Garmin n�vi 1200 and 1300 hands-on

As with Navigon's booth yesterday, Garmin's CeBIT showcase was overflowing with Earthlings. Many of which, as you could likely guess, were swooning over the recently announced nüvi 1200 and 1300 series navigators. Naturally, the flavors found here in Hannover were those with different variations of European maps, but aside from the routes, everything will be the same on North American versions. The hippest addition to these two are the public transit maps, which inform individuals on foot what subway / tube to hop on, where to get off, which bus to take from there and how long to stay on. Frankly, it's a Euro-tripper's dream come true. Check out the photo gallery below, and if you're wondering, there's evidently no "Engadget" within the confines of "Germany." We'd argue otherwise, of course.

Garmin nuvi 1200 and 1300 hands-on

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:10PM]

Just another iPhone iClone.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:14PM]

Wasn't even funny.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:26PM]

1. Find device that isn't even a phone
2. Call it a clone of the iPhone
3. ???
4. GTFO, troll

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:14PM]

Why is the "y" and "z" swapped?

[Stereotype Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:15PM]

I was wondering the same thing...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:16PM]

Because it's a German qwertz keyboard!

[Stereotype Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:17PM]

:P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#QWERTZ Thats why...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:21PM]

what are the dots over the "A" "O" and "U"?
...oh, north america isn't the only market companies think about?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:40PM]

Ü, Ö and Ä are called Umlaute and are separate letters, that sound different from the normal U, O and A!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:10PM]

...was a joke

[RyanTV Posted Mar 4th 2009 9:32PM]

at least it's close to a qwerty - that's my only complaint with my current garmin, the abcdef style keyboard is terrible! I'll take one please :)

[Lundmark Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:24PM]

iPhone keyboard in GPS?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:25PM]

serious

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 3:36PM]

Yes, there is an Engadget in Germany! ; ) See http://de.engadget.com/

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 11th 2009 12:33AM]

The subway feature sounds great. But will it work in a subway? I didn't think that gps units worked underground???

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:46PM]

The subway feature sounds great... But will it work on the subway??? I didn't think that gps worked underground???

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:46PM]

I don't think that will be an issue... unless you're driving the train.

[JS Posted Mar 4th 2009 7:45PM]

I am not interested in photos anymore. Just take one or two photos and then I wanna see video of the thing in action .. the responsiveness .. the UI experience .. the browser UI experience especially.

[Karate Tortoise Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:56PM]

this is totally photoshopped. silly.. garmins dont have qwerty keyboards.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 11th 2009 9:38PM]

Actually...yes they do. The later series Garmin units do come with the option to use QWERTY. My nüvi 755T has QWERTY which is great! The older series (not sure when it was introduced) did not have that feature.

The new units are already posted on Garmin's website. Looks like they've made them thinner as well. Way to go Garmin!

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 12:19AM]

hey kids, look at the navi companies trying desperately not to end up like texas instruments' calculators. Navis will eventually end up as cute and passe as pocket calculators. It's happening faster than navi manus want to admit. Simple and old technology just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 31st 2009 2:50AM]

The only problem with these is that the "pedestrian" mode requires downloads of more maps that cost more money. It's stupid that Garmin doesn't just include everything on the unit out of the box so you can just start using everything.

The last thing I want to do is have to spend yet even more money and download more maps that should've been included in the first place at no extra cost.

On top of that, the maps for pedestrian use are limited. It's not a "I'll be guided wherever I walk" type of thing. The pedestrian maps only cover certain areas and that's it. Stupid.

So in other words, pedestrian mode really doesn't work - and not at all out of the box. It's just a bait and switch marketing ploy.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 31st 2009 3:00AM]

One last thing... about pedestrian mode Garmin says:

"...pedestrian navigation capability enabled through optional CityXplorer maps, which are available for select tourist destinations in North America and Europe..."


Select tourist destinations? I want to be guided wherever I go!!! Not just in select tourist destinations.

Once again, these are the maps that Garmin is charging extra for and that have to be downloaded.

Repeat: pedestrian mode doesn't work.

Complete fail.