRZR
• Sprint Motorola RAZR
• Sprint Sanyo Katana

Press Release
TeleNav Traffic Homepage

According to Engadget Medion’s UMPC MD RIM 1000 is expected to become available on Jan 30. The specifications of this shiny gadget include

• 6.5-inch touchscreen
• 802.11b/g WiFi,
• Bluetooth 2.0
• onboard GPS
• DVB-T tuner and webcam

No information about pricing was posted.

dMedia is a Taiwan based company that has released in the past a few GPS devices such as the dMedia G3 and dMedia G4 and has received a bit of press attention when it presented a GPS ready phone the F2 that from what I can tell hasn’t been released yet. It appears that dMedia is going to present a new GPS device at the CES the dMedia G2. Don’t ask me why after the G3 and the G4 they are going back to G2, I have no clue (maybe they where afraid they were going to be sued by Apple if they used G5).

Some of the features of this new device are:

• Simple Touch Screen Operation
• Built-in Multimedia such as picture viewer, video player, voice recorder and music player
• Real-Time Traffic Information/ Traffic Message Channel (TMC)
• Embedded GPS antenna

That’s about all the information that are currently available, I guess we will have to wait for the presentation at the CES for more information.

Engadget reports that LG has prepared four new GPS devices for the US market that will be showcased at the CES. These are the LG LN790, LN740, LN735, and LN730 GPS navigators. All four of them will be equipped with the SiFR Star III chipset and will come preloaded with maps of the USA and Canada. As the names suggest the LN790 will be the higher end model of the line. It will have the largest screen (4.3-inch LCD screen) compared with the others and will come with a RDS-TMC antenna. Screen sizes for the rest of the models will be 4″ for the LN735 and 3.5″ for the other two while only the LN740 will come with a RDS-TMC antenna. All four of them will have multimedia features such as support for music, photos, and videos.

Pricing and Availability

They are expected to start shipping sometime within the second quarter of 2007 with prices $800 to $350

Clarion has announced today a new handheld Navigation In-Car Entertainment (hint that’s what the N.I.C.E stand for) with integrated GPS. Some of its features include a 4.3″ screen, a built-in SiRF Star III GPS antenna, 1GB internal memory and SD card interface, music player, image viewer and finally it should be mentioned that it is Real-Time Traffic (RDS-TMC) ready.
This new device is expected to start shipping in 2007 (I know that’s a bit vague) with a price of $500.

Press Release

Atlantis X-700 is a portable automotive GPS device with a 7inch screen by JJC (JJ Communications). Although not a really well known brand this GPS appears to have more than adequate features (at least on paper). Some of the features include door-to-door GPS
voice guidance (18 different languages), MP3 player, 2D or 3D view with pan and zoom functions, Day/Night mode, picture viewer and video player, 2 Video inputs for backup camera, DVD player or video games. The package also includes 1 Gigabite SD card with US map from Tele Atlas pre-loaded.

Specifications

• Windows CE.NET 5.0
• 400 MHz CPU
• 7″ widescreen TFT LCD
• Resolution 320*240
• 32MB Flash Rom NAND/64 MB RAM
• Dimensions: 7.3″x4.6″x1.5″

Atlantis X-7000 retails in the $700 range

Cobra has announced yesterday the release of two new portable navigation devices. First of all it announce the launch of NAV ONE 2100. Some of the features include 3.5-inch touch-screen, impressive temperature usability range (-4 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit), preloaded maps from Teleatlas and the My Favorite Brands feature which provides information about the location of POI such as restaurants and cafes by brand (currently supports about 600 popular brands).
There is also an optional real-time traffic feature that costs $99.95 while the annual traffic service subscription fee will be $59.99.
The 2100 will become available sometime this May and will carry a price tag of approximately $350.

NAV ONE 5000

Another new device, the NAV ONE 5000 was announced. However, not much information are available yet other than it will have a 5inch screen and a slim design and some “exclusive features”. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what these “features” will be. This product from Cobra is expected in the third quarter of 2007.