UPDATE: Read my hands on review of the Magellan RoadMate 5175T-LM.
Hey, look what showed up on the FCC website this morning – a WiFi-enabled Magellan RoadMate 5175 series. We don’t have a lot of specs at this point, but we can tell you that it rotates into portrait or landscape orientations, and that it will come in traffic (5175T) and traffic plus lifetime map (5175T-LM) editions.
What we do know is that there is a Web browser, complete with some interesting capabilities (and some rather disappointing limitations). From the manual:
Using the browser you can access web sites as yelp (www.yelp.com), CitySearch (www.citysearch.com) or Zagat (www.zagat.com) and download points of interest to be used as a route destination, access e-mail accounts (gmail.com, aol.com, yahoo.com, etc.), and view web pages. The browser does have a few limitations:
- No flash support. (The browser will not be able to play .flv videos (youtube, etc.).
- Does not support most plugins.
- Cannot perform downloads.
- When using e-mail, cannot open attachments.
When using e-mail, you can reply to an e-mail but it is not recommended as the keyboard does not have a carriage return.
With Android-based WiFi tablets about to be discounted and available at every electronics retailer, I’m not sure I see much of a future for this series, despite the relative success of the Garmin nuvi 295W. What do you think?
Via FCC
About Rich Owings
There is no need for a full blown browser on a GPS. With WIFI, I can see going into a Starbucks or Panera, finding a place that is not in the POIs of the GPs and routing to it. I see that it shows the speed limit. That would be nice. Outside of that, the interface looks like the existing units. It would take a lot for me to upgrade. I have lifetime maps now that I haven’t been able to use.
Your review states
•No flash support. (The browser will not be able to play .flv videos (youtube, etc.).
••When using e-mail, cannot open attachments.
You then go on to mention garmin NUVI 295W does that unit support e-mail attachments or flash support I am looking to buy one of these wifi GPS receivers and want to make sure it has flash, also is there any other wifi units by Navigon or Tom Tom like this?
I don’t believe the nuvi 295W supports Flash, but I could be mistaken. There are no Navigon or TomTom units like this.