Change a Text to Speech GPS into a I-pod Touch look alike

[SingSing]

Many of us have abandoned the map and switched over to GPS.
Text to speech feature always comes only with higher price GPS.

So, I went out and bought the MIO c230 from RadioShack when it is a $129.00 special.
The GPS function works reasonable well and the fun was just started.


With the hack from http://computerbits.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/how-to-unlock-mio-c230/
The hack involves loading the files on a SD card, insert the SD card, and turn back on the GPS,and WOW. It transformed C230 into a Mobile PDA and media player, and still a decent GPS with TTS.
Photo and the TMPC media player work well with many media formats video , picture, and MP3 right off the SD card. The GPS uses its internal flash memory for mapping, so the SD card is for just all your goodies.



The MIO c230 is a pretty old model, so it is thick, and screen is bright but not very sharp.
Its quick GPS lock comes at the cost of leave the GPS circuit on all the time, and cut the battery time down to 1 hour. It only has a million POIs, that oddly includes Radio Shack.

The tele-atlas map come with the unit is 2005, but it still does a good nagivation job, even with a fan of Google map and NAVTEQ. The Canada, and US states maps and pois update are availabled for free, if you know where to look.

Note : The clock in the C230 sync to the GPS satellites, so it is a formidable time piece too.

[SingSing]

So far I added Canada Map, 12 million POI, Slide show, and direct moving playing, and games ...
I am waiting to add a wi-fi SD card, to connect to the network.

RadioShack is still selling it at $129.00. See :

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2916650&cp=&sr=1&origkw=c230&kw=...entPage=search

CircuitCity has it on close out for $139.00. See :

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=c230&searchSection=All

Correction : The map used in C230 is 2007 TeleAtlas.