14 DAY TRIAL // GPS-enabled personal navigation devices are being used on an increasingly larger scale around the world, either when driving or when simply taking a walk in a completely unknown area. And this is the reason why the folks over at Mitac Japan have just announced the release of two new models in their Mio DigiWalker series, namely the C523 and the C525, which tend to the basic navigation needs of just about any person (whether driving a car, a motorcycle, or simply walking), while adding support for a relatively large number of multimedia features.
The two PNDs share a basic design, the main difference between them being related to the applications they run. Thus, both the C523 and the C525 come packed with 4.3-inch touchscreen TFT LCD displays, capable of delivering a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels, as well as with a 2 GB ROM memory, which is used for storing the navigation maps. Moreover, much in the same way as most other PNDs on the market, these things provide an expansion slot for SD cards, as well as USB 2.0 connectivity.
Both DigiWalkers are powered by Samsung processors (the Samsung 2443 running at 400 MHz, at least according to the PR material in Japanese) and are powered by Li-Ion batteries, which provide an overall functioning time of around 5 hours in GPS mode and 4 hours in multimedia viewing mode, after a 4-hour charge.
And since we're on the subject of multimedia, it's worth mentioning the fact that the two GPS devices are compatible with a surprisingly wide range of formats, including here 3GP and QuickTime, as well as ASF, AVI, MP4 and WMV and MP3, WAV and WMA audio files. Practically, the PNDs seem to work just fine as PMPs as well.
As mentioned earlier, the main difference between the two units is represented by the applications they run and the targeted market segment. Thus, while the C523 is aimed especially at drivers, at it sports an audio guide, a "highway" mode and a telephone book with no less than 8,000,000 numbers, the C525 is intended to be used mainly for foot or motorcycle navigation and thus includes the necessary guides, as well as an external antenna for a better level of reception.
The two new Mio DigiWalkers will hit the shelves (for now, solely in Japan) later on this month for around 500 US dollars a pop, which seems to be a relatively reasonable price to pay for these PND/PMP combos.
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