Previews at GPS Gazette

Dual Electronics has announced two new GPS devices earlier last month at the CES, the XNAV3550 and the XNAV4300.
The XNAV3550 will have a 3.5″ TFT, LCD touch screen and will be preloaded with a seamless map of the United States with almost 2.000.000 POI. This new device will be easily upgradeable with additional maps and information through an included 1 GB SD memory card that can also be used to store media files, such as mp3.

The XNAV4300 GPS will have a larger touch screen (4,3 inches). Like it’s little brother the XNAV3550, it will be preloaded with a seamless map of the United States, plus search and guidance functions. In addition to its comprehensive search and viewing options, and turn-by-turn guidance with voice and visual indicators, the unit also features a built-in speaker and MP3 playback capability.

Both GPS devices are expected to sta shipping in the second quarter of 2006

Technorati Tags: GPS, duel, xnav4300, xnav3550

i-mate has released their first GPS enabled PDA, the i-mate PDA-N. This new PDA runs on Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC and is powered by a 300MHz Samsung processor. It has a 2.83″ 240×320 pixels (64k colors) transmissive TFT-LCD screen. The i-mate PDA-N can reproduce WAV, WMA, AMR, and MP3 music files, as well as M-JPEG/WMV video files. To ensure good connectivity it has built in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities
The specification of the GPS include

Embedded GPS antenna
Support NMEA 0183 version 3.0 or above
WAAS-enabled, 12 parallel channel GPS receiver:
Acquisition time
Hot start: 8 seconds, typical TTFF
Warm start: 60 seconds, typical TTFF
Cold start: 120 seconds, typical TTFF
GPS Accuracy:
Position: < 15 meters, 95% typical
Velocity: 0.05 meter/sec steady state
WAAS Accuracy:
Position: < 5 meters, 95% typical
Velocity: 0.05 meter/sec steady state

Via Digital Lifestyles

XRoad GPS is one of the first, if not the first GPS device that can help you find your way around the world. It is manufactured by a Korean company called Carpoint and it comes preloaded with maps of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. XRoad runs on Windows CE.Net 4.2 and is powered by a 300MHz CPU. It has a 3.5 inch TFT display with a resolution of 320×240 and a 12 channel GPS receiver.

Security Concepts has announced the Worldtracker sms, a tiny GPS tracking device powered by the Sirfstar III chipset with WAAS. Worldtracker SMS is able to track vehicles, packages, people or anything else you can imagine and location information can be reported to a cell phone or PDA using SMS messages send by it’s Tri Band GSM module (GSM850/1800/1900 MHz or GSM900/1800/1900 MHz). It can also visualize the tracking data using Google Earth. It has a battery life of 24 hours, however by using an additional battery pack it can run for almost four days.

E-TEN, has officially announced the E-TEN G500. G500 is the first Pocket PC Phone from E-TEN to have fully integrated GPS capabilities. It has an embeded RoyalTek GPS module, featuring the SiRF Star III high sensitivity chipset. It also has Bluetooth, internal antenna, built-in 1.3 megapixels digital camera and a 240 x 320, 65,536 colors transmissive TFT-LCD. Here is the complete list of features and specifications of the G500.

Operating System Windows Mobile™ 5.0
Processor Samsung S3C2440 400 MHz Processor
Memory 128 MB Flash ROM, 64 MB SDRAM
Display 2.8″, 240 x 320, 65,536 colors, transmissive TFT-LCD
Dimensions(LxWxH) 119 x 62 x 23 mm
Weight 186 g (with battery)
Communication GSM quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS Class B / Multi-slot Class10
Bluetooth v1.2, class 2
GPS Embedded SiRF Star III chipset, TMC function supported* (*subject to change by region)
Camera Built-in 1.3 mega pixels, up to 1280 x 960 resolution
Expansibility Mini-SD card slot
Interface/Audio Built-in microphone and speaker, external stereo headset jack, hands-free mode supported
Interface/Data USB Sync, headset jack, Cradle with 2nd battery charger
Ergonomic Design Touch screen for stylus or fingertip, navigation button, power button, 4 quick application buttons, send/end button, record button, volume control, left soft-key, right soft-key
Battery 1440 mAh Li-Ion, rechargeable, replaceable
Packing List E-TEN G500, stylus, USB sync cable, AC adapter, headset, leather case, Companion CD, quick start guide, standard battery, car-charger, car-mount

For more information visit E-TEN

Hewlett-Packard in association with ViaMichelin just launched the HP iPAQ rx1950 Navigator. This isn’t exactly a new product but a bundle of the HP iPAQ rx1950 PDA, a GPS car cradle and ViaMichelin navigation software. This new navigation solution bundle promises accurate turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance to any address in the UK (other maps are available from ViaMichelin’s website). Some of the features of the HP iPAQ rx1950 Navigator include, integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b), Simple 3-step installation – just plug in the power supply, insert the navigation SD card and go, compatibility with WMA, MP3 and WMV media files, exclusive POI available for download from ViaMichelin’s website.
And here are the technical specifications of the HP iPAQ rx1950 Navigator:

Processor: Samsung® SC32442 Processor 300 MHz
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC, Premium Edition
GPS:CarCradle with integrated SiRFstar III GPS receiver, built-in speaker, built-in windshield-mount suction cup
Screen: 3.5″ transflective TFT QVGA, 64K colours
Memory: 96 MB total memory (64 MB ROM and 32 MB SDRAM)
Battery: Removable/rechargeable 1100 mAh Lithium-lon
Pointing Device: Touch Screen and Stylus
Slots: SD Slot: supports 4-bit SDIO and 4-bit SD/MMC type memory standard

This bundle from HP and ViaMichelin costs 299 GBP (About 530$)

You can read the Press Release here

About a week ago JVC announced that it’s entering the GPS market with a compact, portable system that combines GPS navigation with audio/video playback and data storage. This new GPS device is called KV-PX9. The KV-PX9 besides a navigation system is also a multimedia player, offering both audio and video playback features. Some of it’s main features are:

20GB hard disk drive
3.5-inch TFT screen
2d and 3D map views
13GB of navigation maps
13 million points of interest
Voice guidance system
Compatible with WMA, MP3, WMV, ASF, AVI and JPEG files
Touch-screen controls
3.6 x 3.4 x 1.8 inches (W x H x D)

KV-PX9 is expected to hit the market in March with a price of 800$

About a week ago Alpine introduced a new portable GPS receiver the Alpine Blackbird PMD-B100. The Blackbird PMD-B100 will be running on the Microsoft Windows CE platform.

Blackbird includes comprehensive NAVTEQ”™ map coverage for the United States and Canada with full turn-by-turn voice instructions to virtually any address. As a portable device, the unit can be moved easily from car-to-car, yet it also can connect to a wired docking station (PMD-DOK1), available March 2006, allowing it to be fully controlled through one of Alpine’s touch screen based AV head units. Blackbird’s mapping, driving instructions and traffic alerts can then be viewed on the in-dash AV head unit, letting Blackbird serve as the main navigation “brain” in a complete audio/video/navigation (AVN) system. All controls and functions then can be managed from the larger touch-screen in-dash monitor or with an optional remote control.

For more information you can visit Blackbird’s site

Finedigital, a korean company has released a new GPS navigation system the finedrive 700. What catches the attention at first sight is it’s the huge 7.0 inch widescreen LCD screen. The finedrive 700 besides GPS navigation has some very nice multimedia features. It has an external DVD input that allows you to watch your favorite DVDs on it’s screen, in addition to that it can reproduce mp3 files. So this new GPS device seems like a complete in car navigation and media station. Here is a list of it’s features and specifications:

Just Plug and Drive, no downloading required
Detailed street-level maps for 48 Contiguous States & Canada pre-loaded
Clear & Accurate Turn-by-Turn Voice and Visual Guidance
Voice/Text-based 2D &3D Map Instructions
Large 7.0 inch Widescreen Color LCD Touch Screen
Millions of Point-of-Interests (POI) included
Media Player (MP3, mpeg, avi) with external DVD input
OS : Microsoft® Windows CE.NET 4.2.
CPU : ARM9-300MHz
Internal Storage : 20 GB
External Memory : SD Card (up to 2GB) 1 slot
GPS :
Built-in Hinge Antenna
Frequency L1, 1575.42 MHz
16 Channels, Sensitivity -159 dBm
Acquisition Rate
Hot start 8 sec., avg (with ephemeris and almanac valid)
Warm start 38 sec., avg (with almanac but not ephemeris)
Cold start 45 sec., avg (neither almanac nor ephemeris)
Reacquisition 0.1 sec., average (interruption recovery time)
Input : Touch Screen
Display : 7.0″ Color Wide TFT LCD / 480X234 / 65K True Color
Sound : 1W x 2 (Stereo, 8 O hm)
External Video Player : Yes
Power : DC12V/1A (Working DC voltage range : 10~16V)
Physical Characteristics: 7.45″ (W) x 1.25″ (D) x 4.75″ (H)

Technorati Tags: gps, device. receiver, finedigital, finedrive, 700