Mio quietly releases $250 C220 in-car GPS unit
One would think that a manufacturer releasing a sub-$250 GPS unit with a 3.5-inch touchscreen would want to make a little bit of noise about this attack on the low-end market, but not only did Mio fail to make a peep about launching the new C250-like C220, it didn't even bother do up a press release as far as we can tell. Thanks to eagle-eyed Jason who found this pretty powerful little unit on the Circuit City site, though, we finally have the full specs on a device which first peaked its head out a few months back: SiRFstar III, 400MHz Samsung CPU running Windows CE 5.0, 256MB ROM / 32MB RAM, 1200mAh rechargeable battery, and MioMap 3.3 navigation software with TeleAtlas maps loaded up onto an SD card. According to the good citizens of the 'City, the C220 also "tells you the likely locations of fixed speed cameras (speed cameras) and the likely locations of mobile traps, with free updates for a full year from the time you register," but Mio's US site makes no mention of such a service (or the C220 at all, for that matter), and only European countries are listed on the company's German Speedcam database. But hey, what can you really expect from such an entry level system, or from a retailer which just fired all the good people who knew anything about its products?
[Thanks, Jason A.]
