Showing posts with label PND. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PND. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
AT&T have released the iPhone version of their Navigator PND program through the App Store , offering turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The Telenav-developed app supports both verbal and on-screen guidance, speech recognition, traffic alerts and full 3D mapping.
Those 3D maps are automatically updated in the background, too, as are POIs and street names. There’s also access to Yellow Pages, for business listings, together with online trip planning; users can set up their journey via their PC or Mac, and then have the route wirelessly delivered to their iPhone.
It’s all sounding great, aside from the price. AT&T Navigator for iPhone is priced at $9.99 per month, which works out at around $240 if you subscribe for the lifetime of your AT&T contract. With standalone GPS units going for bargain-basement prices right now, we’re not sure that’s cost-effective.
Those 3D maps are automatically updated in the background, too, as are POIs and street names. There’s also access to Yellow Pages, for business listings, together with online trip planning; users can set up their journey via their PC or Mac, and then have the route wirelessly delivered to their iPhone.It’s all sounding great, aside from the price. AT&T Navigator for iPhone is priced at $9.99 per month, which works out at around $240 if you subscribe for the lifetime of your AT&T contract. With standalone GPS units going for bargain-basement prices right now, we’re not sure that’s cost-effective.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Mio have released the first TV-enabled satnav units in the UK, the Mio Navman Spirit TV. First shown at the launch of the Spirit range back in May, the Spirit TV will be available in two versions – the 4.7-inch V505 and the 7-inch V735 – each with a touchscreen, Google search, TruMap and Junction views and of course Freeview digital TV with autotuning.
Each comes with a remote control, and can access the Freeview 7-day EPG for scheduling. The larger V735 also gets PMP functionality, including playback of videos and MP3s, together with a photo viewer and FM transmitter. All of the usual Spirit functionality is present, including NavPix geo-tagged photos, POIs and a pedestrian mode.
The Navman Spirit TV range will go on sale in the UK come July, priced at £299.99 ($493) for the V735 and £229 ($377) for the V505. More hands-on images of the new 7-inch Mio Navman Spirit V735 TV here. While Mio have not announced any plans to bring the Navman Spirit TV range to the US, the modular nature of the TV tuner would make a North America version technologically possible.
Each comes with a remote control, and can access the Freeview 7-day EPG for scheduling. The larger V735 also gets PMP functionality, including playback of videos and MP3s, together with a photo viewer and FM transmitter. All of the usual Spirit functionality is present, including NavPix geo-tagged photos, POIs and a pedestrian mode.
The Navman Spirit TV range will go on sale in the UK come July, priced at £299.99 ($493) for the V735 and £229 ($377) for the V505. More hands-on images of the new 7-inch Mio Navman Spirit V735 TV here. While Mio have not announced any plans to bring the Navman Spirit TV range to the US, the modular nature of the TV tuner would make a North America version technologically possible.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Of all the software brought out to demonstrate the developing capabilities of Apple iPhone OS 3.0, the most interesting has to be TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation app. Both a software app and an accompanying car kit were announced, complete with Points Of Interest (POIs) and both 2D and 3D mapping.
There’s also portrait and landscape modes, with the mapping automatically rotating to suite. TomTom have given the app a night mode, which changes the colors to low-glare alternatives, and the car kit will support the iPhone in both orientations.
The kit also supplies power to the iPhone, and can be used to “enhance GPS data” presumably with some sort of integrated GPS antenna of its own. Meanwhile it also has a speaker and microphone for hands-free calls. We don’t yet know how much software or car kit will cost, though something tells us it won’t be all that cheap.
There’s also portrait and landscape modes, with the mapping automatically rotating to suite. TomTom have given the app a night mode, which changes the colors to low-glare alternatives, and the car kit will support the iPhone in both orientations.
The kit also supplies power to the iPhone, and can be used to “enhance GPS data” presumably with some sort of integrated GPS antenna of its own. Meanwhile it also has a speaker and microphone for hands-free calls. We don’t yet know how much software or car kit will cost, though something tells us it won’t be all that cheap.
According to the latest “open secret” in Japan, Sony are working on a Walkman and a satnav PND that would each use Google’s Android OS. Expected to hit the market in 2010, full details about each device are unknown, beyond that Sony seem to be hoping to use the open-source platform for a range of future products.
One such device could, it’s tipped, be an Android version of the recent Sony Walkman X, the company’s flagship PMP with an OLED touchscreen that we reviewed last month. That currently runs an in-house OS, though analysts believe Sony would like to harmonise all such mobile devices - including PND and messaging devices like the Mylo - on the same platform.
Doing so would reduce duplication of development and reduce costs, a topic of particular interest to Sony who have suffered heavy losses as a result of the ongoing economic situation. Part of that strategy has been to push Sony’s previously distinct teams closer together, something a common groundwork in the shape of Android would certainly facilitate.
One such device could, it’s tipped, be an Android version of the recent Sony Walkman X, the company’s flagship PMP with an OLED touchscreen that we reviewed last month. That currently runs an in-house OS, though analysts believe Sony would like to harmonise all such mobile devices - including PND and messaging devices like the Mylo - on the same platform.Doing so would reduce duplication of development and reduce costs, a topic of particular interest to Sony who have suffered heavy losses as a result of the ongoing economic situation. Part of that strategy has been to push Sony’s previously distinct teams closer together, something a common groundwork in the shape of Android would certainly facilitate.
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