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Kapsys' Kapten is Screenless, Voice-Driven, Key Ring-Sized GPS
Posted by Kit Eaton at 6:41 PM on August 15, 2008
This tiny GPS system from Kapten shuns the current preoccupation for large, high-detail touchscreens... it has, in fact, no screen at all. There're a bunch of led-lit icons at the top, indicating car-, pedestrian-mode and so on, but that's it. All navigation requests and instructions are made by you talking to the Kapten and it talking to you. It's apparently aimed mainly at pedestrian users, and measuring 7.4 x 4.3 x 1.3 cm is small enough to slip onto a key ring. Somehow there's a Bluetooth chipset in there, alongside an MP3 player and FM radio, and it packs 4GB of internal memory. Sadly, the only instructions it'll utter will sound like "Tournez à droite, dans 100 metres" since it's being released in France next month for around US$220, and there's no info on whether it'll move outside the land of the moody pout. [Navigadget]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Posted 7:02 PM 15/8/08
i think that if it atleast had a crappy screen itll id be more interested
TetsuBo
Posted 8:40 PM 15/8/08
I'm more interested because it doesn't have a screen.
Can't wait to see how it works.
TetsuBo
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 10:00 PM 15/8/08
This is about the size of my Sansa clip. It has a small screen. It would make it useful to the deaf then. I just like knowing the route ahead of time, instead of learning it along the way.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Collins1
Posted 10:35 PM 15/8/08
Maybe we've just been brainwashed, but I think it's time to play "find the logo suspiciously similar to the Beijing olympics logo".
It's a fun game.
Collins1
yogibimbi
Posted 11:00 PM 15/8/08
so, this is the TomTom shuffle? Does it give you random directions and clip onto your t-shirt?
yogibimbi
zenpoet
Posted 12:12 AM 16/8/08
"Pour retraiter à la sûreté, tournez autour et courez rapidement l'autre way."
Does it ever get old? Maybe, but I still laugh.
zenpoet
k3davis
Posted 12:10 AM 16/8/08
This looks interesting, I hope something similar crops up here in the USA. If it was cheap and accurate (even if you had to preload your destinations from a computer before you leave) its diminutive size is nice for pedestrians like myself ;)
k3davis
frigg
Posted 12:48 AM 16/8/08
I like the way the design edges closer to the way alien technology is typically displayed in sci-fi movies, with a series of pictograms rather than words.
frigg
User Formerly known as Arelar
Posted 1:23 AM 16/8/08
So it's supposed to recognize the street name from your voice? was there some amazing voice recognition breakthrough while i was sleeping? cause if theyre still at 411 VR technology then this thing is worthless (try asking for Tschernichovsky street)
User Formerly known as Arelar
urbanturban666
Posted 11:07 AM 16/8/08
i still say that if you want a usefull gps you need one with a screen...
urbanturban666