Portable navigation units are hot these days. An article in today’s WSJ estimates that shipments of these hand-held GPS-based devices will grow by 88% to about 1.3 million units this year, and then keep going. They had a look at the Delphi NAV200, the Mio H610, Magellan 2500T, HP iPAQ rx5900 and the Garmin nuvi 660, and seemed to like them all.
While all of these 5 devices have been announced, none are available as yet.
These next-generation GPS devices are smaller, lighter, more user friendly, can be used while walking and some are bundled with other features such as an MP3 player, photo viewer, video, games, travel and restaurant guides, pre-programmed points of interest, traffic advisories, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They’re being touted as travel companions, and are nothing if not good examples of converged devices.
…hmm…these things sound a lot like the Nokia N95, but without the phone.
GPS: The Next Generation – Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2006
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I’d much rather have a GPS device as a travel companion than many people I know.
The map in that picture looks almost primitive by today’s standards.