New York — Mio unveiled two personal navigation devices (PNDs) for fall including one of the lowest-priced models to announce the street names of upcoming turns.
The company’s new DigiWalker C230 offers text-to-speech pronunciation of street names at a suggested retail of $249. It offers an improved 3.5-inch screen, for better viewing in bright sunlight, and U.S. maps that are preloaded in internal memory. The C230 will be available Oct. 1 in stores including Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and RadioShack.
The Mio C230 joins a Navigon PND, model 2100, that also announces street names at an industry-low price of $249.
Mio also unveiled at the DigitalLife show a top-of-the line DigiWalker C720t PND with 4.3-inch screen offering a built-in 2-megapixel camera and the ability to store geo-coded photos so that the user can snap a photo of a building or intersection or any location and then navigate to it in the future. This photo feature was first offered by Navman, which was purchased by Mio’s parent company Mitac six months ago.
Users can also take photos of a business card and that information will automatically be input into a contact list.
The C720t also offers real-time traffic capability, Bluetooth, text-to-speech pronunciation of street names and a full media player. It has built-in maps of the United States and Canada. It also have maps for three Mexican cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Aguascalientes, as well as major Mexican roads.
The unit will be available Oct. 1 at stores including Best Buy at a suggested retail of $599.
Mio also recently introduced a DigiWalker C320 at a suggested $299 with a 4.3-inch screen and basic features.
