IPhone and iPhone 3G are seriously flawed. I owned them both so I know.
The iphone 3g's battery life is pitiful and in some areas its not capable of GPS because it doesn't have a true GPS antennae - rather, assisted GPS.
The NUVIPHONE could make a serious impact on iphone sales if its interface was just as simple to use and it came with high speed data capability and higher battery life.
CDMA version and an unlocked GSM version would help it easily against iphone.
You have no idea what A-GPS is do you? It IS real GPS(with satellites and everything!, you nutter) it just has Wi-Fi and cell triangulation to help speed up location acquisition. THe cell and Wi-FI are fast for finding your general area doing all the heavy lifting for the real GPS which then pinpoints your location. Thus why the typical iPhone can get a feed on your location in around 10 seconds vs 60 with the typical cold start GPS unit.
Um.. do me a favor and read up on assisted GPS, especially read up on the actual hardware in the phone.
Last time I checked my iPhone found me faster than my a696 and was just as accurate. and companies like TomTom and TeleNav don't seem to have any complaints.
@Flashpoint: I've found that the performance downfalls for "cell phone navigation" compared to dedicated portable navigation devices has less to do with the GPS vs. aGPS factor and more to do with the fact that a PND has an embedded map database stored right on the device, while cell phones use an off-board database which causes very slow route calculation/re-calculation, map display times, etc...because all contents need to be downloaded, handled, and finally displayed.
Without looking into the specs, I would assume that Nuvifone will have an embedded map database stored on some local media like MiroSD or internal flash memory. In this case, GPS navigation would perform really well (at least at the level of current Nuvi products.)
iPhone can also perform Navigation tasks this well if it stores some or all of a map database locally, or if the connection speed is extremely good (just don't expect it to guide you anywhere rural where signals suck if that's the case.)
Depending on the implementation, aGPS can be fantastic or utter crap. If it's the type that requires a constant network connection to maintain location accuracy, you might get decent performance in a city, but in rural areas it will suck. If it's the aGPS that can operate without a constant, or even non-existent network connection, you're good to go.
...And when the amazing [insert name] comes out in [insert date] and has [insert dozens of fabulous features] with a battery life of [insert minutes] it will be the finest smartphone ever produced by [insert bankrupt handset company's name] and it will just beat the pants off the [insert Apple iPhone model]. Man, I'm gonna get me one of those since it'll only cost [insert comically low price].
The Nuvifone, GPhone and ZunePhone will go down into the annals of history as the finest and most talked about nonexistent handsets never to be produced.
Actually, I suspect Garmin is learning just how convoluted the wireless industry is. The regulations, carrier relationships, testing requirements, and on and on and on are nothing like stamping out some GPS units and putting them on shelves.
I love my Nuvi 350 and welcome the Nuvifone. Would be sweet to just clip into my Nuvi mount in my car, have bluetooth calling, charging, and GPS all in one. I doubt it'll be good enough to replace my phone, but it would be awesome if it was.
Except the ZunePhone was never announced by Microsoft. Microsoft has said many times they're sticking to their current model which is supply the OS and let their partners make the hardware.
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Can't say I'm not surprised. With iPhone 3G soaking it up and carriers lack of interest and all.
IPhone and iPhone 3G are seriously flawed. I owned them both so I know.
The iphone 3g's battery life is pitiful and in some areas its not capable of GPS because it doesn't have a true GPS antennae - rather, assisted GPS.
The NUVIPHONE could make a serious impact on iphone sales if its interface was just as simple to use and it came with high speed data capability and higher battery life.
CDMA version and an unlocked GSM version would help it easily against iphone.
Flashpoint, you're an idiot. You don't know what A-GPS is.
Of course, I expect Garmin to do what they're good at and make a good GPS-enabled phone... but you're still an idiot.
You have no idea what A-GPS is do you? It IS real GPS(with satellites and everything!, you nutter) it just has Wi-Fi and cell triangulation to help speed up location acquisition. THe cell and Wi-FI are fast for finding your general area doing all the heavy lifting for the real GPS which then pinpoints your location. Thus why the typical iPhone can get a feed on your location in around 10 seconds vs 60 with the typical cold start GPS unit.
@Flashpoint
Um.. do me a favor and read up on assisted GPS, especially read up on the actual hardware in the phone.
Last time I checked my iPhone found me faster than my a696 and was just as accurate. and companies like TomTom and TeleNav don't seem to have any complaints.
@Flashpoint:
I've found that the performance downfalls for "cell phone navigation" compared to dedicated portable navigation devices has less to do with the GPS vs. aGPS factor and more to do with the fact that a PND has an embedded map database stored right on the device, while cell phones use an off-board database which causes very slow route calculation/re-calculation, map display times, etc...because all contents need to be downloaded, handled, and finally displayed.
Without looking into the specs, I would assume that Nuvifone will have an embedded map database stored on some local media like MiroSD or internal flash memory. In this case, GPS navigation would perform really well (at least at the level of current Nuvi products.)
iPhone can also perform Navigation tasks this well if it stores some or all of a map database locally, or if the connection speed is extremely good (just don't expect it to guide you anywhere rural where signals suck if that's the case.)
Depending on the implementation, aGPS can be fantastic or utter crap. If it's the type that requires a constant network connection to maintain location accuracy, you might get decent performance in a city, but in rural areas it will suck. If it's the aGPS that can operate without a constant, or even non-existent network connection, you're good to go.
Here we go again... If BS could win a prize...
...And when the amazing [insert name] comes out in [insert date] and has [insert dozens of fabulous features] with a battery life of [insert minutes] it will be the finest smartphone ever produced by [insert bankrupt handset company's name] and it will just beat the pants off the [insert Apple iPhone model]. Man, I'm gonna get me one of those since it'll only cost [insert comically low price].
The Nuvifone, GPhone and ZunePhone will go down into the annals of history as the finest and most talked about nonexistent handsets never to be produced.
Actually, I suspect Garmin is learning just how convoluted the wireless industry is. The regulations, carrier relationships, testing requirements, and on and on and on are nothing like stamping out some GPS units and putting them on shelves.
I love my Nuvi 350 and welcome the Nuvifone. Would be sweet to just clip into my Nuvi mount in my car, have bluetooth calling, charging, and GPS all in one. I doubt it'll be good enough to replace my phone, but it would be awesome if it was.
@SteffenJobs
Except the ZunePhone was never announced by Microsoft. Microsoft has said many times they're sticking to their current model which is supply the OS and let their partners make the hardware.
Fred
thank you for not being an asshole like the other posters and replying intelligently to my post.