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  • Upcoming Garmin nvi spotted on FCC site

    by 
    Evan Blass
    Evan Blass
    08.21.2006

    Well, well, well; that chatty little birdy over at the FCC came buzzing by our offices once again today, and let us know that Garmin's got a new nüvi GPS device / multimedia player in the pipeline. Because Garmin double pinky swore the FCC birdy to secrecy, all that's known at this point is that the new model will be part of the 6xx series (the 660, perhaps?), and that it contains both a Bluetooth radio and FM transmitter. So in other words, we pretty much know nothing at all. Still, we can tell by the pictures (of the back of the device -- thanks a lot, Garmin) that the upcoming nüvi retains the same form factor as the older models, so we're expecting either a souped up 360 or a same-speced model at a lower price point. Oh, and if anyone cares to go through the 43-page testing documentation to dig for more details (good luck with that), please be our guests; just remember to come back and report your findings in the comments section, as we and your fellow readers will be eternally grateful.Update: That was certainly a slap in the face; Garmin won't tell us jack about the 660, but it has no problem spilling the beans to e-tailer buy.com. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader AMtech, we now know that the nuvi 660 will feature a 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel display (compared to the 360's 3.5-inch QVGA screen) and come bundled with either the GTM 20 or GTM 21 traffic receiver (optional on the 360). Oddly enough, though -- at least if buy.com's got the accurate specs -- the 660 will only sport 700MB of internal storage, quite a drop from the 2GB preloaded on a 360 ( you can still upgrade via SD, however). Oh, and if you were hoping for a price break, keep dreaming: buy's got this one listed at an even $1,000.