New GPS device takes you for Chinese food!

Global positioning services (GPS) devices are advancing all the time, but the latest from Mio can actually tell you when you’re approaching restaurants that serve your favourite food.

Global positioning services (GPS) devices are advancing all the time, but the latest from Mio can actually tell you when you’re approaching restaurants that serve your favourite food.

Most GPS navigation devices – you know, those doohickeys you stick under your dashboard and it tells you which way to turn to reach your destination – include a feature called POIs, or Points of Interest. This usually refers to key stops you might want to consider on your family road trip such as hotels, gas stations, automated bank machines and tourist areas such as parks and museums.

But the just-announced DigiWalker C520 from Mio Technology goes one step further – you can tell it what kind of food you like – be it Italian, Chinese, Greek or Indian – and it will advise you when you’re approaching a restaurant to suit your tastes (or guide you there directly).

Hmm, how many times have I been craving Mexican, only to drive around like a shmo, looking at restaurant signs to indicate there might be something to satiate my craving for burritos and enchiladas.

Feel like catching a flick with the kids? A couple of taps on the screen and you’ll be notified when you’re near a movie theatre.

The C520 features more than 6 million of these POIs.

This portable GPS device, due out sometime in June for about $450, also features a 4.3-inch touch-screen display, text-to-speech driving instructions (“Turn left in 100 metres on Front Street”) and Bluetooth functionality to automatically dial a phone number by tapping on the POI or hearing the turn-by-turn driving instructions in an earpiece.

As with past Mio products, the C520 is also a multimedia player that can read music, photo and video files on a SecureDigital (SD) memory card.

More info on this unit can be found here.