PortableGps
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ViaMichelin hits CeBIT with pair of cheap 'n boring GPS units
The new X-960 and X-970T portable GPS units from ViaMichelin don't exactly break new ground, but they're both looking moderately stylish, and boast of enough specs to get by. On the low end, the X-960 keeps it simple with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 300MHz Samsung processor and 2 hours of battery life. The little guy measures 0.8-inches thick, and comes in "individual country" or "all of Europe" flavors for €229 ($301 US) and €299 ($393 US), respectively. Things get stepped up a bit with the X-970T (pictured), which sports a QVGA 3.5-inch touchscreen, 400MHz Samsung processor and 3 hour battery life, along with an external RDS/TMC receiver for traffic info and a hands-free Bluetooth setup. The device runs CE 5.0, holds 64MB of RAM, 128MB of ROM, and comes in similar SKUs to its little brother: €329 ($433 US) for maps of a single European country, €399 for all of Europe ($525 US). The X-960 is after the break.Read - X-960Read - X-970T
Asus joins the crowded portable GPS market with S102
Taking a saturated market and cramming yet another alternative in it is Asus, as its "first entry into the portable GPS market" looks to be yet another mundane offering with little to differentiate it. The S102 touts an internal antenna, SiRF Star III receiver, and "advanced natural voice technology" so those turn-by-turn instructions sound eerily lifelike. Other features include a 3.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution touchscreen, handwriting / voice recognition capabilities, 64MB of SDRAM, 64MB of Flash ROM, SD slot, external antenna jack, MP3 playback support, photo viewer, and a rechargeable Li-ion battery that should be good for about four hours. Although Asus was kind enough to belt out the specs, it left us hanging in regard to price or future availability, but we're sure it'll fit right in with all the others whenever it lands.[Via GPSGazette, thanks Dimitris]
Sanyo's EasyStreet NVM-4030: an all purpose GPS navigator on the cheap
If you thought the Medion GoPal GPS navigators were cheap, then check Sanyo's WinCE-powered EasyStreet NVM-4030, Jack. At just $400, this pup significantly undercuts TomTom's, Garmin's, and Mio's products offering that same GPS-triple-play line-up of turn-by-turn and voice navigation, digital audio playback, and Bluetooth hands-free calling when coupled with your cellphone. The NVM-4030 features a 4-inch TFT touch-screen for viewing NAVTEQ US map data stuffed into the bundled 1GB SD card. Drop in some MP3/WMA/WAV files and the media player kicks in with a headphone jack fitted to the device for music on the go. We don't know when it'll be shipping, but pre orders will be "accepted shortly." Good to know.[Via BlueTomorrow]
Uniden getting into the portable GPS biz
Uniden has officially announced that it's dipping its toes into the already-crowded portable GPS market, with its first units set to launch this fall. The first in the new line of devices, dubbed MapTrax, have already popped up for pre-order on various retailer's sites, with the lower-end 3.5-inch GPS352 coming in at $400 and the slightly-beefier GPS402 (seen here) packing a 4-inch screen (and about 10 million more pre-loaded POIs) running you an extra hundred bucks. Uniden says the complete line-up of devices will eventually feature displays ranging in size from 3.5-inches to 7-inches that automatically adjust between night and daylight viewing settings, and at least one of the models will include Bluetooth compatibility, though it doesn't look like it's featured on any of these initial releases. So far, Uniden's just sayin' that the next batch will be released sometime in 2007.[Via Mobile Whack]
