CES 2008: Mio concepts unveiled at CES

Open ended POIs with SIM-enabled PND and dual-sided GPS phone

8 January 2008 3:51 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Mio Technology is showcasing two new concept products – a super-connected portable navigation system and a dual-sided navigation phone - at this year's CES.

Pocket-lint visited the Mio stand and although both products were behind glass and unavailable for a hands on, got a full briefing about the futuristic devices.

The new connected PND is a slimline device measuring just 13mm in depth that features a flat-panel touchscreen design, and comes equipped with an SIM card slot.

This SIM connectivity means not only can you take and make calls through the device, but that the unit has a data capacity for POI, and local info searching.

This means, that using Mio's "Local Search" functionality (actually available on current units by piggy-backing a phone's connectivty via Bluetooth) point of interest searching is completely open-ended.

So, instead of only being able to look up pre-installed landmarks and facilities users could search for any kind of service in any area and then click through to start navigating to that service.

Also shown on the Mio stand is Mio Technology’s dual-sided navigation phone concept. With the claim that it offers two devices in one package, one side is a touchscreen for GPS or multimedia uses while the other is a more tradional phone with a keypad.

Neither of the products are available yet, nor was any timescale given for when they might launch.