14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile Internet is becoming increasingly popular nowadays, but it would seem that its range of applications is a lot wider than expected, including here the provision of certain navigation aids. Because that's exactly what the people over at Dash have come up with, namely the Dash Express GPS navigator, which uses the Internet in order to receive real-time traffic information from other Dash units, as well as POI-related data.
The marketing edge over the competition provided by the manufacturers of the Dash Express is a fairly simple one: connectivity and real-time information updates. Thus, all the drivers with a Dash Express machine installed in their vehicle will be able to get inside information about traffic along their route using up to the minute information generated from other Dash devices. Furthermore, besides the aforementioned network of Dash users, the provided routes are also based on historical road segment data for every time and every day of the year.
Another interesting feature provided by the Dash Express is the integration of the Yahoo! Local search service, which will find every location one might need in a certain area. Moreover, all the results are very accurate, since they're based on either the driver's current position or his/her ultimate destination. All the data (including the information received from other Dash users) will be transmitted to the device via some sort of modified RSS feeds, thus assuring the very important real-time updates mentioned earlier.
Quite obviously, in order to be able to take advantage of all the aforementioned features, the Dash Express must be first connected to the Internet. This task is achieved via the embedded GPRS and Wi-Fi hardware, thus assuring the fact that the connection will work in pretty much any conditions. Furthermore, the device supports the upload of traditional maps via the USB 2.0 interface.
The device also comes packed with a 4.3-inch touchscreen display and a traditional GPS receiver, to determine as accurately as possible the driver's current position. Unfortunately, no pricing or availability details have been provided by now, but it would seem that the Dash Express might hit the shelves at some point in early 2008 (one year too late - since the manufacturers initially touted the second half of 2007 as a possible launch date).
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 
.