Recently in GPS Category

Free turn-by-turn GPS directions comes to the iPhone

February 11, 2009 2:16 PM | 0 Comments
apple-iphone-gps-directions-google-maps.jpg
Turn-by-turn navigation has come to the iPhone via xGPS. You'll of course have to jailbreak your iPhone for this, but this might be the one app that might entice you to risk bricking your iPhone - or at least drawing the wrath of Steve Jobs. It actually leverages downloaded Google Maps for the GPS coordinates and just recently added a voice engine to "speak" the directions. It also apparently works on the iPod touch, though you'll need an external GPS receiver.

Check out the video demo of turn-by-turn GPS directions on the iPhone:
What's new in the latest version of xGPS?
  • Wireless Transfer of your map files. No longer do you have to dig around your iPhones directory to find your map file or put it in the right place. Simply download your maps from your computer and wirelessly push them to the xGPS program on your iPhone. It's that easy!
  • Google Terrain Maps are now supported and added as another option for maps. All your hikers, bikers, and adventurers can enjoy this!
  • GPS Information. Access your GPS's Lat/Long specs as well as Altitude and Speed of your unit and sent it by email.
  • English Voice instructions are now supported. Now included is the ability to receive verbal commands on your next turn as you approach it.
  • Night Mode for all you road warriors traveling across the country all all hours of the night! A new, easy view for the eyes when driving at night!
  • Access your GPX traces on your computer using a normal web-browser using the Wireless Transfer feature.
Via xGPS

New HTC Touch Cruise

January 22, 2009 10:09 AM | 1 Comment
htc-touch-cruise.jpg
HTC today announced the HTC Touch Cruise, a mobile phone that is optimized to run as a personal navigation handset with its inbuilt GPS and ability to geotag places you go with a photo and audio notes. The new HTC Touch Cruise is an update to last year's popular HTC Touch Cruise model, but it sports a more compact design and several new features.

Of particular note is HTC Footprints, an application that enables you to chronicle places you visit by capturing "digital postcards" on the phone that includes a 3.2MP photo, along with the ability to attach notes and an audio clip to remind you of the location's significance. Footprints will automatically geotag the specific GPS coordinates, and even auto-names each "postcard" with its general location or area.

The HTC Touch Cruise can also be used as an advanced in-car navigation system.  Just stick it into its car cradle and the HTC Touch Cruise automatically transforms its user interface into an easy-to-use, one-touch interface with turn-by-turn directions.

It sports a decent 2.8 inch QVGA display along with HTC's TouchFLO technology. Because it's only QVGA, tt's not TouchFLO 3D, but rather TouchFLO 2D.  Still, the TouchFLO 2D UI for Windows Mobile 6.1 is an improvement over the regular UI. It also has a built-in good quality 3.2MP camera, Bluetooth, 512 MB flash ROM & 256 MB RAM, and a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor running at 528 MHz. No slide-out keyboard though. Personally, I'd like to see HTC build the HTC Touch HD with a slide-out keyboard. There are rumors that HTC is building the HTC Touch HD Pro with a slide-out keyboard.

HTC Touch Cruise Specifications
  • Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm
  • Weight: 103 grams
  • Connectivity: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
  • Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
  • Control panel: HTC TouchFLO™, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints™ buttons
  • Camera: 3.2 MP, with fixed focus
  • Internal memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM
  • Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
  • Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
  • Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • GPS: GPS/A-GPS
  • Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
  • Battery: 1100 mAh
  • Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes
  • Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
  • Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz
Check out Mobile-Review's full review of the HTC Touch Cruise here.

Gadget Prices Falling This Holiday Season!

December 8, 2008 4:16 PM | 0 Comments
Ho ho ho!

'Tis the season for steep discounts on gadgets goods on the Internet. According to this article in Electonista, online shopping sites such as Buy.com, HP.com, SonyStyle.com, Newegg.com, OnSale.com and RefurbDepot.com all are offering big savings.  

Buy.com has cut prices on everything from MP3 players and digital photo frames to GPS units and notebook computers. Prices are slashed on everything from wireless routers and printers to wireless mice and Bluetooth stereo headphones at HP.com.

SonyStyle.com is offering deals on notebooks, iPod docks, game consoles, digital cameras, HDTVs and more as well as gift cards this holiday season.

Until December 31st Newegg.com is offering specials on their HDTV collection and until December 11th enter to win a $5,000 Newegg gift certificate in the Holiday Wishlist Sweepstakes.

Deals on notebooks, monitors, iPod docking stations, and Bluetooth headsets can be found at OnSale.com. The Holiday Superstore at RefurbDepot.com has great gift ideas from digital cameras to desktop computers at a range of prices.

Nokia N97 Sweet!

December 2, 2008 3:17 PM | 4 Comments
nokia n97
The Nokia N97 sports a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel (16:9 aspect ratio) resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It's heavily focused on social sites like Facebook with its "always open" window to favorite Internet or social networking sites. The N97 also features HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, 3.5-mm head jack, and 32GB of on-board memory. With a microSD expansion you can go up to 48GB total memory. The battery is capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5 hours video.
Continue reading Nokia N97 Sweet!.

HTC Touch HD

November 26, 2008 2:21 PM | 4 Comments
HTC Touch HD
HTC's Touch HD is arguably the best touch-screen Windows Mobile-based phones you can buy. In fact, even before the HTC Touch HD, I always felt HTC mobile phones were the best Windows Mobile phones you could buy. I own an older HTC-based "Apache" XV6700 Windows Mobile with a cooked ROM upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.1 and I'm still pretty happy using it. I still consider my xv6700 one of the top 5 Windows Mobile phones available. Installed on it I have a standalone Youtube player, TCPMP Media Player, Opera Mini, HTC Streaming Media Player, Java (Jbed), Skyfire browser, and more. It does the job and I especially like the slide-out keyboard. I'm not into the iPhone touch-screen's keyboard or the new Blackberry Storm for that matter. I find tactile keyboards work best for typing lengthy emails.

htc touch hd portrait Comparisons between the new HTC Touch HD and the Apple iPhone will no doubt be made, since they both offer large touch-screens. In fact, the Touch HD beats the iPhone's screen with it's 3.8" WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) screen vs. 3.5" (320 x 480) for the iPhone. It beats the iPhone in size and resolution! In addition, unlike the Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile apps can run in the background, which is important for IM & VoIP apps like Skype. You have to jailbreak your iPhone if you want to enable background processing. What's up with Mr. Steve Jobs? He can be anally retentive sometimes when it comes to "controlling" Apple products.

Continue reading HTC Touch HD.

Sears Wants Your Old Gadgets

October 27, 2008 6:53 PM | 0 Comments
master_nin_home.jpgSears is offering VenJuvo's Trade4Credit program to Sears.com shoppers that will allow you to earn Sears store credit in exchange for trading in pre-owned gadgets that have been determined to still hold value.

The program, which offers free recycling and shipping, will accept a variety of gadgets, including iPhones, digital cameras and camcorders, MP3 players, GPS systems and gaming systems.

To use the service, simply have to log onto www.sears.trade4credit.com, select your gadget and then enter the specifics about it so the system can calculate an estimated trade-in value. Once the value is established, the user can print out the prepaid mailing label and send the device to VenJuvo.

After the device is received, VenJuvo will validate the value and within three days you will be able to collect a Sears gift card for that value. 

A quick look at the site tells me the product categories are narrow and the prices low.  Now, wouldn't eBay be a better choice in some cases?

More at TWICE.

Mio Moov's GPS with Built-In Internet

October 17, 2008 7:47 PM | 0 Comments
mio-exploreMore.gifMio has recently demonstrated the Mio Moov 380, the first in-car GPS system equipped with built-in SIM card support.

Mio also claimed that the Mio Moov 380 is the world`s slimmest and most compact car navigation device.

In Taiwan, Mio cooperates with major telecoms operator Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET), to offer the device with the exclusive "Mio Life Info. Specialist" real-time search functionality, while FET`s SIM card provides access to the "FET GPS Info--Go Service", which enable consumers to experience a new generation of real-time Internet searches using their in-car GPS system.  

Now why can't we do this here -- and not pay a fortune for it? 

More at China Economic News.

Now Even Elephants Are Sending Text Messages!

October 14, 2008 5:40 PM | 0 Comments
text_messaging-elephants-google_earth_nfn-jpg.jpegThe text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.

The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as "near threatened" in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The race to save Kimani began two years ago. The Kenya Wildlife Service had already reluctantly shot five elephants from the conservancy who refused to stop crop-raiding, and Kimani was the last of the regular raiders. The Save the Elephants group wanted to see if he could break the habit.

So they placed a mobile phone SIM card in Kimani's collar, then set up a virtual "geofence" using a global positioning system that mirrored the conservatory's boundaries. Whenever Kimani approaches the virtual fence, his collar texts rangers.

They have intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began. Once almost a nightly raider, he last went near a farmer's field four months ago.

It's a huge relief to the small farmers who rely on their crops for food and cash for school fees. Basila Mwasu, a 31-year-old mother of two, lives a stone's throw from the conservancy fence. She and her neighbors used to drum through the night on pots and pans in front of flaming bonfires to try to frighten the elephants away.

Get more at NewsFactor Network.
Continue reading Now Even Elephants Are Sending Text Messages!.

Cell Phones Will Take over GPS Market

September 26, 2008 3:55 PM | 2 Comments
Cell phones will replace the personal navigation device (PND) as the primary GPS device by 2011, according to the research firm iSuppli.

The firm predicted that cell phones will then account for 36% of the GPS market, compared with 30% for PNDs, which today account for 50% of global navigational units sold.

The report also predicted that price drops among PNDs will lead to smaller manufacturers selling out to larger hardware companies over the next year or two. (Doesn't this happen in every gadget category?)

Reminds me how cell phones were going to replace digital cameras -- don't believe that has happened yet.  But maybe GPS is a more easily stormed market ...

More at TWICE.

How about a Big Screen GPS?

June 19, 2008 8:02 PM | 1 Comment
pcm_15_header.gifLove this idea!
GPS units are great, but not if you have to squint to see them or have trouble seeing the map or the data they so handily have it you can read it!
That's where a big screen GPS comes into play ...
Handy article in PCMagazine on five units (with reviews) that you might find handy.
Read more abou it here.
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