Mitac Mio GPS v2 Debuts

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=127' target='_blank'>http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=127</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Mio chose the Digital Living Festival organised by CNET in Paris on November 10th, to introduce the Mio 268 and Mio 269 previously known as the Mio 188. "</i> Specs include:<br /><br />• WindowsCE 4.2 without the PocketPC "layer" (Excel, PIE, Word, etc...)<br />• It's possible that there will be a special Mio "layer" (see first picture below) with some simple apps (contacts, calendar) and an MP3 player.<br />• Common features include the classic Xscale chip running at 300mhz, 32/64Mb of RAM, an SD slot, a SiRF XT2 GPS, a mini patch antenna, but no removable battery.<br />• The 269 features a 2.5Gb mini hard drive that will contain pre-loaded maps.<br />• Release date is planned for January 2005 in Europe with some competitive pricing, especially for the 269 with a hard drive. No known release date for the US at this time.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20041119_mio.jpg" /><br /><br />Mixed bag here - nice GPS chip and built-in 2.5Gb drive, sketchy processor, CE 4.2, and no removable battery. What's your take? Worth a look, or pass it by? :)

[IpaqMan2]

I don't know.... Is havig just Windows CE a bad thing in the size of a normal PDA???

I like the intergrated drive and would like to see that move into other models of the PPC family, don't like not being able to swap out the batteries and the GPS is nice... I guess i would need to knowmor about the device andhow it works when I am not using it as a GPS and would need to know how functional it is with just CE on it.

[R K]

I'd say they're targetting more of the GPS market instead of the PDA market with this one, with the proprietary GUI and all.

It would have been nice if they at least included Bluetooth and gave the unit the capabilities of a Bluetooth GPS but as it is, it's not very interesting to me.

[Fishie]

400€ for the 268 and 600€ for the 269, hmm too expensive methinks.

[surur]

This is a very interesting development.

Mio has been able to grab a significant portion of the european pocketpc market due to their GPS bundles. It has been said that people only buy these devices for the GPS, and could care less about the OS.

Now that they have divorced the two, we could find out if this is really true. If this product does poorly, I hope they decide to add the pocketpc functionality.

Of course if it does spectacularly well, we will know whats really going on in the european market.

Surur

[gpspassion]

Yes, I think it's a bit of a gamble that others like Medion and Navigon (linky (http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/comments.asp?id=466) are taking too, offering WindowsCE devices that just do GPS. Funny thing is that the WinCE apps are still buried in there, mp3 player notably or File Explorer and some people have been able to get to it.

While people may only have bought the Mio 168 for GPS, they might not have been too happy to lack the "perspective" of using it for its PDA features or even GPS with topo maps, which is not something these news devices can do.

[jeffmd]

I dont think it will do well. See.. its going to be a super gimped pocket pc, you probably wont even beable to run your own ppc programs on it, yet with the built in HD, and the way it is being marketed, it will prolly cost the same or more then todays full featured pocket pc's. You would get more functionality if you just baught a ppc and something like a bluetooth gps kit.

[Typhoon]

Pretty cool looking gaming device.

[gpspassion]

Yes, the whole question is whether it will be possible to install third party apps. I spent quite a bit of time with WinCE2.11 (ePods anyone!) and WinCE3 (so called internet appliances) and you really couldn't run much other than the stock apps, espcially for WinCE3 because it was never really marketed separately, WinCE2.11 was though.

These devices are "open" (can by synched with ASync) so maybe someone will start developing apps for them...should be quite a bit user base out there ;-) Would be interesting to see what programmers have to say about that...