Insta GPS

With the aim of achieving an 11 per cent share of the European market in 2007, Mio is about to come up with the deliverance of 1.6 million GPS portable navigation devices (PNDs), as told by the company sources.

Mio’s target shipment volume will grow by 55% from the 1.03 billion PNDs shipped in 2006, the company said. Mio is showcasing 4.3-inch wide-screen PNDs at CeBIT 2007 taking place in Hannover, Germany, from March 15-21, the company indicated.

In terms of Mio’s GPS PND shipments in Europe, France makes up the biggest portion, Spain depicts the uppermost increase, and Mio is at present the biggest brand in Greece. But, UK & Germany are top markets, as far as the demand and growth potential is concerned and that is why is going to be the center of attraction of Mio’s marketing in Europe in 2007.

Mio’s GPS PNDs are produced on an ODM basis by parent company Mitac International. Mitac delivered nearly five million GPS PNDs in 2006, about 30% of which where to Mio, according to the latter. In 2007, Mitac expects to ship 7-8 million GPS PNDs, 2.45-2.80 million of which will be to Mio, Mio indicated. This implies that Mio expects to ship 0.85-1.20 million GPS PNDs in markets other than Europe, especially in North America.

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Here comes a GSM mobile phone with built-in GPS facility from Globalsat, Known as the Globalsat TR-101, the latest claims to enable you to automatically send its location by either text message or phone call by just pushing one of the three predial keys or by ringing/texting it remotely.

Globalsat TR-101 is a quad-band mobile phone and a location device, which boasts of locating somebody on Google Earth. For additional security, a single hit of the alarm button will distribute 3 SMS messages to 3 different cell phones with the user’s location. It can be availed in the UK for just £149.98 ($290) from Maplin, which purports it functions throughout the globe.

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Just as new satellite-navigation (satnav) device are being showcased at the recent CeBit, it becomes quite clear that what a long distance these lilliputian devices have come so far in the past decade: The tiny devices seem to have become the best mate for the navigator that whispers commentary as a live tourist guide. Tomorrow’s tourists are expected to stroll round the sights of Hong Kong, Athens or New York with a satnav to their ear in place of a guidebook in their hand.

The latest devices exemplifies a fashion: satnav seems to be going past cars, which is generally consisted with the technology as a standard accessory for the opaque road networks of western Europe and Japan, plus is previously getting common on high-end cell phones and BlackBerry products. Nowadays satnav devices mostly make use of signals from the US network of (GPS) global positioning satellites. While on the other hand European Union (EU) plans to launch a rival worldwide system, code-named Galileo, by 2011, is being held back by disputes amongst the industrial partners.

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At CeBIT 2007-A Slovakian-based Company called Gotive took the wraps off its H42 -a feature-packed communicator for businesses with IP54 robust build, a 6.2″ superb widescreen at 640×240 pixel resolution and 384MB of memory, which can be expanded to 1.1GB. Not only this, the latest H42 also boasts of sprinting Windows CE on a 520MHz Intel processor, besides being sported with many a antennas like Bluetooth, GPRS, GSM, GPS, WLAN; various IO options as IrDA, SD, MMC card reader, bar code reader, microphone, camera, finger print reader, and yes a touch screen, too. So, what more you want.

GPS module built into the Gotive H42 communicator or into its docking station localises and tracks vehicle or the mobile worker in the field, navigates the driver, identifies the points of activity, enables to secure online proof of delivery (POD, supported by on-screen signature capture), and enables the exploitation of the location based services.

Yes all of the options have not been offered in one device; you will have to customize all these sports you require for your business. One more sport of H42, by virtue of which it is thought to be fit for the industrial world is the double battery option integrated with special power management software of Gotive to make available hours of nonstop service.

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Earlier it was X500, then M700, and now we have E-TEN Glofiish X800, the next-gen Pocket PC Phone that was announced by E-TEN Information Systems at the recent CeBIT 2007. What cannot do this feature-packed Pocket PC Phone, it backs up 3.5G connectivity, High-speed HSDPA/WCDMA for faster downloads and simple surfing on the Internet.

The integrated Windows Mobile 6 platform and large VGA display allows you to work simply with documents, messages and multimedia. Not just this, the next-up Glofiish PC Phone also allows you to make a trouble-free access to sophisticated mobile services like streaming video VoIP, and video calling.

Glofiish X800 is very slim and is consisted with 113.5×60.5×15.8 mm dimensions. The Glofiish X800 sports comprehensive connectivity solution in the terms of Wi-Fi, GSM, GPS and Bluetooth. It is included with 2 digital cameras, an auto-focus 2-megapixel version at the rear to get high-quality photographs and video, and a front-mounted VGA camera for video calling. So, what’s not there in the latest and greatest E-TEN Glofiish X800? No info of the release or availability and not even the cost.

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Meet another latest eZEX GPS navigation system w/ FM transmitter, which was also flaunted at the recent CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, Germany. Though this is the latest but I cannot find anything greatest about it, except for the FM transmitter, which boasts of making use of your cars’ audio for voice guidance.

Apart from that, eZEX n430 GPS navigation consists of a 4.3″ touch screen TFT LCD display at 480 x 272 pixel resolution giving support to 16M colors, and it is touted to run on a 32bit ARM9 processor with WinCE.Net on the back with 64MB of RAM.

Also, the integrated on-board rechargeable battery is said to be capable enough of lasting upto five hours. The additional sports are audio & video player, image viewer and smart volume that adapts according to the speed of your car.

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The normal 7-inch GPS devices just don’t cut it to any further extent; you feel the need of loads of multimedia content for those long trips. RoadBank chalks out plan to slot in T-DMB reception and more in their HTMS 18800. As with the majority of devices being rolled out by Korean manufacturer, the RoadBank HTMS 18800 is touted to be a super slim solution, measuring only 23mm thick, even with the integration of battery.

Featuring the newest SiRF Star III chipset and Mando maps, RoadBank HTMS 18800 boasts of offering “realistic views of roads and buildings.” If you are having a drive along the known territory and are not in need of deciphering a map, you will be provided with a little entertainment functionality: MP3 player and image viewer, plus a few built-in games.

Apart from that, the Video support is also rather fine, with RoadBank displaying love for H.264, WMV9, MPEG1/2/4, DivX, and XviD. There are two versions of the HTMS 18800: the 1GB and 2GB flavours come with the price range of US$500 and US$550 correspondingly.

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Searching around the web, I stumbled upon engadget.com that boasts of getting a few live shots of the latest (HUD) heads up display from GlobalTop known as HG-100, the latest next-up with the computer generated pics looked nicest and prettiest. The center of attention at the CeBit 2007 exhibition, the latest pics of the greatest device, I can without doubt say, will magnetize you to learn about the sports and specs of it.

The engadget also maintains that the display of the pics wasn’t clear on an untinted window, but this is claimed to be the groundbreaking technology in consumer electronics market. Really, a big applause to GlobalTop for the pain taken by it. The next-up HG-100 is expected to be availed in Europe this year with the approximate price tag of around 75€.

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It seems that Garmin and Mio have captured the entire CeBit with their latest GPS and GPS-based products, and at the same time, the GPS industry has lot more to offer at this mega event. Just as there are many Mio’s similarly there are many Nuvi’s, too. I have discussed many a Mio’s so far, now let’s talk about the latest Nuvi 650 from Garmin, which is obviously the budget version of Nuvi 660 such as lacing bluetooth capability, traffic info receiver, and FM transmitter.

However, with the price range of $750, you are provided with basic GPS navigation, rechargeable lithium-ion battery with up to 7 hours of battery life, text-to-speech functionality, MP3 player, audio books, picture viewer, world clock, Garmin Lock anti-theft feature, currency and measurement converter, as well as a calculator.

Apart from all that, you are also provided with a USB interface, which while integrated with the POI Loader software, boasts of turning the Nuvi 650 into a speed radar reminder. Also Nuvi 650 is going to be put for sale with maps of North America or Europe, and if you want to get regional maps of Europe, check out Garmin Nuvi 600, that has already gone through my keyboard.

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Garmin and Mio, the two navigational giants seem to have got lots more to offer this month. Earliar, Mio’s latest GPS models have gone through my keyboard, and now Nuvi 600 from Garmin is all set to hit the headlines with its glaring sports and specs. Garmin Nuvi 600 is expected to be your best bet, if you are keen to have a 4.3″ widescreen GPS navigation system, which could not go beyond your budget.

Exclusively available for Europe, the latest Nuvi 600 is stripped down version of other Nuvi 6xx’s missing bluetooth, text-to-speech, and FM transmitter simultaneously it is preloaded with maps of certain European region or country and could be availed Q2 of April 2007.The nuvi 600’s regional coverage is included with France, Italy/ Greece, UK /Ireland, Nordics, Alps,Belgium /Netherlands /Luxembourg,Spain /Portugal, Germany /Switzerland /Austria /Czech Republic. All map data is offered by NAVTEQ.

Though not compatible with the exercise of u’s & u’s in Nuvi, even then the new Nuvi 600 boasts of integrating loads of multimedia playing potentials and other tools such as it is included with an MP3 player, JPEG picture viewer, audio book player, currency converters and lots more. And that the optional feature in Nuvi 600 is the integration of FM traffic alerts and software for plug-and-play SD cards for language translation. No knowledge of Nuvi 600’s price range so far.

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