 The Nuvifone has just been officially announced by Garmin, after months of rumors, and is set to debut in Q3 2008. (Source: Engadget)
Geocachers of the world unite and take over!
Garmin easily touts the largest brand in the handheld GPS market. For hikers, travelers and urban explorers, Garmin's little units have been a big deal for a while now. Garmin looks to both please these old customers and grow new ones by making a foray into the cell phone market.
Despite the fact that many "smart phone" cell phones currently do have GPS chips and capabilities, Garmin is focusing its product on this specialty, and is confident it can "out-GPS" wannabe competitor's offerings. The result of its development is the Nüvifone.
The phone sports basic cell phone capabilities. It will have a camera capable of taking both still shots and video. It will have a full featured web browser. It will have a media player with MP3, MPEG4 and AAC support.
Much of the details are sketchy at best as to the "phone side" of the phone. Garmin is still in talks with service providers, so the network the phone will launch on is still anyone's guess. While it seems a safe bet that the phone will be 3G compatible, it is entirely possible it may go of the way of the iPhone and ride on AT&T's slower EDGE network -- though this seems increasingly less likely as the iPhone will be getting a 3G refresh mid-year. Price and distribution information also in unreleased.
Garmin has strongly trumpeted key features of the phone's strongest selling point -- its GPS capabilities. Videos and pictures you take will be geo-tagged with your coordinates, so that friends or would be stalkers who receive pictures from you can retrace your steps and see the same sites you did. The unit doubles as a car navigation unit, when you place it in a car mount. Better yet, when you take it off the mount it stores your vehicle's location. In crowded parking lots like a mall, this feature will help you never forget where you parked again.
More snazzy GPS goodies include access to Garmin Online, which delivers a wealth of real-time information, much of it targeted and local, such as weather, gas prices, and local news. Millions of geo-marked landmark and sightseeing photographs can be accessed through a partnership with Google and its Panaramio service.
The phone launches in Q3 of this year. It is likely to face strong competition from RIM sporting new Blackberries, HTC offering several smartphones, Palm and Apple.
"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." -- SCEA President Jack Tretton
|
Most Popular Articles(complete holding)Fresh Install from Windows 7 Upgrade is Pirating According to Microsoft November 2, 2009, 9:02 AM Return of the King: AMD HD 5970 Leaks, Looks Poised to Seize Performance Crown November 3, 2009, 4:25 PM Update: T-Mobile Surprises, Shocks Customers, Showing Them "Boobs" and Porn November 5, 2009, 9:04 AM Evolution is Favoring Shorter, Heavier Women, Study Says November 2, 2009, 2:50 PM NVIDIA Uses Cartoons to Harass Intel November 5, 2009, 11:12 PM
|