14 DAY TRIAL // I'm guessing GPS manufacturers asked drivers during recent focus groups if they usually follow in-car GPS advice or just their common sense. "Well, both!", the drivers must've answered. So, no wonder on-board GPS are getting more popular than TVs. Let it happen!
Here's the latest! Pioneer finally released a follow-on to the AVIC-S1. The AVIC-S2 is holding a 3.5-inch touchscreen and the only features that will make it better than the S1 unit are the MP3 player and an optional traffic receiver that connects to the AVIC-S2 via its own car cradle.
The slick wallet-sized unit (approximately 3.4" x 4" x 0.7 inches) comes with a preloaded Teleatlas map that covers the entire U.S. and Canada along with 1.7 million restaurants ("Joe's Pizza" from Belchertown MA is missing though), shopping centers and other points of interest. It also includes 1GB SD card, built-in SiRF Star III GPS, MP3 playback, Bluetooth/ hands-free calling, a built-in speaker and microphone.
The user interface boasts 2 D and 3D view modes giving you a hand when it comes to seeing the expected turns and highway exits. Another plus is the advanced map compression technology that allows you to scroll and zoom the map.
Pioneer said that the S2 is already available and that it's worth about $400. Apparently, they're not trying to get any attention by tagging it as "cheap" in their press releases. They haven't even tried to emphasize any "wide screen" tag like TomTom did when they launched the One XL just a few days ago.
We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is 
.