NaviGadget

Back at CES2007 Navigon was also promoting a new GPS navigation system called P9611, a colloboration between Navigon and Porsche. This system uses Navigon’s MobileNavigator Premium software which in our opinion looks better than any of the Garmin interfaces.

The hardware on the P9611 is also pretty impressive. It features a 4.3″ screen, bluetooth hands free communication support, 1400mAh Li-Ion battery.

You also get Zagat points of interest data pre-loaded. It’s not for sale anywhere yet but expected to be available in Summer
2007 for an MSRP of $899.

More features and pics after the jump…
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myPol is a GPS tracking system recently launched in Korea which lets you track anyone in real time. The device merely measures as small as 1/2 deck of cards. To track your child you need to login to emypol from which you can see your target move in real time and set perimeter just like most other tracking systems. The device is also equipped with a SOS button which when pressed will transmit your location to emergency response units as well as the person tracking. To make things easy myPol has a charger like most other cell phones.

myPol is only available in Korea. It costs 160000 KRW ($ 170) and a monthly subscription to the service is 9000 KRW ($ 10). If you are in the U.S you may consider this GPS child locator.

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A new site just launched this month, called locr, that lets you share your geotagged photos. Not only that but you can also view the map to browse the photos from a location of your choice. Once you do that you are also presented with other photos that were taken in locations nearby, even showing with a small arrow the direction in reference to your current position. The integration of Google Maps feels seamless and the rest of the user interface is very intuitive.

When it comes to tagging your photos with latitute and longtitude, locr makes it pretty easy too. You just have to pan / zoom around the map until you find your location and the put a marker. Once you do locr also shows you the closest address to your marker. Also, when available relevant location information on Wikipedia is attached to each photo automatically.

If you have your photos already geotagged you can use the client software to geotag and upload photos automatically. Clients for Windows Mobile and Symbian will follow soon.

JVC’s new navigation system for Europe, KV-PX70, got official today. The new navigation system features a wide 4.3″ wide touch screen, built-in TMC receiver, bluetooth support for hands-free phone calls and finally SD/MMC slot to bring and play your favorite photos or videos.

The KV-PX70 is not available in most online stores just yet, but you can pick one up for £380 from here. That comes out to be about €575, €75 more than what we thought it would cost. Help out other shoppers and let us know if you see the JVC KV-PX70 cheaper anywhere else. No need to register to comment.

If the do-it-yourself version of the GPS jammer is above your skills you may be interested in this GPS and GSM jammer. This GPS / GSM jammer plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car and gives your paronoid self a peace of mind. It is manufactured by a company in Netherlands called DetectNu, however it is not showing in their online shop at this moment.

The device is designed to prevent a GPS logger that may be implemented in your car to collect data and send it back to the base station.

Because GSM jammers will only prevent GPS/GSM tracking devices to communicate with the base station. The GPS/GSM devices are still able to receive and buffer all GPS positions. The tracking devices will still be able to send out all the GPS positions if the car or when the GSM jammer is shut down. So they can still see where you went that day.

Only GPS jammers will prevent the GPS loggers and GPS/GSM devices to get GPS positions from the Satellites. But they still can track you by the GSM network used by the GPS/GSM devices or track you by your mobile phone.

We have a no information on pricing or availability.

Today we are featuring an article from Phrack - an online hacker magazine. What we have is a do-it-yourself GPS jammer that can have a range of upto several hundred feet. Keep in mind this is not an easy hack - a bachelors in electrical engineering seems like a prerequisite.

The GPS band pass filter is a 2-pole Toko 4DFA-1575B-12 ceramic dielectric filter from Digi-Key[4], part number TKS2609CT-ND. This part is optional, but helps clean up the RF spectrum before further amplification. The filter’s insertion loss is around 2 dB.

The final RF amplifier is a WJ Communications AH102. It provides another 13 dB of gain, with a higher P1dB compression point of around +27 dBm (500 mW). The AH102 draws the most current of any part, and is not really necessary if you’re aiming for a low range, low current, battery operated device.

This hack is designed to be a low cost one, only using components you can easily find at a trip to Radio Shack. It targets the Global Positioning System (GPS/NAVSTAR) L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz. Also keep in mind this device will not work against the Russian GLONASS or European Galileo systems.

The GPS integrated HTC P3300 has proven to be a success so we thought we’d tell you about some of the features, point you to some good quality reviews, give you an idea how much it’ll cost you, and help you find where to get one.

Oh and in case you are a newbie and you want a one sentence description: The HTC P3300 is a PDA / cell phone that can do GPS navigation. And the rest of the key features are:

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push email
• TomTom NAVIGATOR 6
• Quad-Band EDGE/GPRS
• ROM 128MB, RAM 64MB
• 2.8 inch TFT LCD display
• 2.0 mega-pixel camera
• FM Radio
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• MicroSD

If you live in North America keep in mind that no service provider is offering this phone as of now (late Jan 2007). However you can still buy an unlocked version online and use it with T-Mobile or AT&T (that includes Cingular). Sprint, Verizon, etc. do not support unlocked phones.

If you live in Europe you’ll have many options since all the service providers are GSM. We’ll list a few online stores below.

The HTC P3300 comes pre-loaded with TomTom Navigator 6 software. However before you commit to buying one you need to decide which version you want. There are two:

• HTC P3300 with TomTom Navigator Taster Pack
• HTC P3300 with TomTom Navigator Premium Pack

The Taster pack gives you 1 free download for a city of your choice. However the premium pack comes with full Western Europe maps, a DVD with other applications and extras, 512MB microSD card, a car charger, car cradle, and an external GPS antenna. We’ll talk about the price difference and availability of maps later.

As far as reviews we’ve selected the following:

• HTC P3300 review (originally in French)
• Review of navigation communicator HTC P3300 (Artemis)
• HTC P3300 Artemis Pocket PC Phone
• Big review of HTC P3300 (code name Artemis)

OK before we go into pricing, the price difference between the Taster and the Premium versions is usually about £70. And say you want to buy it later from TomTom, then the price is £90. So you maybe better off getting the premium version (if in Europe). And what good is a GPS navigation system if you only have one city. But then again, not a lot of places offer the premium version.

Where to Buy - US (all Taster version)

• htcphonestore - $649
• importgsm - $609
• egadgetdepot - $589

Where to Buy - UK

• clove - £370 (premium) voucher code:NGHTC07
• clove - £315 (taster) voucher code:NGHTC07
• expansys - £315 (taster)
• globalpositioningsystems £382.94 (premium)
• supertrader - £318.72 (taster)

OK, enough with the pricing. You get the idea. And there’s always eBay too. About the maps - it looks like it doesn’t make sense to buy the premium version for U.S. You’ll have to buy Taster version and then get the maps from TomTom ($150).

Brunton Atlas is a handheld GPS receiver that only measures 5.6″ x 2.5″ x 0.9″ and weighs 4.9 oz. At first it may look like a boring gadget that only gives you coordinates and nothing else, but look carefully. We think the $160 price tag is well worth all the features you are getting.

First off you get a map of every major city, highway, river and lake in North America - already installed. Not enough? You can add more by plugging in an MMC card, and get everything from detailed world maps to the first GPS topographical data on a 1:24 USGS scale.

In addition to the expandable memory you can depend on Brunton Atlas to recall addresses and phone numbers of your favorite restaurants and points of interest.

Here are some of the other features:

• Antenna port for connecting optional external GPS+WAAS FA-8 antenna
• Built in background road map of U.S. and Hawaii
• Expandable mapping with optional Info & Topo memory cards available
• Download maps from MapCreate & TopoCreate electronic mapping programs
• Use for realtime communication with other mapping programs
• 40 map zoom ranges, 0.02 to 4,000 miles
• 8 megabyte internal memory
• Expandable memory with MMC/SD Cards
• Internal back-up memory
• Easy/Advanced operation mode
• Output NMEA 0183
• Easy scroll and point map cursor
• Waypoint Storage:1000
• Event Markers:1000
• Routes: 10/Reversible
• Up to 100 savable and retraceable plot trails, with up to 10,000 points in any trail
• One MMC/SD digital media memory ard slot for mapping and recording capabilities
• 4-level grayscale backlit display 1.7″ x 2.2″
• 160V x 120H display resolution - 19,200 total pixels
• Battery life continuous GPS Navigation up to 16hrs
• Batteries: 2AA

You can pick up Brunton Atlas GPS from Amazon.

Garmin’s eTrex is a simple handheld GPS receiver that can be purchased for under $100. Well GolfLogix and Garmin came together to create this device - which is pretty much an eTrex painted in green with some software that can manage golf course data - and put a $350 price tag on it.

Here are some of the features:

• Instant distances to the front, center and back of the greens plus all hazards
• Auto-advances to each target on the course for completely hands-free use so there is no need for complex button layouts to learn or lasers to point during your round
• A large LCD screen (1.25″ wide x 2.25″ tall)
• Personalized name on main screens for security and anti-theft
• Excellent visibility in direct sunlight with adjustable screen contrasts
• Backlight screen setting for dark playing conditions
• Completely waterproof case (submersible)
• Shock-proof and impact resistant for rugged outdoor use
• Displays in Yards or Meters
• Up to 22-hour battery life
• 12-channel GPS receiver with precise accuracy (+/- 2 yards)
• Holds multiple golf course maps
• Thousands of worldwide golf courses available to download
• Free golf course download included with purchase
• Unlimited worldwide golf course downloads are available with $29.95 annual membership!

ForeFront will be the exclusive distributor of GolfLogix; however you will have to wait until March to get one.

Adding GPS tracking system to shoes seem to be the trend for 2007. Earlier this month we reported on another pair of GPS shoes. The same idea is being implemented by California based company called GTX Corporation. We do not know how much these will cost however it does sound like GTX will be using the Cingular network to transmit location data.

The GPS receiver on-board is from Marlin and it does support A-GPS meaning that it will get help from cellular towers to pinpoint its location - even when indoors.

Some of the features that come with the shoes is Dual GeoFencing, which allows perimeters of either safe zones or un-safe zones to be preset by caretakers, who will receive cell phone alerts if a perimeter is breached by the wearer. Another feature is the intelligent power source (1350mAh) that can last days before requiring a recharge and transmit its signal strength over the air, which enables a guardian not only to track a loved one but also track the performance and status of the device.

We’ll be sure to follow this story and give you updates as more info becomes available.

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