It’s got geotagging and 3G, but exactly how different will Garmin’s GPS-phone be from your current handset?
The quirkily titled Garmin nüvifone GPS phone certainly looks a million dollars – large, crsip touchscreen, with an iPhone-like a minimalist interface that virtually does away with clunky buttons altogether. Check out the pics below.
So what exactly makes the nüvifone better than your ordinary smartphone?
Garmin has only just announced a few snippets of info, but here's what we know. The biggies are 3G connectivity for mobile Web access, and a touchscreen interface. While there are 3G GPS phones on the market - check out Nokia’s 6110 – it’s not standard among all GPS phones. The Mio A702 PDA phone has GPS, but doesn’t have 3G speeds.
But the make-or-break factor will be the interface. We’ve had radically different experiences with Windows Mobile devices and Apple’s iPhone, and it’s something that can make phones a headache to use. In theory Garmin’s OS and interface should be lag-free and simple to navigate.
Geotagging is another intriguing feature that also starting to appear in compact cameras. Take a picture, and the nüvifone will automatically add latitude and longitude coordinates, so you can find the same spot later, or email them to a friend. No word yet on megapixels or other camera features.
In all, the nüvifone looks promising – a big 3.5inch display matches the iPhone for size, and 3.5G connectivity means solid Web surfing potential. Whether a GPS vendor can pull together a solid phone package is the big question. We’ve already seen phone vendors like Nokia do reasonable GPS devices, so here’s hoping. It’s all theoretical for now.
