ViaMichelin at GPS Gazette

Viamichelin announced that they will showcase two new GPS systems at the CeBIT this year, the ViaMichelin X-960 (picture on the left) and the ViaMichelin X-970 (picture below). The X-960 will have a 3.5″ touch screen, will be using the SiRFStar III GPS chipset and will be powered by a 300 Mhz Samsung CPU and will be running on Windows CE.net 5.0 with 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of ROM memory. At first, it will start shipping in Europe like previous ViaMichelin models with a price of 299 € (with maps of 20 European countries). Maps will be provided by TeleAtlas and the navigation that the X-960 (and the X-970T) will be equipped with will be ViaMichelin Navigation Version 7.

The main differences between the ViaMichelin X970T and its little brother is that it will be equipped with a more powerful processor (400 Mhz) and will also have an RDS/TMC (as the name suggests) and also will feature bluetooth capabilities for hands free calling. The European model is expected to cost 399 €.

Via GPSAndCo

Another review of the ViaMichelin X-930 has been posted this time by PC Magazine. The review has been added to my ViaMichelin X-930 Reviews where I have compiled a list of all the reviews available for this navigation system. By adding this review the overall average rating from all the reviews has slightly fallen to 62/100. PC Magazine gave the unit a “fair” and the reviewer’s main complaint was the difficult menu system. You can read the review here

VNUNET has posted a review of the ViaMichelin X-980T, the latest and higher end GPS device by Viamichelin. The X-980T offers traffic information in real-time 24/7 with its integrated RDS TMC receiver as well as exclusive content from the Michelin guides. Another feature that a lot of people might find handy is the Bluetooth hands-free phone function. The main technical specifications of the device are:

• Screen: 4.3″
• GPS: Integrated GPS receiver (SiRF Star III technology)
• Processor: Intel 416 MHz
• Operating system: Windows CE.net 5.0
• RAM: 64 Mb RAM / 256 Mb ROM
• SD cards: 2 Gb
• Map display: 2D or 3D
• Size: 150 x 82.5 x 26.8
• Software: ViaMichelin Navigation DVD-Rom Europe
• Weight: 260 g
• Battery: Lithium-ion / Battery life: 3 hours

Overall the reviewer gives it a 3 out of 5. You can read the whole review here

Technorati Tags: Viamichelin, Viamichelin x-980T, gps, review

Since the ViaMichelin X930 started shipping to the USA at an extremely affordable price of just $199 I thought it would be useful to gather all the reviews that I could find in one place for easy reference. We have previously posted about the ViaMichelin X930 Review by pocket-lint, but since then more reviews have been posted and to be honest they leave me a bit confused overall.

Let’s start (please note the ratings within the brackets are added by me in order to calculate the average rating).

Pocket Lint awards the X930 with an embarassing 2/10 rating (20/100)

French Tom’s Hardware rates it with four stars out of 5 (80/100)

Italian Tecnozoom rates it 7/10 (70/100)

ComputerActive gives it an overall rating of 3 out of 5 (60/100)

French site Les Numeriques rates it with 4 stars out of 5 (80/100)

ZDNet.co.uk rates it 7.5/10 (75/100)

PC Magazine Gives it a rather low 2.5 out of five (50/100)

Average rating is 62/100
Please keep in mind that here are just the editorial reviews that I was able to find, at the URLs you will also come across consumer reviews.

ViaMichelin has presented a new GPS receiver at the CeBIT 2006 the ViaMichelin X950T. In the aesthetics part, apart from the color (black vs grey) it looks identical with it’s little brother the ViaMichelin X930. Not much information about the hardware specifications of his new GPS devices are yet available. One of the main improvements is the inclusion of traffic management capabilities via TMC. The X950T will also include the ViaMichelin guide and the Green Guide which provide you with information about recommended hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions nearby, these information include addresses, telephone number, rates etc.
The ViaMichelin X950T is expected to become available in May, no information on pricing yet.

Via BestofMicro

Technorati Tags: Viamichelin, X950T, GPS

Earlier this month Via Michelin’s latest GPS receiver has received a review from Pocket-Lint. The specifications of this GPS receiver are:

Size: 121 x 71 x 19 mm
Weight: 134 grams
Screen: Anti-glare 3.5 QGVA LCD (320×240)
Processor: Intel 312 Mhz
RAM: 32 MB RAM / 32 MB ROM
Operating system: Windows CE.net 4.2
Loudspeaker: Integrated
GPS: Integrated GPS receiver (SiRF Star III technology)
Car mounting system: Windscreen or dashboard
Software: ViaMichelin Navigation 4.x on pre-loaded SD card (256 MB) and on CD-Rom

Although it’s specifications are not bad at all the X930 received a very poor rating of 2/10 from Pocket-Lint. Their biggest complaints were, poor mapping, poor instructions sets and poor POI listings.

You can read the whole review here
Technorati Tags: viamichelin, x930, viamichelin x930, gps, review