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April 28, 2006

Mio A701 GPS-enabled Windows Mobile smartphone reviewed

Filed under: 520mhz, Bluetooth, GPS, SirfIii, WindowsMobile5.0, a701, gprs, gsm, hw6900, intel, ipaq, mio, pxa270, sd, sirf iii, smartphone, tri-band, windows mobile 5.0, xscale — Evan Blass @ 9:27 am

Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/a701.jpg" alt="" />On paper, the href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/25/mios-a701-gps-enabled-pocket-pc-phone/">Mio A701 smartphone sounds like
almost the perfect convergence device, sporting a Windows Mobile 5.0-powered 520MHz Xscale processor, SiRF III GPS
receiver, tri-band GSM radio, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Sadly, at least according to Reg Hardware, the
A701 has so many little faults that the device is often barely usable, and sounds like a skip except for those folks
who absolutely must have GPS and aren’t into the square-screened iPaq href="http://engadget.com/search/?q=hw6900">hw6xxx series from HP. Some of the Reg’s gripes with this model include
its crappy camera (one of the worst they’ve ever seen, apparently), GPRS-only data connection, flimsy telescoping
stylus, lack of dedicated buttons for WM5 softkey control, and buggy navigation software (luckily it’s optional).
Besides the full suite of accessories that come included in the box, there doesn’t seem to be much good to say about
the $660 to $790 A701, which is no doubt a big disappointment to those who may have been looking to import what
appeared to be such a hot phone.

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April 6, 2006

Pioneer AVIC-S1 portable GPS receiver with Bluetooth

Filed under: Bluetooth, CarGps, GPS, Navigation, SirfIii, WindowsCe, avic-s1, car gps, europe, french, pioneer, sirf iii, touchscreen, windows ce — Evan Blass @ 5:42 am

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

href="http://www.caraudiovideo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=36"> hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/06040622.jpg" alt="" />

French site
caraudiovideo, whose specialty is pretty self-evident, have information on a new Windows CE-powered Pioneer GPS
receiver that is supposedly one of the first from the company to include built-in Bluetooth. The AVIC-S1 is a
"portable" model (meaning you can port it from vehicle to vehicle, but not on your geocaching expeditions)
that features a 320 x 240 touchscreen, SiRF III chip for greater accuracy, and what seems to be 2GB of flash memory
preloaded with European maps. Any of the included points-of-interest can be dialed on your cellphone via Bluetooth, and
a choice of 17 guidance languages will help you brush up on the native tongues as you travel around the continent. It’s
not really clear when this product will be released (if it’s not out already), or how much it will go for, but until a
US version is announced, those details are a moot point to the majority of you anyway.