Comments on: Garmin releases screenshots from upcoming Nuvifone

By: NuShrike

NuShrike — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:38:11 +0000

Would be nice if Garmin also fixed their crappy routing engine to stop stalling and hanging in WM6 when live-traffic data is added into the picture.

They’ve tried creating their own devices in the PalmOS days, and it doesn’t really pan out that well. Better they sell their GPS software improvements for all devices and improve their anti-piracy measures.

By: Spazmogen

Spazmogen — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:56:27 +0000

Its been on the Garmin website for a whole year folks: http://www8.garmin.com/nuvifone/

If you google it, there are several hands on video clips floating around of the Nuviphone in action from last spring/summer. One of them from an Asian electronics expo was pretty good. I bought the Blackberry Bold and added Garmin Mobile to get me by until this thing is released.

The video of the UI is pretty impressive; very responsive with just a flick of a finger across the screen.

Garmin was using their own OS for this as of last summer. Open source it would not be, so no 3rd party apps. Then they pulled the release date back almost a year. At which point Android was the speculation, which would mean a tonne of apps available for it. Which is what I hope occurred, being that Garmin is very tight with Google.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:59:48 +0000

>>Netboy

Um, if you’d looked you would have found that the originals are 794 x 1000.

Incidentally – no phone has a HD screen (ie 1280×720 or greater)

By: netboy

netboy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:55:05 +0000

by looking at screenshot, it’ QVGA junk!
do u watch movies in regular favor? NOT HD? haha
do u want to record your own home movies in QVGA? haha
bottom line is this crap is QVGA junk! (by looking at screenshot!)

By: DAn

DAn — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:09:24 +0000

kirkr. It’s GSM, not GMS

By: pimp@aol.com

pimp@aol.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:12:33 +0000

Look, the bottom line is, this phone will be crap and no one should by it. WHY???

It will have it’s own new proprietary OS.
Great,,,yet another privately owned OS out there. Do you think developers are gonna jump on yet another OS that isn’t being backed up by a big time player.

Developers are gonna go where the money is at,,like the app store for iphone,,,or android cause of googles backing. Who the hell is gonna start over from scratch and develope, invest in a privately owned Garmin OS. I dont see it happening. So you buy this phone, and good luck,,,what it comes with is all you will ever likely see. What?? You want Opera, games, anything,,,,not!!!

By: Hmmmm....

Hmmmm.... — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:58:49 +0000

Wow. All these haters who will most likely NEVER think about owning this phone, but like an asshole, all have an ‘opinion.’ Idiots.

By: Quickshot

Quickshot — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:58:41 +0000

Why do the software developers keep on placing the ‘ignore’ button to the left of the ‘answer’ button on the screen that is displayed when a call is received? That is counter-intuitive.

In the English language we read from left to right, which means the ‘answer’ button should be placed on the left as this is the one which will be used most frequently.

By: Pythagoras

Pythagoras — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:02:59 +0000

i should have added, ‘if man is still alive’

By: Pythagoras

Pythagoras — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:01:42 +0000

It has now been delayed until 2525, but they have stated unequivocably that it will be a great device by then.

By: kirkrr

kirkrr — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:11:50 +0000

Is it GMS (AT&T, tMobile and the world) or CDMA (Verizon /Sprint US/Can and Japan/S. Korea)?

Is it their own OS, or a pretty face on WinMobile crap (an improvement, I would assume), or the immature Android OS?

And at what price?

And what about back end infrastructure? email, program loading, program availability, software development toolkit, messaging? It is all about the holistic solution – the device is only one piece of the puzzle.

By: miro

miro — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:22:43 +0000

The top info bar, is that Android-esque? I know this was originally supposed to run on WinMo 6.1 but I read recently it’s rumored to switch to Android.

Either way, the interface looks good but I kind of agree with jj50 above. Not saying it’s not going to be as good, but looks can be deceiving. It still has to have smooth transitions between screens and load apps quickly. Just about every phone that comes out is going to be compared to the iPhone, so everyone releasing phones with nice touch screen GUIs better have their shit together.

By: bonesb

bonesb — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:17:07 +0000

A year ago, I wanted this device. Today, I’d seriously consider selling my iPhone (gifted) for this device – it’s GPS-centric versus music-centric, yes, with a few enhancements all around to each platform. The niggles about the iPhone with me are almost gone but for better support from the network it’s on…

Garmin’s got to get two things working for me – email compatibility with the Apple Mail/Exchange/Outlook that’s better than the iPhone, and a decent system notification system that’s on par with the Palm OS. About the latter, we can already buy software solutions for WinMo, Palm, BB that put BB Maps, Garmin, TomTom, and other software options on our mobiles.

And, there’s (not-perfect) solutions like Navigator and Telenav that offer updated maps, traffic, and POI databases – if we’re stuck with map updates once a year like Garmin’s other devices and with a limited POI database – WHAT’S THE POINT of the nuviphone? And, if it’s only available on the craptacular ATTWS network, again, WTP?

By: pinguino1

pinguino1 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:11:46 +0000

so what?

Why this post? Nothing new. We got more info last year in January.

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/mobile-phones/garmin-nuvifone.asp#more

By: LEE

LEE — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:59:16 +0000

….jj50……YOU REALLY DO NOT KNOW GARIM, AND THEIR HISTORY WITH TOP GRADE AVIATION EQUIPMENT…..SO YOUR THOUGHTS ARE CRAP….AND HAVE NO BASIS…..OR MERIT…..

ENOUGH SAID….

By: StevenGlansburg

StevenGlansburg — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:32:08 +0000

I have a Garmin 660 that rocks, but I’m not sure what phone with that kind interface would be like… Excited to mess with it though

By: David H Dennis

David H Dennis — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:24:08 +0000

Looks to me like it’s using the same software as the Nuvi-series GPS. I own a Garmin Nuvi GPS and the screenshots look essentially identical to the device I own.

In my experience, the graphics are far inferior to the iPhone (downright crude in many places), and the street displays are harder to read than the Google maps on iPhone.

Unless things change enormously I don’t think this will have much impact on Apple’s continued success.

By: KenC

KenC — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:03:06 +0000

Previous “screenshots” were just photoshopped mockups. How do we know these are true screenshots, or just more mockups? Do they have a video of the supposed UI in action?

By: Ryan Gray

Ryan Gray — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:33:48 +0000

Wow, the interface actually looks surprisingly good from these shots. I was skeptical, especially with the long delays, but they really put together a nice interface. Only thing I’m still a bit worried about is 3rd party support, for yet another phone platform.

And yes, I suspect we’ll see this stateside as they’re unveiling at CES.

By: jj50

jj50 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:25:28 +0000

Mark My Words:

Nuvifone WILL NOT be as good in person as it looks on these screen grabs. Yet another over-hyped, epic fail in the making from the wonderful world of consumer electronics crap.

By: Droideo.com

Droideo.com — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:16:34 +0000

Looking Good!

By: LEE

LEE — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:22:37 +0000

….JD, GO 2 garmin.com 4 PHOTOS……

By: melmac

melmac — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:16:58 +0000

There’s alot going on up top, but I don’t see a 3G icon?! Also, are we ever going to get this Stateside (US warranty and specs)?

By: Valter

Valter — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:11:33 +0000

The UI seems very user-friendly. iPhone user-friendly. I want one!

By: LEE

LEE — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:09:45 +0000

……GO GARMIN-2009……….NUVIFONE…..

THE FIRST…..REAL iPHONE KILLER….

LEE SIXTA
CLIENTAV International, Inc.

NEWCENTURY AIRPORY

NEW CENTURY, KANSAS 66031

By: jd

jd — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:45:06 +0000

This phone looks AWESOME!!! Too bad there aren’t pictures of the actual phone.