Parrot Asteroid for portable entertainment on the road

It seems that the Internet is more or less everywhere these days – even when you are driving around in your car, you cannot get rid of the presence of the Internet – although GPRS and EDGE connectivity might be in store for places which are more rural and have yet to establish 3G support. Well, Parrot, the name synonymous with wireless peripherals for smartphones and cell phones has just announced their latest model – the Parrot Asteroid, which is the next generation of car receivers that merge advanced hands-free telephony with access to web services for the first time ever.

The Parrot Asteroid will be able to steer the future of Internet right in the comfort of the car, where it is a solution specially concocted to adapt to aftermarket and OEMs. This is also the first car receiver worked on by Parrot, where it will be powered by Google’s Android operating system. The moment it is hooked up to a GPS dongle (which comes along with the product) and a 3G key (that is unfortunately, not provided), to allow it to access various innovative web services.

For folks living in the US, there will be a half dozen applications that will roll out later this October. Maps will be a cartography service that is smart enough to identify and locate points of interest which are close to the vehicle. Apart from that, you can always take advantage of the zoom function to let you dial sans hands, all the phone numbers of your choice.

With Roadtrip, this is an itinerary service to touristic points of interest which vocally provides historical as well as meteorological information that are linked to the selected venue. You can also check out images which are displayed on the Asteroid’s screen, but make sure your eyes will still remain peeled on the road, too, of course.

The Parrot Asteroid lets you enjoy music from a range of sources, such as a USB flash drive, an iPhone or iPod, any compatible MP3 player, or even from an SD memory card – and heck, even online radio stations courtesy of 3G connectivity. Expect to fork out $349 for the Parrot Asteroid – any takers?

Source:http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20110829/parrot-asteroid-portable-entertainment-road/