We absolutely nailed this puppy to the wall over and over and over again, so it’s only fitting we’d be doing the first actual unveiling, right? We’re not going to get too in-depth though, that will come at a later time. Here are some brief thoughts before the photos:

• It’s running Android 2.0. Duh.
• It’s thin. Just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS and the thinnest QWERTY-slider we’ve ever seen.
• It is the fastest Android device we’ve ever used. (It’s running a TI OMAP3430 processor)
• The feel of the device is very reminiscent of the OQO 02 model computer. Just smaller. It’s metal with a non-spring-assisted slide, very sturdy, and half soft-touch plastic.
• Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall.
• The QWERTY keyboard is actually pretty usable and has a soft-touch rubberized finish. We’ve been told the keyboard design isn’t final on this unit, thus the two no-shows.
• Have we mentioned this phone flies? It’s the Android device to beat, and easily the most impressive. From what we’ve been told, Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone. Interesting, huh?
• There’s a desktop cradle/charger that will ship with the Motorola Droid that we’ve been playing around with. It turns your Droid into a “multimedia station” and displays local weather, the time, etc.
• No one wants to listen, but it makes the CLIQ looks like a child’s toy (partly because it is, and partly because the Droid, even in its non-final form, is the most impressive phone we’ve used since the iPhone. It’s positively amazing).

Ok, enough of that — enjoy the photos! We’ll put together a nice little review soon.

Click on over to our Motorola Droid hands on gallery!

After being ousted from the Great North by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in 2007, Google has been given a reprieve in some Canadian cities. Greater Toronto, Montréal, Metro Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and other large communities now have Google Street view data available both in the browser and on the iPhone in the Maps application. According to CBC News, Google continued to film some of Canada’s major cities while trying to address the privacy concerns of the Commissioner. Sneaky, sneaky. If you want to get your Street View on, it’s available for use as of today.

[Via The iPhone blog]

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Well boys and girls, it looks like the G60 might not be vaporware here in the US after all. An official announcement finally puts the G60 on AT&T store shelves this coming Sunday for $299.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. That might seem a bit high at first, but considering there’s no subscription fee required for navigation it’s really not a bad deal. After all, it’ll cost you the same amount or more to score an iPhone 3GS with a solid non-subscription nav app. Regardless — the question of the hour is… After all this time, is anyone still interested in this puppy or has that ship already sailed?

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It’s the moment every iPhone owner dreads — but secretly dreams about. You’re walking in a dark alley (or near the intersection of Amberson Avenue and Amberson Place in Shadyside, in this case) and three men approach, one brandishing a gun. They demand your wallet, credit card PINs and your precious iPhone. Scared for your life, you nervously comply and hand over your belongings. As the men leave and you run in the opposite direction and think to yourself, “Hell yeah, I finally get to use the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature in MobileMe!” Editorializing aside, this is reportedly what happened early this morning in Shadyside, PA. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, an unnamed victim was allegedly robbed around 1:00 am this morning and forced to hand over his wallet and iPhone. After fleeing the scene unharmed, the man contacted the police and his banks before going home and using Apple’s ‘Find My iPhone’ feature to locate his iPhone at a local Walmart. The man coordinated with police and three suspects were eventually detained at a nearby gas station. Police recovered a black pellet gun, stolen identification, credit cards and cash, though the report does not indicate whether or not the stolen iPhone was recovered. Moral of the story: don’t steal a guy’s iPhone (but if you do, turn it off).

Thanks, Antonio!

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Right on cue, HTC has announced its latest Android device in the Hero. With many of the Hero’s specs being the same as the Magic, the handset does manage to beat out the Magic with its 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 3.5mm headphone jack (finally!!!), improved battery life and Adobe Flash support. But what makes the Hero really exciting is the fresh new GUI overlay. Much like with TouchFLO 3D for Windows Mobile, the new HTC Sense UI gives Android a much needed injection of style and functionality by allowing users to keep the content that matter to them — such as weather, contacts, photos, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and bookmarks — at their fingertips.

Another feature found within Sense is Scenes, which essentially allows users to switch from “work to weekend mode” (think of it as Modes on Nokia’s Eseries but sexier) and also helps organize emails, texts, photos, Facebook updates, call logs and more per contract entry much like Palm’s webOS. The Hero’s dedicated Search button features Spotlight-like search, meaning finding the contact, email, app, Tweet and more you’re looking for couldn’t be more simple. One last thing — the Hero is coated in Teflon that not only feels soft to the touch and thus easier to grip, but also protects the devices paint job from your greasy hands.

The Hero will be available next month in Europe with Asian availability coming in the later summer months (Orange UK has already announced it will be carrying the Hero in graphite for as low as £0 on contract this July). As for North Americans, well, we’re just going to have to wait for a little while longer. Hit the jump for the complete specs, some pics and a video.

• Android with HTC Sense
• 112mm x 56.2mm x 14.35mm, 135g
• Qualcomm MSM7200A 528MHz processor
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band 7.2Mbps HSPA/WCDMA
• 512 ROM / 288 RAM
• 3.2″ HVGA capacitive touchscreen
• 5.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• Gravity sensor
• Digital compass
• WiFi 802.11b/g
• GPS
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR + A2DP
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• microSD
• 1350 mAh battery
• 420 minutes talktime / 750 hours standby (WCDMA)

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According to an article published yesterday by GPS Business News, RIM may have quietly acquired struggling nav/LBS firm Dash Navigation. The site’s co-founder and Editor allegedly spoke to a trusted source who claims that the acquisition is a done deal. Dash, as we’re sure you’ll remember, was the maker of an awesome little connected nav unit that, well, no one bought. In November of last year, Dash laid off several staffers and announced it would cease production of its hardware solution, the Dash Express. While Dash has long since stopped making hardware navigation units like the one we had a little fun with above, the company would continue to license its software to hardware and mobile handset manufacturers moving forward. Despite its lack of user adoption, Dash indeed built a solid platform that is literally world’s beyond RIM’s current mapping/LBS solutions on BlackBerry devices. If RIM is looking to improve its offerings, snatching up Dash would definitely be a very inexpensive way to go. Neither RIM nor Dash have commented on acquisition rumors.

UPDATE: RIM confirmed that it has acquired Dash.

Thanks, Rich!

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We just got these lovely photo snaps from one of our Bell ninjas. It’s official promo material from Bell, and big surprise, no release date listed. However, these do list the specs (which we’re all very, very aware of), but we’ll post them up for those of you wishing June 6th never comes:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA 2100MHz band only
• GPS
• 480×360 display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, image stabilization
• Video recording
• QWERTY keyboard
• OS 4.7.1 but possibly OS 5.0 at launch

Couple more shots after the jump!

So check it. We just got a tip from a new ninja but this information looks really credible so we’re running it… Here’s the random bits of info we received:

• All Verizon BlackBerry handsets launched after the BlackBerry Tour will have Wi-Fi
• The Storm 2’s screen does not press in like SurePress, rather it operates more like traditional capacitive touch screen panels. We’re not sure if the rumored TruePress is just localized haptic feedback or what, but we can’t imagine RIM abandoning their entire fucking selling point on the Storm.
• We have no idea what to think of this part, but, our tipster said the BlackBerry Tour would be accompanied by a BlackBerry Atlas with the Atlas having Wi-Fi, not the Tour. Again, don’t flip out, but it’s just what was told to us by this particular tipster.
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 release is “imminent”. We’d say May release, June latest.
• 8230 specs… EV-DO Rev. 0, 2.0 MP Camera, 3.5 ounces, Flash 128 MB, RAM 64 MB, SD Card – Expandable to 16GB, Usage/Standby – 220 min. / 216 hrs.

There you have it, guys!

So much for June. During a conference call with analysts last week, Garmin President and COO Cliff Pemble confessed that the nuvifone G60 will be delayed due to technical issues. Stating that creating a smartphone such as the nuvifone G60 is “complicated” and that “bringing one to market that’s built totally from the ground up on a custom Linux platform is not an easy task,” is somewhat of a valid excuse, but we mean c’mon — this handset was announced over 15 months ago and still hasn’t seen the light of day. And you know what that led to? Garmin-ASUS pimping the G60 like it was brand new because of their “strategic alliance”, which so far has amounted to nothing more than vaporware and lots of it. The nuvifone G60 is now slated for a release sometime in 2H09 meaning that Absolutely. No. One. Will. Care.

[Via PMP Today]

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It may have taken a year and a half and a second official announcement but it looks like we may finally have word on when the Garmin-ASUS nuvifone is set to hit the streets. Of course we still don’t have any official pricing info or an exact launch date, but a Reuters article from this morning places the nuvifone G60 on store shelves in June. As for which store shelves the G60 will land on, it’s still looking like AT&T is where the smart money is though nothing has been confirmed. The article cites “a source with direct knowledge of the project” in stating that ASUS will issue its first LiMo-powered handset in June. As the M20 runs Windows Mobile it’s a safe bet to presume we’re talking about the G60 here. An AT&T-subsidized, LiMo-fueled, 3G-rocking navigation beast… We want it.

Thanks, Rich!

[Via GPS Tracklog]

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Garmin and Asus took advantage of Mobile World Congress back in February to announce the second nuvifone-branded handset that will reach market — the nuvifone M20. Despite the fact that the G60 has yet to hit store shelves, Garmin and Asus are seemingly anxious to display the fruits of their joint handset efforts and hey, were not going to complain. The M20 is tiiiiiiiny. Not so tiny that the duo couldn’t stuff a nice bright 2.8-inch VGA (640×480) touchscreen in there, but definitely small compared to other similarly-styled phones. As you would imagine, it’s all about navigation. Garmin uses an exclusive customized version of its GPS navigation software on its handsets — think of it as Garmin Mobile XT but tweaked and fully integrated into the OS. The OS on this little guy by the way, is Windows Mobile 6.1. We found that a bit odd considering Garmin whipped up its own Linux-based OS for the G60 but such is life. Garmin and Asus are actually planning to use a variety of different OSes for their devices, including Android. But we digress.

The way navigation is implemented in the M20 is awesome. Example: the M20 has a presence app that will display a list of all of your buddies. Select a buddy and his or her position will be plotted on a map. Another poke or two and you’re off, navigating to his or her location with Garmin’s great turn by turn nav app. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of course, as Garmin has really gone through and tied its navigation capabilities into the OS wherever appropriate and convenient. If you’re constantly on the go, the M20 is certainly a handset you should be on the lookout for when it drops sometime before Q2 is out. Hit the jump for more images of this little nav powerhouse all dressed up in yellow.

We first outed the RUSH 2 along with a ton of other Motorola handsets headed to Verizon and it looks like we’re getting closer to finally seeing one of the more interesting ones reach market. Thanks to Mobile-review, some new press shots of the RUSH 2 have leaked out and, well, they look exactly like the internal mock ups. Anyway, the thing doesn’t look too bad for the relatively cheap text and navigation-oriented slider it’s designed to be. In terms of specs, we’re still looking for more of them, but for now we can safely say it’s got EVDO connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth, and a flashless camera with an unknown resolution. No clue on pricing, but we’re still sticking with this quarter. Hit the jump for a few more pics.

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Oooooh Garmin. Your nuviphone should have been released eons ago and now you’re staring down the barrel of what looks to be some pretty steep and exciting competition in the Mio Explora K70. Mio made it known late last year that the company was cooking up a mobile handset and it appears as though the Taiwanese GPS company’s entrance into the mobile game will indeed be a sexy one. Specs, Jeeves:

• Windows Mobile Professional 6.1
• Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Tri band HSDPA / HSUPA connectivity (850/1900/2100 MHz)
• 3.5 inch TFT 240 x 400 touchscreen display
• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz processor
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, USB 2.0
• 3 megapixel camera, autofocus, geotagging support
• 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM
• MicroSDHC support
• Accelerometer
• GPS usage time: up to 4 hours
• Talk time: up to 4.5 hours
• Stand-by time: up to 200 hours
• 115 x 61.5 x 11.9 mm, 115 grams

No release timing or pricing has been announced thus far but don’t expect Mio to sit on this one anywhere near as long as Garmin has with its nuviphone. Hit the jump for another product shot.

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TeleNav has become synonymous with mobile phone GPS navigation. It is relied upon by millions of mobile customers. It was important to us that we build a great application for Android and the G1 so that customers with this phone would have a remarkable experience. The device’s large, beautiful touch screen creates an incredible navigation experience when combined with our software.

TeleNav GPS Navigator will become available as a free 30-day trial beginning Tuesday February 24, and will run $9.99 per month for those who find it useful enough to hold on to. Unlike some bigger navigation companies building nav software for mobiles such as Garmin and Tom Tom, TeleNav still opts for the monthly subscription model as opposed to a one-time fee. The idea behind a one-time fee of course — make mobile navigation purchases akin to buying a dedicated navigation unit. Buy the hardware, get the service forever, pay a subscription if you want advanced features. Different users have different preferences of course but we wonder how TeleNav would fair with a one-time fee option as well. Which pricing model do you guys prefer?

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It wasn’t long ago when both Garmin and ASUS announced that they were teaming up to bring the nuvifone G60 to market and promised to out new models soon. True to their word, today the nuvifone M20 was treated to some press release love. Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the M20 touts a quad-band EDGE / tri-band 7.2Mbps HSPA chipset, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4 to 8 GB of internal memory all under a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen display. Did we miss anything? Oh yes, GPS. Obviously with Garmin working on this thing its something of a sat nav monster and will be able to run your favorite LBS services, though if Garmin-ASUS had their way you’d be using Ciao! which sounds like their alternative to Google Latitude. Still, the M20’s GPS chip will work even without the phone itself being connected to a cellular network meaning you can mount the M20 with the included car dashboard mount (with power cable) and drive around like crazy in the Australian outback without having to fear getting lost. Now where’s that Android nuvifone at?

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Fan of Google Maps? Use it a lot on your cell phones? Maybe you use Loopt to stay in touch with friends and family and check out what they’re up to and where they are? Well, starting today, Google’s new Latitude feature looks to steal their lunch. Google not only lets you see yourself on the map, but your friends as well (assuming they accept your invitation and opt-in to sharing their location with you). Google Maps for mobile with Latitude is available now for Android (it’s in the current RC33 update that’s being rolled out), Blackberry, Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile. The Apple iPhone version will be available soon as part of the Google Mobile App. And, if you don’t have a smartphone (uh, why are you even visiting this site?), you can even add the Google Latitude Gadget to your iGoogle homepage. If you use Google Gears or Google Chrome, the location of your desktop or laptop can be tracked, too. Pretty awesome stuff. Just don’t go askin’ any BGR writers to share their location, we’re pretty private people, you know.

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Garmin and ASUS have just announced that they’ve entered into a strategic alliance and have subsequently re-branded the Garmin nuvifone as the nuvifone G60. What’s more is that both companies have promised to deliver several devices in 2009 with another device slated to make a charming pirouette entrance at Mobile World Congress. With the entire nuvifone lineup obviously very navigation oriented, the million dollar question is what OS will the lineup will be running. Apparently a ASUS chairman said at today’s press conference that it has yet to decide which OS to use with the G60 and that “[ASUS has] expertise in WinMo, Linux and Android, but we believe the software is more important than the OS.” While the aforementioned statement seems on the surface to be an example of extravagant exaggeration, we suppose that there is some truth to it as the people who are going to be picking up a G60 aren’t going to be doing so because of whatever OS it ships with. Now if you have a good memory for these kind of things you’ll recall that it wasn’t too long ago that we though the G60 would for sure be shipping with Android based upon statements from Garmin’s Asian Pacific Marketing Director, but then again companies obviously reserve the right to change their minds at any time. Expect to see the G60 out by the end of this quarter – a daunting task considering it’s still OSless…

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We can’t 100% verify the legitimacy of this bit of intel, but everything looks believable enough to warrant just a wee bit of excitement. The folks over at HipTop3 have uncovered what looks to be a spec sheet for an upcoming Sidekick model. The Sidekick LX 2009 sports a number of features that the Danger faithful have been clamouring after for years, including GPS for turn-by-turn directions and…wait for it…a 3G-capable radio. While the inclusion of a 3G radio isn’t exactly revolutionary in this day and age, it’s certainly a first for the Sidekick family, and it’s something that many have seen as a deal breaker as folks have been fleeing the Sidekick ship for more data-friendly waters over the past couple years. Other improvements include the conspicuous presence of Microsoft Outlook/Exchange support, which could signal the Sidekick’s first foray into the corporate workplace. Then again, imagining a legion of suits carrying Sidekicks is a bit hard to stomach, though we suppose anything is possible. If this document is correct, other features for the Sidekick LX 2009 will include:

Social Networking Suite of Apps
– Facebook
– MySpace w/ video upload
– Twitter
– YouTube Mobile Access via browser
Content Creation
– Blog publishing, editing, and management client
– Photobucket Upload and Management
– Video recorder and upload to MySpace/Photobucket
Hardware
– Large (3.2 inch WVGA) screen with sharp 854×480 resolution
– Thin design
– 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording
– Large QWERTY keyboard
– Expandable memory up to 8GB via MicroSD

Let’s hope T-Mobile and Danger manage to rush this thing out relatively quickly, as the aforementioned specs are enough to plant a small seed of hope in our Sidekick-deprived hearts.

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Not much surprise here, but for what it’s worth HTC has officially announced the successor to its marginally successful Touch Cruise. Named… wait for it… the HTC Touch Cruise, the new handset sports a slew of new features that brings it up to par with the rest of the manufacturer’s current stable of cutting edge phones. As we revealed to you a little while ago, the Touch Cruise sports the following specs:

• Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm
• Weight: 103 grams
• Connectivity: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
• Control panel: HTC TouchFLO™, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints™ buttons
• Camera: 3.2 MP, with fixed focus
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM
• Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• GPS: GPS/A-GPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes
• Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz

The company is making a big deal out of the dedicated HTC Footprints button, which allows users to create and send digital postcards featuring images, sound and notes. Cool, we suppose, but it’s not exactly cutting edge tech and we can’t help but think that the button real-estate could have been used for a more practical feature. The company is claiming a Spring 2009 global release, with an unlocked GSM version hitting the states for $500-$600.

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The HTC Iolite has been bouncing around in one grainy-pic form or another for the past several weeks, but we’re finally beginning to see some clarified spec listings, not to mention some clarified device shots. The Iolite looks a lot like a modernized version of the Touch Cruise, and sports Windows Mobile 6.1, TouchFlo 3D, 512MB ROM, 288MB RAM, HSDPA/HSUPA with quad-band EDGE, Wifi, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and more, all powered by a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU. In other words, a pretty well-spec’d HTC-sourced Windows Mobile handset. The image also clearly depicts a dedicated key marked HTC Footprints. Geo-tagging anyone? All told, there’s nothing too crazy here but certainly enough to attract the sort of Windows Mobile faithful that are HTC’s bread and butter. We’ll keep you informed as price point and release date come near, but don’t cross your fingers for an American carrier-subsidized release any time soon.

[Via WMExperts]

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There’s nothing to get your week going like the adrenaline that results from the revelation that a “couple” new Sidekicks are headed to T-Mobile sometime this year. According reputable electronics broker PCD, the world should see an unspecified number of new Sidekick handsets introduced before the end of 2009. Very little (read: nothing) in the way of details, but we hope, hope, hope that someone up at Danger/T-Mobile/Microsoft has organized a company-wide conference call to illuminate employees on the virtues of modern inventions such as “3G”, “Wi-Fi”, and “GPS”. Not to beat a dead horse, but the previous “couple” Sidekicks haven’t been much to write home about, with little in the way of innovation on the design and functionality front. That said, we don’t want to write the new boys off before they arrive so we’ll maintain as much of an open mind as we can. Sorry Danger Microsoft, but we just haven’t felt the same warm, fuzzy feeling from any of your new Sidekicks in quite some time…feel like surprising us? Mmmmkay, thanks.

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We’ll be the first to admit that it’s not easy to get people very excited about a Windows Mobile-based handset these days. With the proliferation of far more innovative, useful, fast, and aesthetically pleasing mobile operating systems, Microsoft’s work horse appears poised to fade even more in the coming years. That said, if Mio’s MID pictured above is any indication, companies are still committed to pushing the OS to its absolute limits. One of Windows Mobile’s biggest virtues has been its flexibility, spawning a cornucopia of form factors and devices types over the years. Mio’s “handset” is one such marvel, sporting a stunning 800×480 screen. Specs for the production version of the device have yet to be finalized, but the prototype currently on display at CES is running Windows Mobile 6.1 with GPS, Wi-Fi, USB out, a full QWERTY keyboard, and more all powered by a 667mhz ARM processor. We’ve known that Mio has been gunning for the Windows Mobile market for quite some time, but this looks to be above and beyond our expectations. Sadly, given its prototypic nature, we can’t promise that this thing will ever see the light of day, but we can think of more than a few reasons why Mio should give it a go.

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Pharos announced on Tuesday the latest addition to its fledgling line of GPS smartphones. The Traveler 137 will be an unlocked Windows Mobile professional smartphone that offers 3G connectivity on both AT&T and T-Mobile. That’s right, T-Mobile finally gets some 3G love from a carrier-independent handset! The Traveler 137 boasts an impressive set of specs that include:

• 3.5″ 800×480 touchscreen with 65,000 colors
• Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz528 MHz processor
• Unlocked quad band GSM850/900/1800/1900 MHz,EDGE/GPRS and Tri-band 3G, 1700/1900/2100 MHz, UMTS 384Kb/s, HSDPA 7.2Mb/s, HSUPA 2Mb/s
• 256MB DDR SDRAM, 512MB Flash ROM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• aGPS with Pharos Smart Navigator software
• Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
• FM radio
• Dual cameras: 3MP on the back and VGA on the front
• 256 Mb RAM/ 512 MB ROM
• MicroSD expansion (up to 16 GB)
• Stereo audio jack
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Battery : 1380 mAh battery, 4 hours of talk time
• Dimensions : 4.6″ x 2.4″ x 0.51″
• Weight : 4.9 oz

The Traveler 137 includes Pharos Smart Traveler software that provides full-featured GPS navigation with turn-by-turn voice directions, real-time traffic, POI search and a Follow Me feature allowing others to track your GPS location over the Internet or via another Windows Mobile smartphone. All this and no monthly fees! The navigation software also features a unique hybrid system that downloads maps when cellular coverage is strong and caches them for use when cellular coverage is weak or non-existent. The phone ships with support for US maps and other maps are available on a pay-as-you-go basis. Currently, maps are available for Canada, Western Europe and Eastern Europe on a daily ($1.99/day), weekly ($4.99/week), monthly ($6.99/month) or yearly basis ($49.99/year), with future support expected for China, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and beyond. Last but not least, the Traveler 137 comes preloaded with a touch screen keyboard, SPB Mobile Shell with touch-based user interface, Microsoft Office Mobile suite, built-in Media Player and Live Search. The Traveler 137 will be available late in Q1 2009 from major retailers for a suggested price of $599.95.

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It’s no secret we’re pretty big fans of TeleNav around here (heck, we’d even venture and say that the carrier-branded versions like AT&T Navigator and Sprint Navigation are top-notch), so it should come as no surprise to you that we’ve been given a first look at their new version for the Verizon BlackBerry Storm. Let’s not beat around the bush: this thing is fantastic. While our Storms used to lay lifeless with no battery charge, we’re seriously considering just using one of them as a GPS unit. It’s that good. TeleNav Navigator has been brought up to OS 4.7-level compatibility and using the touch screen on here is a joy. It’s the most fun application to use on the Storm at this point. Any current user of TeleNav (or those carrier-branded versions we talked about above) will feel right at home. The menu structure is the same, but the application is super polished and extremely well thought out. The only thing we didn’t like was that when zooming in and out of the map, the zoom buttons were touch sensitive instead of utilizing the click screen. Oh well, it’s still one of the best GPS programs on the BlackBerry and for once, the Storm adds, not subtracts. We’ll post some more screenshots and a little walkthrough in a bit!

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Verizon Touch Pro owners who do not want to wait until “the first half of 2009″ for Verizon to unlock the GPS on their mobile phones can head on over to PPC Geeks for some detailed instructions by lllboredlll (with some help from gc14) on how to do it now. The procedure involves installing a few cab files, running PPST, a soft reset and, for those that want seamless aGPS operation, some hacking using Qualcomm’s QPST programming tool. While you are in QPST, you may also want to follow the instructions to remove the Sprint banner from your phone. Hey, you in there already so you might as well, right? Many users on both PPC Geeks and Howard Forums are reporting success with GPS locks taking less than one minute using third party GPS software. As with any hacking with QPST, proceed with caution but if you do take the plunge, report your success or failure in the comments.

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Sure it might have been delayed but at least the FCC was kind enough to remind us that the Garmin Nuvifone does in fact still exist. The good news is that Garmin’s sexy nav-centric handset is likely still on track for a belated 1H 2009 release in the US and it does indeed don the 850 and 1900 MHz WCDMA bands needed for some 3.5G love via AT&T. The bad news, for Garmin at least, is that it may soon find itself in a race with Mio and the first to bring its handset to market will likely garner the most interest from consumers, barring a possible carrier contract. Mio announced earlier this month that it too would be bringing a handset to market in Q1 of the coming year that will be direct competition to the Nuvifone. While we haven’t yet seen live images of Mio’s upcoming offering, the company certianly knows what it’s up against and is aiming to deliver. As such, odds are good that Garmin is doing everything in its power to push the Nuvifone out as soon as possible. Good luck to both companies – we just want hot new phones.

[Via Engadget]

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Thanks, Nate and everyone who sent this in!

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Mio, maker of popular consumer GPS products, is reportedly developing its own 3.5G Windows Mobile touchscreen handset. Going head to head with the Garmin Nuvifone, Mio’s offering is expected to come to market in Q1 2009, slightly ahead of the Nuvifone. Details on the presumably GPS-centric phone include a 3.5G chipset from Qualcomm, the proprietary “Spirit” touch user interface and a 3.2MP auto-focus camera. This is not Mio’s first attempt at a GPS PDA phone as it already has a few of Windows Mobile handsets like the recent A502 and 702. This latest phone however, may push Mio’s handset line forward as it will rock 3.5G connectivity instead of Mio’s previous EDGE-only offerings. Mio is also expected to launch a GPS-enabled MID (Mobile Internet device) by the end of Q1 2009. If it can meet its expectations and not encounter any unexpected delays a la Nuvifone, then Mio will will definitely be making some big early-09 moves that may help its market share while posing a serious problem for Garmin.

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Today Nokia announced the latest handset that runs on its S40 platform, the 6260 Slide. The 6260 takes its styling queues from the 6220 Classic and boasts an amazing 2.4″ 320 x 480 HVGA screen. It basically is the perfect handset for those who want nearly everything and more from a mobile phone but for some odd reason don’t want a smartphone. Why someone would want this much juice but not want it to run on S60 is a question in and of itself, but we’ll leave that for another time. Specs from the Nokia data sheet are as follows:

• Series 40
• 99.4mm x 46.5mm x 15.4mm, 114g
• Quad-band EDGE with tri-band HSDPA/HSUPA
• WiFi and aGPS (with Nokia Maps pre-installed)
• 2.4″ 320×480 HVGA display
• 200MB internal memory, up to 8GB microSD
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens
• Front-facing camera for video calling
• Bluetooth v2.1 w/ A2DP/AVRCP
• TV-out and 2.5mm AV connector
• microUSB
• 950 mAh battery
• 4/6 hours talk time, 370/400 hours stand-by (3G/EDGE)

Expect to see this mobile hit Europe in early 2009 with an estimated MSRP of €299 before taxes and carrier subsidies.

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If you don’t have a device already equipped with A-GPS and you don’t want to upgrade or spring for a stand-alone unit from the likes of Garmin or TomTom, what do you do? Well, the only other option was a Thomas Guide, really. Now, Sagem Orga, the large smart card maker, has decided to make a SIM card with integrated A-GPS. While it was originally intended for emergency use, handsets without current GPS technology can enjoy the the same benefits as more modern and capable handsets. Whether it will be as accurate as devices already carrying GPS is yet to be determined. We imagine these new SIMs will be huge among carriers as they allow carrier navigation services in countless handsets that aren’t GPS-equipped from the factory. From the Sagem Orga press release:

Sagem Orga and BlueSky Positioning’s new approach incorporates a highly accurate GPS receiver and a proprietary antenna into the SIM card, enabling mobile operators to deploy both legally-mandated and commercial applications quickly and cost-effectively for all mobile devices.

Judging from the press release, it looks like a win-win situation for everyone. Hopefully these new SIM cards will be making their way to local carriers and into handsets soon. Anyone without a GPS-enabled handset excited about this? Anyone still have a handset without GPS?

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