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>> Mr. Cooley: Hey, folks. Brian Cooley
here to help you give the gift of in-car
technology this holiday season. Before you buy
there's some things I want you to be aware of
in the big three categories. GPS navigation,
hands-free calling, and iPod integration. You
can give the gift of GPS navigation three ways.
First, you could give a portable GPS navigation
device, or you could give someone a new in-dash
car stereo that includes GPS nav, or you can
give them GPS navigation for their smart
phone -- we'll talk about that in a minute.
Now these portable nav units very poplar partly
because they can be had for as little as $150
these days for a name brand. The built in car
stereos that have navigation in them start
around 400 and can go to 1500 with all the
bells and whistles plus an installation fee.
The portable units can be taken from any car
personal cars, rental cars, friends' cars,
that's nice but the built in units are a tidier
installation without any wires and cables and
they integrate with the entire entertainment
system with can have its benefits. And the
other hot trend is one that I mentioned earlier
which is not to buy a GPS device at all but to
do GPS navigation on a smart phone. All the
major carriers now offer a service you can pay
for, $3 a day to $10 a month that will let you
enter destinations, get turn-by-turn
directions, even hear voice prompts just like
the other types of larger, bulkier GPS devices.
The downside of course is you do have to pay a
fee each time or each month you use it and that
will eventually add up to more than the cost of
buying a unit one time. No whichever these
systems you decide to go with here's some
things to think about and features to look for.
First, does the unit offer live traffic
information? And is there a fee for that
traffic data? And beyond that, if there's a
traffic problem, will the unit automatically
reroute around it or just tell you it's coming
and take you right snack into it? Next can you
enter a destination while you're moving? This
isn't a dangerous thing because it's ideal for
the passenger who wants to enter a destination
while you're drive and you don't have to pull
over that way just to punch in address. That
can get real annoying. And finally does the
unit let you easily dial in way points or
addition destinations between where you are and
your final destination. That's a very nice
feature. Now there are two hot new trends in
GPS you're going to here about when you shop.
The first one is connected at GPS systems like
this one that has a live wireless internet
connection. That can be uses to update things
like gas rices and local movie times which is
good but even better is when it offers an
actual live search, like with Google in this
case, to search for just about anything you
want and then when you find it if it's a place
let the unit take you there in just a couple of
quick clicks. That's a nice complete system.
Next is the gift that says I care enough to
make sure you don't blow through an
intersection distracted and kill someone. Yes.
Bluetooth hands free. Very poplar are these
portable often clip-on visor type units. This
is if one from Motorola and these will either
have an internal speaker built in or they'll
use your car radio as a giant speaker phone.
Then there are installed units that work with
the existing car stereo but do get installed in
the car and don't go vehicle to vehicle. They
tend to sound a little better and they tend to
have controls that are easier to use because
they are affixed to the dashboard and really
have an integrated look and feel. Now on the
cutting edge for hands free look for what's
called stereo Bluetooth. This is separate from
the Bluetooth technology used to make the calls
which is just mono and low fidelity. Stereo
Bluetooth lets you connect an applicable
smart phone or other cell phone that can hold
music wirelessly to the Bluetooth hands free
device and the person who's using this needs to
have that stereo Bluetooth technology on their
phone as well not just on the Bluetooth product
that you buy for them. Those options all sound
and work pretty good. The main choice will be
how much do you want to spend and does the
person you're giving it to really value
transportability or will they give that up to
have a little better performance. Finally
let's connect an iPod or iPhone to the car of someone
on your giving list. This is a real poplar
request. Consider getting your recipient this
rather ugly thing called an FM modulator. It
may not look like much but it works wonders.
What it does is put the iPod or iPhone on an FM
frequency like a transmitter but does it with
closed circuit wired connections. That means
almost no interference and better sound
quality. These can be had for as little as
$40. Better units are about 100 bucks that
will actually put some iPod track information
right on the radio display and factor in a
little bit of money for a quick installation at
the car stereo place. Now better still are
adapters that are specially made for your
recipient's car stereo. These create a direct
link from the iPod, closed circuit, no FM
involved. They often have better fidelity than
an FM modulator and they can let you use the
car stereo buttons to control the iPod in many
cases. And those tend to run $100 to $200
again plus some installation. Finally you can
really go whole hog and get your recipient a
great new car stereo that has iPod integration
built in plus a lot more including latest
generation features like USB for audio, HD
radio, satellite radio, and auxillary jacks.
So just about everything can plug in. One of
the hot trends there are what are called
Mechless car stereos. They have nothing
mechanical in them hence the name. And that
means no CD or optical drive but everything
else that I've mentioned. It's really kind of
the latest trend in today's car stereo. Those
kind of units will cost $250 maybe as high as
400 for the sweet spot and again there's some
installation involved, but you're really going
to renovate someone's entertainment system,
iPod connectivity, the entire in-car
experience. Oh, by the way, if the person
you're giving a gift to doesn't have an actual
iPod but some other media player, that's okay.
Most of these products I'm telling you are
about will also use a standard analog auxillary
connection and that works with any kind of
media player made. Well there's some ideas
before you buy and give what I think is a great
gift for holiday season car tech toys. I'm
Brian Cooley for cnet.
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