We played with the Motonav N765 at Mobile World Congress (MWC), but we now have one in the office, as Motorola prepares to launch it in the U.S. For a quick overview of the functionalities, you can refer to our MWC post. right now, we want to share with you an unboxing photo gallery and a quick first impression of the physical aspect of the device along with a little more information.
The Motonav N765t (N700 Series) has a very wide 5.1″ display. This is so wide that Motorola calls it “cinematic”. Having such a screen allows Motorola to display additional information, while leaving the map visible at all times (you’re trying to get somewhere after all). The display surface has a non-glossy treatment that helps in direct sunlight.
At 134.7×70.2×14.0mm (174g), this is a relatively small personal navigation device (PND) with a volume no larger than a previous Mio C520 device with a 4.3″ display.
At the back of the device, you will find physical buttons that let you zoom in and out and control the volume.
In the box, you will find:
- The dock that can be attached to the dashboard or to the windshield.
- The GPS itself
- ACharging Cradle with Traffic Information module that doubles as a power source
- Amicro-USB cable that can be used to sync new data
- acar charger cable
We would have loved to see the car charger use a micro-USB cable, but it’s probably not possible to power/charge both the GPS and the traffic module at once. Maybe next time…
We’ll take it for a spin in the streets of San Francisco before we can report on the user experience, but what we can say right now is that the 2D interface is faster (or less slow) than many of the established competitors. The little story behind this is that the software has been written by people with game development experience. One day, someone is going to build a GPU-accelerated PND interface and people in the PND industry are going to scream in panic. In the meantime, we’re stuck with 3-6fps refresh rates – at best.
The last bit of news is that you will be able to download maps for free (in your respective purchasing region) for 90 days. Beyond that it is possible to buy maps from the country of purchase of course, but also for other countries as well, if you travel. Purchases can be done on a “per country” basis.
Stay tuned for the full review. In the meantime, drop questions in the comments below. What do you want to know (that’s not in the specification sheet)?
Related search: previous Motonav posts
Filed in . Read more about GPS, Hands-On, Motorola, Navigation and Pnd.