Garmin Nuvifone...fresh start

Garmin, one of the leading mobile navigation solution provider in the US had released information sometime back related to its entry into the ever emerging and crowded mobile phone market. They plan to enter with their newly announced phone called Nuvifone. Initially i was quite surprised and was not sure what to expect from this new device but it seems these guys might have something good up their sleeve. Either it will be a big disappointment or it might bring fresh new perspective in the mobile phone market. I would love too see new phones that revolutionize the way we interact with our mobile devices. This is why I'm always excited whenever i see some new/old company trying to launch their new product with the hope that they might bring some fresh perspective. iPhone has no doubt brought that fresh perspective but we would like to see more such new concepts. So i hope Garmin Nuvifone has something new for us.

Initial previews suggest that the Properitery Garmin OS is pretty snappy and responsive. Also it gives the impression of using a Garmin GPS device with the ability of a phone, so essentially it is a GPS Phone. Looks feature rich with 3MP Camera, Accelerometer, 3.5'' screen. Also the highlights seem to be Goggle Local Search feature which based on the current location of the user would display the sorted list of point of interest from the web. Being a GPS Phone it naturally inherits features of regular GPS and also access to Gramin's online features like real time traffic information, weather information, news reports, fuel prices, sport scores etc.

When docked in the car, this device will switch to GPS mode and enable hands free for attending calls. It will also have rich multimedia support and email. It has no buttons on the front but on the sides, so OS supposed to provide stylus free operation. Some detail specifications are mentioned below.

It was supposed to be released during Q4 2008 but now it seems to be postponed till Q1 2009 due to carrier compatibility issues. Also it will be available by AT&T for around $500 with a data plan.

Garmin Nuvifone Specification

1. 3.5" Single Touch Screen
2. Triband 3.5G and Quadband GSM
3. WiFi
4. Garmin Properitery UI
5. Email, SMS and IM
6. Bluetooth with EDR
7. 2GB Internal Memory
8. 3MP Camera with Geotagging
   
9. Expandable Memory thru microSDHC support(speculation)
10. Garmin Online Access
11. GPS with preloaded North America and Europe maps.
    

Videos
Here is initial video preview of this new device.

Samsung Omnia i900...a nice attempt

I've been hearing a lot about Samsung Omnia i900 or Samsung SGH-i900, since a while now. People have been calling this device as iPhone Killer and comparing to HTC Touch Diamond or HTC Touch Pro. It looks like a neat device but it falls short of being an iPhone killer. Also i think compared to HTC Touch Diamond/Pro it still lags in terms of features. But i still believe Samsung has done a good job with this device. It has got some great features which you cannot see in any of the Windows Mobile device on the market yet. This has internal memory storage options of 8/16Gb in addition to external storage which is great. Also this has Samsungs new Touchwiz UI which is supposed to make this device stylus free and easily operable by fingers just like iPhone. There is also an 5mp camera with image stabilization. All the reviews seem to suggest this little monster has got one of the best cameras in the mobile phone market.

Samsung has tried to produce a good device, but i think it still needs few improvements like dedicated stylus slot, swappable external memory, 3D accelerator. Samsung needs to learn from other manufacturers and try to close the gap. This will help them to create better products and make a mark in windows mobile space where already its crowded and lot of competition.

Pro's

1. 624Mz Marvell PXA312 CPU
2. Accelerometer
3. 8/16GB internal memory storage with expandable memory
4. Good Battery Life
   
5. 5mp camera with auto focus and image stabilizer
6. Haptic Feedback

Con's

1. WQVGA screen ( 320x240)
2. No 3D accelerator
3. No dedicated stylus storage
4. Non swappable expandable memory
5. Absence of standard USB port
6. Expensive(around $1000)

Specifications(pdadb.net): Samsung Omnia i900

Videos

Here are some video reviews from pocketnow.com. They have done a great hardware and software review.

Blackberry Thunder 9500...still in the wild

I was always fascinated by Blackberries and wondered why people use it in the first place. This was couple of years back when i was such a noob ;-). I use to think people are crazy enough to spend their money on a Blackberry device. Compared to Windows Mobile devices these were nowhere, but were in demand due to their unique push email feature. Till sometime back Blackberry devices were no match for Pocket PC's that were being flooded in the market. But i guess the dynamics have changed specially after the release of iPhone. Companies are realizing in order to compete they need to have good hardware along with software with ease of usability for an average user and i think Blackberry Thunder or Blackberry 9500 is a big step in that direction by RIM(Research In Motion) not to mention their recently launched Blackberry Bold. Now a days business users would love to carry a single device which is also an entertainment powerhouse. I may be wrong here, since I've never been a Blackberry user, but the way things are shaping up with intense competition and ever evolving user taste people expect more from these devices.

Blackberry Thunder Specifications

Specifications for Blackberry Thunder 9500 are still not very clear but I've tried to list as much information i came across with some speculation on my part.

1. 624Mz processor - Better than any other devices being released in Sept 08.
   
2. 3" Glass Screen with haptic feedback and MultiTouch - Similar to iPhone
   
3. 480 x 360 Display - Better than iPhone but not HTC Touch Diamond/Pro
   
4. OS 4.7 - New Touch UI
   
5. 1GB Storage and 256MB Flash Memory
6. Expandable memory upto 16GB
7. 1500mAh Battery
8. Network Support - UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks
9. Wi-Fi - 803.11a/b/g
10. 2.0M Camera - With mobile LED
    
11. GPS
12. Bluetooth v2.0
13. USB Port - For charging and synching.
    
14. 3G enabled
15. 4G Ready - It will be exclusively launched for Verizon and is 4G ready for their network
    

Also this device will support wide variety of multimedia content. So gone are the days when RIM was designing Blackberry's only for niche business users with just push email feature. Now, its for the masses. It might lag in UI usability compared to current wave of devices hitting the market like iPhone UI or HTC TouchFLO 3d interface but nevertheless this will definitely give other devices a run for their money. As far as the hardware goes its one of the best i've seen.

The only concern that most of the Blackberry users would have, who are addcited to their phone, is lack of physical keyboard. Blackberry users would find it difficult to use Thunder without a dedicated keyboard as it will not be an easy change for them. Also the much hyped about Software Keyboard with haptic feedback of Thunder seems not too impressive after all, so there is huge risk RIM has taken. But you never know and things might turn out just fine. It could be RIM might win hearts of non business users and become more powerful in terms of market share. So we will see how thing shape up in 2008 Q4.

BGR, Crackberry, GSMarena and BlackBerrySync have more details and posts on Blackberry Thunder.