Updated 24 May, 2012, 11:34 am IST

High-End GPS Enabled Handsets

19 May, 2010, 12:06 pm IST | by Shayne Rana

Here's a list of some of the high-end GPS enabled handsets available on the market for those who tend to get lost too often.

Everyone’s always in a rush to get some place or the other. Even though a very large sum of us already know our way around our fair cities and a few others, having a great sense of direction doesn’t always work for others. In this day and age of technology integration, instead of buying those expensive GPS devices that you have to either leave in your car or cart along with you everywhere, if you're one of the paranoid types it’s better to go with a mobile handset that offers everything and Maps. With that sentiment in mind here are a few or the high-end handsets that feature built-in GPS modules with A-GPS support and come preloaded with map applications.

Motorola MILESTONE
The MILESTONE is a formidable handset that offers the Android OS fans quite a bit of functionality. Aside from looking like it's one hull of a hardcore handset, the MILESTONE’s feature set includes options like Motorola’s Crystal Talk, multi-touch for the display and of course MotoNav maps with voice guided turn by turn navigation. The mapping software is easy to use and is it’s free. There’s no three month trial period but all the data included with software is yours for keeping with no expiration data. However, in case you wish to update the system of add more cities (401 included) that would additional. The 5MP camera also supports geo-tagging.

The handset feature:

3.7-inch touchscreen – 480 x 840 pixel resolution
3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, GPS
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, USB 2.0 (micro)
5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash
microSD card support up to 32GB (8GB included)
3.5mm handsfree socket

Nokia N97 Mini
The N97 Mini with its Live desktop feature allows you to stay connected with your social networking buddies very easily as well as get quick looks at new emails that show up. Nokia’s Ovi Maps going free for life also made quite a significant difference to the overall sales of Nokia handsets. Ovi Maps are quite intense when it comes to providing details and of course a large display is always a better option to go with for any GPS enabled handset making the N97 Mini a good option.

Other features include:

3.2-inch touchscreen – 360 x 640 pixel resolution
3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, GPS
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 (micro)
5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash
FM radio with RDS and Visual Radio
microSD card support up to 16GB (8GB in-built)
3.5mm handsfree socket doubles up for TV out function

Garmin-ASUS M10
Garmin has been a longtime player in the GPS game and fares quite well on its own. They took GPS mapping to the next level by hooking up with ASUS who also ventured into the mobile industry and bundled their software with their handsets. The M10 is their latest touchscreen device. It runs on a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 professional OS with a slightly customized desktop allowing for multiple pages of shortcuts. The central feature of Garmin handsets is of course the maps and the M10 is loaded with quiet a few features and options for easy to access points of interest and nearby emergency locations like hospitals, police stations etc.�

The M10 also comes with:

3.5-inch touchscreen – 480 x 800 pixel resolution
3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, GPS
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 (micro)
5 megapixel autofocus camera
microSD card support up to 32GB
3.5mm handsfree socket

Google Maps is the very best alternative to pre-loaded map applications. However as handy as that may be, you’ll need to be within service area coverage for them to work. In this case, stand alone GPS mapping software like Nokia’s Ovi Maps or Motorola’s MotoNav will work just fine even in zero coverage areas as long as you’re outdoors. Thus the overall versatility and detail of a specifically designed GPS app is always better and having it bundled into a single device you also make calls from ensures you don’t have to have too many gadgets on you all the time.�

Tags: GPS , Nokia , N-Series , Android , Google , QWERTY , Toucscreen , 5 Megapixel