While the market for dedicated PNDs (personal navigation devices) is under threat by GPS-equipped smartphones, Mio apparently reasons that consumers will still buy single-purpose gadgets if the price is right. The company is bringing its Moov M300 and M400, introduced in Europe in July, to the U.S. market, both priced at under $150.

Like most PNDs, the Moov M300 and M400 have touchscreen displays, the former offering 320 x 240 pixels with a diagonal measurement of 3.5 inches, and the latter offering 480 x 272 pixels with a diagonal measurement of 480 x 272 pixels. The devices are otherwise very similar, according to Mio, running Windows CE 5.0 on 400MHz Samsung S3C2443 processors and using SIRF starIII GPS receivers.

Mio's Moov M300 and Moov M400
(Click either to enlarge)

Including mini-USB ports but no SD card slots, the M300 and M400 have 128MB of RAM, with 2GB of flash storage on the larger M400 and 1GB of flash on the M300. For the U.S. market, the devices are said to be preloaded with maps of all 50 U.S. states, plus four million POIs.

According to Mio, features on the Moov M300 and M400 include text-to-speech with spoken street names, predictive keyword search, and a lane guidance feature. A "NavPix" photo feature is said to enable navigating directly to locations gleaned from geotagged photos. MioMore desktop software, meanwhile, allowing uploading new POIs and transferring images for use with Navpix, the company says.

Features and specifications released by Mio for the M300 and M400 include the following:

• Processor -- Samsung S3C2443 clocked at 400MHz
• Memory:
  • M300 -- 128MB of RAM and 1GB of flash storage
  • M400 -- 128MB of RAM and 2GB of flash storage
• Display:
  • M300 -- 3.5-inch touchscreen with 320 x 240 pixel resolution
  • M400 -- 4.3-inch touchscreen with 480 x 272 pixel resolution
• GPS -- SiRF starIII chipset
• I/O -- mini-USB port
• Expansion -- none
• Battery -- 720mAh battery with up to three hours life
• Dimensions:
  • M300 -- 3.66 x 3.11 x 0.74 inches (93 x 79 x 19mm)
  • M400 -- 5 x 3.18 x 0.72 inches (127 x 81 x 18.5mm)
• Weight:
  • M300 -- 4.76 ounces (135g)
  • M400 -- 5.36 ounces (152g)

According to Mio, the Moov M300 is available now for approximately $120, while the Moov M400 is available for $150. The devices are also available in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, where they naturally include different maps, the company says.

More information on the Moov M300 and M400 may be found on the Mio website, here and here respectively.

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