http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/ Engadget Comments for Hands-on with the Garmin nuvifone http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
I'm interested!]]>Jan 30th 2008 8:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 1:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Feb 18th 2008 6:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
JAmerican]]>Jan 30th 2008 8:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 2:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 8:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
You also don't have to put screen protectors on it, which makes the best feature of the device look like crap.

Sure it would probably look a little better if it were flush, but 'form' should follow function' not the other way around and I can see why they would choose to do it this way.

]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
Glossy screens also get fingerprints all over it which again can be hard to read in glare.

If you've ever used a Garmin Nuvi - they use a matte screen which you can actually read in bright daylight and doesn't easily show fingerprints. I personally prefer Garmin's matte-style as opposed to a glossy screen.

And I bet once you use one, 4/5 would prefer it....IMHO]]>Jan 30th 2008 10:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
They both serve their purposes quite well. I would never want the iPhone's industrial design for the Nuvi, and I'd never want the Nuvi's industrial design for the iPhone.


That being said, since the nuvifone is supposed to be following the phone paradigm rather than the GPS paradigm, I actually wonder about the functionality of a recessed screen.

Consider holding the phone up to your ear; would you have to deal with your face "fitting the mold" of the recessed screen while you're on the phone? Would it hurt your jawbone to have the phone awkwardly pressing pressure points on your skull due to the edges of the phone protruding further than the screen? Or maybe the user will have a hard time actually balancing the phone to his/her ear with such a small even area for the speaker to be placed. These are all questions that need to come into consideration when designing a phone. Personally, I think Apple got it right designing a flat phone for the sake of the ease of holding it up to the ear (which, I might add, is standard for mostly all phones today). I have a feeling that the recessed screen on the nuvi will cause an angle just large enough that it will cause unnecessary difficulty balancing the phone to get the speaker to position properly on the ear.]]>Jan 31st 2008 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
Having a glass screen is definitely the way to go here. Being recessed by 1 MM isn't going to prevent those little metal things on my blue jeans from ripping up the screen when I slide it in my pocket.

This phone looks very promising other than that. I'm VERY interested to see the battery life though.]]>Jan 31st 2008 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
THIS IS NOT AN IPHONE RIPOFF.

Thank you.

P.S. I absolutely love this device, and poo to all who thought it was thick.]]>Jan 30th 2008 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
It may not be a literal ripoff, but you can't tell me this product isn't a direct response to the iPhone and an attempt to compete with it. It's doing many of the same things in the same ways, while addressing the iPhone's greatest weaknesses (GPS and 3G). With their background, Garmin is perfectly positioned to take on Apple on those points... And Apple will probably release a GPS-enabled, 3G iPhone the week before this comes out, totally stealing its thunder.]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
You aren't a fanboy at all. /sarcasm]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
If the iPhone didn't exist and Garmin developed a phone, it'd still look like this - the design is taken directly from their Sat-Navs, nothing else.
It just so happens that Apple have produced a phone that externally is pretty similar to most Sat-Navs (large screen covering the front of the device).]]>Jan 30th 2008 10:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
I think you both are really taking the power of popular influence for granted. Do I think it's a bad thing that the nuviphone looks similar to the iPhone? Not really, but a side-by-side comparison shows that they have almost the exact same dimensions. Also, the incoming call screen looks extremely similar, with the answer and decline buttons in the same proportions and location as the iPhone's. In addition, the interface is based on rounded rectangles; very similar to that of the iPhone. Consider the first clamshell design from Motorola. Pretty much every cellphone maker copied the look of the design (and it's still copied today). Is that a bad thing? No, but you can't discredit Motorola by saying that "someone would have done the exact same thing eventually." Give credit where credit is due. Is the nuvifone an iPhone ripoff? No, but there's no doubt that it was heavily inspired and influenced by it.]]>Jan 31st 2008 12:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/I think apple had some to do with this. They proved the touch phone would be viable.

I have a sansa, SE, and Garmin and too blend those into one would be incredible.

I can't wait for this! My 350 is just incredible and my Ericsson is getting old. I hope I can get it without having to get a data plan.]]>Jan 31st 2008 2:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/But, from a design point of view, I still disagree that Apple are the influence here - even if the iPhone had been a clamshell or a slider, the Nuviphone would still have looked like this because the design is the same as one of their Sat Navs. It was the design aspect that I was getting at - I don't believe Garmin have taken anything from Apple in that department.]]>Jan 31st 2008 9:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/]]>Jan 30th 2008 8:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 8:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 8:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonnyhung/405391585/]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 12:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 6:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
Don't get me wrong...I love Garmin, have two PNDs from them, but wow...

If only they could polish it up just a bit and make it look less squarely clunky, they would have a winner.

Just a bit too close to an old Palm PDA.

Keep at it Nuvi, you'll get there...]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
main questions are:
price?
screen resolution?
storage space?
will it play Divx/XviD?
GSM?]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
Just the plastic quality looks low etc. I'd like to see them next to each other with the screens on.]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
It looks mad nice though, my mom has a nuvi gps and she let me use it to send smses, it was sweet. I assume this will be equally cool, most likely cooler.]]>Jan 30th 2008 9:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 9:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
Congratulations to Apple for two things:

1. Pushing the market forward with a cutting edge phone design and UI.
2. Leaving the door wide open to future competitors because of their Communist-like control over the iPhone feature-set, OS, & SDK.

As a consumer, I'm greatly looking forward to the impending flood of widescreen mobile phone choices hitting first light in the next 1-2 years. 3G, GPS, open OS's, 3rd party apps -- these things are good for everyone.

And, if I still have to carry my Nano for music...not a problem.]]>Jan 30th 2008 10:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 11:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
What was innovative about the iPhone?]]>Jan 30th 2008 11:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/
They did copy the UI in many ways, but they are adding their own innovations such as 3D navigation etc.

Apple borrowed ideas too like:

1. idea of cell phone and the wireles tech that goes with it
2. idea of cell phone with a camera
3. graphical interfaces
4. locationing on cell phones
5. phone orientation detection (myorigo had this)
6. idea of having internet on a cell phone
7. idea of having apoplications such as notepad, etc. on a cell phone
8. even touchscreens on phones (with keyboard or without if you look at prada .. plus others on the internet have been asking for large touschscreen only phones)
9. mp3 players

So .. why is it that concepts that first emerged on the iPhone can't be re-used. Just because Apple got there first doesnt mean the industry wouldnt have stumbled on it eventually. Garmin's contribution is a great 3D navigation GUI. Admittedly there are some GUI aspects they could have changed that would have maintained ease of use while not copying.
]]>Jan 31st 2008 12:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 12:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 12:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=547 ).

As for no company ever coming out with a device people wanted ..RIMM, Motorola, Nokia, LG etc. these companies sell hundreds of millions of phones a year. So nobody wants them expect hundreds of millions of people?

The iPhone is missing basic features like GPS, video (currently), 3G etc.
]]>Jan 31st 2008 12:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 31st 2008 12:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/30/hands-on-with-the-garmin-nuvifone/Jan 30th 2008 10:50PM