After Nokia's purchase of mapping company Navteq, there's a new rumour from Investor's Business Daily that GPS device manufacturer Garmin are looking to fight back with their own GPS phone. Garmin have traditionally used Navteq's maps in its devices, but with Nokia's increasing push into the GPS market, the Finnish mobile phone company is increasingly being seen as a competitor to Garmin.

Nokia's purchase of Navteq therefore effectively puts the mapping data that Garmin relies upon inot the hands of a new rival.

But can Garmin really take on Nokia at its own game?...

Not to be outdone by the Koreans, Japanese company Clarion have announced the Clarion MAX973HD GPS device and all round family entertainer. The MAX973HD is so full of features, it's easier to think of it more as a car-based PC than as a GPS unit!

As well as the 7" screen that now seems obligatory for all high-end GPS devices, the Clarion can also play DVDs (including DVD±R/DVD±RW), CDs (CD-R and CD-RW), MP3s, and can store up to 4,000 tunes on its own internal 30GB hard disk.

As if that wasn't enough, you can even use two displays with this monster!

More details of the Clarion MAX973HD after the jump.

The South Koreans love their gadgets. Their mobile phones are the most advanced in the world, with local companies Samsung and LG (the world's number 2 and number 4 mobile manufacturers, respectively) regularly releasing super-sophisticated phones for the Korean market only.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Korean GPS devices are just as advanced. In fact, they come with so many features that they actually start to blur the boundaries of what a GPS device actually is.

Take this, the HyON Xent X3, for example. It's a GPD device that also comes with mobile TV and can play MP3 and videos. So is it a GPS with multimedia features, or a Personal Media Player with GPS?

More details after the jump.

Here's an interesting bit of speculation. Microsoft are apparently looking to buy Garmin, whose shares took a battering recently when Nokia bought Navteq, the mapping company used by Garmin in its GPS devices. After the announcement by Nokia, Garmin's shares plunged by 9%, but they've just risen by 5% on the back of the rumoured sale to Microsoft.

"There is speculation of Microsoft for Garmin," said Greg Palmer, head of equity trading at Pacific Crest Securities. Garmin spokesperson, Ted Gartner, however, said that the company does not comment on possible mergers or acquisitions.

More after the jump.

GPS device manufacturer Dash is in the process of creating the most ambitious GPS project ever. They're working on a new GPS device that comes complete with Wi-Fi, GPRS and GPS, enabling each device to talk to its neighbours and the Internet.

The idea is to create a peer to peer network of roaming devices, all of which know where they are, where their immediate neighbours are, and, crucially, what road conditions are like in the immediate neighbourhood.

More details after the jump.

GPS is great for helping you navigate across the remotest parts of the world. Everywhere, that is, except the more familiar places you might travel to, such as your kitchen, or your boss's office. For although GPS covers virtually the entire globe, it's pretty pants indoors, as your GPS receiver suddenly finds itself unable to communicate with the GPS satellites.

Now, though, all this might be about to change, thanks to Intel, Rosum, and your TV.

Read on for more details.

The Garmin Nuvi 310 is one of the best-selling GPS devices on the market today. Small enough to be used as an in-car Sat-Nav system or a personal GPS unit, the Nuvi 310 has a 3.5" touch-sensitive screen and a great user interface.

To see just why it's such a top selling GPS device, read on for the full Garmin Nuvi 310 review.

Panasonic have been showing off their new Panasonic STRADA navigation system at the CEATEC 2007 show in Japan. According to Panasonic, the STRADA is an 'in-dash' GPS navigation system, but looking at the size of the thing, with its huge 7" screen and features that would put a home cinema system to shame, you have to ask whether it would fit into anything smaller than a small tank!

More details after the jump.

A Chinese company has come up with a new use for GPS receivers - attach them to your pet and never lose them again! The GT40 is, to be fair, slightly unwieldy, so would only fit bigger animals at the moment, but it does come fully loaded with both a GPS receiver and, somewhat bizzarely, quad-band GSM and GPRS!

More details after the jump.

The Tom Tom Go 520 is the latest GPS device from Dutch company Tom Tom, perhaps the best known of all GPS device manufacturers (at least in the UK, and if only for their annoying "Doug Doug" TV adverts!). They've been around for some time now, but the basic design of the unit hasn't changed much.

Then again, its user interface is so easy to use, it's more a case of if ain't broke, don't fix it, so they can be forgiven for sticking with a tried and tested formula.

Given that a GPS device's primary aim is to help you navigate from point A to point B, though, it does make you wonder how much extra Tom Tom can pack into its device in order to warrant a new model. Read on for more on this Tom Tom Go 520 review to find out.