By Andrew Liszewski
Yesterday Callaway revealed an updated version of their upro handheld GPS device, now bestowed with an ‘mx’ after its name, and a full-color multi-touch and gesture-friendly 2.2-inch LCD display. Obviously designed and optimized for use on golf courses, the upro mx comes pre-loaded with maps for more than 25,000 courses around the world, including high-resolution aerial photography of each course which apparently only they offer. And while there’s enough content on the device to get you going right out of the box, you can also download more detailed data for where you’re playing including a Virtual Green View with exact putting distances, SmartView which calculates the best virtual view based on where you’re standing and AnyPoint technology for extremely accurate distance measures.
The Callaway upro mx will be available in May for just $199, but I have to wonder why it couldn’t also be available as an iPhone app. I’m sure it’s still a must-have for some professional golfers who need highly accurate GPS distance readings, but I think the casual links player would find it far more convenient to have this built-in to their phone. And if that database of 25,000+ courses is too hefty to download at once, users could simply pull down offline copies of courses as needed. I’m fairly certain even the most avid of golfers won’t be playing at all 25,000 courses in their collection.
[ PR – Callaway Golf Introduces Next Generation upro GPS Device ]