Asus R700 GPS unit gets official

We first got to know the Asus R300 and R700 GPS units back in September, but now Asus is finally ready to spill the rest of the sordid details on its well-specced R700 model. The Asus R700 runs a 4.3-inch touchscreen, with RDS / TMC traffic info, a hands-free Bluetooth kit, microSD port and all the trimmings inherent in Windows CE 5.0 -- including a lovable collection of media playback codecs. There's text-to-speech built in for reading street names, but the real twist comes from the ability to vocalize your text messages over Bluetooth. This model will be hitting Europe in December with a set of 3D maps and iGO 8 software for 400-500 Euro ($586-$732 US).

[Via NaviGadget]

[gibber9583 @ Nov 9th 2007 2:55PM]

That looks big and sort of ugly....


though the software looks pretty nice

[anonymouspimp @ Nov 9th 2007 3:03PM]

When I bought my TomTom 720 a while back... I was excited about the 3D view. (It's not 3D like in the picture above, but you know what i'm talking about)

I used the 3D setting for maybe a total of 30 minutes before I switched back to 2D map. I guess its a matter of preference.

Anyways, I agree, the hardware is ugly, but the maps are cool. If you dig 3D.

[Jon @ Nov 9th 2007 3:32PM]

I have been using TomTom since their Citymaps days and love the 3D view introduced in TTN3. Found that it tends to show more relevant detail during navigation such as POIs and street names. But to each his own.

This 3D engine used by Asus is certainly interesting. Part of the problem with GPS navigation engines is the lack of identifying marks on the maps itself.

[applefreak @ Nov 9th 2007 3:08PM]

soooooooo... what

[gm76 @ Nov 9th 2007 7:36PM]

For those interested in the nav software used, here are links to iGo/Nav N Go 8

http://www.i-go.com/en/news/index.php?aid=110

http://www.navngo.com/pages/global/eng/navngo_igo_8

The Windows Mobile version of iGO 8 has been delayed AFAIK and should be available early next year.

[StrangeBum @ Nov 10th 2007 12:18AM]

Asus is kicking ass!

'nuff said.