Preview: Nokia 500 Auto Navigation
Written by jon on 6:21 AMSometime in August, Nokia quietly announced the 500 Auto Navigation system - well before they announced the acquisition of Navteq (the digital map provider). The five-double-oh is a step up from its predecessor, the Nokia 330, with a bigger screen, more features, and perhaps most importantly, a lower retail price.
Let's face it: the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation had its share of problems. Sure, Nokia added all kinds of useless multimedia whatsits like a video and music player, and a photo viewer. Too bad it was at the expense of something called Bluetooth. And with a price tag of 360 euros ($530 USD), it was just too much for (not enough).
So, the Nokia 500 Auto Nav attempts to fix this and other undocumented problems that cursed the 330. A quick glance shows a nice improvement in the viewing area: screen size has increased from a mere 3.5" fullscreen to a 4.3" widescreen. It's not a touch-screen, though - buttons are located under the display.
Nokia not only added Bluetooth to this GPS's feature list, they went all out in the process. The 500 allows you to browse contacts on your phone, send/receive calls, and just, you know, talk. Throw in DSP (digital signal processing), and you've already got yourself a pretty sweet hands-free unit. It's a nice touch that gives the 500 considerable edge over the competition (the Nuvis, TomToms, etc).
There's also an onboard FM transmitter that can broadcast tunes to your car's radio. Sweet.
Other features include the Traffic Message Channel Service (my guess is: not free), and of course the return of the photo viewer and video player.
A report on the 500 Auto Nav's battery life would have been nice, but unfortunately Nokia's not telling. They did mention, however, that the GPS unit will only be available in Europe sometime in Q4 2007, for the price of 300 euros. That's $440 US dollars, dude.
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