NaviGadget

If you don’t care about fancy colorful maps and don’t have more than 1DIN space in your dashboard MS400 navigation radio from VDO Dayton may just be the solution for you. MS4400 features dual RDS tuners so you can still enjoy your regular radio stations while still benefiting from TMC information.

The high resolution 260 x 100 dot matrix screen is capable of displaying both audio info next to your next turn displayed with some simple graphics. It can speak 9 languages in 20 different voices and keep 200 locations in its address book.

MS4400 also is an audio/MP3 player and most importantly it lets you play your CDs or audio files while navigating. It has a max. power rating of 4 x 55 Watts which can be controlled with a 5 channel equalizer and can automatically adjust the volume depending on your speed.

There’s only one problem with MS4400. We don’t where it’s sold or how much. We’d appreciate it if our readers could help us here.

Clarion is getting ready release a high end in-dash infotainment system called MAX9700DT. It will be available in Japan for 341,250 Yen ($2850) in late June of this year.

MAX9700DT boasts a 7″ widescreen LCD display and fits in a 2DIN slot. The features of this expensive system from Clarion are plenty but some of the more important ones are:

• 1-seg TV tuner for broadcasts tailored for mobile devices
• digital tuner for picking up all free stations
• navigation system can communicate with digital TV channel broadcasts to direct to certain shops

That’s not all! Clarion MAX9700DT comes with a 40GB HDD as well as a DVD player and has support for ATRAC, WMA, MP3 as well as many other audio formats. Not to mention, with a proper cable it can bring up a user interface to control any kind of iPod.

It takes SD and Memory Stick and even a MiniDisc. AM/FM is standard… via

Now you have more than ever reasons to believe you’re being followed. Thanks to a new patent pending technology by BlueSkyPositioning we are one step closer to having a GPS chip inside every cell phone - as long as they take SIM cards. The key point here is their proprietary antenna design that is embedded in the SIM card itself. Just so you know this is not your regular GPS chip. It is an assisted GPS chip that relies on your cellular network for a faster position fix.

No software or hardware changes are needed for legacy handsets. The A-GPS SIM supports E-112 and E-911 Emergency Call Positioning and enables SIM, Mobile and Network based LBS applications. It’s faster, it’s targeted, and it costs the operator a small fraction of the cost of a new handset.

The new startup company is in a great position since all EU countries will soon pass a law that requires network providers to locate the position of handsets in case of emergency calls.

Following publication of a significantly strengthened EU directive, expected later this year, EU member countries will have just 18 months to implement a law requiring operators to identify the precise location of callers to the E-112 emergency services, potentially to an accuracy level of just a few metres. Similar to the E-911 legislation in the US, the new law is designed to improve emergency services’ reaction and response times due to improved location accuracy and therefore increase levels of public safety. However, over 50 per cent of emergency calls in the EU are made from mobile phones – and current network-based positioning technologies on the market cannot provide the degree of accuracy required.

We’d buy their stock.

If you are looking for a basic GPS navigation system for less than $200 PIVA PNS350 may be the right gadget for you. It covers all the basics such as the usual 3.5″ touch screen and the 1GB SD card loaded with maps of 48 U.S. states. It provides turn by turn voice prompts in English, Spanish, and French, and comes with software to play your MP3’s and display your photos.

• 12 parallel channels Receiver
• Samsung 266Mhz CPU
• 64 MB SDRAM + 32 MB Flash ROM
• 3.5-inch 65K Colors TFT LCD with touch panel
• SD/MMC memory slot for map expansion
• Built-in 2 W speaker
• Built-in GPS antenna
• WinCE.NET 4.2
• Up to 10 hours Battery Life (Rechargeable Internal Lithium-polymer battery 2200 mAh )

Currently on sale at NewEgg for $189.

Trimble just introduced a budget GPS-enabled data collection handheld running Windows Mobile 5.0. The Juno ST GPS/GIS (Geographic Information System) mainly targets enterprises and government organizations that need a handheld positioning system for collecting data in the field.

The Juno ST handheld is ideal for utility companies, government organizations, and agencies that are managing large deployments and tight budgets. In applications such as forestry mapping and workforce automation, where accuracy may be less important, and high productivity is essential, the Juno ST handheld is ideal. Incorporating a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, it has been specifically designed to maximize yield of positions in hostile environments, such as under forest canopy and up against buildings.

Juno ST features a 2.8-inch full-color QVGA (240 x 320 pixel), backlit touchscreen display and is powered by a 300MHz Samsung S3C2442 processor. It’s comes with 64MB of DRAM and 128MB of non-volatile flash data storage memory, and an SD card slot for memory expansion. In terms of connectivity you got WiFi and Bluetooth, along with a USB “slave” port; a microphone and speaker are also provided.

The Juno ST is expected to be available this May. We’re not sure what this low-cost device is going to cost just yet.

According to a study at Swedish Defence Research Agency a modern day computer can interfere with your GPS reception and cause it to behave awkwardly or not work at all.

Using a computer in a car, plane, boat, or anywhere a GPS system is used, can mean that the sat-nav device starts working incorrectly. Many modern processors with high clock frequencies - such as those from Intel with frequencies of 1.7GHz, 2.992GHz and 3.2GHz - have been highlighted as possible sources of interference.

Good news is you have no reason to use a sat nav device next to your desktop computer, and most laptops stay under 2GHz anyways. If you still experience problems just try to increase the distance between two devices. Or just have some aluminum foil ready.

Our source goes as far as saying that on one flight all GPS equipment failed to function after a passenger used their cell phone mid-air. We would love to hear from our readers who use their cell phone next to their sat nav systems. Or it could be your wife talking on the phone and you driving. Who cares as long as there’s a call and the GPS is on. Did you ever experience an interference? No need to register to leave a comment.

ETEN has just passed its FCC requirements for glofiish M700+, bringing it one step closer to coming out in U.S. with a service provider (already out in Europe: M700+ for £499, and M700 for £295). We have yet no solid info how the “+” will add new functionality but if they follow the same pattern as in 600 series, it should have more memory, a better digital camera, and new software.

LG’s new navigation system LN-735 that was announced back in January at CES2007 has already started to appear in stores. One of those stores is Amazon, offering the new LN735 for $350.

Here are some of the specs:

• 3.5″ TFT LCD PND, Slim and Compact Design
• 3hr Battery Life
• Text to Speech
• 2GB Built in Flash Memory
• 7M POIs, Pre-loaded US & Canada MAP

If you want something more advanced we suggest you look into LG LN-740. LN740 sell for $450. Or if you want to head the other direction check out LN-730 which is only going to cost $300. Keep in mind LG LN-730 only comes with 1GB SD card - which translates to several millions less POIs.

VXA3000 from Plenio is a nicely built navigation system with a 7″ touch screen. If you lived in Korea this system would include a DMB receiver but here in the U.S. you get the stripped down version in low $400’s.

The aux ports on the VXA3000 allows you to utilize the large screen by DVD players and gaming devices. If you don’t want to hook up an external device just bring your SD card with you and insert it into VXA3000 for it has a built-in media player. Thanks to the FM transmitter you can also utilize your cars stereo for audio.

Has anybody seen a 7″ sat nav cheaper than this?

FineDrive just recently revealed their latest 7″ GPS navigation system which boasts a really slim body and the ability to receive TPEG broadcasts as well as DMB channels.

Some other specs include:

• 480 x 234 resolution
• LED-backlit LCD display
• NIP (Navigation In Picture)
• 25-mm (1-inch) thick body
• SD card
• 800mA
• supports: MPEG-4, DivX, WMV video and MP3, WMA, and WAV audio

It will cost about 440,000 South Korean Wons ($430)… via