Jørgen Sundgot takes the GPS-integrated Mio 168 out for a spin. Does he make it home alive, or is he lost forever, circling unknown streets with no way home?
GPS is not a common feature for a handheld, yet, but for some types of users it can be indispensable. Unfortunately, MiTAC's first foray into the handheld-with-integrated-GPS market is quite dispensable, as its otherwise decent design is crippled by one show-stopping problem.
 | The Mio 168 is decent hardware, and offers partly excellent software
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Design
MiTAC's Mio 168 is pleasantly small at 111 x 69 x 15 mm and 147 grams packed into a not-unattractive silver gray plastic case, complete with the GPS patch antenna which flips up from the back or locks down with a clip.
The screen is the standard 240 x 320 16-bit colour transflective TFT common to most Windows Mobile handhelds, and is clear and bright. Below it are the control buttons, including a 5-way joystick in the center and four standard application buttons wrapped around it rather than in a line. The buttons are decent, but the joystick has a sharp crowned edge to it that makes it both a bit slippery to use and surprisingly painful. In fact, the joystick takes the cake as the worst directional controller we've ever seen, a title formerly held by the Sony CLIE PEG-TG50.
The left side of the handheld includes the round power button and oval-shaped voice recorder button, which are similar enough and properly placed so that it is easy to hit the voice recorder by accident. There is also a 2.5 mm audio jack, more commonly found on mobile phones. The top of the device includes an IR port, SDIO-capable SD/MMC Card expansion slot, and the silo for the telescoping metal stylus. There are two LEDs on the top front to indicate power status, while the microphone and speaker (which is clear and loud) are on the bottom front flanking the buttons.
The Mio 168 ships with a charging/sync cable as well as a car adapter. The car adapter includes a suction cup mounting brace and car power adapter, both of which worked well in testing.
Connectivity
The main connectivity feature of the Mio 168 is, of course, its GPS antenna. The antenna can be positioned at any angle when flipped up, although parallel to the ground is best. Picking up a satellite lock with the Mio 168 took about 1-2 minutes while standing still, but in motion took as long as 10. Once acquired, the signal is not easily lost, however. Accuracy was good, to within 5 meters or so in most cases.
The Mio 168 also includes the aforementioned IR port and SDIO capable SD/MMC Card expansion slot, as well as a serial port on the bottom for the included charging cable.
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