Mio intros A702 GPS phone at Computex
updated 04:50 pm EDT, Wed June 6, 2007
Mio A702
Mio during the Computex expo in Taiwan has unveiled the A702, the new leader of its GPS smartphone range. The A702 breaks with all other phones from the company's lineup by including a dedicated number pad for calls rather than a strict direction pad. A button quickly switches the phone to GPS mode and back. Navigation has also been upgraded through the use of a new feature in the GPS chipset known as SiRFDiRect. Rebranded as "NavSteadi" by Mio, the technique uses heading and movement tracking to calculate the phone's rough position when the GPS signal is blocked by buildings or weather.
Media functions have also been upgraded for the new candybar phone. The camera is now much sharper, more than doubling from 1.3 megapixels to 3.2. Windows Mobile 6 has been installed for better media playback, web browsing, and support for the new version of OFfice Mobile; no word has been given as to whether or not the phone will ship with the Professional edition of the mobile OS and therefore make Office Mobile a standard feature.
Availability of the phone is presently unknown but is expected to include the US, where the majority of the company's GPS phones are already on sale for use with AT&T and similar networks. [via NaviGadget]
