Just got back from an Audiovox media event in NYC. Small event, nothing crazy, and all the products shown was stuff we've seen before (either at CES or shortly after).

I hadn't had the chance to play with the upcoming top-o'-the-line XpressR before, so it was nice to fiddle with the interface a bit: split-screen, 6-lines and all. One interesting thing to note is the five-way tuner knob does take a little getting used to, but in about 5 minutes I pretty much got the hand of it. Both the XpressR and the CommanderMT seem to have this same knob, while the XpressEZ has a much more simple interface.

As a power-user, I'd go with the XpressR hands-down. The dual-screen feature just seems so much more natural to use. Hopefully this is will be a trend throughout more receivers. 

But really the main thing that I was excited to play with was the Jensen Rock 'n Road (pictured above). My only criticism is that the name doesn't give the device justice ("Rock 'n Road" is cute and all but... ehh). Regardless, if you read my writeup on it from CES, you'll know that I was a fan of this device from the get-go. It just makes sense. And the lack of satrad involvement in the GPS market was something I ranted about a while back.

The Jensen's touchscreen interface is slick and, more importantly, extremely easy to use. The 4-inch display is really beautiful, though I have yet to see it in extremely bright conditions. The fact that it supports the XM Mini-Tuner earns it tons of points. And apparently they bumped up the internal memory from 8Gb to 12Gb, so that's always nice. Throw in the optional back-up camera, and instantly anyone can upgrade their vehicle with features only found in luxury vehicles. All that, and it's portable too.

Accessing the booming GPS market is key for satellite radio in my opinion. But both XM and Sirius (who has their own Sirius-enabled GPS in the works) need to understand that people buying a GPS aren't necessarily looking for satellite radio - so they need to run promotions to allow these users to sample the service. But hey, at least these devices are starting to hit the streets (expect to see the Jensen in August).

UPDATE: If you've been wondering whether the Jensen Rock-n-Road supports XM NavTraffic with the XM Mini-Tuner - the answer is yes. It can receive XM NavTraffic updates in up to 50 markets nationwide. Again, the big draw to this unit is that it brings features currently found in luxury vehicles, to a much more accessible price to us regular income folks.