So far we have seen cell phone manufacturers and cell phone providers attempt integrated GPS capabilities within cell phones. The Garmin nuvifone attempts to fill this void. Obviously the main task of the phone being designed is to send and receive phone calls. So as many cell phone designers and integrators have attempted to create software that enables your phone to provide you with turn by turn instructions. Unfortunately that has created a market with mixed results. Not many people can say that they used their GPS enabled phone as their primary source for turn by turn instructions. Garmin nuvifone is an interesting spin on the entire idea.
Garmin instead of deciding that it should maybe license its software out to a number of other cell phone manufacturers will providers has decided to release its own cell phone that integrates the Garmin GPS enabled operating system. The Garmin nuvifone is slated to be released on either AT&T or potentially T-Mobile. Though the phone may specialize in GPS Garmin has integrated a number of other features that people have come to expect inside of their mobile phones. Primarily web browsing which unfortunately is not helped out by the phone since the browser is not a full HTML compliant browser. So expect the same title Web browsing experience you get on most Windows mobile or Samsung-based phones.Also like you could have guessed the phone will be a full touchscreen device with no external buttons on the system. But don't get quick to compare this phone to your Apple iPhone since the screen is not multi-touch.
Just like many Garmin devices you get support for MP3 music and it also supports DRM used inside of Windows media files. So you will be able to play music on the device or download books from sites like audible.com. Unfortunately at this time we can't give you a true view of how long the battery will last when playing media files. Garmin has decided to offer video playback as well inside of the device. The fact that the device does not have a dedicated video chip probably indicates that battery life will suffer a bit when playing high-resolution videos. So don't expect this device to be your sole source of video playback content.
Okay since this device is manufactured by Garmin, we do expect a GPS enabled features inside of the Garmin nuvifone to be exceptionally good. Also the Garmin online service offering provides traffic in real time and ability to take pictures automatically tagged with location information. Bluetooth and WiFi come standard on the device.
The nüvifone also includes numerous mobile entertainment applications. The built-in camera allows individuals to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to a recipient who can navigate directly to the location. The nüvifone also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site. The Panoramio photo search feature enhances the enjoyment and adventure of sightseeing in an otherwise unfamiliar location. Other multimedia functions of the nüvifone include a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC.
