NaviGadget

Those who’ve been waiting for the SPV M700, namely the Orange version of the HTC P3600, will be glad to learn that it will be available next week in the Orange/France Telecom shops.

The price with subscription will be lower than 250€ Euros according to Orange.

One thing to note is that P3600 does not use a GPS SiRF III chip but another kind made by Qualcomm which also manufactures the 3G chip of P3600.

The Qualcomm GPS chip is compatible with technology A-GPS making it possible to download the predictions of current satellite positions that are transmitted to the user in the data message in order to have a very short time to fix. It should be known that this chip GPS can also function in autonomous mode without A-GPS like a traditional GPS receiver.

But following problems of compatibility between the 3G chip and the GPS chip, HTC shut-down the GPS chip on the P3600 saying that “a simple” software corrective measure would be enough to reactivate the chip. This corrective measure will probably be ready for the beginning of 2007.

The future will tell us if HTC will succeed in solving this GPS problem of P3600 and we’ll be sure to let you know.

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There’s a new name in the GPS sat nav market today. It is Axion with their Geo-632. Geo-632, their one and only GPS system so far features a 3.5″ touch screen, maps of North America loaded on an SD card, optional MP3 and JPEG support, and pedestrian mode for portable handheld use.

The device runs on a Centrality AT260B processor, and comes with 32MB flash memory. It has a powerful 2700mAh Li-Ion rechargeable battery that can last up to 10 hours on a single charge. Axion Geo-632 uses the latest SiRF Star III chipset.

You can pick up the new Axion Geo-632 from Amazon for $260.

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Road Angel Mobile is a British company that designs GPS applications for the Nokia Symbian S60 to keep you out of trouble. When you combine your Nokia Symbian S60 enabled phone (coupled with a bluetooth GPS receiver) with their software they promise to warn you with visual and audible alerts for all Fixed Safety Cameras, Temporary Roadworks Cameras, Average Speed Monitoring sections (SPECS), Accident Blackspots, Primary Schools and Congestion Charging Zones in the UK.

The application costs £5 (currently free with 2 day trial) per handset and phone number, however it is a subscription service so you’ll have to pay another £1.50 every week. The subscription gives you access to all the updates using the GPRS connection. Currently the compatible handsets are Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, N70, N72,and Nokia N90.

In addition to warning against speed cameras, Road Angel can also alert you whenever you are over the speed limit. You can set this limit somewhere between 20MPH and 115MPH.

Give us a comment if you’ve used this service. We would like to know how well it works.

The GPS tracker AS-19B we reported a while ago just got its first review. To refresh your memory the GSM + GPS enabled tracker receives location info through the GPS module and transmits this data to a predetermined phone number using GSM networks.

In Netherlands where it’s just been released the GPS tracker comes with a built in SIM card featuring mobile subscription in order to send SMS containing information about it’s position.

Using variety of methods you can trace the position of the GPS Tracker yourself or you can be automatically informed every time it changes the position, by activating the park mode. You receive then a message containing the position of the GPS Tracker, completed with the GPS coordinates on the digital maps which are included by the GPS software, which you install on your GSM.

The device costs a whopping 1079 Euros, however you can justify the purchase to your wife by telling her how much of a discount you’ll get with your car insurance.

TeleNav last week announced that their GPS Navigator service is now available for Palm Treo 680 smartphone for $10 per month. For this price you get unlimited turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions, pedestrian mode for use while walking, full-color moving maps, information and directions to more than 10 million business listings including frequently updated fuel prices.

This is a good option for those who do not want to carry an extra gadget for navigation with them and for people whose phone bill is paid for by someone else.

Other features of the TeleNav GPS Navigator include previewing routes before beginning to drive, ability to find various businesses such as restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, ATMs, etc and call their phone number without having to go through the 411 service. The software also lets you enter addresses in four different ways: keypad, dictate with voice recognition, pick a destination from BizFinder or plan your trip on telenav.com.

Spot Marker sounds like a handy tool. You can for example mark the spot where you parked car in a large lot or an unfamiliar downtown street.

Included also in the monthy fee is automatic map updates.

If not you can always go with Google Maps on your Treo.

The French now have access to the Mappy Iti GPS navigation device for 299 € ($400) that features 2 processors. The price is available until January 10 and 350€ afterwards.

• Display: 4.3″ touchscreen, TFT LCD with 16 million colors at 480 x 272 resolution
• Receiver: Integrated GPS
• Maps zones: Tele Atlas maps of France
• Weight: 220 gr with batteries
• Dimensions: 132×75x19.5mm
• Power: Lithium-ion battery (3 hours with navigation, 2 hours with video and music)
• Processor: 2 x 200MHz Magic Eyes MMSP2
• Memory: 128 Mo RAM + 32 Mo ROM
• GPS: SiRFstarIII
• POI: 270,000 in over 60 categories
• Multimedia support: XVID, DivX3, DivX4, DivX5, MPG, MPEG1, MPEG4 SP, WMV7, WMV8, WMV9, AVI, ASF and MP3

You can look at a review here and even read it if you know French. Also visit http://gps.mappy.com/ for more info.

Asus just introduced its GPS-enabled Pocket PC Phone P535 in Taiwan.

We don’t have too much new info on top what we already talked about but the new P535 is tri-band GSM GPRS (900/1800/1900 MHz) device that runs Windows Mobile 5.0 on a 520 MHz Intel XScale processor. It comes with 64 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM.

The form factor is just the same as a PDA, that comes with a 2.8-inch color QVGA screen, micro-SD card slot, and Bluetooth 2.0 (with EDR) short-range wireless networking. Other features include integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), SiRFStar III GPS receiver with TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 mapping software, and a 2-megapixel camera with autofocus.

The Asus P535 measures 105 x 58 x 15 mm, and weighs 140 grams. It is equipped with a 1300 mAh battery unit.

via and pdalive

The new N903i from NEC features a big 2.5″ TFT LCD, and GPS capability. The phone also supports 2GB microSD memory cards.

The N903i comes in white, blue and orange, and the LCD screen can offer 480×690 pixel resolution

Mobilewhack says there’s no word on the pricing, but it should be out soon.

For more info grab your Japanese friend and visti NEC N903i site.

Bushnell’s other addition to their GPS lineup is the ONIX 200 and ONIX 200CR. The main difference between the two is the CR model has a 320 x 240 pixel full-color LCD screen where as the bare 200 has a 160 x 240-pixel 16-level gray screen. Both of the devices are capable of screen layering where you can layer a satellite image, aerial photo or topographic map, plus all navigational aids in perfect harmony on a single screen.

Before you get too excited about the satellite imagery you should read the fine print though. You can only store 12 images at a time:

The ONIX200 series unit will store up to 12 photography (satellite or aerial) downloads at one time. Choose images of the same land at different levels of zoom, or broaden your coverage area by storing photos of separate areas.

So if you want more satellite imagery coverage you should look into Lowrance 600c which has a nice big 30GB HDD.

Not to mention you are going to have to buy your satellite imagery from the Bushnell store for one dollar each image, or for an unlimited annual subscription of $80.

On the bright side though the ONIX’s work on 2AA batteries and can last as much 26 hours on them.

With its patented SafeTrack™ operating mode, battery life on two “AA” batteries is greatly extended up to 26 hours. The exclusive SafeTrack feature lets the GPS receiver continue to monitor your travels while operating in a sleep mode to conserve battery life. In the SafeTrack sleep mode, power is conserved in several ways. First, by slowing the frequency of satellite signal acquisition, the Onix GPS receivers maintain active tracking with minimal power. SafeTrack also puts the LCD screen to sleep. However, users can check the status of the unit by referring to an LED light on top of the unit. A green light indicates that the unit has a satellite lock and that the user is on track to a destination or waypoint. A red light alerts the user to loss of satellite signal or the need to check course direction. The SafeTrack mode also allows users to set audible alarms to alert them to arrival at a destination or for course correction in following a route.

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Bushnell just recently entered the car navigation system market with its NAV 500 featuring a SiRF Star III chipset. The NAV 500 is quite compact measuring less than 1 inch in depth. It comes with a 3.5-inch color LCD touch screen display and has built-in maps for the U.S. and Canada with unidentified number of POIs. There’s an empty SD slot but we are not sure if the NAV 500 has internal memory so you can free the SD slot for your music and pictures. Otherwise you are going to have to store your multimedia files on the same 1.5GB SD card as the maps. Needless to say the NAV 500 also functions as an MP3 player and image viewer.

The NAV500 comes with seven different navigating modes to best suit your travel needs. For pedestrians there is a mode that specifically enables guidance for walking routes in urban areas. The NAV 500 offers WAAS capability for optimum accuracy and features the technology advanced Star III chipset from SiRF Technology Holdings. It comes ready to use out of the box with a versatile mounting system that will work in most vehicles. Other accessories include the A/C charger, car charger and case. Suggested retail on the NAV 500 is $599. It will be available at Bushnell retailers in November 2006.

press release (pdf)