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Innocent glasses transform into GPS-equipped routing mechanism... on video!
The Powers That Be may think that they're pulling the wool over our eyes, but we can see the planned fate unfolding in front of us. Before long, our arms will be effectively useless -- after all, once you can game and navigate with just your face, why bother pumping iron and keeping those biceps toned? Over at Wireless Japan 2010, the Nakajima Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications showcased a prototype that helps explain the latter. Dubbed a Wearable Personal Navigation System, this GPS-infused pair of glasses has integrated LEDs in the frame that wearers can see in their periphery; there's also a magnetic direction sensor, which detects the orientation of the user's head. Once you point your face in a given direction, the LEDs change color to let you know which way you need to head in order to walk, sprint or gallop to your destination. It's hard to tell how long we'll have to wait before we see these on Pearle Vision's Buy 1 Get 1 rack, but the video after the break ain't making it any easier to wait.
Ripxx exercise GPS adds Mac OS support to its other EXTREME! qualities
We're all basically huge jocks here at Engadget </sarcasm>, so anytime we can combine our love of cross training with our love of consumer electronics it's a pretty good day. Only a thousand times less interesting than Dancepants, the Ripxx Personal Measurement Device (as you may recall) integrates a GPS, accelerometers, and gyroscopes for tracking your performance and movement in all three dimensions. And now Apple users can get in on the game (or least train and then sit on the bench), with an upgraded Ripxx Suite Version 2.1 that includes not only full Mac support but Improved activity reports and graphs and lap time measurements. If this is your bag, hit up the PR after the break. As for us, we're going to get back to this quart of Chunky Monkey and VHS copy of BASEketball.
T-Mobile Garminfone gets a much-needed price drop to $129
When we got a chance to let the Garmin-Asus Garminfone send us around town for a review, we found it to be about the best nav-focused smartphone on the market. But, its $200 price made it a tough sell compared to many far more powerful alternatives. Now it's finally dropping to a somewhat more easily palatable asking price of $129.99 with the usual contract restrictions. That's a great price for a great phone with great navigation, and while we're still guessing that users here will not get invited out for FroYo anytime in the future, at this price you can afford to buy yourself some real ice cream.
Expresso announces PND for the golf course, you'll have to find your own polyester pants
PNDs for the golf course aren't exactly unheard of, and if they fail to excite us it might be because we're not really the types that putt in the office while dictating memos to our secretaries (we don't even have secretaries in Engadget HQ). If this sort of thing is your bag, however, we want you to know that a company called Expresso has recently announced the AG1 Automotive and Golf GPS, which promises all the nav info you could ever want for "the freeway, family entertainment and the fairway." That is, they threw in a media player with the usual GPS capabilities. Featuring iGolf maps for more than 20,000 courses and an HD display, we have a lovely video after the jump in case you would like to hear more. The Pro from Dover never had it this good!
Garmin connected nuvi 1695 takes an immediate left turn out of FCC HQ
A new nuvi is coming down the highway, and it means business. Navigational business. It's the Garmin nuvi 1695, a connected GPS device that offers Bluetooth and GSM, much like the 1690 before it. In fact, it's not entirely clear what makes this different from the last year's 1690, but GPSTracklog speculates this will offer Garmin's traffic trends feature also found in the 3700, augmented by real-time updates from every other 1695 user similarly stuck in traffic. Seems like a good guess to us, but we're of course more curious about how much the thing will cost -- $500 for the 1690 when it was new was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Springteq introduces WeGo HUD / GPS for your auto
This certainly isn't the first automobile HUD we've seen, although, to be quite honest, we're still pretty appalled by the lack of futuristic displays in our whips. Manufactured by Springteq of Taiwan, the WeGo HUD navigator integrates a GPS to project navigation data on your windshield. The projector itself features 400 x 240 resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, and a 4.5-inch image size. Brightness automatically adjusts depending on ambient light levels (courtesy of an optical sensor) and controls are mounted on your steering wheel to keep your hands where they should be while you drive. The basis of the system is a Windows CE device with 2GB flash memory and an SDHC card slot. Both this and the WeGo mini should see the light of day (so to speak) in Q4 2010 -- just as soon as Springteq can find a partner company to help bring it to market. Video after the break.
Wikitude Drive AR nav app beta announced, available in Android Market (video)
With all the action going down at Google I/0 you can be excused for missing this latest tidbit: the folks behind Wikitude have made the beta version of Drive (their augmented reality personal navigation app) available for free for 2,000 users. And we just got our hands on it, so we know that there are at least a few downloads left at the Android Market. The full-featured demo sports NAVTEQ map data, both AR street view and 3D map view, worldwide coverage, voice commands, and both driving and walking directions. There's no word yet on when the final version will be released, so this might be your last chance for a while to play with what's stacking up to look like a pretty decent application. See the thing in action and check out the PR yourself after the break.
Garmin-Asus Garminfone review
The holy matrimony between smartphone and personal navigation device just keeps getting stronger, scorning dedicated GPS units like forgotten flings and leaving navigation-free handsets wandering lost and alone. Garmin-Asus has been flirting with the perfect bond with its Nuvifone series for some time now, but rather tragically from a branding perspective its strongest attempt yet comes without the nuvi moniker. It's the T-Mobile Garminfone, and its Android underpinnings go a long way toward making the best mix of PND and smartphone to date. %Gallery-93159%
Garmin nuvi 295W like a bolt from the blue, bearing email, camera and WiFi (video)
Ever heard of the Garmin nuvi 295W? Neither had we, until the GPS showed up spontaneously on Amazon. More Garminfone than PND, the device features the same 3.5-inch touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera and Garmin UI as its call-friendly counterpart, but without the front buttons, 3G data connection and subsidized price. That means you'll have to hoof it to a hotspot to send email, perform Google Local Search and upload geotagged photos -- all of which this unit can do -- but at least you'll have a dedicated GPS to help you get there. $280, available May 16th, see it in action after the break.
TomTom Go Live 1000 to offer capacitive touchscreen, WebKit-based UI
TomTom has just outed its new flagship PND, the Go Live 1000, and wouldn't you know it, it's the first of the company's stable to offer a capacitive touchscreen. This comes mere days after Garmin updated its lineup with capacitive options. The 1000 is a little slimmer than its predecessors, but its major feature is "instant" route planning and re-planning once it has a satellite lock -- the industry's fastest. Achieved using a custom-built Broadcom GPS module, that capability is backed up by a 500MHz ARM11 CPU (yawn), 4GB of storage, 128MB of RAM, a new WebKit-based UI, and 12 months of free TomTom Live services. Beginning in June, this suite of services will be rolled out to 33 countries across Europe, featuring local information about petrol prices, services and weather, while its headline HD Traffic -- which tracks congestion on secondary roads as well as motorways -- and safety camera alert features will come to only 16 nations. It's a decent year-long freebie to have and TomTom promises it'll cost less than €50 ($67) per annum thereafter. That's more reasonable than the previous $9.95 monthly cost, but still not price-competitive with Google and Nokia's offerings. There's also a SIM card slot, but don't expect to be developing new modes of sidetalking, it's most likely there purely to facilitate all those data transactions. Check out the new UI in the gallery below and expect the TomTom Go 1000 Live to show up in Europe some time this summer.%Gallery-91890%
New European Mio Navman line uses Tom Tom maps, fails to mention Wordy Rappinghood
If you're in Europe, and you like getting from one place to the next as much as we do, you'll undoubtedly be delighted to know that Mio is unveiling three new Navman GPS systems, all of which feature Tom Tom's IQ Routes technology as well as Mio's LearnMe feature. Navman 575 (£149.99, or around $230) offers a 4.7-inch display, while users of the 470 and 475 models ($150) will have to make do with a 4.3-inch screen. Also included in this bonanza of navigation are a free year of real time traffic and safety camera info, Google Send-To-GPS (for sending Maps locations to the unit via USB), SiRFStar InstantFix, and more. Look for these to launch in May.
Motorola's Motonav TN765 navigator gets reviewed: a widescreen PND done right
Motorola doesn't exactly have a huge foothold in the portable navigation market, but it's not like the TomToms and Garmins of the world really need to keep on keepin' on sans any legitimate competition. Originally revealed at CES (and once again at MWC), the Motonav TN765 is one of the most bizarrely designed GPS units we've ever seen, taking on a Philips 21:9 Cinema type of layout in order to provide an ultra-widescreen view that can't easily be found elsewhere. Now, the 5.1-inch device is on sale in the US for around $270, and we've collected a number of reviews from those who've had the ability to whiz around town with one adhered to the windshield. For the most part, critics were duly impressed with the wide variety of features (Bluetooth handsfree calling, text-to-speech, voice dialing, auto map zooming and a litany of live data reports informing you of the local weather forecast, gas prices, etc.). Previously, Motorola's PND efforts weren't exactly lauded, but this guy's different -- most everyone found the robust feature set and stunning user interface to be more than satisfactory, with the main detraction being the intermittent MotoExtras service and dodgy reception in dense, urban areas. Hit up the links below before pulling the trigger (or switching on the safety, as it were).
MapQuest iPhone gets free voice navigation; TomTom lifetime map and traffic PNDs now available (update: Navigon MobileNavigator 1.5 too)
Chalk up another two wins for cheap consumer GPS. Like Google Maps Navigation before it, the MapQuest 4 Mobile iPhone app has just now added gratis turn-by-turn voice directions... and ahead of schedule, TomTom has begun bundling its new 2010 Personal Navigation Devices, including the XL 340S and the XXL 540S -- with lifetime traffic and maps subscriptions. The latter are now available on Amazon for a $30-per-lifetime-subscription premium in a variety of increasingly feature-filled flavors, with helpful T (traffic), M (maps) and TM (traffic and maps) suffixes so you know which TomTom is which. If you prefer buying from brick and mortar, TomTom expects retail availability beginning in April. Full list of supported TomTom models and expected MSRP after the break. Update: The 1.5.0 iPhone update to MobileNavigator from Navigon that includes MyRoutes, Facebook and Twitter integration, and Panorama View 3D is finally up on iTunes as well.
Mio stuns at CeBIT with ultra-sleek Moov V780 MID
Uh, folks -- we've an identity crisis on our hands. Is this a MID with a penchant for navigating? Is this a PMP with pre-loaded maps? Is it an ultra-sleek navigator that just so happens to play music? There's a fair chance the world will never know, but we'll soon be stopping by Mio's booth at CeBIT in order to get a view of things ourselves. At any rate, the Moov V780 is undoubtedly one of the most appealing things to come from the outfit in quite some time, offering up 720p multimedia playback, an HDMI output, digital TV support, a 7-inch (800 x 480 resolution) display, 600MHz CPU, 512MB of memory, 4GB of onboard flash and a pretty tremendous list of supported file formats. Sadly, it's humming along on Windows CE (rather than, say, Android), but at least it ships with WiFi and optional WiMAX. There's no mention of a price or release date, but we'll be on the hunt for those tidbits as soon as the show floor opens up.
Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope
As everyone knows, Garmin and TomTom have their backs against the ropes in a fight to remain relevant in an age of free GPS turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones (thanks Google and Nokia). While dedicated personal navigators are almost always superior to their converged competition, the gap has certainly narrowed such that it's become difficult to justify another device when an increasing number of people already carry a fine navigation device in their pockets. But that's just gut instinct talking, where's the hard evidence? Certainly not speculative stock prices. A good place to start is in forward-looking financial statements like the one Garmin, the leading navigation device maker in the US, just issued. Gamin says that it expects competition to cause prices to decline by about 10% in the personal navigation device (PND) industry putting pressure on margins, and thus profits, in 2010. It also sees flat or slightly declining revenue over the same period. Fortunately for Garmin, it has a diversified product offering that includes the Nuvifone. However, Garmin admits to being disappointed by sales of the handset that "won" our Editor's Choice award for Worst Gadget of the Year. Things aren't all doom and gloom, though. Garmin has a pair of Nuvifones in the chute including the Android-powered A50. And its Q4 results of $1.43 per share easily beat analyst expectations of 95 cents a share. Even TomTom surprised many last week with a 1% increase in Q4 revenue and net profit of €75 million compared to a €989 million loss a year ago. So there's some hope left for the dedicated PND market... but not much.
Android-powered GoGear Connect PMP debuted in new, Godzilla-sized form factor
We're used to seeing some ho-hum units with the GoGear name, so we were pleasantly surprised to hear (well, read) that Philips was getting much more ambitious for its upcoming GoGear Connect line of PMPs. Plans are said to include the Android 2.1 OS, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, and extensive skinning that plays up the media player / navigation device angle. Although there's no cellular connectivity herein, there is a speaker and mic for some VoIP action, alongside haptic feedback for the touchscreen display, a memory card slot, rear-facing camera of unknown resolution, up to 64GB storage, and DivX/XviD support. Neither price nor release date has been confirmed (though Q3 2010 is a possibility, according to SlashGear). Indeed, we haven't even seen one of the units, even in prototype form -- but there is an amusing King Kong-scale device running the OS in the video demonstration, which means they definitely have designs on the monster movie demographic. Check it out after the break. [Thanks, Anh]
Navigon keeps MobileNavigator iPhone app fresh with 3D terrain views, Facebook / Twitter integration
Hey, software engineers of all shapes and sizes -- are you keeping an eye on this? Navigon is releasing yet another significant update for its continually improving MobileNavigator iPhone GPS app, and at this point, we reckon these guys and gals should get some sort of medal for pursuing innovation on an existing product rather than leaping to "the next best thing." The latest refresh adds in three primary features: 3D terrain views, a 3D panorama view ($9.99 extra) and in-app connectivity with Facebook and Twitter. As you'd expect, the latter enables users to broadcast current position, destination and ETA to social media outlets, which should make existing Foursquare addicts overwhelmed with joy. Version 1.5.0 also throws in MyRoutes, which is said to analyze your driving habits, patterns, location and time / day in order to provide "up to three routes clearly displayed in-map with ETA, distance and driving times for each." Best of all? It's just $69.99 ($20 less than normal) until February 15th, while the real-time traffic add-on is reduced $5 to $19.99 for the same duration.
TomTom Ease arrives in limited edition red for Valentine's Day
Funny that this special red edition of the TomTom Ease is actually beating the regular version to market, but hey, it's Valentine's Day. Nothing new here apart from the case color -- you're still looking at a 3.5-inch QVGA display, 2GB of internal memory preloaded with Tele-Atlas maps, Map Share / IQ Routes, an integrated battery, and a built-in Fold & Go mount. Amazon has the limited-edition red exclusively for $119 now, if you're ready to commit -- or you can wait and just be friends with the boring gray model, which should be out any day now.
TomTom promises lifetime (free) map and traffic updates for select 2010 PNDs
It's a funny thing. Ever since Google changed the game up with its Maps Navigation software, TomTom's really been in the giving mood. After bringing free lane guidance, text-to-speech and iPod control to the outfit's iPhone GPS app, its following in the footsteps of Navigon and Nextar by promising gratis traffic and map updates for select navigators starting in Q2 of this year. Unfortunately, exact details on which products will be included under the "no cash needed for updates" umbrella are nonexistent, but here's hoping more than a few are included (and that Garmin, et al. follows suit in short order).
TomTom Ease splashing down later this year for not much coinage (hands-on)
Like getting from point A to point B without getting lost along the way? Enjoy saving money? Chances are you'll dig TomTom's new Ease, an entry-level PND to lead all entry-level PNDs, with an integrated Fold & Go port mount, a slightly tweaked UI, Map Share / IQ Routes, a 3.5-inch display (320 x 240), 2GB of internal memory, pre-loaded Tele Atlas maps of America, text-to-speech and an integrated battery. We were told tonight by the outfit's booth representatives that it would ship in Q2, and they emphasized that whole "priced very competitively" aspect. %Gallery-81882%
