Apple's entry with a smart watch could also jump-start the market, although Sonny Vu, chief executive of Misfit Wearables, says positioning a device on a wrist could be too restrictive for many people.

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This convenient mounting system allows for easy positioning of the device either on the windshield or the dash and the device orients the display with a useful flip-screen feature.

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The device, he says, picks up global positioning system (GPS) signals better than the iPhone (even in forests), boasts longer battery life and fits in his backpack without adding much weight or bulk.

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Earlier this year Keiser put out a bullish report on location technologies: mapp Close ing database firms TeleAtlas and Navteq, dashboard navigation device makers such as TomTom and Garmin, and global positioning system chip firms like Sirf Technology Holdings.

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In a study published in 2006, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who rode 37 airline flights with a radio-frequency measuring device found emissions from cellphones that could interfere with global-positioning satellite systems.

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It's a natural positioning once you've got your fingers firmly positioned in the crook on the back of the device (of course there are no physical page turn buttons here, unlike the Nook Simple Touch).

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