Navigate and Find Directions... with a Smile

Indeed, a driver (especially a female driver) can find out directions a lot easier by stopping at a gas station, for example, and smiling, but that's not what we'll talk about here. No, the subject at hand is the GPSmile 62 launched by Holux, a crafty little personal navigation device that should, at least in theory, provide a good level of guidance at a very affordable price point.

The device sports a built-in 32-channel GPS receiver, which provides a positioning accuracy of up to 10 meters 90 percent of the time, as well as some pretty good starting times: 1 sec hot start, 33 seconds warm start, 36 seconds cold start, plus a 0.1 second reacquisition time.

Processor-wise, the GPSmile 62 is not exactly what one might call "fantastic," since it sports a Samsung S3C2443, 400 MHz CPU, accompanied by 64 MB of Flash memory and 64 MB of SDRAM memory, which are used for running the Microsoft Windows CE.Net 5.0 Core Version. The whole thing is powered by a rechargeable 1050 mAh Li-Ion battery, which, need be, can be replaced by the user.

The PND comes equipped with a 5-inch TFT LCD touchscreen (480 x 272 pixel resolution, 16-million colors), which features a user-adjustable backlighting system. It also sports a built-in speaker, plus pretty much the usual connectivity options one could expect from a product of this type, including here a Micro SD card slot and a USB 2.0 interface.

It's also interesting to note that the GPSmile 62 can be slightly user-configured, since drivers can add an optional Bluetooth module with support for Phonebook, HFP (hands-free profile), DUN (Dial-up Networking) or a TMC receiver.

Unfortunately, there's no telling when exactly the GPSmile 62 is going to arrive in Europe and the US, but if the price is right (read "low-enough"), it might actually prove to be quite successful, given the features it can provide.

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