PMP Today

This is the most unique looking PMP-GPS I’ve seen and cheap, too, selling for only 699 yuan ($102). The CDT GPS + MP4 has a 3-inch touch screen and gives users the full complement of multimedia support: video, music, games and text. There’s too much left for the imagination, and even the model name is unknown.

Odd that this one is especially made for in-hand use. Consider the built-in hand-grips and this photo of the rear:

[via imp3]

Archos Bundle GPS Déballage from ArchosLounge on Vimeo.
Archoslounge, which concentrates on everything Archos, just finished a “huge review” of its GPS system. The PMP of choice was the 605 WiFi. The entire review consists of several videos including the lovely unboxing video above. Above we see the accessories including the windshield mount. The review will show you how to fix it to your windshield, among other things. Problem with mounting the Archos 605 on your windshield is bright sunlight. Just for these occasions, proper PNDs like the ones produced by TomTom is much better.

Reviewed:
–Test carried out under the 605 firmware version 2.0.10.
– Archos GPS Version 7.50407 Archos GPS Version 7.50407
– Map Version : 7.54 Map Version: 7.54

Read full review at archoslounge

Not sure if Garmin did decide to make a white Nuvifone (photo below). At any rate, I’d prefer this phone in black. A better picture comes to us by way of Laptop Magazine via Gizmodo. As expected, the 3.5-inch touch screen is crisp and UI a refreshing departure from iPhone’s sophisticated icon-based home screen. The Nuvifone is kinda pricey, which makes us sad to note it may never see much actual usage by the public. At $500 and a 2-year AT&T contract is a tough sell when you have a better phone from the same provider at a third of the price. The added HSDPA of the NuviPhone, I’m afraid, just ain’t worth the extra 300 bucks.

Watch the tempting video demo. We know it’s overpriced based on the current pricing paradigm (read: “$199 iPhone”), but the UI just takes you away.

[photo of white Nuviphone courtesy of ubergizmo] Read the rest »

Mio has several new products for launch, all pushing the boundaries of convergence. The most interesting though is the unnamed PND + Camera. It’s not a phone, just a GPS personal navigator with a 3.5-inch touch screen and a big camera lens with optical zoom. No more detail is available for now but if you’re anything like me, I’d love to hear that it plays movies (e.g. DivX, XviD, FLV, MPEG, etc.) and music. E-book support wouldn’t hurt as well.

[via navigadget]

Navigation will be the most sought-after feature in portable devices - at least many tech companies think. Sony thinks the Playstation Portable is the ideal device to add GPS. We don’t wonder why. Just take a look at all the navigation devices that resemble the form factor of PSP. The software update for GPS will be added sometime in the next twelve months. It takes that long to add GPS? Maps from TeleAtlas with 3D rendering with UMD and memory stick support. A car mount and keyboard that folds up to cover the screen may be added. Price is below is between $100 and $200.

[via navigadget]

Garmin’s GPS touchscreen phone (Nuviphone) will be available very soon and before it officially comes out, tech-savvy readers were surveyed regarding the phone’s pricing and data plan. An Engadget reader was one of the lucky few who got surveyed and too a snapshot from the survey.

The question: “Now, how likely would you be to buy the Garmin nüvifone (for yourself or as a gift) if offered by AT&T for $499.99 with a two year contract? You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee.”

[via engadget]

Mapping on Nokia phones has just improved with the introduction of Real Time Traffic or RTT to the Nokia Maps service. This is a premium add-on to Nokia Maps 2.0. With the increasing convergence of mobile devices, especially in devices under the Nokia branding, the new development puts personal navigation devices or PNDs at risk of being obsolete in the near future.

“By adding RTTI, Nokia can save precious time for drivers by alerting them of traffic, construction or other road hazards that could affect their journey. When Nokia Maps receives the road updates from ARC Transistance, the application can dynamicly re-route during navigation and provide a faster route.”

The service will be available in 16 countries and Nokia will be partnering with ARC Transistance.

Nokia Maps 2.0 is still in beta, available on this link.

[via techradar]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=em9WqbYVaF0[/youtube]

Remember Charbax? If you’re a long-time fan of this site, you’ll definitely remember our video journalist for CeBIT 2007.

Charbax just got the new firmware for GPS capability on his Archos 605. The GPS function on his Archos 605 demo is fully dependent on WiFi connectivity. The user interface on the navigation software is pretty good and if should be a pleasure to use with a GPS receiver in your car. It’s a real navigator, too, which you can use to plan your journey. For use with an In-Car Holder, the Archos 605 will be powered by a Sirf 3 GPS receiver

[via archosfans]

Archos Gen5 PMPs just got better, way better. With several press releases, the French PMP manufacturer has made available GPS feature on the Archos 605. Once a rumor, it’s now official and Archos didn’t even have to make hardware changes. According to Archos, the 605’s 4.3-inch screen is unmatched by other GPS devices in the market. “With more than 50 times the hard drive size, twice the screen resolution, and similar pricing as stand-alone GPS navigation products, the ARCHOS 605 GPS is the ultimate navigation and entertainment device.” The GPS sells for $129.99 separately or comes bundled with a 30GB Archos 605 for $399.99.

TVPortation is Archos breakthrough technology that convert a portable device into portable TVs. It’s available for the 605 and 705 WiFi Archos PMPs. It uses the Archos TV+ as media server. Henri Crohas, ARCHOS founder and CEO claims, “The ARCHOS TV+ is the first home entertainment device that combines a home TV streaming server with a DVR, giving TV, movie and music fans everything they need to stay entertained and connected both inside and away from the home.”

Through a free firmware update, 605 and 705 users will be able to support Adobe® Flash® 9, Windows Media Video® (WMV) 9 and ON2 video formats. This will open up almost all videos on the Internet for Archos WiFi PMP users, and it’s free. Plug-ins for Web TV and Radio have also been made available for $19.99.

Last but not least, Archos and Paramount has signed an agreement allowing Archos users to watch movies like “Cloverfield,” “Shooter,” and “Beowulf” on their portable players. In North America and Europe, Paramount content will be preloaded to ARCHOS TV+ WiFi Digital Video Recorder (DVR) so you can get movies directly on your Archos WiFi portables.

Thanks to A Jackson for the tip.

[press]

The DrivTrax DTR-P7DT is a 1-SEG tuning, GPS navigating and MPEG4, WMV, MP3, WMA playing PND. It’s powered by a 400Mhz Samsung processor and runs on Windows CE. Screen is 4.3 inches, which is really all you need in an all-around PND. The P7DT and its Bluetooth-connected brother, DrivTrax DTR-P50, will be released and priced in early June. We’ve written about a GPS-PMP from Clarion before and these new releases are even more mind-blowing than that.

[via generationmp3]