Navigon 8410 GPS debuts, packed full of features for the trendy Euro jet-set
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jul 18th 2009 10:24AM
posted Jul 18th 2009 10:24AM
It's been a few months since Navigon ceased doing business Stateside, and already the company's back on our radar with a device that made us wish they'd stuck around these parts a while longer. The Navigon 8410 features a 5-inch touchscreen, a polished steel frame, and a righteous assortment of features, including: DVB-T digital television tuner, City3D's photo-realistic 3D mapping software (only for select cities on the continent), and a media player for all your fave tunes, flicks, and pics. Available only in Europe, we don't have a ship date for you yet, but we do know it'll cost €449 ($630). Now, if you excuse us, we were due in Bonn hours ago.
[Via Engadget Spanish]
[Via Engadget Spanish]
the UI is very attractive XD
I have one of the older Navigons and they're awesome! They were first manufacturer I saw to have a 3d view of complicated interchanges, so you can be sure you stay in the proper lane (other manufacturers have caught on now). It also has text to speech and free traffic updates and rerouting. The best part is, I got the whole shebang for $100, brand new.
"so you can be sure you stay in the proper lane"
Because, "prepare to turn right" is soooo taxing. I mean, I cant believe anyone* was ever able to get anywhere on these things in the past. No pictures. nOMG!
Try driving in an unfamiliar city with exits leading everywhere, and you'll appreciate the extra visual help. Besides, what if you're supposed to be going straight through, but all the lanes diverge? The GPS might assume it's obvious you need to stay on your course. There's no need to be a jerk, it's just a handy feature. Go be nasty to someone else.
why can't US get something like this first? I thought US in more advanced technology wise.
Yeah, you Americans usually think so. There's some truth to it, and then there's the nationalist propaganda.
Inevitably someone will bring up all the things that were invented in America, from the Internet to the iPhone. Rightly so perhaps.
Yet most of the same people that think America is #1 at everything would not know that the car was invented in Germany, the computer in the UK and the Web in Switzerland by a Brit (see CERN).
And much of the innovation in modern American companies are done by foreigners attracted to the US. From Google to Yahoo.
But by all means cheer your achievements, just remember that it's not all from the US.
+1 Andrew.
This site really showcases how ignorant some Americans really are. Like you said though. A lot of it is nationalist propaganda. However, nowadays, with the internet, and global communications, it's almost sad to read some of the things they say.
@ Andrew
You do have a point with nationalist propaganda... We Americans are a bit on the arrogant side at times. but....
"Inevitably someone will bring up all the things that were invented in America, from the Internet to the iPhone."
hmmm... here's one better... Benjamin Franklin? I don't think much would be invented without his discovery right?
Game - Set - Match...
Yes, Franklin was a great man but where would he and we be today without: Galvani (Italy), Volta (Italy), Ohm (Germany), Faraday (UK), Ampère (France), Tesla (Serbia), Kelvin (UK).
Very nicely put Andrew. But while Collosus was built on UK soil. The design was a US & OSS collaboration to break Nazi codes. And of course the car wasn't invented in the USA, Ford just was the first to mass produce them on an assembly line.
I would say the biggest argument will always be aviation, the Wright Brothers vs. the French aviator (sorry, I can't remember his name). But even then the Smithsonian and the FAI certified the Wright BRothers as first.
We've done a lot of great things and have a lot of firsts here, but the the majority of them go to our neighbors around the world. And that's a good thing. I just people here would research their assumptions before opening their big flapping jaws.
@ Anrew
Well put Andrew and you are correct that those innovations catapulted us to a new era, but again building on an original concept correct? and let us not forget Albert Einstein :D yes i know he is not born in the US but did become a citizen. You guys kill us in Mobile technologies (3G 4G etc..)so I better stop there.
@ Izzy
"I just people here would research their assumptions before opening their big flapping jaws"
There is nothing wrong with national pride, every countryman has it. I have relatives in Europe and South America and am excited to hear of new technologies coming from around the globe. comments made here are made in friendly jest to our neighboring brothers over seas... It's the 'assumptions' that all Americans are ignorant, pompous or uneducated that is now becoming a bigger problem.
US is generally really behind in mobile phones. At least you have the iPhone now...
And I would say Korea and Japan are the most technological countries, no?
although this looks really nice, I'm not sure if I would buy it .... living in California and having one GPS stolen from my car's glovebox, I rather stick to something super small I can put in my pocket. I might even get TomTom on iPhone instead of any GPS.
We will be responsible for the end of the human race. Our man made machines will eventually be our demise. Not to worry it recycles after the robots begin researching and developing organic computers in order to achieve creativity. We want math and science, they will want creative minds, we will never have a mix unless there are cyborgs in between either being on top.
[Reaches for Aluminum Foil]
haha that was in the post referencing robot apocalypse and Millenniata storage.
One day, every town will be like this and navigation will be cool.
Augmented reality satnav could render all the fancy graphics obsolete - and there's no database of 2 or 2D information to update - all is needed is accurate location information - or am I missing something?
I'm still not a fan of these 3D realistics views, it breaks the fact that with a 3d flat map, you can see what's the 2nd turn you'll have to do (say behind a building)... So to me these realistics views are just for people who cant read what they have in front of them.
I'm still a big fan of the simple 3D given by any Tomtom unit, ergonomy wise it's still the nicest I've seen too.
(+1 for Andrew...)
I have a question...
I have a Tom Tom and it's the worst thing that has happened to me and I've endured windows ME with an immediate Windows vista upgrade (just kidding, no one could survive that). What GPS is available in the US that can understand u-turns, has voice recognition, doesn't require 5 minutes to connect to the GPS network, and has fairly nice features for about 300-500 bucks? I've Googled it but there's a lot of arguments between brands =/
Sad to see them leave the US market. Their products just simply made all the other GPS Navigation systems look like toys.
WIth Navigon gone, you are better off in the US to just pick a Navigation Application from your Cell Phone provider like AAA Mobile or XXXX Generic Navigation than dropping $100 bucks on a unit.
The horror stories of using several GPS brands on trips, thank god I have always had a good sense of direction.
My favorite is a certain Garmin unit that would often do... Turn Right, Turn Right, Turn Right, Turn Right then Proceed Forward... (Talk about going in circles uh?)
Here is the deal, if you phone has a good GPS application for like $10 bucks a month, you are getting a better deal than a $100 unit off the shelf. Here is why:
1) The Off the Shelf units charge for Map changes (Navigon usually had deals that gave you a couple of free years of updates - other brands don't.)
2) You always have your Cell Phone, so even if you are riding with a friend, you can flip the application open and use it anytime, or even when out for a walk. Site seeing in SF was brilliant using a cell phone, and one with real GPS, not WiFi location technology. (Sorry early iPhone, this is one reason I never bought you.)
3) Off the Shelf 'cheap' units usually don't have real time traffic, and it is also crappy unless you are in a major city, the Cell traffic data with most applicaitons works better in smaller cities and also has better updated maping for construction, etc.
I love the Navigon series, from the free map updates, to the extra details on the location, to even being the first to give a crap about what lane you are in and what lane you need to be in to make the exit. They are good products, and the only stand alone I ever found superior to the Cell Phone App offerings.
Good to see they are still out there, just wish they would revisit the US, or at least drop out a Windows Mobile App for Cell phone users in the US (As Navigon uses Windows Mobile as its OS.)
Re: USA Inventions...
Andrew is partially correct that a mindset of America innovations is inflated by National pride and even what is taught in schools.
The things everyone here seems to skip is that this happens in all societies...
In Europe it is hard to find a text book in school that gives credit to the middle east and other areas of the world that often discovered and created the sciences and mathematic principles. Math from the Middle East is one area that is amazing absent from most Western country teachings. And it is in recent (last 20-30 years) that Eastern Asia innovations that go back a 1000 years are credited.
As for America being superior, that is not something EVERY American buys into. Trust me, what the outside world sees is not a good generalization of the USA, especially in recent history.
The USA has done 'well' at modern innovations, and this has more to do with the 'melting pot' culture that DOES EXIST in the USA even though the conservative 'Right' here would like to pretend doesn't exist and it is all old white men inventing everything for the world.
The 'melting pot' of the US culture has added to its ability to innovate and bring new technologies to the world. Americans are not shy about looking at other cultures and outside technologies and combining them to create something new. You take a 'pick a culture' person born in America with foreign and America social constructs and then they work with other people that also have some diversity to their background, and you get some really brilliant and innovative thinking. Just language alone creates different synaptic patterns in the brain, now imagine multi-culture people working on solving a problem and it gives the US a bit of an advantage.
Not cause they are Old White Pilgram Americans, but are Americans that come from all parts of the world.
This is the real strength of America innovation and also what has caused the ripple in the past 10 years of America faultering with the 'conservative' US vs them mindset that has curtailed a lot of innovation in these years.
Many fundamental technologies used around the world are created or sponsored by Americans. Even innovations in labs in Japan or China or Brussels or the UK are often funded or part of American projects. Money is a big factor in modern innovation, and America uses this more than anything to keep a hand in technology.
As for technology, America has really sucked at a lot of things recently, yet there are many great things that came of the 'melting pot' of ideas. (The Internet, NASA, CPU technology, etc...)
PS. The person mentioning the iPhone as an INNOVATION or America about made me gag... You need to visit Japan and parts of Europe if you want to see technology used by people everyday that makes the iPhone look like a 10 year old toy.
(If you want to understand REAL America pride, look at a world wide event, from the Olympics to a Chess championship, you can't pick out the American team from the way they look or culture they represent. Even in the 'global' world today, this is still fairly unique and what most Americans truly takes pride in.)
The melting-pot is still alive and doing well in America, and if doubt this, take a look at the President...
lawl a 'melting pot' has nothing to do with innovation. Foreigners came here for opportunity, not to be stirred. Also, Western textbooks don't mention oriental innovations and such because the discoveries were independent of each other Nowadays businesses find it cheaper to manufacture in developing countries.
That's plain rubbish, thenetavenger! You have no clue what you are talking about.
First of all I doubt you even speak more than one or two languages, and you have probably never *actually* read a textbook from any of the 47 countries of Europe!
Your claims are outlandish and unbelievable because ALL math and history books will naturally include the origins of both Arabic and Indian math concepts, from algebra to zero! I know mine did, and I *am* European.
There are hundreds of textbooks in multitudes of languages in Europe, you don't know even a fraction of them. Not without being a POLYGLOT! And your silly claims that we only "recently" included Asian history is also COMPLETE NONSENSE!
Yup
The reason that everyone thinks America is the best country is.... because it's true. America is by far the greatest and most powerful country that is or ever existed. We have the best form of government, the strongest military, and we attract everyone to our country because of how much better it is here than anywhere else. I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but America is the most innovative and developed country in the world.
You can still pick up a copy of the NAVIGON app for the iPhone (MobileNavigator, #2 in Navigation). It has North American maps and most of their wonderful features, like Reality View. TomTom is still busy building their app ...
And the best ... their limited offer for $69 is still available.
And – yes, it is sad that they are gone.
Today I had this navigation system in hands and the feeling was realy nice. I'm really surpriced according the the good display. http://www.ch3n.de