Garmin Nuvi 880 Voice-Controlled GPS

One of Garmin’s flagship Nuvis, the 880 responds to commands from your voice, triggered by a little remote control you attach to your steering wheel.

Garmin says $800, but you can find it online for $690.

It’s the best all-around GPS on the market, but there are too many halfway decent Garmin models for less than half the price.

The 880 isn’t the first GPS with voice command, but it’s definitely the best. The remote button that you strap to your steering wheel makes activating it easy, and being able to dictate addresses including obscure street names is only part of the fun. When you’re in POI search, you can name popular locations (”Starbucks”) or categories (it actually understands synonyms like “Fuel” and “Gas”). Most importantly, you can tap the button and say things like “Cancel Route” or “Volume Up,” commands most likely to be issued while driving, ensuring you stay safer than if you were to try to do these things with your fingers while keeping your wheels on the road.

Source

Garmin Edge 705 GPS Cycling Computer Available

Garmin announced today that its Team Garmin Edge 705 cycling computer is now available. The device has an orange case inspired by team Garmin-Chipotle uniforms. The computer offers wireless unit-to-unit connectivity, GPS, heart rate, speed, cadence, altitude, and gradient on the same display. Read more

TomTom GO 940 LIVE Leaked, Features Google Search

The citizens of the UK are in for a nice treat with this new TomTom GPS they are getting soon. The TomTom GO 940 LIVE is an upgraded model to the TomTom GO 930 Read more

Garmin Nuvi 270 GPS

Garmin Nuvi 270

The new Garmin Nuvi 270, is the perfect entry-level gps. My wife, who describes herself as technologically challenged, loves hers and has no difficulty using most, if not all of the many features Garmin has packed into this model. Read more

Garmin Nuvi 500 Introduced

Garmin today announced a new series of personal navigators that combine cutting edge navigation features with outdoor recreation navigation capabilities. With one touch, the nuvi 500 transitions between driving, bicycling, boating or walking mode, while boasting sought-after features such as routing capabilities, improved mapping and water-proof hardware.

“This multi-mode nuvi is the ultimate device for those seeking portable navigation in the car and in the great outdoors,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “This product allows us to combine features from several of our most popular automotive and outdoor navigators into one compact unit. From weekend trips to the lake, to a hike around the trail, nuvi 500 is ideal for people seeking automotive and recreational navigation in one dynamic device.”

Drive, hike, bike or boat with this portable and rugged unit — the nuvi 500 is pre-loaded with both road maps and U.S. topographic maps. For use in and out of the car, simply touch the usage mode indicator located at the top of the home screen to change between driving, bicycling, boating or walking mode.

Get turn-by-turn directions, look up restaurants, and download geocaches from http://Geocaching.com with this versatile series. Ready for the great outdoors, the nuvi 500 models display shaded digital elevation mapping on the 3.5″ water-proof touchscreen. This series comes standard with a compass page, track log and a removable, rechargeable battery for extended outdoor use. With one tap of the screen, users can also see their exact location with Garmin’s “Where Am I?” feature. In addition, with Garmin Connect Photos, users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community to provide photo navigation by land or water.

When loaded with optional BlueChart(R) g2 Vision, and Inland Lake Vision marine cartography, the nuvi 500 series is great on the water, providing detailed chart-specific information, spot soundings, intertidal zones, wrecks, port plans, restricted areas and more.

For a scenic road trip, the nuvi 500 series comes preloaded with the Historic Route 66 map guide developed by MAD MAPS. This route spans from Chicago to Los Angeles, while highlighting specific points of interest associated with Route 66 along the way.

The nuvi 500 comes preloaded with detailed street and topographic mapping for the lower 48 U.S. states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The nuvi 550 boasts comprehensive street map coverage of the U.S. and Canada. When either model is used with an optional receiver, users can receive important updated information from Traffic Message Channel or MSN Direct. The dynamic content from the MSN Direct network includes traffic conditions, fuel prices, weather reports, movie listings, headline news, stock updates and local events. A scooter mount will come standard in select European markets and sold as an optional accessory elsewhere.

Garmin Introduces Oregon Series GPS For The Outdoors

If you’re an outdoors type, you’ve got to check out the new Garmin Oregon Series GPS. I swear by my current Garmin, and this new Oregon series looks to be even better. We’ll follow up with another review, once we get our hands on one.

The Garmin Oregon series of handheld GPS devices for outdoor, marine and fitness enthusiasts, combines an intuitive touchscreen interface, rugged, resilient design and a variety of preloaded mapping options. Read more

Dell Latitude E6500 & E6400 Leaked

Recent reports say that Dell is preparing to replace the D830 and the D630 with a new series of Latitude E laptops. The new models are E6500 with a 15.4 inch display and the E6400, a 14.1 incher. The leaked laptops are scheduled for release in June and it’s also said that these lappies will be the first to make use of Montevina / Centrino 2 machines. The 6500 is supposed to feature integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, mobile broadband, UWP, LED back-lighting, 84WHr batteries and some multiple options for the disk drives.

PSP Supports GPS Navigation Software

Good news for gamers – now, PSP supports GPS navigation software. Hopefully you will not get lost, but if the GPS software fails, you can play until somebody gives you the right directions. The PSP GPS was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference, in California. Cool addition but we expect to see more from them, we refer to Internet navigation.

Mio C620 With 3D Maps Has Been Released

The sales of the Mio C620 and C620t has been announced in Europe, but we don’t have any information of the price or the availability for America. What makes the C620-series different from other GPS devices is the preloaded landmarks which gives you a 3D experience. The 4.3-inch display can be used in split screen mode so you could see all the turns you have to make to the destination. The Mio C620 and C620t also feature speed camera alerts and traffic alerts. With this devices we’re sore that we can always find the best way of reaching the destination.

Read more

The Compasseo 700-series announced by Packard Bell

The Americans aren’t likely to be delighted by the new trio of Compasseo navigators from Packard Bell, but unlike them, the others could find the navigators very useful. The 780 T+ features a 400MHz CPU, 2GB of SDRAM, 4.3 inch LCD, NAVTEQ maps covering all western Europe, speed camera alerts, TrafficLive Plus, built-in media player, MMC / SD expansion slot and a SiRFstarIII GPS chipset. The 750 T+ includes just maps for UK and Ireland and 256MB of SDRAM, while the 750 doesn’t have live traffic support. We expect the price to be at around £129.99, but nothing is sure.

TomTom Go 720 Review

The TomTom GO 720 is a pretty interesting GPS navigation helper that can give you access to up-to-date maps and safety information in case of emergencies. It offers text to speech functionality, has multimedia capabilities and includes Bluetooth. The problem is that it is only compatible with a small number of Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and there is no external volume control. On the whole the Go 720 offers good performance and some features that are useful, including map sharing and an included safety tool.

Portable Navigation systems are very common these days and they all have much or less the same features. These devices even tend to start looking the same and more or less are in the same price range. There is a need for innovation in this department and the TomTom Go 720 comes to do just that. It comes with a Map Share tool that can let you get constant map updates so that your maps offer accurate information and the new option named Help Me aids in case of emergency. This device costs around $500 and can be a very good option for your car.

Talking about design we can say that TomTom Go 720 looks good. It has a lot more features than TomTom One but still keeps a slim profile and is even lighter. Its size is just 4.6X3.2X0.9 inches and weighs 7.7 ounces. You can not have problems transporting such a small device. Color-wise the GPS comes in a black, silver and charcoal gray color scheme. We can easily see a 4.3 inch antiglare touch screen that supports a WQVGA resolution of 480X272 pixels. It is easy to read the screen and only slight problems can appear in bright sunlight. If this happens you can always tinker with the Preferences menu to change map colors and turn on night mode. The virtual keyboard is very good but comes in alphabetical order instead of the more popular QWERTY format. Read more

7 New GPS Units by Magellan

Magellan recently announced the release of 7 new GPS units with release dates scheduled in September and October. We can thus get our hands on the Maestro 4250 (for around $500) in the 4200 series, which offers live traffic updates, a 4.3 inch display widescreen together with Bluetooth capability. The 4220 and 4200 models will cost less because the integrated live traffic updates feature and voice control will not be included.The Maestro 3250 is almost identical to the 4250 but is $100 cheaper. This is because it has a smaller non-widescreen display of just 3.5 inch. The other models of the 3200 series (the 3200, 3210 and 3220) are similar to the 3250, with the same display but with less features. All depends on the price. The new releases are not that different when compared with the old ones. The only real change stands in the size, which dropped 0.7 inches in thickness. We can also see some minor added features but none of them are that special.

Nokia 500 PMP and GPS announced

Nokia has released an all in one PMP, with Portable video, Portable audio and in-car GPS navigation, called 500. The Navigation device features a 4.3 inch display, handsfree Bluetooth calling, can direct you to addresses stored in the contacts list and give you details of the POIs you pass. Also, it sports Nokia Traffic Message Channel Service and an FM tuner.

The Nokia 500 will be priced at $410, excluding taxes, in Europe and should be available in Q4. We don’t know if it will ship in other countries.

Asus announced R600 portable GPS

Asus has announced R600, a portable GPS with good specifications, like the 400Mhz Samsung processor, SirfStar III chip and the rechargeable battery with a lifetime of 6 hours.Also, it features 128MB of Flash ROM, 64MB SDRAM, it’s memory can be expanded to up to 4GB via the SD memory card slot, it has an optional TMC module, Bluetooth 2.0 with handsfree calling, multimedia player and it automatically adjusts the LCD backlight, to make viewing better.

Currently, the price and availability haven’t been disclosed.

Magellan CrossoverGPS Review

If I ask you where can you find a GPS the answer would be in the car, on a boat, etc. but you ever considered a device that can be used everywhere, even on foot? Well finding this GPS its hard , but not to worry the Magellan CrossoverGPS its one of the first and few devices that uses his software for all modes of transportation, at an affordable price and a neat package. His exterior has a strong design making it very hard to be damaged by nature’s elements, his tools have a very wide variety like text-to-speech functionality, a voyage tracker, a compass, and other. Like any other it has good parts and bad parts. When you look at the general performance you will not be impressed, mainly because of the route recalculations. His large size makes him hard to carry on long walks, and the problem with the Outdoor mode addresses limits the area of use only to the city streets. If you are an adventurer person you will like better a dedicated device to help you through the road, but if you have a smaller budget and still want a versatile but basic GPS unit, the CrossoverGPS would be the right choice to make. The 499.99$ price tag makes the Magellan CrossoverGPS an affordable device.

His measures 3.4 inches high by 4.2 inches wide by 1.1 inches deep and weighing 9.4 ounces makes him a nice portable GPS with great design to work in the car, on foot, or on a boat or bicycle. Not only that but the nature’s protection factor, prepared to outstand the weather meeting IPX-4 standards, it also has a removable rubber sport guard used to protect from dust and drops during usage, making him functional in any conditions. Hikers may not appreciate this the Magellan CrossoverGPS being to large and heavy to walk with it for long periods of time, they may consider using a dedicated handheld outdoor GPS device, more maneuverable.

The 3.5-inch, color touch screen from Magellan CrossoverGPS its readable in many lighting conditions, even in direct sunlight. The maps ant text within them have a clear look and powerful colors, can’t say the same thing about the unit’s interface, an outdated 80s look icons and primitive design. You may say we are superficial, but reviewing a device like this one we want it to look good inside and out, especially this days when it becomes indispensable. Beside some bad proprieties, the menus cool to work with being functional in the same time, Magellan had even updated the interface and used it with its newer Maestro series..

An SC card expansion slot will be found on the left spine of the unit, on the other side sits the screen hold switch, a reset button, a power button, a mini USB, a headphone jack, and a power connector, all these ports and buttons being protected by a rubber flap attached over the device. In the Magellan CrossoverGps package you should find this nest items: a AC adapter, a car charger, a vehicle mount (dash and windshield), a USB cable, and reference material.

The 4G hard drive has space to equip a 20-channel SiRFStarIII GPS receiver that comes with Navteq maps of North America and a 1.5 million POI database. If used in the car, the device can give you directions by entering specific street address or intersections choosing a specific point of interest or address book entry, or you can just let the unit track were you want to go without a already preset of a specific destination. Another great feature is the Trip Planner used for a multi-stop journey adventure. The Magellan CrossoverGPS includes the QuickSpell feature found on most Magellan units, a feature that helps the user to find any of the city or streets located in the system’s database, even if the search doesn’t match, the software dims out any letters or numbers that don’t match.

If you want the shortest distance, the shortest time, the least or most use of freeways, or toll-free roads, the CrossoverGPS can calculate them all. The text to speech support system called by Magellan “SayWhere” its an addition to the already standard text and turn by turn directions, giving you a specific name of the streets you are driving with the voice-guided directions. In addition to these features the CrossoverGPS include an automatic route recalculation, 2D and 3D maps, night map colors, a trip computer, and a route simulator. A tool called SmartDetour will very handy when you are stuck in traffic, the program assumes you are in a traffic jam when the speed drops below 15mph, and immediately calculates a alternative route when the detour icon appears.

When used outdoor the GPS has topographic maps of the 48 contiguous states, the bad part is that you can’t record specific addresses to navigate too, limiting its use only in urban areas. For a direction to go you have to select a point on the map or enter the longitude and latitude coordinates. If camping you can record the place of the site and use it for directions as a starting point or a ending point. As you walk the device records the route you took and shows you the trail. Another feature is the compass, a handy tool sometimes.

Not having a sailboat or yacht, we couldn’t test the Marine features of the Magellan CrossoverGPS, but we can tell you what can be found between the tools for this feature, most likely the ones seen in the outdoor mode, including a trip planner, a voyage tracker, waypoints, a compass, and a place to enter the location of your port.

In the end a music player and an image viewer can be found on the Magellan CrossoverGPS. The music player is rudimentary but supports MP3 and WMA music files and playlist creation. You can’t, however, listen to music and use the navigation features at the same time. The picture viewer supports JPEG and BMP images.

Tested in San Francisco, the Magellan CrossoverGps needed two minutes to acquire the information about our fixed location from the satellites. This was from a cold start under clear skies, but when started subsequent sometimes worked instantaneously, others took as long as five minutes to get a lock. While driving around the city the system did an excellent job of pinpointing our location and gave accurate directions for the address we entered. The CrossoverGPS created directions fairly quickly, too bad the route recalculations were pretty slow and annoying. Funny thing happened when we were instructed to make a turn after we had already passed the street, and this continued on for a while as the unit was always trying to catch up with us, this happening a few occasions. General performance was also a bit sluggish. When launching the unit’s different buttons we were surprised to see a noticeable lab which made us look obsessively at the hourglass icon.

We thought the music played through the unit’s speaker would be lousy, very wrong indeed. There was plenty of volume and rich sound quality. On a single charge the Magellan CrossoverGPS’s lithium ion battery should be able to live up to 8 hours, maybe even more.

Next Page »