NaviGadget

leather case for mio H610

Jun 1, 2007 gps navigation, mio, misc news 2 Comments

Noreve USA is one of the few companies that bother to make cases for GPS navigation devices. One of their cases is specially designed for the highly portable Mio H610 which we have featured many times on Navigadget.

This Mio H610 case allows for access to basic functions and has a slim but padded design. The opening flap just snaps into place with magnetic forces and it also provides storage for one SD card. It also supports a removable metal belt clip that can swivel 360 degrees.

Mio unveils C317 (for Korea)

Apr 23, 2007 gps navigation, mio 6 Comments

Mio unveiled a new GPS navigation with a DMB receiver for watching TV. But they didn’t stop there; they also threw in DMB recording capability. The new Mio C317 has a spacious 4.3″ screen and it features a SiRF Star III GPS receiver for navigation. As far as TV goes, you can, thanks to PIP (picture in picture), view it while navigating. The only downside is the fact that there’s no HDD on board so you’re gonna have to rely on some high capacity SD/MMC cards (supports upto 8GB) to store your favorite show.

Mio C317 integrates a 2100mAh battery that should last around 5.5 hours for navigation, and 4 hours for TV watching.

Then only Mio’s available on Amazon these days are the Mio C310x, Mio H610, Mio P550, Mio C220, Mio C710, and Mio 269. No news on whether C317 will ever make it to North America or Europe… via

Nokia N95 does GPS too – but is it worth your money?

Mar 23, 2007 gps navigation, nokia, phones 15 Comments

As you may have already heard Nokia started shipping its first GPS integrated Nseries phone N95. We’re not sure if the N95 will fly off the shelves with its 550€ ($730) price tag but it may well be worth the price if it does a decent job at all (or most) of its features.

First off it is a 5MP digital camera (if only it had optical zoom…) with Carl Zeiss optics and Tessar lens – the stuff Sony uses in their CyberShot series. These days a standalone 5MP digital camera with that lens should cost at least $200 (guessing here). See the full-size photo captured by N95 – and decide for yourself; not our area of expertise. Nokia also says N95 can shoot DVD quality videos. Again watch these sample videos and see for yourself.

Secondly it is an MP3 player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, and M4A formats. It also does playlists. If you’re not an audiophile it should definitely do the trick. The only issue here is memory: The N95 takes microSD cards but only supports upto 2GB. We could compare it with a 2GB iPod Nano which costs $150, but that’s not fair for the N95 because Nokia threw in an FM radio, something Apple hasn’t managed to do for years now. But anyhow, you can pick up an 2GB MP3 player for $80 or so.

Obviously the N95 is also a phone. It is a tri-band GSM phone that supports high speed networks such as EDGE and WCDMA 2100 (HSDPA) and has a large 2.6″ TFT display with ambient light detector. It also has integrated wireless LAN (802.11 b/g) for web browsing and more and also includes bluetooth wireless. Let’s say you can get such a phone for $300 – a low estimate.

OK, now the fun part. The Nokia N95 is also a personal navigation device. It has an integrated GPS chip inside. It comes with maps of 150 major cities around the world and you can add more from smart2go, a service launched by Nokia earlier this year. To compare the value of the GPS system included in N95, you can compare it with maybe Mio H610 or Pocket LOOX N100 since they have a similar screen size. These devices range from upper $300’s to $500. But you’re not getting anything decent for less than $300.

We’re not sure what brand of GPS chip Nokia put inside N95, but the fact that it is hidden underneath a layer of plastic is going to increase its time-to-first-fix. It may take upto a minute or even more. However once that’s done it should be good. And if you’re not happy with the navigation software you can install a new one yourself or just point your browser to Google Maps which loads the maps and the directions in real time, including live traffic info. What else are you going to use that 3Mbps download speed anyways?

So if you add all that money spent on separate devices ($200+$80+$300+$300) it costs a lot more than the price of an N95 ($730). Yes we know our math and logic was extremely fuzzy but we just wanted to give you an idea. We think the N95 is a good deal. While Europeans can enjoy N95 starting this week, us North Americans will have to wait.

We’d love to hear what you think. How do you think the Nokia N95 compares to the iPhone?

Mio Digiwalker H610 review

Feb 19, 2007 gps navigation, mio 2 Comments

Mio’s smallest hanheld GPS navigation system Digiwalker H610 got reviewed and got 4 out 5 stars (circles to be exact).

Measuring just 2.3 by 3.4 by 0.7 inches and weighing a mere 3.9 ounces, the H610 packs plenty of features into the tiniest unit on the market. Of course, in a GPS device, that biggest asset could also be its largest liability. The 320- by 240-pixel touch screen is only a small 2.7 inches. Also, without a text-to-speech engine that pronounces street names, the tiny screen size definitely makes it less usable as a dashboard-mounted GPS. But that’s not the only target market for the H610. Because the device features both bicycle and pedestrian guidance profiles, the smaller screen is less of a liability than if it were a dedicated dashboard device. Even so, I found it quite usable in my road tests, especially after I placed the unit closer to me by mounting it fairly high up on the windshield.

Reviewers liked almost everthing about the H610, even including the media players that they’re always so picky about. The only downside was the side of the size of the screen (2.7″) they say. You can buy the Mio H610 from Amazon for $380.

Mio C510E

Feb 16, 2007 gps navigation, mio 2 Comments

Mitac Mio’s newest GPS navigation system C510E is now being shown on their website. Included in this version is the new mapping software called V3 which offers great 3D rendering capabilities. However fast you scroll, pan, turn or zoom, the map retains the same high quality throughout. (check out the demo video)

When you buy the Mio C510E you’ll be using TeleAtlas maps. Included in the flash memory is the detailed maps of one region, and the major roads of Europe. However on the DVD (that comes with it) you’ll find maps of 24 European countries.

Europeans are becoming more and more experienced at avoiding speed cameras. The Mio C510E too offers safety camera warnings. You can download these locations from Mio’s website after you register with them. Free for a whole year.

Also let’s not forget about the hands-free bluetooth calling features of the C510E. They have a list of compatible phones too.

You can pick up the Mio C510E for £143 (£168.02 inc VAT). The only Mio available in the U.S. is Mio C310x and Mio H610.

Mio H610 review with video

Sep 28, 2006 gps navigation, mio, reviews Leave a comment

Another great review saying only the nicest things about the Mio H610. The H610, aside from a GPS navigation system also functions as a media player as well as a gaming device. Fast graphic processing capabilities combined with ‘anti-aliasing’ technique, and you have great looking maps (or games) on the 2.7″ color display. Weighing only 110 grams and measuring 2.32″ x 3.35″ x 0.74″ the H610 is truly a pocket sized system that can provide hours of entertainment thanks to its long lasting battery and 400MHz processor.

The H610 will be available as soon as October 2006 and should cost about $500.

The Mio H610 is the coolest GPS that we’ve played with so far. If you have a good vision it will be a great companion in the car and elsewhere. If not, you can still use it in “pedestrian mode”. Its navigational skills would almost make us forget that it is also a good flash-based Portable Media Player. What is certain is that the Mio H610 is a desirable gadget: virtually every person who touched it said: “I want one!”.

Video after the jump…
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mio H610 gets internantional design award

Sep 11, 2006 gps navigation, mio Leave a comment

Mio’s latest GPS device H610 has been awarded an International Design prize by the iF Design Committee, China.

The H610 is a stylish and lightweight handheld device (not a PDA!) with a 2.7 inch touch screen and comes with two inter changeable covers that can be used to reflect the owner’s outfit or mood.

H610 comes with the latest MioMap v3 navigation software and the latest maps of 24 European countries from Tele Atlas. The device also offers speed camera warnings, pedestrian and cycling navigation modes, etc.

The reason you can’t call H610 a PDA is because other than GPS navigation you can only use it for other time wasting activities such as photo viewing, playing games, listening MP3s (up to 17 hours of playback on one charge) and watching videos. No functionality to get serious work done.

But on the other side there are some useful extras such as WorldMate software pre-installed providing local information on weather, currency conversion in real time, measurements and dialling codes.

The H610 has the capacity of up to 1 GB of photos, music and or video in the internal memory; 4 GB more can be added with a standard SD/MMC card.

The H610 will be launched in Europe in October. As yet no pricing information is available.

Mio H610 specs

Jun 23, 2006 gps navigation, mio 2 Comments

The H610 was announced in March this year, but information on it was sketchy. Luckily last night we were given more information on it and allowed some hands-on time.

The H610 features maps of 24 European countries pre-installed on 2GB of flash memory, with around 1GB left over for personal use. It runs on a 400MHz processor and according to Mio has an impressive 18 hour battery life. It also has a 320 by 240pixel screen that displays 65,000 colours, MMC/SD memory card slot, an MP3 player, video player and Mio’s WorldMate travel application. It’s still being tweaked for the H610, but WorldMate will feature helpful extras for travellers, such as dictionaries and currency converters.

We were really impressed with the H610’s size, it felt light and as you can see fit perfectly in the palm of our hands. It’s also very attractive and has an iPod-esque look to it, with its white case and smooth curves. We were told it will be available later this summer but pricing is being kept under wraps. Expect a full review soon.

H610 Handhel Navigation System Specs

• Description: The groundbreaking H610 is an ultra-compact satellite navigation tool that also packs media playing functionality. The
  SD/MMC slot ensures that thousands of songs, hours of video, and large detailed maps can be stored in your pocket. Find restaurants in waling distance, play MP3s, watch TV shows, all from an intuitive touchscreen interface.
• Operating System: Windows CE .Net 4.2
• Display: 2.7 TFT with touchscreen / 65k colors / QVGA – 240×320 pixels / Portrait Orientation
• Memory: On-board large 2G flash memory with 64MB SDRAM, SD/MMC compatible expansion slot
• GPS: 20 channel SiRFstar III
• TMC Support: Optional (external TMC antenna)
• USB: v1.1
• Speaker/Earphone: Built-in Speaker / 3.5 mm Earphone mini-jack
• Battery: 1300 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery
• Dimensions: 85 x 59 x 18.8mm (2.32″ x 3.35″ x 0.74″)
• Weight: 110g (3.88oz)

via

CeBIT 2006: Mio launch 6 new GPS units including A701

Mar 10, 2006 gps navigation, mio, phones Leave a comment

Navigadget had a few posts about the Mio A701, Mio268, and Mio 269, and the rest such as C710, C510E, C210, P550, P350 and H610, but I guess the news is now official.

Mio, has launched six new satellite navigation devices at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany hoping to offer something for everyone.

The new range includes models with integrated Traffic Message Channel (TMC) service, speed camera alerts, navigation to Outlook contacts and Bluetooth hands-free calling as well as the latest 20 channel SiRFstar III GPS receiver. The new range also sees the launch of Mio Map version 3.

The flagship model is the Mio A701, a phone, office and sat-nav in the palm of your hand. The phone is a fully-functional tri-band/GPRS Windows PDA phone with a 2.7 inch TFT touch screen, Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera alongside the SiRFstar III GPS receiver.

Specs include a 520 MHz Intel processor, 192 MB of internal memory with expansion to 2 GB with standard SD or MMC memory cards, 4 hours talktime, up to 200 hours standby, simultaneous calling and navigation with MioMap v2, one touch calling of points of interest (restaurants, cinemas etc.) and for the geeks out there the ability to text GPS co-ordinates. The Mio A701 with cost £649 and be available in March.

The Mio C710 features maps of 24 European countries pre-installed on the internal 2GB flash memory while, cross-border route planning and navigation, integrated TMC receiver, MP3 player, Photo viewer and distance/weight/currency converter/calculator and built-in Bluetooth.

The C510E will offer maps of one region and major roads of Europe pre-installed on internal memory; package contains maps of 24 European countries on DVD, optional TMC receiver accessory, and built-in Bluetooth

The Mio C210 comes with the SiRFstar III GPS receiver, a 400Mhz processor and touch screen destination entry and is the company’s entry level device. Maps of one region and major roads of Europe preinstalled on internal flash memory of 512 MB

Based on the A201, the company has launched two new PDA products; the Mio P550/P350. The P550 includes Wi-Fi connectivity and Skype pre-installed, while both feature Bluetooth. Like the other models in the range both feature a 400Mhz processor and the SiRFstar III GPS receiver

The Mio P550 and Mio P350 are available in April and will cost £369 and £269 respectively.

The Mio C210, Mio C710 and Mio C510E will be available in May and cost £299, £549 and £399 respectively… via

With Mio C710, C510E, C210, P550, P350 and H610, Mio renews its range of PND and Pocket PC GPS SiRFStar III

Feb 20, 2006 gps navigation, mio 3 Comments

(babelfish translated from French…)The MiTAC manufacturer is on the point of marketing not less than 4 new PND like 2 Pocket PC equipped with an integrated receiver GPS. If those are already revealed in images and design features on the site of official of Mio reserved for the press, it will be necessary to wait the next month so that they are presented at the time of the CeBIT living room of Hanover.

In the category of the new products of the type PND, i.e. princpalement dedicated to navigation GPS, four new products are thus revealed with Mio C710, Mio C510E, Mio C210 and Mio H610. It should be noted that these the first three PND have one year a free subscription making it possible to have access an updated data base of radars.

The first two PND, namely Mio C710 and Mio C510E have a nearly identical form Factor and close technological functionalities with a system Windows EC net 4.2, a chip GPS SiRFStar III, a Bluetooth connector industry integrated associated a microphone – allowing to have functions of kit free hand – as well as numerical charts of TeleAtlas.

Concerning the differences between these two models, Mio C710 integrates a receiver TMC for information traffic in real time as of the charts of 25 countries of Europe while Mio C510E integrates only numerical charts of a chart of area and principal roads of Europe.

Another next PDN of MiTAC, this time of entry of range, names Mio C210 and always has a system Windows EC Net 4.2, of a chip GPS SiRFStar III, numerical charts TeleAtlas of an area as well as principal roads of Europe.

For its part, Mio H610 is a multi-media PND under Windows EC net with a numerical chip GPS SiRFStar III and charts Tele Atlas of the 25 countries of Europe. This PND is announced like having advanced functions of reading of vidéos and numerical musics and has tourist guides as well as endurance record 17 hour old in mode of listening of musics MP3.

In more of these PND, they are also two Pocket PC GPS, successors of Mio A201, who are announced and who have same form Factor with Mio P550 and Mio P350.

Mio P550 has of a chip GPS SiRFStar III, a system Windows Mobile 5, a processor given rhythm to 400 MHz, of a port for memory board SD/MMC and finally a double connector industry without wire Bluetooth and Wifi. Moreover, this Pocket PC is announced as being compatible with all the software of navigation GPS of the market and will possèdera the characteristic to integrate out of standard the software of voice on IP Skype.

For its part, Mio P350 is a version reduced of P550, with like principal difference an absence in connector industry Wifi and Bluetooth.

While waiting for an official presentation of these products at the time of next CeBIT of Hanover in Mars, some webzine foreign gives already additional semi-official information on these products, mainly on the level of their prices of marketing. It comes out from it as well as the PND Mio C510 would be available for a price of 399 €uros while the PND Mio C210 for its part would be marketed at the price of 299 €uros.

Proposing until prèsent only some products of the type PND (Mio 268 and Mio 269+) or of type Pocket PC GPS (Mio 168, Mio A201), the MiTAC Taiwanese is thus on the point of marketing soon not less than six models different of terminals dedicated to navigation GPS.

Remain to know if the strategy marketing which consists in flooding the market of new products to make known the Mio mark mainly in Europe will be paying where if it will lead the company in the long term to be restructured to market only the most profitable products. via mobinaute