14 DAY TRIAL // ViaMichelin recently unveiled at CeBIT 2 new in-car portable GPS units: the X-960 and the X 970-T. They're not going to make people sleep outside shops before the release day, but they appear to be decent devices. The specs look good.
Let's start with the smaller one. The dinky X-960 sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 300 Mhz Samsung processor and about 2 hours of battery life. It's 0.8 thick and comes with an individual country map set or the "all of Europe" set. It includes 64 MB RAM, 128MB of ROM. The first version sells for 229 Euro (301$) while the second one is cheap enough: around 299 Euro (393$). Weights about 136 g and can also be easily slipped into your pockets if you really want to take a hike in the woods.
Specs go a bit higher with the X 970-T (pictured), but it's quite similar to the X-960. It gains a few grams though. It features a not so fat QVGA 3.5-inch touchscreen, 400 Mhz Samsung processor and 3 hours of battery life. Also includes a hands-free Bluetooth setup and an external RDS/TMC (Radio Data System-Traffic Message Chanel) receiver for traffic. It utilizes Windwos CE 5.0 and comes with the same 64 MB RAM, 128MB of ROM. The version with preloaded singular country map will sell for 329 Euro (433 $). The one showing the entire digital territory of Europe sells for 399 Euro (525$). And that's also the best buy. It also has extra tourist info from Michelin's guides that will show you the way to the best restaurants and hotels.
Both are powered by the ViaMichelin Navigotional 7 software, which utilizes a new version of TeleAtlas digital road maps.