Dell To Offer GPS And Wi-Fi Positioning In New Mini 10s

Dell today announced they will begin offering GPS and Wi-Fi positioning via the Dell Wireless 700 location solution for the new Mini 10 netbook. Dell's Wireless 700 location solution will feature a combination of hardware and software built to accurately pinpoint a users position anywhere around the globe.

The hardware will feature an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi locationing. Used in conjunction the two technologies will work together to locate the netbooks position both indoors and out. In other words, it can calculate your position using Wi-Fi access points by utilizing Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) or using standard GPS satellites. The Dell Wireless 700 will be powered by Broadcom's A-GPS and Skyhook Wireless' Wi-Fi position solutions.

On the software side, the Dell Wireless 700 location system features CoPilot navigation software to provide turn by turn directions. The software will offer things like 2D and 3D map views, the ability to save up to 50 addresses for one trip, trip optimization to provide the most efficient route as well as providing instant detour information when you encounter expected delays and provides continuously updated information about the trip.

Dell also plans to offer a secondary location-based services in the form of a location aware portal. The company has partnered with Skyhook Wireless and Loki for this offering. Loki is a browser based plugin that comes preconfigured for Internet Explorer and Firefox. The plugin works with Loki-supported sites to improve local search functionality by providing you details from nearby restaurants store locations and even your friends' location information from supported social media sites like Flickr, Loopt and BrightKite.

In the OS department, initially, it will support Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 support will come later. The Mini 10 is the first system that we'll offer with the optional Dell 700 Wireless location solution.

Source: Direct2Dell Blog