NaviGadget

We’re sure you’ve heard of stories of huge trucks trying to drive through tiny towns, or hitting overhead bridges because of blindly following their GPS navigation systems.

Pronav is here to fix those problems with maps and data designed for oversize vehicles. It considers your vehicle’s dimensions, as well as any legal or road network restrictions.

You actually enter your vehicle’s dimensions including; width, height, weight, weight per axle and length, as well the goods you are carrying (normal, corrosive/explosive) and ProNav will calculate a route optimized to your vehicles parameters and ensure you are not confronted with any restrictions that are not suitable for your vehicle or cargo.

In addition it can provide warning information such steep hills, sharp bends, and even crosswind areas.

The device is currently only available in the U.K. and comes with comprehensive database of London loading bays (including red route bays) which you can easily find around your destination and route directly to. Also included is a database of London cafes that serve breakfast for under £5, as well as a national database of HGV gas stations.

A nice final touch is that you can switch your ProNav into a regular GPS navigation system to provide you with regular street level navigation where you can’t go with your truck… read »

Trimble today introduced a thumbnail-sized, surface-mount, high sensitivity GPS receiver called Copernicus II. The idea with Copernicus II is to enable manufacturers to easily integrate GPS to a mobile device with minimal impact on its size or battery life at a very economical price. The new module can be used in portable handheld, battery-powered applications such as Bluetooth appliances, sport accessories, personal navigators or cameras.

Copernicus II features a 12-channel GPS receiver in a 19mm x 19mm x 2.5mm form factor and can be sensitive to detect signals even at -160dBm. It consumes 120 milliwatts of power on average when continuous tracking so it is pretty energy efficient too.

The Copernicus II GPS receiver is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2008.

Palm Treo 800w is the new GPS enabled handheld out there. Even though its only rumors so far the expected specs are as follows:

• 320×320 screen
• 400mhz CPU
• 128mb of RAM, 256mb of ROM
• EVDO REV-A
• GPS enabled
• integrated wi-fi
• bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• 2.0MP digital camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

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THP2 Personal Training System from Nury Tech of Korea is just what the name suggest it is. A digital and wireless personal training system. It contains a GPS pod, and a chest strap to measure your performance during your workout, and a even body fat scale to see how you’re doing in general. All the components talk wireless to each other and reports to a watch which then can transfer all the information to PC where the analysis happens.

The THP2 Personal Training System is expected to arrive to US later this year. Expect to pay around $180… read »

CN-HX1000D and CN-HW1000D are the two additions to Panasonic’s Strada GPS navigation system lineup.

What’s special about these two new Strada’s is that they can be setup to control various things around the house. However as an intermediary device you’ll need your Bluetooth capable phone with a data plan with SoftBank, Docomo, and Au, so you can access all your devices from the internet - which will give you control over your door lock, DVR and TV, and many other things.

Strada CN-HX1000D and CN-HW1000D does provide other functions in addition GPS navigation and home control of course; such as the TV receiver, optical drive, hard disk drive, support for numerous media files, all on a sharp 7″ screen.

Expect to see this in Japan soon… read »

In addition to P320 and ZX1 Asus seems to have another PDA phone up their sleeves. The new P560.

Asus P560 should be marketed next June for approximately 500 €. It will be shipped with the GPS navigation kit including the mounts, car charger, and the iGO 6 navigation software with regional European maps preloaded on a 512MB memory card.

P560 will use Windows Mobile 6.1 as well as the new touch screen interface.

Main features of Asus P560:

• A-GPS compatible SiRF Star III receiver
• 2.8″ TFT LCD touch screen with 320×240 pixels resolution (QVGA)
• Processor TI Omap 2430 at 450 MHz
• Quadband GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G dualband and HSDPA with 3.6 Mbps
• 256 MB ROM
• 128 MB RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• 3.2 MP camera on the back
• 0.3 MP camera in front
• MicroSD HC Port
• 1150 mAh battery
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• iGO 6 navigation software with maps from Tele Atlas

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Supposedly this the “Xenium X-Connect“, Philips’ new Windows Mobile 6 phone. Before you give up on your 3G iPhone, or nuviphone keep in mind that this is only a rendering of the hypothetical 3″ touchscreen phone. Even if it was real it would be very unlikely to see this on States side for Philips phone usually target Asian markets says Engadget.

Here are the features of Xenium X-Connect:

• 624MHz processor
• 3″ touch screen display
• Windows Mobile 6 (no 6.1? Bummer)
• 3G UMTS/HSDPA
• GPS navigation
• microSD memory card slot
• Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
• AA/AAA battery backup

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Ericsson just announced that they’ll be teaming up with Dell to provide laptops that will support tri-band HSPA mobile broadband networks beginning second quarter of this year.

The mobile broadband mobile will provide high speed downloads and uploads, but the real reason why this is on Navigadget is that the same module will also integrate a GPS receiver to be used with positioning applications such as GPS navigation.

The idea is that the new HSPA / GPS module should be inexpensive so you won’t feel much of a difference when you’re purchasing your next Dell.

We’ve talked about various sat nav systems installed on rear view mirrors before. This latest one is from Shenzhen MCD Electronics and doesn’t quite a have name yet. But with the set of features that this mirror has you don’t even need a name. This GPS navigation mirror features SD/MMC card slot, stylus pen, LED backlight, 1300mAh Li-Ion battery, and also a reverse gear sensor and a camera. How about bluetooth connectivity to pair up with your phone too?

The simulated screen images and the fact that it is from a Chinese wholesaler makes us think we way never see this in the U.S… read »

Do you want a cheap real time GPS tracking solution with no contracts? In about 2 hours - you can get this working. You’re going to need this inexpensive but powerful Motorola i425phone which has an A-GPS chip, a pay as you go plan from Boost Mobile, and a few wirings if you want to connect to your car battery to make this permanent.

For full instructions visit instamapper but here is a summary of the step by step instructions:

1. Buy Boost Mobile’s Motorola i425 phone

This phone is available from most major retailers, including Best Buy and Target.

2. Activate the phone

Go to Boost Mobile’s phone activation page; make sure to select “activate wireless web”. Turn your phone off and then back on. For vehicle tracking, you probably want to set the ringer volume to 0. We also prefer to silence the keypad, set theme to “Alkali”, wallpaper to “Ramps”, and enable home icons.

3. Create a free InstaMapper account

Use this link. Registration should only take a minute or two.

4. Install tracking software

To install InstaMapper tracking software on your phone, you need a regular USB cable, and Motorola’s iDEN Java Application Loader (JAL) software. Then download and start InstaMapper tracking software. Enter the device id from your InstaMapper account. Click “Save”. The phone will ask for your permission to access the GPS chip. Say “yes”. When the status message changes from “Locating…” to “Tracking…” your should be able to see the location of your phone on InstaMapper.

5. Hardwire the phone

For 24/7 tracking, you can hardwire the phone to your car’s battery. The basic idea is to get a SYN1630 Motorola car charger for your phone then connect the charger to car’s wiring with RadioShack’s Accessory Outlet (catalog number 270-1556). You will need to find an always-on 12V wire in your car.
We recommend installing the phone in the glove compartment. This way the phone is easily accessible for making phone calls.

Now get to work and then let us know how you did.