Wallet-friendly Sat Nav from Mio

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PDAs and GPS are best buddies these days, but their pairing has rarely been as affordable as this offering from budgeteers Mio.

The A201’s favourite boast is its rotating GPS antenna, which lets you navigate in either portrait mode – like most of the PDA competition – or in the landscape orientation favoured by most dedicated devices. And all with the touch of a button.

For its appealing price of £240, it also offers some surprisingly strong features. Namely, the latest 5.0 version of Windows Mobile – which has Media Player 10 and push e-mail among other talents – and Bluetooth connectivity for Outlook synching.

Then there’s a 320×240 pixel touch screen – a feature lacking on other budget models – which beats using a keypad for navigation. Mio’s even claiming improved satellite signal pick-up thanks to a new chipset. We’ll keep our cynic hat on ’til we’ve tried it.

Mapping-wise, the A201 comes pre-loaded with Mio Map version 2.0, which now has an improved interface and provides handy info such as road speed limits and European points of interest.

So, if your wallet’s taken a pre-Christmas battering, the Mio A201 looks to be a fine GPS offering and is available from here. If you’re after a sleeker device with Wi-fi, though, we’d recommend checking out the Asus a636 [story here].