Dash Express beta hands-on

December 17th, 2007 | Category: Tech Talk

We recently got to take a Dash Express beta unit for a spin, and while they’re still gluing all the software together behind the scenes in anticipation of launch, we did spot the makings of a few obvious and ridiculously useful features new users can expect in February. Besides the stuff we’ve already heard about (like sending addresses and geo-RSS feeds via WiFi and cellular, or local Zillow property values), the Dash Express has some other tricks up its sleeve, like:

The ability to display current local gas prices in its gas station search!
Local theaters show movies and showtimes (although you can’t order tickets through the Dash Express — yet).
Yahoo Local searches show aggregate user ratings.
Over the air updates via cellular input. (We’re not yet certain what happens whether you opt out of service — we’d guess you’ll just have to use the old USB cable or WiFi.)
And, of course, there’s the traffic info, which not only shows which local roads with traffic goods from real date and historic Dash GPS users but plus uses Inrix traffic feeds.
And just so you know whether

the system is or isn’t too certain about its traffic predictions, the Dash Express additionally gauges its “confidence” with dashed and solid lines — see above. (Of course, it plus plots routes predicted by ETA and traffic flow, and not necessarily just by distance.)

Compared to your usual, run of the mill GPS, whole connected navigator experience was not dissimilar from the jump within going from a VCR to a TiVo — which is why we think possibly, just possibly, society might actually want to pay for service with that thing. Of course, the downside for dash is most citizens won’t even realize what an amazing boon these kinds of features really are until they’ve taken one home and discovered it first hand out in the world. (Oh, videos after the break.)

Gallery: Dash Express beta hands-on