Garmin Nuvifone hitting AT&T for $500 plus?
by Thomas Ricker 
posted May 1st 2008 at 3:26AM
"Now, how likely would you be to buy the Garmin nüvifone (for yourself or as a gift) if offered by AT&T for $499.99 with a two year contract? You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee."
So dear readers, we ask you... does that sound reasonable for a 3.5-inch touchscreen cellphone with GPS navigation, 3.5G data, WiFi, audio and video playback, and 3 megapixel camera?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Vicious @ May 1st 2008 3:41AM
sweet
KLanD @ May 1st 2008 12:04PM
Copy it.. with all it's failings no thank you.
I have yet to see the specs of this phone but from the small amount I've seen, it blows the Iphone out of the water. But then again, thats not very hard to do.
deano43616 @ Jun 25th 2008 12:56AM
gps is free when you bye a gps for your car no monthly fee's. i have a garmin 76csx for backpacking and use it in the truck to find about anything from the west cost to the east cost all the usa. and it's free after you bye the unit why would someone went to pay $19.00 a month when the best gps is free??????? from the satlelights. cell phone gps is not as good as satelight gps. I guss if you have not had a gps unit you would not know the diff.to bad the gps is not free i was going to bye this and keeped asking when it was comming out. but you can keep it. I'll just use my 76 csx and my pda.!!!!!
Alex @ May 1st 2008 3:44AM
No, it isnt worth it... sometimes I really dont get how those things work... how can adding Cellphone capability to their GPS system tack on close to 2-3 hundred dollars more? And if you wanna go head to head against the iPhone, seriously just copy it as much as you can and sell it without the Apple markup and youre set no?
Ryan Trevisol @ May 1st 2008 6:43AM
Especially when TV and movies tell us that "all phones have a GPS chip" that only the police from the Special Victims Unit can access. Riiiight . . . .
I get the iphone parallel, and while the hardware feature set sounds great, unless it's running the iPhone's OSX, it ain't worth it. Plus it's bringing a bad case of the ugly.
N30 G30 @ May 1st 2008 6:49AM
Law and Order is very careful with that. They tracked down a fugitive by finding a pattern of which cell towers his cell phone was using. When they ended up at the last cell, they needed to search for them in a small radius.
Also, the cell provider has access to it. They asked them to track down the cell.
It wasn't GPS. Technically, you can get a rough estimation of anyone's cell phone location easily if you have access to their network.
Ever wonder how the iPhone and Google Maps for phones does "My Location" and why it's not always accurate? Same concept, it's not GPS.
Ryan Trevisol @ May 1st 2008 7:34AM
Yeah, I remember that one, but in a different episode, they mentioned "every new phone has a GPS chip in it, but the carrier has to activate it" and they mentioned that parents could use it to track their kids, but they were going to use it to track a perp and his captive.
I remember the episode you mentioned, but there was another one.
Now, if pedo's prefer Boost Mobile, they're technically accurate. ;)
Vinay @ May 1st 2008 8:21AM
It looks pretty nice here:
http://www.slashphone.com/media/data/796/pt-browser-lg.jpg
asshat @ May 1st 2008 11:16AM
It runs Linux asshole.
Jeff @ May 1st 2008 11:50AM
@asshat
I hadn't heard of that distro.
thethirdmoose @ May 1st 2008 5:43PM
A good GPS costs $350+, then add 3.5G, a 3 MP camera, a cellphone, and software, and you're easily up to $500
asqw @ May 1st 2008 9:17PM
ya know, this is a good deal for unlimited internet, it would work well with an n810
N30 G30 @ May 3rd 2008 12:14PM
Ryan Trevisol,
unfortunately i have not seen that episode yet. My mistake.
Maybe it was new and during the writers strike so they hired an intern to write it. blah. Stupid intern writers.
Mike @ May 8th 2008 5:13PM
no.
Anthony @ May 1st 2008 10:27AM
Best comment. I'll spend $500 on a phone, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be forced into a "navigation fee" which you can get for free w/ every GPS on the road today (instead of Nokia, but even there's is way cheaper).
asshat @ May 1st 2008 11:16AM
Anthony you are an idiot. When you buy an iphone,. you have to have a contract in order even use the ipod.. same thing pickle dick.
stillen @ May 1st 2008 12:22PM
@asshat
Wrong, dipshit. You are not charged $20 a month to use the iPod feature of the iPhone. You pay once, and then pay monthly for the voice package. Having to pay extra to use a feature that is equipped in a phone, that would normally be free if it wasn't in a phone, blows...and furthermore, so do you...assface.
VarunR39 @ May 1st 2008 3:48AM
It's not too bad...over here Garrmin's GPS systems cost $500, but seems like just another attempt to steal some of the iPhone's steam
testdummy @ May 1st 2008 3:50AM
$300 maybe. And why do I have to pay a monthly fee for navigation? Does the GPS not function otherwise?
Mike @ May 1st 2008 8:42AM
I also agree with this. I own a Garmin and love it, but I currently don't have to pay a monthly service fee. There is no reason to have such a fee seeing that the same company already makes devices that don't require a monthly service fee. This needs to be waved.
Niraj @ May 1st 2008 10:25AM
But the flipside is that your maps are always up-to-date, and you often get features that are only in the more expensive ($300-$400+) GPS units like traffic re-routing and spoken street names. I still don't think that justifies $20/month, but just saying you get some benefits.
Michael Lomker @ Jun 17th 2008 9:48AM
Having the latest map is nice but these units turn into paperweights if you don't have data coverage. I used similar software on my Blackberry and if you don't have high-speed data coverage where you are at then the screen will also visibly paint, which can be irritating.
Tdmosk @ May 1st 2008 3:56AM
$500 for the phone and $20*12 months=$240 a year
That's wayyyy too much....
andi @ May 1st 2008 4:46AM
they totally went the apple way here
Nick M. @ May 1st 2008 11:11AM
if you add the $19.99 data charge to any of ATT's voice plans you end up paying 1 cent less than a corresponding iPhone plan through ATT. Except the basic plans dont include any text messaging and the Garmin $19.99 just says Internet/Nav... so to get Text Messaging on the plan you have to pay another $5.00+ per month more than you would for an iPhone plan that throws that in there for you...
I say if Garmin adds like 500 Texts into their $19.99 fee... then its competitive and has an ability to compete with iPhone in terms of service plan offerings and rates.
i think Garmin needs to drop the price down at least to $299 depending upon storage capacity to keep competitive and not have this flop.
gronion @ May 1st 2008 4:06AM
500 bones is a lot to pay when compared to the features of many phones already on the market. And I echo testdummy--will the nav feature not work if I don't pony up $20/month. Garmin, do Olathe KS proud and rethink this one.
jay @ May 1st 2008 4:09AM
@testdummy-agreed....i pay taxes.. therefore the nav and sattelite use should be free... wtf....
like normal GPS devices... y'know?
20 bux for internet? is there visual voicemail?
roflercopterer @ May 1st 2008 4:09AM
I have to pay for navigation subscription on a $500 device?
The tilt costs less and I can use the GPS without paying a subscription fee.
ATT can GTFO.
tb @ May 1st 2008 4:10AM
so media player is now considered a standard phone feature?
tnkgrl @ May 1st 2008 4:12AM
Does that 3 megapixel camera have a flash, auto-focus and macro? If it does that makes the Nuvifone one hell of an interesting device to me.
Saad Rabia @ May 1st 2008 4:31AM
For now, I can kind of confirm that it has "zooming" options. Check this picture from their official site.
http://www8.garmin.com/buzz/nuvifone/m/g/sc-camera01-lg.jpg
Jkswiss @ May 1st 2008 4:15AM
I hope Garmin flops the big one on this and learns their lesson. I hope you guys ramp up production on a product for which there will be no demand so you guys lose tons of money!! $20, insane. Never thought VzNav would be a bargain at $10 a month.
Jkswiss @ May 1st 2008 4:18AM
Woops, X that, I misunderstood. $20 for internet and GPS isn't that bad, I initially thought it was for GPS service only. Compared to Verizon, VCast cost $15 a month, making GPS $5 a month. The current iphones data plan cost $20 without true gps so I would say its fairly comparable. I guess I should read the article more carefully before being all outraged.
Jeff @ May 1st 2008 11:55AM
i spend $20 a month on unlimited EVDO and GPS service...
on Sprint.
but the GPS part is only $5 more (internet without GPS is $15) and my phone doesn't have pre-loaded maps.... so i'm paying the $5/month for downloading maps with POIs etc.
sure i'd rather it be free, and it seems like a GPS receiver + Google Maps would be free, but whatever. all the mobile service providers are out to screw their customers as much as possible ($0.10 per SMS? that's like 75x their cost) so i suppose i shouldn't be surprised.
Saad Rabia @ May 1st 2008 4:26AM
We need to see this thing in action before we say it's worth it or not.
The features sound amazing, and for $500 it really is a good price compared to many other smart phones that have half of Nuvifone's capabilities and power.
Also is there any information about storage capacity?
Vidit Bhargava @ May 1st 2008 4:30AM
well....not worth...2yr contract...$500 for a locked phone...20 bucks for internet and "navigation". iphone(16gig) costs d same...both of them dont even qualify to be pda phones...dunno wat AT&T is upto.... wonder wat they'll do when they come up with Sony's xperia...will they offer it for 1000???
Smizmo @ May 1st 2008 9:15AM
Droooolllll... at the moment I use the edge 205 cycling gps unit, and a seperate cell phone, combining the 2, and adding wifi would be awesome. I assume I could still download all my riding info to my pc, and adding gps tagged pics will be useful (yes I said it would be of use!) for sharing routes with other cyclists. Lets just hope someone at Garmin has written a nice application to show ride time, and so forth.
Jason @ May 1st 2008 10:30AM
Pick up an Edge 705/605 instead.. depending on the type of cycling, you may end up destroying your phone... While sure, its not cheap, but it does offer far more functionality for sports then a garmin phone would.
dbez @ May 2nd 2008 2:57PM
When will we get it in the UK?
I'd pay £100 - maybe £150 - for the handset on a 2 year contract, and I wouldn't go much above £30 per month for 200 minutes, 400 txts, and unlimited internet. Including device insurance - which currently runs around £7.
matt @ May 1st 2008 5:05AM
It's gotta be one helluva good system. Personally I don't trust anyone to on their first try get this right and I'm not willing to be a guinea pig for $499+($19.99*24) = well over a thousand bucks with tax. You other people can do trap yourself into a thousand dollar GPS unit, let me know how it goes.
"...You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee..."
Whoops. My math up top is wrong. So I'd be required to carry a voice and data plan on this GPS unit. Ummm, $499+($19.99*24)+($39.99*24) = $1938.52 without any sales tax or monthly taxes. 2 grand plus for my GPS unit. Yeah, I've already got a good phone guys that doesn't have bugs and another service provider.
marxj1 @ May 1st 2008 1:43PM
i totally think the Nuvifone is worth it at the price it is, 400 woule be better but if u compare it to the iphone i honestly think its better, it has better features such as a 3 megapixel camera, full gps, it has everything else the iphone has. the 16 gig iphone is the same price and with both phones u still gotta pay the internet fees... so if u aint looking to join the club and hop on the iphone bandwagon than i think this might be the next best thing... heres the specs for both check em out
Nuvifone
http://www8.garmin.com/buzz/nuvifone/press_release.jsp
iPhone
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
molo @ May 1st 2008 5:42AM
rip off
Osayi @ May 1st 2008 6:02AM
What's the storage capacity?
me @ May 1st 2008 6:01AM
damit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was hoping this phone wasn't going to be on at&t
this phone actually does a lot cool stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtD4USzpoLI&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Nuvifone&hl=en&sitesearch=
but still i am not going to at&t for it
as for price though well my friend shelled 800 buck for his iphone with every thing don't see much of a diff
The New Guy @ May 1st 2008 9:05AM
Yeah it seems like it's very feature rich.
I'd like to see how well the interface works.
Not a bad product at all!!
Christian Gross @ May 1st 2008 6:41AM
Hmmm... I think I will get one though without the data subscription.
I REALLY like the one touch here I am feature. That parking lot thing is actually not that dumb. As my wife says, "you usually remember, unless its an airport, but me that's another question." That single feature is wonderful for me...
Its one of those features where you would like, but once you have it, you never want to give it up.
Mike @ May 1st 2008 6:27AM
How bad is AT&T's customer attrition problem if having the iPhone isn't bringing in enough new customers to cover it up? My answer: I'd pay $500 on Verizon or T-Mobile, but you'd have to pay me $500 to sign a 2 year agreement with AT&T or Sprint.
Ivan @ May 1st 2008 7:31AM
no thanks, ill take my chances with a real phone and a real gps
Vic @ May 1st 2008 7:45AM
Not bad a Garmin with maps costs ~$400.00 It can even do location based google searches! I'm surprised at&t is offering data that cheep.
Ariel @ May 1st 2008 7:56AM
Why would anyone choose this on ATT if the IPhone is coming with GPS on ATT? Dis anynoe at Garmin ask themselves that question. I had been holding out on my plan and switching carriers for this phone. I say thanks Garmin for making my choice easy for me. SERO Plan with free Motorola Q 9c with ALK gps navigation. And still in time to get free text messaging. I'm sorry ATT I dn't care how many phones to masage from the makers "Nobody Loves You". I'm moreso just disappointed with Garmin on this one. Like another poster said, "I hope they fall flat on their faces, plus I'm thinking about getting the new TomTom One with the holder intergrated and then selling my Nuvi. I speak with my dollars. I could get an unlocked IPhone for this type of non-sense.