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Clarion's MiND PND/MID continues its price-plummet this week, with Buy.com listing the black version of the 4.8-inch touchscreen device for just $229.99. That gets you GPS, a 4GB SSD, Google Maps, a Linux OS and a user-experience that could reasonably be described as a car-crash.
The Clarion MiND navigation-MID seemed like a great idea when we first saw it back in January 2008, but a lengthy time to market and a car crash of a review has seemingly turned off all but the most avid of Clarion collectors. That’s why, we’d wager, Amazon has had to lower the price of the MiND: you can now pick up the white and red versions of the MID for just $530.
The ClarionMiND seems like it’s been around for a long time now, though it was only CES 2008 when the company officially unveiled the touchscreen navigation MID. It took all the way until November to be released, then we had to wait until last month to see it in action; now Gear Diary have reviewed the MiND. Clarion promise the full internet, navigation and media experience from one single device; unfortunately it seems they fall well short.
Clarion’s navigation MID launched last November, but it’s taken a while for hands-on experience with the GPS-enabled touchscreen device to emerge. Clarion have also tweaked the name slightly, to ClarionMiND (with no space) over apparent “legal issues”. Steve Paine has been playing with the ClarionMiND for the MID Moves project, and despite some obvious drawbacks – a pitiful battery good for at most an hours standalone use, and the lack of 3G – Clarion have actually done what other MID manufacturers struggle to achieve.
Check out the ClarionMiND demo video after the cut
Clarion’s MiND Mobile Internet Device (MID) has finally been launched, offering GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth in an ultraportable format. Controlled via a 4.8-inch WVGA touchscreen, the MiND has a 4GB SSD, microSD card slot and comes preloaded with maps of the US and Canada. POIs are offered up by Google Maps.
Clarion have set both a price and a more specific release date for their MiND GPS Mobile Internet Device hybrid. The touchscreen unit, announced back in January, will launch in the US and Canada in November 2008, priced at $649.99, with a European release following in January 2009 for €649.99. Clarion have also given more detail on the MiND’s functionality, together with confirming that a 3G-equipped version will be released in Spring 2009.
Clarion’s MiND MID, refreshed for Computex earlier this year, has had another polish and been rolled out at IDF 2008 this week. The company now appears to be shifting the focus of the MiND a little, away from a pure MID and describing it more as a GPS device that also has internet browsing and media functionality. While that could be dismissed as mere semantics, it might help give Clarion an edge selling the MiND to a public more familiar with touchscreen GPS devices than than they are with MID.
Check out the video demo of the Clarion MiND after the cut
Clarion have been showing a new prototype of their MiND UMPC and GPS navigation device at Computex, complete with a fresh case design and various color options. The so-called “Mobile Internet Navigation Device” is based on a 5.2-inch WVGA 800 x 480 touchscreen and, back in January at least, Intel’s Menlow platform (comprising the Silverthorne processor and Poulsbo chipset). Functionality includes internet and messaging, GPS and Office access, shortcuts to YouTube and MySpace, and multimedia.
GPS manufacturers Clarion have announced their latest satnav systems, the MAP680 and MAP780. Using a full 4.3-inch wide-aspect touchscreen with anti-reflective coating, both units have an RDS-TMC tuner for traffic information and Bluetooth for handsfree cellphone use and A2DP music streaming. Most striking, however, is the full 3D mapping that gives a windscreen-view of what the driver should be seeing.
It has a 30GB HDD, a USB port, and a 400MHz just to start. It also has GPS built in so it can do navigation and get you where you are going.
JP
