GPS navigator
Latest
Garmin to purchase Navigon, plans to complete acquisition by late July
News of Garmin's plans to acquire Navigon leaked out earlier this month, but we now have official word that the GPS giant will bring the smaller German company under its wing beginning in late July. Pending regulatory approval, the deal would have Navigon, one of the largest GPS brands in Europe, functioning as a subsidiary of Garmin, which has a much stronger presence in North America. The companies were unable to reveal any financial information, though previous estimates priced the deal in the "mid-double-digit million" Euro range. Navigon says it's not ready to share any details concerning the acquisition, but we're unlikely to see major effects in the US, where the company has smartphone apps but hasn't sold dedicated GPS devices in several years.
Garmin in talks to buy Navigon?
It's hard out there for a company making endangered gadgets. According to Reuters, flailing satnav maker Navigon could be acquired by none other than Garmin, which has struggled itself to maintain strong handheld navigator sales in the face of stiff competition from smartphones. The deal could be worth somewhere in the "mid-double-digit million" Euro range -- a none-too-helpful estimate, but enough for us to understand that the personal navigator market is in such a state that Garmin could scoop up its rival for a pretty modest sum. Garmin, for its part, has been doing well, considering -- it's the top navigator brand in the US (a market Navigon has long since exited), and its profit nearly tripled in the most recent quarter. That's largely thanks to those bestselling navigators, but also because the company's been wise enough to reinvent itself as a purveyor of running watches and expand its boating and aviation businesses. In any case, if the Navigon brand is going bye bye, it looks like we could find out as soon as this month.
TeleNav GPS Navigator comes to T-Mobile's myTouch 3G
TeleNav has already launched its subscription turn-by-turn navigation service for the G1, so it stands to reason that official myTouch 3G support would be close behind -- and sure enough, the company has announced that its GPS Navigator app will be available for download to T-Mobile's second Android device starting tomorrow, August 5. The app features all of the goodies that TeleNav users have come to know and love, including traffic and incident monitoring with automatic rerouting, gas prices, business information, and a choice between 2D and 3D maps; additionally, you've got automatic day / night coloration, carpool lane and tollroad avoidance, and speech recognition for destination input -- a big plus when you're on the road and you need to keep distractions to a minimum. We've been playing with a cut of GPS Navigator on our myTouch recently, and it delivers a totally usable car navigation experience -- a perfect complement to the comprehensive pedestrian capabilities of Google Maps. Most of the warnings from our G1-based review of the application carry over here -- you need true GPS reception, not merely cellular triangulation, so your phone will need a view of the sky to have a shot at picking up satellites (this also means that getting a location lock is a more time-consuming process, though it typically didn't take longer than a few seconds to do its thing). We're not digging how the colored lines that convey traffic information on highways flash; we'd rather they just stayed a solid color, the way most GPS systems handle it. We also found that the menus are a little wonky -- bringing your finger in contact with a menu item and swiping up or down to scroll would occasionally trigger the first item you touched, which ends up being a fairly annoying bug in practice. All told, though, if you can justify the expense, your $10 a month is going to net you a genuinely reasonable way to consolidate all of your help-me-I'm-lost needs -- whether by foot or by car -- into a single device.
Garmin's Mobile XT turns your phone into a GPS superstar
Garmin -- your favorite GPS team ever -- are about to drop some serious map-styles all over your mobile phone. The company today announced a new set of microSD cards preloaded with its navigation software and standard maps of the US or Europe. The cards will turn your average, boring, ugly phone into a bona fide GPS superstar. Dubbed the Garmin Mobile XT, the card will tout all of the features of a typical hardware Garmin GPS unit, like turn-by-turn directions, route planning, and voice prompts. Additionally, the card provides access to the GPS-maker's online service, which lets you get real-time fuel prices, traffic reports, and weather updates. We know, you're thinking all of this sweet and easy action is going to cost you an arm, leg and first-born... but you're wrong. The company is offering the card right now for the painfully affordable price of $99, with no monthly fees or other costs, thus making this purchase seem attractive even if you don't really need it.
Palm GPS Navigator 3 in the works?
Evidence is piling that Palm is cookin' up a fresh cut of its GPS Navigator setup for tweaking Treos into serviceable navigation systems. Of course, seeing how the current retail version is incompatible with the 680, a freshened kit seems like a foregone conclusion, but we're talking real evidence here -- an online retailer is now showing a "GPS NAVIGATOR SMARTPHONE ED 3" on backorder for a mere $284.42. Notice that "3" there on the end? You can take that to the bank, folks. But wait, it gets better: Palm's latest price sheet also shows a GPS Navigator 3, rocking compatibility for the 680 and official support (finally) for the 700wx. Needless to say, it seems like owners of said devices should be able to scoop one of these up in the next few weeks. If they can manage to go that long without becoming hopelessly and irretrievably lost, that is.[Via Palm Infocenter]
Pharos announces GPS 135 and 140 navigators, bumps specs on GPS 525
Pharos just busted out two new little wonders onto the world with their Drive GPS 135 and 140 while giving their GPS 525 a spec bump in the process. The Drive GPS 135 come pre-loaded with maps of the US and Canada on a 2GB SD card along with Pharos OSTIA navigation software, 3.5-inch touch screen, and SiRFstar III chipset for an entry-level $350. The $550 Drive GPS 140 aims to entertain by upping the touch-screen to 4-inches for unspecified picture and video playback, adding Bluetooth for hands-free calling, and slipping in support for MP3 audio. While the 135 and 140 are powered by Windows CE 4.2 and 5.0, respectively, their rebadged HTC Galaxy, now dubbed the Traveler GPS 525+, goes Windows Mobile 5.0 like the GPS 525 it replaces only now with those US and Canadian maps preloaded on to a bigger 2GB SD card. Expect the GPS 525+ to pull an MSRP of $550 with the whole shebang arriving for retail near the end of the month.
