Article by Mike Barrett

Michelin has long been associated with excellent standard in the restaurant business, so what better place to hold the launch of the latest Via Michelin SatNav system than the Michelin Bibendum restaurant in the Fulham road, London. Via Michelin have fitted out a luxury coach with presentation equipment and GPS systems to demonstrate their latest SatNav system the ViaMichelin X-980T.

The ViaMichelin X-980T Launch

I suppose it was a good sign turning up in the Fulham Road and not only was there a massive building with Michelin on it but also a luxury coach with special livery for a tour of Europe launching the latest ViaMichelin PND (Personal Navigation Device). The actual launch started in the oyster bar of Bibendum where we had 3 of the new systems on display to touch and feel whilst sipping coffee or other refreshments.

ViaMichelin had rolled out the developers and marketing team for this launch and there were just as many company staff as press at the event. Surrounded by the people who have developed and marketed the system was a good start to the evening as we were guided through the features of the system (with no satellite signal).

The ViaMichelin is a fully featured Navigation system incorporating a lot of value added features to assist you on your journey. First of these is traffic information delivered over the FM radio network providing RDS-TMC data. The RDS-TMC receiver is integrated into the PND, all you need is an external antenna to pick up the data.

Secondly it also incorporates the legendary Michelin Guides. These are all geo-referenced with details including phone numbers. Allowing you to dial directly from the guide.

It also features a text to speech engine to give you clear and precise spoken directions which include street names and road signage.

Technical Information

Size : 150 X 83 X 27 mm
Weight : 260g

Screen: 4.3 inches touchscreen TFT 65,000 colors in 16:9 aspect

Resolution: 480 x 272 pixels (WQVGA)
Processor: Intel 416 MHz
GPS: Integrated GPS receiver SiRF III
Memory: 256 MB of ROM, 64 MB of RAM
Connectors: mini USB for loading and connection to the PC, cigarette lighter
Battery Life: 3 hours.
Sound: Integrated loudspeaker.
Navigation Software: ViaMichelin 6 with Teleatlas maps

Traffic info: built-in FM RDS-TMC using external antenna

First look at the X-980T Hardware

The 4.3 inch wide screen dominates the front of the device with control buttons down both the left and right hand sides. These buttons allow fast access to the most common functions required, such as volume, home traffic, POI's etc.

Just under the left hand buttons is the built in loudspeaker, allowing you to use the SatNav outside the car. I was also told that there was a loudspeaker incorporated in the mount as well. A good thing too because the volume from the unit's speaker would not be sufficient at motorway speeds.

Whilst on the left hand side there is the slot for a memory-card which contains the mapping data for the system.

On the base of the unit there are a whole series of connectors: mains, mount dock, mini-usb, and headphones. When in the mount the power is provided through the connector. The headphone jack also doubles as the connector for the RDS-TMC antenna.

Should you drive a car with a coated windscreen the don't worry as there is a socket for an external GPS antenna which can be positioned to receive the navigation signals.

The Road Test

Interestingly a lot of SatNav launches happen indoors where it is impossible to receive a signal. ViaMichelin have organised a coach which allows all the press dignitaries to be driven round the streets of London whilst also being able to play around with the new toys at the same time. Smart move and one most appreciated by people like me who want to see the gear in action, not have it described to me.

Unfortunately all the devices were numbered and had to be returned at the end of the tour, but we did manage to get about 20 minutes to try them out. I did politely ask if I could smuggle one out but they turned me down.

The tour actually started with a presentation, on the coach. This detailed the history of Michelin, the current state of the GPS market and where ViaMichelin is attempting to position itself. With European mapping and a price tag of £449.00 the X-980T is at the top of the range of ViaMichelin SatNav devices.

Once the stats and marketing details had been dispensed with we started to look at the functionality of the software and how the unit really worked on the road. Each of us was then provided with an X-980T. These devices had not been switched on since coming to London city and this was apparent by the length of time it took to get a lock on the satellites before the systems could start navigating.

This was compounded by the fact that the coach was moving and we were surrounded by high buildings in an "Urban Canyon". True to form though the capabilities of the SiRF III chipset came to the fore and one by one we all got a fix and the systems sprung into life.

I set a route back to the Michelin restaurant that I knew would be our ultimate destination. Using the full 7 digit postcode I managed to pinpoint the exact destination and set a course there.

The first thing I noticed was the clever use of the wide screen. Split into sections it delivers a lot of information in a clear and useful manner. The left hand side of the screen has a detailed turn indicator showing you exactly the maneuver you need to make. Just above the turn indicator is a segmented icon indicating how far you are away from the turn.

You can see from the image to the left that the turn detail includes not only your actual maneuver but also additional information such as no entry and one way streets. This can be extremely useful at complicated junctions like the one we were about to make. As it happened we didn't make the turn because it was too tight for the coach. That wasn't an issue of course as the software re-calculated a new route as soon as we missed the planed turn.

The right hand side of the screen displays the map in either 2D or 3D depending on your settings, with an information bar at the top of the screen and status information at the bottom. As you can see the GPS status varied between 2 and 4 satellites, but this was mainly because the X-980T had not had a chance to get a strong fix prior to starting the tour. I am certain that if this had been started in a stationary vehicle where the device had a reasonable view of the sky then the fix would have been much better.

The picture below shows us going past Hyde Park. Don't be confused that the map shows the park on the right but the picture has it on the left. I am taking the picture facing towards the rear of the coach.

The maps used in the system are from Teleatlas. I am not certain which release we were shown, but they must have been quite recent as they had a known mapping fault near where I live. Always a good way to date the map releases.

The text to speech allows the names of streets and road signs to be spoken. As the storage used for the maps and system is quite small I am assuming that ViaMichelin are not using the phonemes in the Teleatlas mapping data these are provided to help with some of the more interesting pronunciations of words such as Leicester.

This article has just scratched the surface of the X-980T, we were not able to see a lot of the functionality in use. More will be discovered when we get our review samples later this month. What I did see I liked. It has all of the features you would expect from a top of the range SatNav system.

It will be interesting to see how the integration with a bluetooth phone works. On other systems I have complaints that my voice is too far away or the speech is scrambled or breaks up. Handsfree voice is essential in the car whilst driving and the quality of the system is crucial...

One of the things I did really like was the integration with the Michelin Guides both red and green. My local pub has just managed to get into the Michelin Pub Guide, but unfortunately it obviously didn't make the release of the guide. Good for me but bad for everyone else, at least there wont be hordes of Michelin X-980T users to fight with to get a table. On the plus side some of the restaurants in my area were listed.

So the coach trip came to an end and the goodies had to be reluctantly prised from my fingers. "Don't worry!", they said, "We will get you a review sample very soon."

Well I am about to go on holiday for a few weeks and it hasn't turned up yet so one of the other guys will get to review it. Things never quite work out for me...

Never mind I am sure I will be able to get my hands on one when I return from holiday and we can then put it through it's paces and see if it lives up to the high expectations that I have for it.

The ViaMichelin X-980T should be in the shops on the 16th October 2006 and will have a recommended price of £449.00

The following is the official Press Release from ViaMichelin:

References

Mike Barrett

www.Pocketgpsworld.com