About Electronics

InfoWorld: Taiwanese electronics maker Asustek Computer launched a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with a touch-sensitive screen on Wednesday, just days ahead of the launch of Apple’s iPhone.

Asustek’s new handset, the ASUS P526, wasn’t meant to be an iPhone rival, nor is the timing auspicious, being so close to the launch of the iPhone, the year’s hottest product. Development on the device started a year ago, and Asustek has simply followed its own timeline, according to Sannie Lee, a spokesperson at Asustek, talking to the press on the sidelines of Asustek’s news conference in Taipei.

Andy Wu, account manager in the mobile communications department at Asustek, said the touch screen functions and other parts of the ASUS P526 were all planned into the design well before the iPhone was announced.

“The iPhone announcement did grab our attention, but I wouldn’t say it had any impact on the way we designed our handset,” he said.

The ASUS P526 has a 2 megapixel camera, TomTom navigation software for its built-in GPS receiver, Skype’s Internet telephony software and an application that enables the handset to store business cards by taking a picture.

It launched in Taiwan on Wednesday and will reach Hong Kong by the end of this week, Lee said. Later this year, the company hopes to market the P526 in Europe and elsewhere. In Taiwan, the phone costs 426 euro.

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GPS World: European personal navigation device (PND) giant TomTom and wireless carrier Vodafone U.K. yesterday said that they will jointly develop a new traffic information system for the United Kingdom.

TomTom further said that it wants to extend similar systems to at least half of its European installed base by 2008.

This agreement will see TomTom’s navigation technology incorporate data from Vodafone’s U.K. wireless network to provide real-time information on the speed and direction of cars traveling on all major roads across the U.K.

As a result customers will have a better understanding of traffic situations and be able to plan and change their route instantly to avoid traffic congestion, the two companies claim.

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I4U News: GPS Lodge got their hands on the new TomTom GO 720 at the TomTom offices. The TomTom Go 720 will ship in a couple of weeks from Amazon.

Quote from the preview:
“On my recent trip to TomTom, I was able to play with the new TomTom GO 720 and wanted to give you my first impressions. The TomTom GO 720 was recently announced, and while it’s not yet available to the public, it will be by the end of July/Early August. I think there are a couple of things going on with the TomTom GO 720 that are worth noting.
Gone is the big form factor; thin is in. The big news item that was associated with the TomTom GO 720 release was the MapShare program which should allow users to have some limited input initially on the maps, allowing you to input on the correctness of the maps and share those corrections with others.”

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GPS Business News: TomTom, today announced the introduction of TomTom Map Share on the new TomTom GO 520 and TomTom GO 720. This new map improvement technology allows TomTom users to improve their maps as soon as they spot changes in the roads.

According to TomTom: “Thanks to the smart user interface, it is easy to make improvements, such as blocked or unblocked streets, reversed one way traffic or new street names, which will instantly take effect”.

These map improvements can be shared with other TomTom users via a connection of the TomTom device to the TomTom HOME software on a computer. When it comes to sharing improvements, users can choose between downloading all reported map improvements or only accepting map improvements verified by a TomTom team of experts to guarantee timeliness and validity.

“TomTom Map Share™ is an important component of a new era in navigation. By enabling millions of TomTom users around the world to automatically share and mutually benefit from each other’s local road knowledge every day for free, TomTom ensures that drivers have the most accurate and up to date maps available in the industry”, said Harold Goddijn, chief executive officer at TomTom.

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Engadget: Encyclopaedia Britannica is suing TomTom, along with Magellan for alleged patent infringement.

Encyclopaedia Britannica is claiming that the companies infringed on some of its patents for a “computerized map system.”

Exactly how that applies to these particular companies and not everyone else, we’re not sure, though we’re sure we’ll be hearing more about it soon enough.

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Veteran comic actor John Cleese, he of Monty Python fame and more, is the latest star signed up as voice guidance to TomTom’s sat nav devices.

Listen to John here.

He joins a growing number of stars – and stereotypes  – in TomTom’s voice guidance range.  

You can be guided by a German psychiatrist, an East End London cabbie, or by the flirtatious-come-irritating tones of a young woman called Sylvie.  The choice is yours.

See the range of voices here.

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Digital Trends: Mio showed off its new DigiWalker C520 portable GPS device at CES earlier this year. The device is now officially launched. It offers a 10.92 centimeter LCD, enabling you to display a full-screen map or choose a split-screen view. The C520 also offers spoken word directions (text-to-speech) and Bluetooth integration. With 2GB of on-board flash RAM and an SD expansion slot, the C520 includes digital media player capability. The C520 is comparable to the TomTom ONE XL, that was launched a month ago and gave TomTom an advantage in the area of widescreen GPS.

Price: approx 297 euro

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Reuters: (…) the cell phone industry has a new target — personal navigation device makers. (…) While a few years ago personal navigation device makers like Dutch TomTom shrugged off possible rivalry from the handset industry, they have now acknowledged the potential risk to their business.

The world’s top handset maker Nokia started to sell its first navigation phone N95 a month ago, and other top vendors are expected to follow shortly, hoping to make 2007 the breakthrough year for cell phone navigation.

The N95, with a 700-euro price tag, is not in reach of the masses despite first reports showing strong sales, but the Finnish firm aims to bring GPS positioning chips to a wide array of its products.

“I believe it will quickly go through almost the whole of our portfolio,” Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia’s Mobile Phones unit, told a recent news conference.

The GPS technology enables handset makers to bypass mobile phone network operators and at least some of the navigation phones can be used for routing when not connected to operators’ networks. (…)

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Tech.co.uk: TomTom yesterday revealed details of its new ONE XL range of sat-nav devices. The new batch come with a super-sized 4.3-inch high-quality touch screen and a sleek new design.

The TomTom ONE XL is also traffic ready, meaning that drivers have easy access to traffic information via an RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver accessory or a subscription to TomTom Traffic.

TomTom ONE XL owners will also have access to all TomTom PLUS services including safety camera alerts, real-time traffic and weather reports, updates on road conditions and the TomTom Buddies feature.

TomTom ONE XL will be available from all major retailers across Europe, as well as the US, Australia and South Africa from May 2007, retailing for £249GB (around €370).

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Electronista: GPS device creator TomTom this afternoon unveiled the RIDER 2nd Edition, the sequel to its popular mapping system for motorbikes.

As was alluded to in a premature site posting, the revised unit has a new RAM mount that adapts to more handlebars and is more easily adjusted for a clear viewing angle. It also comes bundled with a Cardo scala-rider Bluetooth for making phone calls without the rider first removing their helmet.

A new, free Buddies service also adds an element of social networking with friend tracking and notifications when fellow RIDER owners drift into range.

The second version of the RIDER will be ready first in Europe by the end of May, where it will sell for between £300 and £400 (440 to 590 euro) depending on the choice of region-only maps or those covering all of western Europe. (…)

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Navigadget: Here is some speculation: according to some sources Garmin and Tomtom are looking into getting GPS enabled phone market. Well, they better: Soon all mobile phones are going to have embedded GPS chips in them so nobody will want to spend $400+ on a standalone GPS navigation system. It is already happening!

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Gizmodo: Many celebrities have loaned their voice to TomTom to use for voice-guided navigation, but none as unique (debatable — Dennis Hopper and Mr. T have also participated) as Gary Busey.

Busey is known for a quite a few interesting “Buseyisms,” like seen in the video that could make the average drive to the lake a lot more interesting.

Watch Busey record his voice here (caution: if you’re easily offended, don’t watch it).

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