Garmin nuvifone Merges GPS and Phone In One Package
Nowadays, every gadget is trying to be a multi-tasker. Take the iphone - it’s trying to be a portable computer, a music and video player and a phone (amongst other things). Not to be outdone, Garmin just presented the teeming throng of gadget hounds with the nuvifone, a cellphone that is also a GPS. Here is how nuvifone is being described: “[nuvifone] is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for — a single device that does it all” No mention of the fact that there are many other options out there to do that, but I’ll reserve judgment on this device until it gets some use.
The nuvifone doesn’t have many details out yet, but is slated to be released in the 3rd quarter of 2008. Here’s a list of features:
• Google local search
• Garmin Online services - traffic, weather, fuel prices, hotel discounts, etc.
• n vi-like navigation on the road or in pedestrian mode
• Email, text, IM functions
• Camera, video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC
However, it brings up an interesting point when it comes to GPS devices: they’re being viewed more and more as one-trick ponies or mono-tasking devices and unless they innovate (and pack in a few more features into the one package), it’s going to be really hard for any GPS maker to survive in the coming years. Chip are getting small enough that soon every phone will have a GPS – just like they (almost) all have Bluetooth. That’s just they way technology is.
But jumping on the cellphone bandwagon won’t be enough to guarantee their survival. Just look at how Motorola is struggling. There are ways to delay the point where phones will take over: larger displays, better design, faster computing. But in the end GPS makers will be squeeze from two sides: GPS car integration and GPS phone integration.
I guess we’ll see how this irons out.
[Garmin via Gizmodo] and Ubergizmo
Tags: TV, Ogg Vorbis, cable, gps
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