CES 2008: GPS

Trimble Outdoors puts GPS on your BlackBerry 8830 or Pearl 2. The GPS software maker showed off its off-road navigator, fitness software, and geocache software, all of which are available–independent of the carriers–for smart phones.

We got a quick demo of the geocashing software, and for those who are into that, this definitely looks like a good way to go. Because it’s on your BlackBerry, you have access to all sorts of information, including others’ posts with clues about how they found a given cache, and it allows you to be more spontaneous in your geocaching because you don’t need to start at home online and then venture out. You can just be out with some time to kill, and see what’s nearby. The service will be $5.99 per month or $39.99 per year.

I’ll admit GPS was a tough category this year. The market is exploding, and there are a couple of emerging technologies that make us really excited for next year, but in truth, they’re just not here in finished products just yet.

But all is not lost. Garmin (along with MSN Direct) came through with the nüvi 880. Its coolest feature is its voice recognition combined with a remote that straps to your steering wheel. Anyone who has a Bluetooth headset knows how this works. You touch a button to signal that you’re ready to talk, and it goes from there. What’s nice about that is that you don’t have to reach over to touch the device itself, so you can keep your hands on the wheel.

Available in the second quarter for $999, the the nüvi 880 isn’t cheap, but it’s the best voice-recognition model we’ve seen to date.

In an early note from Mio, the company indicated that its new C720tx will include at least 12 months of free TMC service, and possibly free lifetime service through ClearChannel. Not a bad deal at all. It will also have a redesigned bezel with an integrated TMC receiver (instead of the device cradle in the previous generation). You’ll also find updated firmware for SirfStarIII (instead of Sirf InstantFix II).

The new widescreen devices include the Mio C320t, C520t, and C720t. The C320t and C520t both have text-to-speech technology as well as traffic monitoring capabilities. The C520t is equipped with a 4.3-inch display and comes bundled with 6 million POIs and preloaded maps of the U.S. and Canada at $399.95. The C320t has a 4.3-inch widescreen display but comes with U.S. maps only and just 2 million POIs for $349.95.

Last year, Garmin and MSN Direct announced the nüvi, which turned out to be a very solid product. This year, Garmin’s not stopping there. Upgrades and new PNDs abound, including the nüvi 260 (now the 260W, with a wide screen), the nüvi 780, which offers easy access to traffic, stocks, and news, the nüvi 880 with speech recognition, and the nüvi 5000, with a whopping 5.2-inch screen.

But the one new product that really caught our eye was Garmin Mobile PC, which puts the power of GPS on your laptop. The package comes in two flavors: a software-only version, and a software/hardware combo, which includes a GPS 20x sensor. You get 6 million POIs as well the “Where to?” and “View Map” features we’ve grown accustomed to on the nüvi and StreetPilot products.

Garmin Mobile PC can also handle turn-by-turn directions, and offers free access to Garmin’s online services, which grant access to weather, flight status, hotel rates, and fuel prices. Look for Mobile PC in April. The full package will be $99.99, and the software-only version is $59.99.

Pharos is taking advantage of the digital camera and GPS boom by combining your pics with your navigation. The Trips & Pics geo-logger lets you record where you’ve been both geographically and visually. You can organize and share trip routes and the shots you took while you were there. It also lets athletes track and improve training times (though we’re not quite sure what that has to do trips or pictures yet). It will work with any digital camera and be sold later in January for $89.95 at major retailers.

So far, exactly one 3D-map–enabled PND is on the market, and while the HP iPAQ 310 Travel Companion is a cool idea, where’s TomTom, Garmin, or Magellan with such cool technology? Honestly, we don’t know, but we have our meetings set up with them, and we’ll keep you posted.

We do, however, know of at least one GPS maker who’s taking a stab at 3D navigation at CES. And not only does this company claim to offer 3D maps, but it says its maps will have more lifelike images than those we’ve seen thus far. It will include elevation, buildings, landmarks and topographic maps on PNDs, game consoles, and smart phones.

As we continue our look back at the noteworthiness of our Best of CES 2007 picks, we arrive at the Dash Express, which was poised to become the first automotive GPS device that connected to the internet via a Wi-Fi or cellular connection to deliver updated maps and cull road information from other units.

This dynamic information exchange would’ve enabled the Dash Express to suggest alternate routes and estimate delay times when a traffic jam or other incident occurred. In other words, it would’ve transformed your hooptie into K.I.T.T., just without the turbo boost and William Daniel’s soothing vocals.