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Novogo S700 GPS navigation review

May 11, 2007 gps navigation, reviews 2 Comments

Novogo S700 just got reviewed by PCMag and it only received 3 out of 5. If you read the review you’ll see the product seems to do what it promises, which makes us think that it lost those 2 points due to features it never claimed it had, that being the text-to-speech feature.

Once you familiarize yourself with the menu system, the S700 is simple to use. Unfortunately, this GPS does not support text-to-speech conversion, so it won’t announce street names for you. My test unit also lacked the optional TMC traffic receiver, so I was unable to test the traffic feature. And although I did have the more expensive S700BT Bluetooth model, it was unable to discover my LG VX9900 phone. Routes generated were very similar to those of other units that use TeleAtlas maps, though the specific routes created did vary based on how the Method routing preference slider was set. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to select a specific street to avoid in the turn-by-turn list view.

Novogo is not currently available in the U.S. but expect to see them at stores in the near future selling the S700’s for about $400.

Novogo reveals X series

Mar 20, 2007 gps navigation 7 Comments

At CeBIT in Germany last week, Taiwanese manufacturer Novogo presented a new range of personal navigation devices: X series. These devices will be in supplement to the S700 and S700BT models we featured on Navigadget late last year.

The Novogo X series have a 4.3″ screen, hands free bluetooth kit, RDS/TMC traffic information receiver integrated into the windshield mount kit. The navigation software is from iGO.

We have no information on date or availability just yet. We’ll keep you posted… via

Novogo S700 review

Nov 10, 2006 gps navigation, reviews Leave a comment

The first reviews about Novogo’s S series started surface and the first one is on Novogo S700 from PCW magazine of the UK. It sounds like the reviewers like the GPS navigation capabilities of the device but they don’t necessarily recommend it for there are other brands offering more functions (such MP3 player and bluetooth) for the same or a lower price.

You have full control over elevation, viewing angle, and a number of displays from birds-eye-view to a close-up mode to help negotiate tricky junctions. There’s also an effective smart zoom control that allows you to set a maximum and minimum zoom distances and overhead view configuration, so if you prefer a certain type of display you can set things up just how you like them.

There are no additional features such as an mp3 player or currency/unit converter with the S700, but as a pure GPS device it shouldn’t steer many people wrong. The main problem is that there aren’t really many reasons to recommend this unit over cheaper alternatives.

In case you wondering Novogo S700 costs £270 ($515) where as a Navman F20 costs about £168 ($320 ).

Novogo S700, S700BT, S900BT

Oct 31, 2006 gps navigation 3 Comments

We’ve had couple of posts about the new Novogo S series. Just recently Novogo made the S series official by putting the new models up on their website. They introduced three new models: S700, S700BT, and S900BT. They look exactly the same from the outiside measuring 115 x 81 x 34 mm and a weighing merely 240 grams. Also common on all three models is the 3.5″ anti-glare touch screen LCD, SiRF Star III GPS receiver, and the rechargeable 1800mAh Li-Ion battery.

The difference is models with BT at the end include bluetooth hands-free functionality. Also the 900BT comes with an RDS/TMC traffic receiver which is optional on the 700 and the 700BT.

All S series uses an Intel processor running at 400MHz and come with an SD card whose size depends on what kind of maps you are getting. For I/O you also get a mini-USB port which you can connect to your home computer with.

A neat feature on all the devices is based on the time and position given by the GPS device, NOVOGO S series can calculate when the sun rises and sets at your current location and changes the day and night colors automatically.

Also for certain regions the S series can provide speed limit warning which already includes the information regarding the speed restrictions of most roads. This feature is able to warn you if you exceed the current limit and save you from driving too fast and speeding tickets. You can also customize the parameters used by the speed warning.