Mio Technology's 269 is a straightforward, easy-to-use GPS navigation system that offers relatively detailed maps throughout Europe. It's also available with Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii and Canada maps. Encased in a sleek, palm-sized chassis, the Mio 269 is supplied ready to go - all software and maps are already included on the unit's 2.5GB hard disk drive. It doesn't support postcodes and the female voice can't be changed, but it requires no setup fees or monthly charges, is portable (built-in Lithium-ion battery supplied) and supports MP3 playback. Therefore, it could be an ideal alternative compared to some relatively expensive built-in automotive GPS systems.

Pros: Accurate maps and routes; portable; MP3 player
Cons: Doesn't support postcodes; can't change voice


Finding a location, be it a street or area, can prove to be extremely difficult for even frequent travellers. Often, you'll find yourself planning a route days in advance and pouring over paper maps. Thankfully, satellite navigation systems have made travelling by automobile, or even by foot, a whole lot easier. They also make an excellent investment for road-bound business travellers wishing to save time and reduce the risks associated with driving around unfamiliar territory, such as by avoiding one-way systems and busy roads.

The device is powered by an Intel 300MHz processor and provides both visual and verbal directions to your destination, a feature you should expect from any modern GPS system. Using a very sensitive GPS receiver and maps stored on the hard disk drive, the system provides over one million points of interest (POI), including airports, ATMs, restaurants, petrol stations, lodging and tourist attractions. Alternatively, simply select a pre-programmed location, such as your office, home or customer, and you'll get directions to any destination with a simple click.

Other Mio 269 sports a fully integrated GPS antenna, rechargeable Lithium-ion (1350mAh) battery that allows up to around 4 hours of untethered operation on a single charge, 3.5in. colour display (320x240 pixels), 32MB flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM, touch-screen keyboard (stylus pen provided), mono speaker, headphone jack, infrared remote control, in addition to mounting hardware for automobiles and bikes. Its compact size (78x138x26mm, 232g) also allows it to fit into your pocket, should you want a high-tech walking aid. Accessories include AC and car power adapters with changeable plugs, USB 1.1 cable, and a carrying case.

The Mio 269 helps eliminate the time and effort of planning a route. You simply input an area, street name, as well as any intersection or interest, and the device calculates the shortest or fastest route. It also gives you visual and audio cues along the way. Thus, no more maps to read, no more planning required, no more reading maps while driving, nor having to stop to get further directions. Unfortunately, you can't input postcodes.

In addition to the pre-loaded hard disk drive and GPS navigation, the Mio 269 lets you listen to music using its MP3 playback functionality. However, you can't listen to MP3 tracks while using GPS. The hard disk provides 500MB of free storage space for MP3 files which should be enough for around 4 hours of music. There's also an SD/MMC card slot, should you want to playback audio files directly from an external memory card. Playlists and songs can be loaded via the USB port.

The Mio 269's touch-screen is extremely clear and easy to use and the navigation pads light up in a cool neon blue colour, which is useful when driving at night. There's also a number of buttons for power, volume, menu/home, destination, zoom in, zoom out, mute, and back, in addition to a hardware reset switch and system reset button. Mio has also included a small battery-powered infrared remote control, which allows you to control the unit without having to endanger yourself or other road users.

The great thing about Mio's navigation software, which is based on Navigon's Mobile Navigator 4, is that the maps are all stored on the device's hard disk so there's no need to mess around with swapping SD cards in order to load another map. The maps are relatively detailed and can be viewed in 2D or 3D, and zoomed in and out. The maps, which cover 22 countries throughout Europe, are fairly up-to-date but small things like new mini roundabouts will be absent from the maps. However, additional updates to the maps may be possible at a later date, according to company, but there are no plans at present.

The device has most of the specifications a power users requires, although we were less impressed with the time it took to input a route. You can use points of interest to find places quickly, but you can not input a postcode. However by inputting a town, street and nearby street (intersection), you should automatically get the postcode for that area. This still means you will need to know most of the address details when heading out to a destination. Thankfully, places that you frequently visit can be saved on the device for easy access, including a home button which can be pressed which automatically plots a route back to your home.

We were really impressed with the accuracy of the unit and we arrived at our destination within metres of the front door, thanks largely to the strong GPS signal. The directions were well spoken by the female voice (not changeable) and the roads were clearly visible on the screen. It does take a while to get used to viewing the screen while driving, but the audio alerts were very good and gave us plenty of time to react, such as when to make a turn. Similar to other decent satellite navigation devices, the Mio 269 will also recalculate your route on the-fly should you decide to go AWOL.

BIOS, Jul 08, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Multimedia