Acer d150 satellite navigation system review
May 10, 2006 acer, gps navigation, reviews
The d150 is Acer’s first foray into the standalone satellite navigation market. With establish brands such as Tom Tom and Navman, Acer certainly has its work cut out.
Below the 9cm touchscreen display sit six backlit control buttons and a navigation joystick. These have a positive feel, are well spaced and large enough to operate without error.
Volume controls sit to the left, map controls in the centre and home and navigation menu keys are on the right.
Unlike some skinny PDA-shaped GPS devices, the d150’s somewhat bootylicious form has a large rear end that, depending on the design of your car, can make dashboard placement somewhat tricky.
However, its solid form keeps the voice announcements from sounding tinny, although they occasionally distort at the highest volume.
Should you have a convenient space available, installation is very simple, using a level-operated suction cup and flexible mounting arm with a locking cradle.
An extra degree of freedom would have been useful and what appeared to be an extra arm section was included in the box, although there’s no mentioned of it in the instructions and is has no obvious use.
Built-in mp3 and photo viewer programs are also included, but we doubt many people would put them to good use.
If you do want to give them a go, media can be stored on the supplied 256MB SD card (with the UK maps installed there’s 71MB free) and played back using the on-screen controls.
Gonav S600A from Supa
May 10, 2006 gps navigation
Here is a simple navigator from Supa, a Taiwanese manufacturer. The S600A has the following specs:
Model:S600A
- Operating system: WindowsCE NET Version 4.2 edition
- CPU: Freescale DragonBall MC9328MX21 at 266MHz
- SDRAM: 64Mb
- Internal memory: 8Mb NOR Flash Memory For SD- BootLoader
- LCD:3.5 inch, 320*240 picture element, 26K color TFT with Touch Panel
- Battery: Rechargeable Li-Polymer 4.2V/1300mAH
- Memory slots: Supports SD /MMC Memory Card
- GPS Module: Uses the SiRF third generation high efficiency chip
- Pointing accuracy: 15M
- Receiver satellite quantity: up-to 20
- Dimensions: 120mm (L) x 87mm (W) x 21.5mm (D)
- Weight: 193g
Mio C810 with GPS
May 10, 2006 gps navigation, mio
Here’s the latest multifunction portable that won’t make its way out of Korea (hint: if you see DMB in the description, that’s usually the case): the Mio C810, a portable media player with a DMB receiver and GPS. The player has a 4.3-inch LCD, four-hour battery life, and supports multiple audio and video formats.
5 new HDD based navigation systems from Pioneer
May 10, 2006 gps navigation
Pioneer Corporation announced today its renewed lineup of the HDD-based CYBER NAVI car navigation series. The new lineup consists of five models: the AVIC-VH009MD, AVIC-VH009, AVIC-ZH009, AVIC-XH009, and AVIC-H009. The AVIC-VH009MD and AVIC-VH009 are 1-DIN+1-DIN DSP-control AV navigation auto servers with built-in 7-inch wide VGA touch-screen monitors. The AVIC-ZH009 is a 2-DIN DSP-control AV navigation auto server with a built-in 7-inch wide VGA touch-screen monitor. The AVIC-XH009 is a 1-DIN navigation auto server with an on-dash 7-inch wide VGA touch-screen monitor. The AVIC-H009 is a 1-DIN navigation auto server (without a monitor). These models will be available in between late May and late June, 2006 at suggested retail prices of 357,000 yen, 336,000 yen, 294,000 yen, 304,500 yen, and 210,000 yen (including tax), respectively.
Windows CE 6 Beta supports GPS
May 10, 2006 gps navigation
Microsoft has announced the availability of a beta release of Windows CE 6, the next generation real-time software used to build customised operating systems for devices such as Internet Protocol (IP) set-top-boxes, Global Positioning System (GPS)-based devices, and industrial automation and medical devices.
Microsoft said with the redesigned operating system (OS) kernel architecture, expanded capacity for simultaneous processes and a newly integrated tool set, Windows CE 6 will help device makers more quickly create devices that support a range of applications for high-demand categories.
With the update, the company has rolled out a plug-in for Visual Studio 2005. “With Windows CE 6, not only do we now have a single unified tool that allows us to develop software for embedded operating systems and applications, we have a more powerful and flexible kernel that serves as a platform for next-generation device requirements,” said Chris Tacke, Windows Embedded Most Valuable Professional, and principal partner at OpenNETCF Consulting LLC.
The beta release of Windows CE 6 is available to device makers, developers and partners at the Microsoft Mobile & Embedded DevCon 2006.
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