Mio C320 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Mio’s C320 is a entry level GPS navigator with a conveniently widescreen touch-screen (4.3 inches). Mio price the unit very competitively which may be one of the reasons it has been in Amazon’s bestseller lists.

Mio C320 Portable GPS Navigator

Apart from the basic GPS navigation functionalities the only add-on is a fully featured MP3 music player. Also worthy of note is the Mio Split Screen Interface which makes good use of the extra real estate of the widescreen.

The Mio C320 is pre-loaded with TeleAtlas maps of the US and some 1.7 million Points of Interest (POI) which may seem a lot but is relatively small. For loading your music MP3s there is a SD memory card slot on the left side next to the headphone jack.

Mio Split Screen Interface

As mentioned, Mio make good use of the 4.3 inch widescreen with their Split Screen Interface which has also been used in a similar fashion by Sony in their NV-U44 GPS navigator. You can easily toggle in and out of the split screen mode by touching an on-screen icon. In split screen mode, about two-thirds of the screen displays the navigational map and directions while the other one-third is reserved for a three tab interface including tabs for; navigation data (such as ETA, distance to next turn), configurable POI data and traffic information which would be of use if you purchased the optional items for TMC (Traffic Message Channel). In some ways it is like having the configurable widgets you see at the side of the screen with Windows Vista. A use for the POI tab might be to provide distances to a particular service you are looking for along your route such as post office. When you see one reasonably close you can make a diversion.

If you’re considering the C320 then it would be worthwhile looking at the C520 model which has the same hardware and operating system platform with additional features including notably Bluetooth support and text-to-speech.