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Announcing the introduction of yet another GPS capable gadget that appears to be a must have, Clarion Corporation of America and Clarion Co., Ltd, a leading global manufacturer of mobile electronics, has taken navigation to another level for navigational minded users with its “MiND” – the new Mobile Internet Navigation. The Clarion MiND appears to be a GPS navigation device at mind, but expanded into a special type of mobile internet hybrid device packed with connectivity and applications bringing it close to a mobile PC.
The MiND is basically a small mobile computer running on an 800 MHz Intel Atom processor with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (with an additional MicroSD card slot) and connects to the world via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and of course GPS. It also houses a
couple of USB ports for connecting and transferring data, a headphone jack, speaker and docking port for an included dash mounting kit. MiND provides Internet connectivity via WiFi whether at home, at the office, or in hot spots around the city. Clarion’s MiND also allows for Internet connection via Bluetooth when paired with a mobile phone for convenient service options, and will eventually offer an Internet connection by either WiMAX or 3G wireless technologies. These connectivity options combine rich GPS navigation with full-page PC-like Internet browsing capabilities using its 800-pixel by 480-pixel touch- screen.
With the multiple Internet connections, users can download the latest information in real-time and have ‘always on’ access to today’s most popular websites including Google Maps, Google Earth, You Tube and MySpace. Clarion has utilized its years of experience in creating car audio and navigation systems, which offer award-winning, best-in-class features, with user interfaces that provide rich information and make operation quick and intuitive. The Clarion MiND is not only a pretty gadget it is an intelligent gadget that guides your through traffic whether in a car, on a bike or motorcycle. If you would rather walk the MiND guides you as well. As you head out to your destination re-routing in easy – options include a short route, a quick route or an economical route. While on the go the Clarion MiND is not just a navigation device. It is an entertainment device too. When in range of a WiFi connection, as mentioned before there is one touch access to MySpace and YouTube. In addition to that there you can use the FireFox-based browser to find information on the Internet. When browsing you are presented with a full (regular) web page and then have to scroll up and down as well as left and right. You can also zoom in and out.
The GPS functionality offered a nice overall setup that user would find a breeze to use. Everything from getting your route setup, to re-routing, to offering a nice amount of voice prompts to help make sure you do not miss your turn. The GPS also has a nice selection of points of interest (POIs) which came in very handy when looking for places like gas stations. It also offers multiple views, as well as give you speed limit information and road information. File management is possible on the Clarion MiND so you have the ability to search, move, copy, delete or to change file names. You can create documents on the device’s Note Pad.
What if you have a document saved to a USB Flash drive or on a MicroSD card that needs some editing. No problem, Note Pad is activated as either is inserted into the Clarion MiND and can be edited as well.
When it comes to entertainment, you can trust MiND to offer you the ability to enjoy your favorite musics and it supports many formats which include (audio – mp3, mp4, mpg, mpeg, rm, ra, rv, rmvb, aac, ac3, ogg, wav, wma; video – wmv, 3gp, divx; photos – jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp. Music, videos, movies and digital photos can be viewed and managed from the internal 4GB memory or from a MicroSD card.
