UPDATE: Okay commenters, you’re right, it’s not the iGO interface, but it does appear to be the Navman interface, and not the Spirit. I stand by my Black Friday prediction though!

Mio just can’t seem to make up their mind. When we last heard from them they were touting the Spirit interface on their S-series units. I never got to play with one for more than a few minutes, but it seemed pretty clunky to me.

Well this morning we learned about two new models, the Moov M300 and M400 (pictured above), which appear to use their old iGO interface. But wait; Nav N Go, creator of iGO, suspended their relationship with Mio early last year due to “breach of contract.” Further confusing matters is Mio’s lack of retail presence in the U.S., which is pretty much confined to Radio Shack at this point.

Mio seems to be withering on the vine, while parent company MiTAC, who bought Magellan late last year, continues to improve the latter. So why introduce anything at all under the Mio label?

There’s only one way this makes sense to me – I think Mio is planning on the Moov M300 being a Black Friday star with wide distribution, the way the Mio 310x was three years ago. How low could they go on the Moov M300? $69.99 seems like a safe bet, but they may be willing to push it down even further. 

Enough speculation; on to the specifics of the devices. The Moov M300 is a 3.5” model, while the M400 is 4.3”. Both feature maps of the entire U.S., text-to-speech, 4 million POIs and lane guidance. MSRP’s are $119.99 and $149.99. Both are slated to be available later this month.

Mio was showing off their new Moov S-series with the Spirit interface at CES. There really isn’t a lot more to add about that, though I am looking forward to reviewing them. I’m thrilled to see Mio include 12 million POIs, even on entry level models.

With the move to the Spirit interface, they seem to have dropped plans to use Microsoft NavReady. And I did ask, but Mio wasn't quite ready to discuss parent company Mitac's acquisition of Magellan.

The most interesting thing at the Mio booth was the prototype Mobile Internet Device (MID) shown above and below. Running Windows Mobile 6.1, they’re saying the device is pretty close to production and that we could hear an announcement soon. It has integrated GPS and WiFi, and a reported 8 hour battery life. I'm expecting it would be priced lower than  netbooks.

Of course you never know about these prototypes. Last year they were showing off a 3.5G phone, and there have been additional reports about it, but it was nowhere to be seen at CES.

Mio will be announcing several new models at CES a little later today. As we predicted last week, these units will incorporate the Spirit interface with what they are now calling "slide screen" technology. Here are details on the new models, all slated to be available in the first half of 2009:

• Mio Moov S300 – 3.5" display, preloaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, text-to-speech and over 12 million POIs for an MSRP of $199.99
• Mio Moov S500 – All the features of the S300, with an extra wide 4.7" display for an MSRP of $249.99
• Mio Moov S556 – All the features of the S500, plus Bluetooth and Junction View for an MSRP of $299.99
• Mio Moov S700 – An RV-friendly 7" display, MAD Maps content, A/V input, preloaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, text-to-speech and over 12 million POIs for an MSRP of $299.99

I'm very pleased to see Mio offering devices with this many POIs. It pains me to see entry-level devices, with as few as 750,000 POIs, that are bound to disappoint first-time buyers. Mio was on their way to being a strong second tier brand in the U.S. with their DigiWalker series. Their next introduction, the first-generation Moov series, just wasn't up to par though. Perhaps the new interface, combined with a large POI database, aggressive pricing and an excellent entry-level feature set, will make them a player once more.