TomTom XL 335S GPS
TomTom announced specs for its latest PND today, the XL 335S. The 4.3-inch GPS navigator looks to be pretty ordinary, featuring Tele Atlas maps of the United States and Canada, 7 million points of interest, Map Share enabling community map edits, IQ Routes, and lane assist. While no shipping date has been announced, the TomTom XL 335S will apparently be priced at $240 in the United States and Canada.
TomTom XL 335S GPS specs announced GPS bookmarks
Alpine has recently unveiled its newest 2-DIN receiver, the iXA-W407 Digital Media Station. The iXA-W407 features fully supported iPod/iPhone playback (there’s no CD drive), large 7-inch QVGA touch screen display, built-in Bluetooth and more. The iXA-W407 is available as an all-in-one audio/video/navigation system package that includes the NVE-M300 GPS Navigation Drive. This all-in-one AVN package from Alpine will cost $1100.
iXA-W407 boasts a 7-inch QVGA display, an AM/FM tuner and a high-speed USB input for optimal iPod/iPhone connection. You can also connect USB memory devices and MTP-based MP3 players via the USB input.
The iXA-W407’s navigation is provided by the Alpine NVE-M300 GPS Navigation Drive. This is a compact external drive that is installed somewhere hidden and the location services include regular GPS data, solid-state gyro sensor technology, and accelerometer technology to gauge the vehicle’s speed for even more accurate navigation. It obviously does voice guided directions which are played through the audio system.
Some other features of NVE-M300 include:
You can also purchase the two devices (iXA-W407 and NVE-M300) separately in which case it would cost $800 and $450 respectively.
Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.
Alpine iXA-W407 with NVE-M300
Microsoft is planning to launch a mapping service later this year to compete with Google Street View, according to The Telegraph.
The service, apparently called Geosynth, will overlay “high-definition” Photosynth pictures submitted by users to create 3D depictions of real-world locations which will then be overlaid onto Virtual Earth maps.
Photosynth works by taking a mass of different geotagged photos all in with similar coordinates and stitching them together to produce a real-life picture. Rather than drive around and take pictures like Google does to create Street View imagery, Geosynth will simply be a variant of existing technology leveraging its already large user base.
While I’m not sure if it’ll be as successful as Street View given Google’s lead in getting its mapping product to market, Geosynth will definitely be more cost-effective and could offer more global coverage at launch given its existing database of photos.
Microsoft hasn’t announced when Geosynth will launch, but it’s said to be available in a beta version later this year.
