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Jan

[CES 2012] Garmin Smartphone Link Connects Your Nüvi To Your Android Device To Provide Live Traffic Info, Help Find Your Parking Space

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, News

Garmin International, the world leader in satellite navigation, has announced Smartphone Link for Android, an app which allows your Android-powered device to communicate seamlessly with your nüvi via Bluetooth, enabling live traffic information, traffic cam images, weather info and fuel prices to be displayed quickly and easily.

Smartphone Link also allows your Garmin GPS to share "favorite" locations with your device, and can help forgetful users find their car in a crowded parking lot.

Unfortunately, many of the services (read all features besides live weather) provided by Smartphone Link come at a price. Live traffic will run users $19.99/year, traffic cams and fuel prices will cost a cool $9.99/yr each, and Advanced Weather (which provides 5-day forecasts, severe weather alerts, and radar images) runs at $4.99/yr.

Nov

Android 2.1 Update For T-Mobile Garminfone Available For Manual Installation; All 10 Owners Ecstatic

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Eclair 2.1, Garmin, Garminfone, News, T-Mobile

Granted, this particular bit of news is only valuable to the (very) small crowd of people who purchased the T-Mobile Garminfone, but it's nice to hear nonetheless. The good news: Garmin has released an update to Android 2.1 (Éclair). The bad: it's a manual update.

The update process isn't complicated per se - but it's definitely more work than an OTA:

1. Download the software update package for your Garminfone which can be found here: http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/support/software/006-B1130-00.update

2. Connect your Garminfone to your computer using the USB cable provided in your box

3. Select "File Transfer" mode when the "USB connected" dialog appears

4.

Sep

Garmin Considers Exiting Phone Business-Yeah, Garmin Made A Phone

Posted by Brad Ganley in Garmin, Garminfone, News

Garmin CFO Kevin Rauckman stated on the 9th that Garmin may be leaving the mobile phone part of its business on the side of the highway. Garmin has released exactly one Android phone that was met with limited success, to put it nicely. They released the Garminphone with an outdated version of Android and put it on the 4th largest (out of 4) wireless carrier in the US (T-Mobile). The cards were definitely not stacked in their favor.

At one point in time, I'm sure this phone would have been a break-away hit but, now that every phone has GPS navigation, the Garminphone has become completely irrelevant.

May

UPDATED: Navigate Your Way To A Garminfone On June 9th

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Garmin, Garminfone, News, T-Mobile

Update 05/26/2010: Well, as legit as the picture that Engadget posted looked, it seems that it was incorrect. I recieved an email this afternoon from T-Mobile announcing the availability of the Garminfone for $199.99 after a 2 year contract on June 9th. Seems all other details remain the same. You can view more information on the Garminfone here.

Sorry for the punny title – that actually hurt a bit to write. So, it seems that Engadgets received a fairly credible picture announcing that the Garminfone (did they really have to call it the ‘Garminfone’? I keep typing ‘phone’) should be available on June 2nd for the rumored $199 price point – as long as you’re OK with a 2 year contract.

Apr

Real-life Photos Of The Garminfone Spotted For Those Of Us Who Are Directionally Challenged

Posted by Mattias Ahlvin in Garmin, Garminfone, News, T-Mobile

A number of real-life photos of the new Android-powered Garmin phone, called Garminfone just got leaked to TmoNews.com. With the full Garmin navigational experience loaded into the phone, Garminfone is clearly directed towards those of us that may be directionally challenged.

Let's have a look, shall we? Here are the most interesting of the leaked pictures:

Here’s their initial impression:

With just a few shots we get a quick glance at what we honestly expect to be just a moderate Android device…with no real “wow” factor.

For those that may have missed what makes this phone so special (which is nothing), below is an excerpt from the features, specifically the key Garmin-related features.

Apr

Garmin-Asus Announce Garminfone, Exclusive To T-Mobile USA

Posted by John Thompson in Devices By Manufacturer, Garmin, Garminfone, News

Garmin-Asus have announced their first Android powered smartphone with the Garmin navigation experience fully integrated. Called the Garminfone (original, I know), it comes with a 3MP camera on board, a MicroSD slot supporting up to 32GB of storage and of course a custom version of Android.

Although the key selling point of the Garminfone is the turn by turn navigation, it offers a compelling set of features for any smartphone lover. The turn by turn navigation promises to use multiple positioning technologies to find your location no matter where you are, and you can use Garmin’s voice studio to record custom voice directions for the navigation.