So I’m sure a lot of you out there either own, or at the very least have had a play with a GPS device. These are especially useful if you spend a lot of time driving - I’m one of those people who will get lost at the drop of a hat so mine comes in pretty useful. The thing about these devices is that they are live tracking devices which give you realtime positioning, which of course is what you want when looking for directions. Well what if you wanted to track your position, or for that matter someone elses, after the event. Well that’s when the TrackStick comes into play. (by the way I’m not too sure how legal it really is to go about tracking someone else)

This is a small USB based GPS tracker which actual records your location, rather than reporting it live. The tracker itself can hold potentially months of location data before being downloaded and used in conjunction with the likes of Google Maps or Microsoft StreetView.

I think this would be extremely useful for those of us, like me, who travel a lot. Or perhaps you are planning a 6 month trip around the world. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to look back on a map of the world after the event and show your exact route? This of course could be used in conjunction with your own notes on things to see and do at a particular spot. Never again get home and think to yourself, now where was that really scenic spot I drove past the other day? The main benefit I see to this is the fact that due to it being able to contain data covering many weeks you can simply let it get on with recording your position and then share this information with friends and family.

Also a cool little device if you fancy yourself as a bit of a James Bond type character .

It wasn’t that long ago that GPS devices were a device only the rich and famous could afford - okay perhaps a little extreme but they were priced at the top end of the market. Today however their price has fallen dramatically, while their features are a huge improvement on the original models. I don’t really drive that often, but when I do I quite often get lost and so my recent purchase of a GPS device has been a gadget I just could not do without now. Garmin and TomTom are probably the top two providers of GPS kit and I’d like to highlight a couple of their must see products in this post.

First up the Garmin Nuvi 310, complete with Bluetooth connectivity which allows you to make and receive hands free calls. At its core is a basic GPS device which aims to get you from A to B as quickly as possible. What sets this device apart from the sea of competitors is the ability to bolt on additional features, such as European maps and speed camera locations. This makes the Navi a perfect first venture into GPS with the ability to increase its features at a later date. 3.5″ touch screen, 8 hours battery life and mp3 are just some of the other features than come as standard on this particular model.

In the same price bracket we have the TomTom One (3rd edition) which again boasts an impressive 3.5″ screen along with 3d map view but only 2 hour battery life. One of the selling features of the TomTom range is the supposed ease of use, as they promise with their plug and drive you can literally switch this device on and be navigating within minutes. The TomTom however does not have bluetooth connectivity which is one major feature missing when comparing with the Nuvi. It does however have a more detailed map view which some drivers prefer including point of interest landmark notifications.

Personally if price was an issue I’d go for the Nuvi as the longer battery life, along with the ability to add additional features to the base extend this devices usefulness. One note I would add though is that if you are considering a GPS for the car but also would like to use it on foot, be careful. A lot of the in-car models don’t work as well when navigating on foot, especially in a city with many side streets involved. If you are looking for a GPS for navigation on foot then choose one of the models for this particular task.

The Nokia N82 is the latest member of the Nseries family and it is packing some serious technology. Think of it as the Nokia N95’s little brother. This thing is so full of great features if it had ears they would be coming out of them.

The N82 boasts a 5 megapixel camera which matches that of the N95 along with a Carl Zeiss lens and video which is on a par with DVD quality. If that doesn’t impress you then this will… Once you have taken advantage of your quality snapper and captured plenty of pictures and videos from Saturday night on the town, you can stream them through your TV with the N82’s TV output device. Maybe your hung-over on the Sunday and your thinking to yourself “How the hell did i get in this state?” I know! Why don’t you check out those videos from the night before on your TV and find out. Any excuse to use it right?.

While we’re on the subject of Saturday nights, the N82 has an AGPS navigation device which works with Nokia Maps, now this could really come in handy while wandering around dazed and confused on a Saturday night. I am starting to think Nokia have made this mobile phone specifically for weekend binge drinkers. As part of your AGPS system the N82 will come with a free trial of voice navigation software as standard. So if you can actually work out where you are going and have the ability to tell the phone, then it will tell you just how to get there!

At the core of these great features the N82 runs with a Symbian S60 OS which makes it a multimedia computer as well, complete with web browser. While in the web browser the N82 has Wi-Fi so you’ll have that extra bit of pace while web browsing and you can access the Nokia Music Store with 3G.

The Nokia N82 will available early in the new year.