Product: Mitac Mio 168 Pocket PC with GPS Price: $2,798 Pros: First Pocket PC GPS system Cons: As PDAs go, it is only mid-range. No Wi-Fi
Taking a computer out on a country walk sounds like a geeky display of self-indulgence. But once you have tried satellite navigation, old paper maps feel hopelessly uninformative.
Most global positioning devices have been proprietary systems with monochrome displays and absolutely no frills. The handful of add-on devices tended to lack integration and add bulk to a personal digital assistant. GPS giant Garmin changed that with its Palm-based iQue - the first integrated GPS handheld.
Now Microsoft enthusiasts can take their windows walking, thanks to Taiwan's Mitac International.
Mitac's Mio 168 is the first Pocket PC-powered GPS system, and it runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003.
As a handheld, the Mio has reasonable, although far from spectacular, specifications. It sports an Intel PXA-255 300-megahertz chip with 32 megabytes of ROM, 64MB of user memory and a Secure Digital card slot.