GpsPasSion aims to share news, reviews, thoughts and personalized assistance and discounts via the GpsPasSion Club on GPS Systems and Navigation Software for mobile platforms.
Updated August 20th, 2008 With the prices of GPS systems still in "free falling" mode, in Q2/2008 the market doubled compared to Q2/2007 but the overall value only went up 20%, manufacturers are working hard to come up with "value added" features and TomTom is pulling "HD Traffic" out of its sleeve. It is already available in Holland and the US could be next based on the recent FCC approval of the device.
Unlike current Traffic receiver that use the limited RDS/FM TMC technology, the HD Traffic receiver includes a GPRS module with a SIM card for permanent and unlimited communication with the TomTom servers. The idea is to receive reports from the road, consolidate them and broadcast them to all users, like TomTom do for IQ Routes except this time it is live. This is reminiscent of what the Dash Express does, but TomTom can leverage millions of users to generate more reliable information. You can use this topic of the www.GOtomtom.com forums on GpsPasSion to discuss the upcoming HD Traffic receiver and related technology.
Updated June 23rd, 2008 - TomTom have a new RDS TMC Traffic receiver, the USB Traffic Receiver marketed specifically for the new ONE v4 (ONE 130) and ONE XL v2 (ONE 330) GPS systems, but it's also compatible with the GO x20 and x30 series. While it may seem convenient with its standard miniUSB connector, the built-in car charger connector is awkwardly placed...
Update August 18th, 2008 - This is an innovation that clearly deserved a widescreen news item ! The SmartMirror by Azentek is the first "Rear-View" Mirror GPS to become available and while the price may seem hefty at $799 it includes many features in addition to the Navigon based navigation system, Bluetooth hands free, video inputs with reverse camera input sensing, etc...You can use this topic started by gman in the "GPS and Mobile News" forums to discuss.
Updated September 21st, 2007 - What with the stiff competition on the GPS market, companies are working hard to add innovative features. After high sensitivity GPS heralded by the SiRFstarIII chipset, HD screens, traffic information, Mobile DR, here come biometric readers. Medion should be the first out of the gate in Europe with the P4425 AIO, the goal being to discourage theft but also to improve usability with automatic profile selection for GPS systems that are shared. You can use this thread of the News forums to discuss...
Updated August 13th, 2008 This is the "quiet" time of the year, but Garmin are staying busy with their famous nüvi range of GPS systems. First the sad news of the retirement of the original nüvi model from 2005, the acclaimed nüvi 350. While it can't be bought anymore, software updates and map upgrades will remain available. On to the long list of software updates now : v3.00 for the nüvi 8x0 with HotFix AGPS and faster calculations, v3.10 for the nüvi 7x0, v4.50 for the nüvi 660, v5.60 for the nüvi 350, v3.10 for the nüvi 2x5 and TMC v5.0 for the RDS TMC GTMxx receivers. Good luck with the updates and feel free to share your feedback in the threads linked above after you've had a chance to test them out.
Updated June 16th, 2008 - After the entry-level but powerful nuvi 2x5 series we started reviewing a couple fo weeks ago, here comes the high end nüvi 8x0 series that stands out with its ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) module activated by a remote control. Catch up with ZX14NINJA's "27 point" (and counting) analysis in this topic of the forums as he compares his new 850 with...
Updated August 7th, 2008 Please welcome the Nikon COOLPIX P6000, the first consumer/prosumer grade camera with a built-in GPS module for picture geocoding on the fly. This new entry in the popular Coolpix range is certain to attract a lot of attention at the upcoming Photokina show, but we'll have to see how it lives up to the hype.
While one concern would be the impact on the battery life, the main one is related to overall GPS performance, as those who have been following GpsPasSion over the years and particularly the GPS Performance Comparisons know that cramming a GPS module into a compact device requies some work to make it work well. It will have to offer excellent time to fix and accuracy to be a valid replacement for the sturdy Digicam+GPS Datalogger combo many of use have adopted to geocode our pictures offline. Knowing which GPS chipset they are using and whether some form of AGPS will be available would give some initial indication of what to expect. You can use this topic of the "GPS and Mobile News" forums to discuss.
Updated December 31st, 2007 The last new item of the year goes to one of the more popular GPS developments of the year, the rise of picture geocoding, the action of embedding the lat/long in digital pictures for precise placement on online maps. There is no shortage of ideas by web developers and the latest in line are Nav2us who add GPS exports and a multi-site search engine...
Updated August 5th, 2008 The summer is already well under a way and it's generally a good time to diversify our GPS use. While car GPS use works throughout the year, these warmer days are a good opportunity to use our GPS systems to explore sideroads, for hikes and rides or all of the above...that would be me, what about you ?
So here goes, "In the summer you use GPS mostly for...?" : "Way out, Way back - Exploring sideroads - hikes and rides - 1 and 3 - All 3". Cast your vote and if you want to add a comment you can use this topic of the "Polls" section of the forums.
Updated May 25th, 2008 - Time for a new poll and with many posts in the forums claiming that "trying GPS is adopting it", it seemed like a good idea for a new poll to see if that holds true. So here goes, "You use your GPS..." : "Each day - For each trip - From time to time - For your job - On vacation ?". Cast your vote and if you want to add a comment you can use...
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