Griffin Navigate is more than just an iPhone remote

Griffin Navigate is a remote with an FM radio for iPod and iPhone

(Credit: Griffin)

Griffin Technology showed off the Navigate at a CES press event yesterday, though it was announced officially at Macworld several hours before. The Navigate may seem like just an ordinary iPod remote, and indeed it can be used that way. A nice bonus is that you can also use it with the iPhone, which could be a good thing if you're not crazy about the iPhone's touch-screen controls (also pretty useful when you're driving and need to not look at the screen). But the Navigate also has a built-in FM radio as well as four station presets and RDS track info display. The device itself is decent, with an OLED screen, a power switch, the typical play, stop, pause, forward, backward, and scan controls, and an EQ mode as well.

Griffin is also planning on an iPhone application called iFM that will work together with the Navigate remote. iFM will identify your geographic location and automatically lists local radio stations so you can just tap your desired radio station from the list instead of having to scan for it. iFM will also display broadcast information like title, album, and artist info. Griffin plans to release iFM sometime in March 2009.

[shinelikeitdoes]

do people still really care about FM radio? really?

i think of it as a last resort for when i *dont* have an ipod or cd player available.

[bradinWY]

I listen to NPR half the time. In WY we don't have wifi leaking out of the sagebrush. Frankly, an FM tuner and micro-SD card expansion are my must-haves for any MP3 device and Apple doens't get my money 'till they come up with at least 1. Sorry.

[run262happy]

Most people that want the FM radio capability need it for workouts in a gym. Most gym TVs are set to tune to FM radio stations in order to hear the audio.