14 DAY TRIAL // Although Garmin has rolled out a very large number of GPS-based personal navigation devices at this year's CES, it would seem that there's always room for more (or that the company has simply forgotten about one of its models). Thus, the PND-manufacturer has just announced its n?vi 850 model, a rather average PND providing certain interesting features, but lacking some of the essential ones, which would have turned it into a true high-end contender.
The device sports a 4.3-inch WQVGA color touchscreen TFT LCD display with white backlight, which allow users to view the displayed images (either 2D or 3D navigation maps or photos) at a 480 x 272 pixels resolution. Unfortunately, Garmin doesn't say anything about the type of "high-sensitivity GPS receiver" included within the PND, but does inform us that the navigator is powered by a Li-Ion battery, which offers an overall functioning life of around 4 hours.
As expected, the n?vi 850 provides quite a lot of interesting navigation options, probably the most useful being the speech recognition function. This feature allows users to safely control n?vi's interface with their voice, which means that they can keep both hands on the wheel and still navigate the PND's menu. Furthermore, the navigator also sports an unspecified amount of internal solid state memory, which is used for storing the navigation maps, as well as a very large number of points of interest.
Beside the aforementioned navigation options, the 850 comes packed with some popular entertainment tools encountered in the case of most PNDs. Thus, there's an MP3 player, audio book player JPEG picture viewer, currency converters, games, alarm clock and more. Moreover, the device has also been equipped with a wireless FM transmitter, which can be used for broadcasting voice instructions or music directly via the car's audio system.
Unfortunately, the n?vi 850 doesn't incorporate a Bluetooth module, which ranks below the high-end level, at least according to today's standards. However, the suggested retail price is quite high, of around 857.13 USD, which is way too much to pay for this thing.
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