Mio has announced the global launch of its Moov S300, Moov S500 and Moov S700 series’ portable navigation devices today. The three GPS units, which seems to be joined by a Moov Flat model in the United Kingdom, all incorporate Mio’s new Spirit interface which we first saw at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
The Spirit UI is a complete revamp of the software that previously powered Moov PNDs. It simplifies the home screen, enables access of major features with a couple of taps, and has a ’slidetouch’ feature that brings menus on and off the display without requiring the user to return to the home screen. Moov Spirit also brings TruMap Views to the fold simplifying map displays and Junction Views are added.
The Moov S300 has a 3.5-inch display, the Moov S500 has a slightly larger 4.7-inch display, and the Moov S700 has a large 7-inch display targeted at users with larger vehicles. The Moov Spirit Flat also has a 4.7-inch display but has a flatter design than the other three models.
All of the new S series models also features Google-powered local search, real-time traffic, speed limit and safety camera data, Bluetooth, NavPix photo navigation and plenty more features that can be found at Mio’s virtual product launch website.
I’m still trying to figure out if the Moov S series will launch in the United States. The company’s PR calendar has no mention of any launch in the US this month and we have previously heard the company has ceased operations in the country. Then again, at the tail-end of April we heard Mio was shipping the Moov S401 and Moov S501 in the United States in mid-May. Could these be local variants on the S series devices announced today?
In any case, the Moov S300, Moov S500, Moov S Flat are expected to drop this month in confirmed countries–mostly in Europe–for the equivalent prices of $198, $275 and $305, respectively. The 7-inch Moov S700 should ship this summer and while I haven’t seen a confirmed price, Mio said it would cost $300 back in January.
