Porsche Design's P9611 sat nav is real, coming November

The rumors that Porsche Design was contributing to the design of a satellite navigation system have turned out to be true (don't you just love it when that happens?) now that Navigon has shown off the device at the IFA. The specifications are almost identical to the rumor, with the device featuring a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 pixel 16:9 display, a 520MHz XScale processor, a dedicated graphics processor, 64MB of RAM / ROM, an SD / MMC slot, a Bluetooth hands-free kit, and a removable battery, all running on Windows CE. The system will warn the driver of radar speed traps and of traffic in the 37 mapped European countries, and will even play MP3s -- albeit on the undoubtedly tinny speakers. The only downsides appear to be the roughly $960 price tag and the weak USB 1.1 support, but if you can cope with these niggles then keep your eyes open during November, because that's when it's expected to ship.

[Vlad @ Sep 6th 2006 1:34PM]

Considering the fact that Porsche has way over 200 dealers in the United States alone I am wondering if they have "mapped" united states as well?

[JS @ Sep 6th 2006 1:40PM]

WinCE isn't a downside?

[GrecoRoman @ Sep 6th 2006 2:13PM]

SO many sat nav upstarts: Sony, Philips, Porsche, even heard about Ferrari today. Stick to what you do best!

Garmin and TomTom have a stranglehold on the market and continue to be on the cutting edge. I don't get why all of these companies think they can make a better product. ESPECIALLY with a price point that high! The new TomTom ONE is only $500 and Garmin just slashed their prices.

Get with it!

[Bryan @ Sep 6th 2006 4:00PM]

What most people do not realize is that Porsche Design has nothing to do with Porsche cars. The Porsche in Porsche Design is related to the original, but not to the company. Which is why it isn't in the Porsche dealers in America. They are just using a name and the consumer's lack of insight and brand loyalty or desire of, to promote themselves. We could all trace our lineage back to someone famous and promote ourselves with that information, but when it becomes obvious it is often frowned upon.

-Just an FYI.

[rockit99 @ Sep 7th 2006 2:23PM]

...and Windows CE - surely the REAL downside, you can just imagine "Illegal instruction. Reboot SATNAV..."

[TFGBD @ Jan 19th 2007 9:33PM]

Windows CE is certainly not a downside! Most Windows CE devices like this are easily hacked into something resembling a Pocket PC (or better in this thing's case) and often have much more freedom in hardware design than a true Pocket PC as they do not need to follow the strict hardware guidelines an OEM must follow for a Pocket PC. (Hence the 480x272 screen, etc) I just hope the thing has a battery so its portable and more useful as a PDA/Tablet. If it has USB host, as it sounds, thats even better! It means things like WiFi, USB hard drives and even USB touch screens should be very possible!

But really, if THAT is going to be its final price, you would honestly be better off with just buying a nice fully featured Pocket PC or Handheld PC like the HTC Univeral or Psion Netbook Pro along with a bluetooth GPS reciever and save yourself the hassle of hacking it just to be a PDA with navigation. I think you can get the Psion Netbook Pro which have an 800x600 touchscreen, WinCE 4.2, USB host, and a CF and SD card slot for a pretty decent price on eBay these days.

Regarding seeing an "Illeagal Operation" or something similar:

Windows CE should be a pretty stable OS if the OEM knows what the hell they are doing. And sadly, I admit, I have seen more than my fair share of badly done and buggy Windows CE OS images. That is not the fault of the OS but more the stupidity of the developers using it.

As it is a general purpose embedded OS, you should not even know what OS the device is running if the OEM knows what they are doing.
But really, if you saw such an error on another one of these Windows CE "PNA" (Personal Navigation Assistant) devices its likely because there was some program running from the SD card and you removed it. ;) I'm sure Linux or any other OS would do the same if you suddenly removed a disk containing a running program. Think before saying such things and bashing the OS just because its Microsoft.

As its running Navigon software, I imagine it will have about the same capabilities as Navigon on any other WinCE device like a Pocket PC... (Maybe more if they designed is just for this device) Just visit the Navigon site and google for reviews of the software on Pocket PC to get a better idea of what the software is capable of and its map support. Based on the reviews I have read its pretty good software and some prefer it over TomTom Navigator. TomTom is overrated, anyway. ;)

Like it or not, there is more and better navigation software for Windows CE (Mainly ARM Pocket PC these days) than any other OS out there. Forget Linux (Unless you count embedded as used on TomTom's devices) or Windows XP. Seriously, CE has at least 30 different road navigation products available worldwide... (Not to mention Aircraft, off road, marine mapping applications and other more specialized software as well) Many companies that have started in the consumer Navigation software market like Navigon are now also starting to sell OEM versions of their apps for bundling with these navigation systems.

Just to prove a point: Some folks are so desperate for something decent on Windows XP that they are running TomTom in the ARM Pocket PC emulator for their CarPCs... IMO, thats pathetic... ;)

And hey, if you don't like the Navigon software it ships with, you can always just install TomTom Navigator if you want. The Pocket PC version of TomTom Navigator should work fine. :)

As for why all these companies "think they can make a better product" than TomTom or Garmin... I think its pretty simple: Its cheap, easy and fast to do so. From what I can tell, all a company has to do to get in this market is:
1. Design or outright rebrand a PDA-like hardware design that is Windows CE compatible.
2. Licence Windows CE 4.2, 5.0 or 6.0 core for $3 USD and port it to their hardware.
3. Bundle/preinstall an OEM version of one of the many available Windows CE navigation packages and perhaps throw an OEM Video/Audio player on board to add features.
4.?????
5. PROFIT!

Because its so fast and easy for them to bring something like this to market, they can easily get SOMETHING out there in a matter of months. And anything short of the hardware and software licence/development costs is pure profit! ;) It seems to be quite a bit like the PC market, really. Companies like Ferrari, etc. really have nothing to do with the software or hardware being used but it gets their name out there. ;)