According to recently released report from iSupply Corp, the number of GPS satellite receiver equipped cellphones will more than quadruple between 2006 and 2011. Factors driving the growth are expected to be the growth of location based services and the U.S. government’s Emergency 911 services mandate. Location based services require a GPS receiver for establishing position and an Internet connection for accessing location databases. The BlackBerry Curve 8310 has both.

The BlackBerry Curve 8310 is an attractive smart phone with a metallic finish and a trackball for user input. It is a surprisingly small phone to come with a full QWERTY keyboard. For those looking a smart phone with navigation capabilities the BlackBerry Curve 8310 comes equipped with a built-in GPS receiver and the BlackBerry Maps application for navigation software.
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Technorati Tags: GPS, Emergency 911 services mandate, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Curve 8310, smart phone, BlackBerry Maps

Top features to consider with the ASUS MyPal A639 PDA, apart from being GPS enabled, are the combination of a large 1Gb onboard memory capacity with multimedia capabilities and flexible, advanced connectivity in the form of WiFi and Bluetooth.

The front face of the ASUS MyPal A639 has a 3.5″ TFT LCD with 65k Full-Colors, 16-bit Display and QVGA (240X320) resolution touch panel positioned above a horizontal row of three circles containing a speaker, five-way navigation control and a cluster of four application launch buttons. The screen is the same size as many dedicated car GPS units and is anti-glare for improved visibility when dash mounted for car navigation.
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Technorati Tags: ASUS MyPal A639 PDA, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth

The ASUS MyPal A636N is a GPS enabled PDA which comes with the bundled car kit. The 3.5 inch touchscreen can be orientated horizontally or vertically on the dashboard. The A636N has a pedestrian mode so once you’ve parked the car you can take it along for those final directions to your destination. This unit is not the thinnest of the ASUS GPS enabled PDA range as it has a fold out swivel patch antenna which is used to improve GPS satellite reception.

The front face of the ASUS MyPal A636N has a 3.5″ TFT LCD with 65k Full-Colors, 16-bit Display and QVGA (240X320) resolution touch panel positioned above a horizontal row of three circles containing a speaker, five-way navigation control and a cluster of four application launch buttons. The screen is the same size as many dedicated car GPS units and is anti-glare for improved visibility when dash mounted for car navigation.
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Technorati Tags: ASUS MyPal A636N, GPS enabled PDA, 3.5 inch touchscreen, pedestrian mode

The ASUS MyPal A696 GPS enabled PDA has the premium look that ASUS have sought to bring to the market. The A696 has a very smart looking stainless steel casing and at (157 mm) is the thinnest of ASUS’s GPS enabled PDA range. ASUS have achieved the slimming down by having the GPS antenna embedded in the casing as opposed to a protruding swivel patch antenna of other Asus GPS PDA models such as the MyPal A639 and MyPalA636N.

The front face of the ASUS MyPal A696 has a 3.5in, 240 x 320, 65k colour LCD positioned above a horizontal row of three circles containing a speaker, five-way navigation control and a cluster of four application launch buttons. The screen is the same size as many dedicated car GPS units and is anti-glare for improved visibility when dash mounted for car navigation. . The A696 has a pedestrian mode so that once you’ve parked the car you can take it along for those final directions to your destination. It’s an excellent platform for interacting with the rapidly growing range of location based services being offered. The A969 comes with the bundled car kit.
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Technorati Tags: ASUS MyPal A696, GPS enabled PDA, GPS antenna embedded

The Garmin Mobile 20 is a mobile phone mount with a GPS receiver and Bluetooth built-in to add GPS navigation and hands free calling to your on Nokia, Windows Mobile or Treo 650 Smartphone or BlackBerry (note that there is a different version for BlackBerrys). With Internet access equipped mobile phones services such as weather, traffic conditions and safety camera databases can be accessed through Garmin Online. The unit can be mounted to the cars windshield with an included suction-cup.

The plug-and-play Garmin Mobile 20 comes pre-loaded card with maps and navigation software. The included Garmin Mobile XT or nRoute DVD-ROM contains software and full map coverage for North America or Europe. Owners with a laptop can use the nRoute navigation software application which is optimized for the laptop display. Garmin’s Mobile XT navigation software application is compatible with smartphones or PDAs.
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Technorati Tags: Garmin Mobile 20, mobile phone mount, GPS receiver, Bluetooth, GPS navigation, Nokia, Windows Mobile, Treo 650 Smartphone, BlackBerry, plug-and-play, nRoute

Garmin’s Mobile 10 is a very cost effective way for consumers to gain the advantages of GPS navigation without having to purchase dedicated GPS navigation device. The Garmin Mobile 10 is compact GPS receiver which can transform Bluetooth enabled mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones, Pocket PCs, and PDAs into GPS navigation devices. The lightweight (couple of ounces) Garmin Mobile can be clipped (removable clip included) to your clothes for navigation by foot or car.

The plug-and-play Garmin Mobile 10 comes pre-loaded card with maps and navigation software. As well as being able to look up addresses and get turn-by-turn voice navigation directions, the Garmin Mobile 10 allows you to access location based services. Access is available to real-time traffic reports from traffic.com, current hotel information from hotels.com, weather forecasts, fuel prices and other location based services free Garmin Online wireless data services..
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Technorati Tags: Garmin’s Mobile 10, GPS navigation, GPS receiver, Bluetooth enabled mobile, laptops, smartphones, Pocket PCs, PDAs

From reviews to date the Mio GPS products impress as “value for money”. The Mio P550 GPS PDA only reinforces this impression. The unit has the quick and accurate SiRF III GPS receiver, WiFi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, a respectable 400MHz processor and 64MB of SDRAM and 2GB of flash ROM. The memory can be added to using the SD/MMC expansion slot which can accept up cards up to 2GB. The Mio P550 has no phone capabilities.

The Mio P550 GPS PDA comes preloaded, ready for use, with TeleAtlas maps of the United States and Canada. Mio’s MioMap is the navigation software.
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“What are the options for GPS enabling my mobile device?” (cell phone, PDA, notebook etc) is a question consumers are beginning to ask as applications for GPS become more diverse and pervasive. Spectec have some options for consideration with their SD and miniSD GPS receiver cards. A much appreciated feature of these GPS cards is the built-in microSD card slot which solves the obvious problem of mobile devices with only one SD expansion slot.

There are four SD GPS card models including the SDG-810 SD GPS receiver and SDG-811 miniSD receiver and the SDG-812 SD Bluetooth GPS receiver and the SDG-813 miniSD Bluetooth GPS receiver. All models have the built-in microSD card slot.
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In their sales pitch for the Freedom Mini GPS receiver, Freedom Input point out that there will be some 150 million SmartPhones and PDAs sold in 2007 with only 10-15% having GPS built-in. With a largest dimension of 1.5 inches the new Freedom Mini GPS can easily be carried on ones person (supplied with a keylink) to GPS enable a SmartPhone, PDA or laptop through a Bluetooth wireless link.

The Freedom Mini GPS receiver is powered by the ever accurate SiRF StarIII GPS chipset. The Bluetooth range of 10m is certainly adequate as is the battery working time of 10 hours.

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ASUS have just launched their P526 PDA Phone with GPS capabilities. It’s a compact, lightweight unit at 110 x 58 x 15.4 mm and 115g. The screen is a 2.6 inch TFT supporting 65,000 colors at a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. GPS capability is supplied by the ever popular SiRF Star III GPS Chip. You can compare GPS Chipset capabilities or find out some more on the SiRF Star III GPS chipset on GPSTek.

Running on a Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system platform with the Java Mobile Edition (J2ME) supported, there is plenty of scope with the P526 to run GPS based business productivity applications. Microsoft have numerous GPS applications available.

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