metajunk » garmin http://www.metajunk.net Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:03:28 +0000 en hourly 1 smartphones killing GPS navigation market http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/11/15/smartphones-killing-gps-navigation-market/ http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/11/15/smartphones-killing-gps-navigation-market/#comments Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:54:25 +0000 Tim Robbins
I guess we really should’ve said “GPS enabled smartphones are taking considerable market share from standalone GPS navigation makers” but a sensational title is always more fun. But either way future is not looking great for GPS navigation manufacturers. According to a study done by a Swedish research company (Berg Insight) standalone GPS navigation systems are bound to become obsolete as their functions are now part of most smartphones or just embedded into vehicles’ dashboard.

Now that Nokia and Google are giving the technology away for free, GPS navigation makers will have to come up with ways to make their products standout or offer functionality that is not covered by smartphones. We can already see some change as Garmin and TomTom now offer real time traffic information, and working with vehicle manufacturers to embed their technology into vehicles at the factory.

… the number of personal navigation devices shipped globally will peak in 2011 at 42 million, up from 40 million this year, before beginning a gradual, but inexorable decline…

However CEO’s from navigation makers are still hopeful arguing that people are still willing to pay extra for high end specialized devices. I guess Garmin is in the best position here as they’ve already branched into other markets bringing in 1/3 of their sales from marine, aerial, and fitness related GPS devices.

via

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smartphones killing GPS navigation market

]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2010/11/smartphones-killing-gps-navigation-market/feed/ 0 Garmin GTU 10 live GPS tracking device http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/10/30/garmin-gtu-10-live-gps-tracking-device/ http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/10/30/garmin-gtu-10-live-gps-tracking-device/#comments Sat, 30 Oct 2010 20:30:39 +0000 Dave Rubert Garmin seems to be experimenting with a new live GPS tracking device called GTU 10 as we caught a glimpse of it in the FCC docs. It is not announced yet as they have a request to keep external, and internal photos, users manual, and test setup photos under cover for another 45 days. We’re not exactly sure what market Garmin is after with the GTU 10 but the device is called “GSM/GPRS enabled GPS tracking device” and operates on GSM850 and PCS1900 frequencies. It is also powered by via USB port and that’s really all we can get the from the available FCC docs. We’ll just have to wait and see. Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget. Garmin GTU 10 live GPS tracking device
]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2010/10/garmin-gtu-10-live-gps-tracking-device/feed/ 0 garmin nuvi 3790T http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/04/19/garmin-nuvi-3790t/ http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2010/04/19/garmin-nuvi-3790t/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:29:51 +0000 Dave Rubert
Garmin Nuvi 3790T is one of the latest additions to Garmin’s Nuvi lineup. Nuvi 3790T is the highest end of the three that just got announced (other two are nuvi 3760T, and nuvi 3750) today. Priced at $450 nuvi 3790T accepts voice commands, offers 3D building views, has bluetooth wireless, and gets updated traffic information for the lifetime of the product.

Some of the other features that are common throughout this new 3700 series are the full glass high resolution 4.3″ multitouch screen, ability to operate in both portrait and landscape modes, super slim 9mm body, and the windshield mount that now carries an extra speaker for even clearer voice guidance.

Here’s the “making of” the new super slim 3700 nuvis.

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garmin nuvi 3790T

]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2010/04/garmin-nuvi-3790t/feed/ 0 Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:44:00 +0000 Thomas Ricker As everyone knows, Garmin and TomTom have their backs against the ropes in a fight to remain relevant in an age of free GPS turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones (thanks Google and Nokia). While dedicated personal navigators are almost always superior to their converged competition, the gap has certainly narrowed such that it's become difficult to justify another device when an increasing number of people already carry a fine navigation device in their pockets. But that's just gut instinct talking, where's the hard evidence? Certainly not speculative stock prices. A good place to start is in forward-looking financial statements like the one Garmin, the leading navigation device maker in the US, just issued. Gamin says that it expects competition to cause prices to decline by about 10% in the personal navigation device (PND) industry putting pressure on margins, and thus profits, in 2010. It also sees flat or slightly declining revenue over the same period. Fortunately for Garmin, it has a diversified product offering that includes the Nuvifone. However, Garmin admits to being disappointed by sales of the handset that "won" our Editor's Choice award for Worst Gadget of the Year.

Things aren't all doom and gloom, though. Garmin has a pair of Nuvifones in the chute including the Android-powered A50. And its Q4 results of $1.43 per share easily beat analyst expectations of 95 cents a share. Even TomTom surprised many last week with a 1% increase in Q4 revenue and net profit of €75 million compared to a €989 million loss a year ago. So there's some hope left for the dedicated PND market... but not much.

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Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFT (TomTom), Reuters (Garmin)  | Email this | Comments]]> As everyone knows, Garmin and TomTom have their backs against the ropes in a fight to remain relevant in an age of free GPS turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones (thanks Google and Nokia). While dedicated personal navigators are almost always superior to their converged competition, the gap has certainly narrowed such that it's become difficult to justify another device when an increasing number of people already carry a fine navigation device in their pockets. But that's just gut instinct talking, where's the hard evidence? Certainly not speculative stock prices. A good place to start is in forward-looking financial statements like the one Garmin, the leading navigation device maker in the US, just issued. Gamin says that it expects competition to cause prices to decline by about 10% in the personal navigation device (PND) industry putting pressure on margins, and thus profits, in 2010. It also sees flat or slightly declining revenue over the same period. Fortunately for Garmin, it has a diversified product offering that includes the Nuvifone. However, Garmin admits to being disappointed by sales of the handset that "won" our Editor's Choice award for Worst Gadget of the Year.

Things aren't all doom and gloom, though. Garmin has a pair of Nuvifones in the chute including the Android-powered A50. And its Q4 results of $1.43 per share easily beat analyst expectations of 95 cents a share. Even TomTom surprised many last week with a 1% increase in Q4 revenue and net profit of €75 million compared to a €989 million loss a year ago. So there's some hope left for the dedicated PND market... but not much.

Filed under: ,

Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFT (TomTom), Reuters (Garmin)  | Email this | Comments]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2010/02/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/feed/ 0 Garmin Nuvifone G60 GPS Phone Review: Do Not Buy [Review] http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GpFfwR_xox0/garmin-nuvifone-g60-gps-phone-review-do-not-buy http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GpFfwR_xox0/garmin-nuvifone-g60-gps-phone-review-do-not-buy#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000 admin Garmin makes the best portable navigators out there. Millions of people, including me, are fans. But following notoriously lengthy delays, the first Nuvifone should have been euthanized, not put on AT&T shelves next to the iPhone—for $100 more.

The Nuvifone G60 GPS phone is out this week for $300, an absurdly high price for even a smartphone in this age. But the Nuvifone is not a smartphone, not even a clever one.

What's Bad

• The resistive touchscreen reminds me of phones circa 2006, bad for everything but big-button tapping.

• There's no homescreen button, to quickly take you out of a mire of menus.

• It's crashy—screens froze twice while I was writing this, forcing a full-on hard restart.

• Sometimes the accelerometer just stops working completely.

• The camera is terrible—if the hardware button required for the shutter even works—and there's no video of any kind.

• The web browser is all but useless, because it relies heavily on zooming in and out, and the touchscreen easily confuses swiping and tapping.

• The interface looks cool at first, but there are strange design choices throughout. Want an example? The QWERTY keyboard only appears in horizontal mode—it's ABCDE in vertical mode. Also, no "Where To?" button, a la older Nuvi devices.

• You have to pay a $5/month premium charge to check the weather, traffic, local events and other services—all of which can be found on free apps from real smartphone platforms (not just iPhone).

• Even when using email (let alone calendar), there doesn't seem to be any awareness of the rest of the internet: The email wizard lets you enter any address and password, but it doesn't say whether it can actually get mail. This tenacious little phone is still trying to log onto my Hotmail account.

• The battery ran down completely during my first day of testing, after a few phone calls and some modest GPS navigation, and the battery indicator drops fast when it's just on standby. In fairness, you shouldn't use this phone or any other phone without a car charger, if you intend to use it for GPS navigation.

• There is no car charger. It's missing the $7 USB-to-cig-lighter adapter. AT&T probably wanted to sell it separately, but when I asked at my local AT&T store, they didn't even carry it.

• Since it's an AT&T phone, it has to compete with the iPhone and other handsets that are way better. If the Nuvifone were on Verizon, it would at least have a network advantage in certain markets that it could lord over the iPhone herd. But even Apple haters would have a hard time spending an extra $100 on this—with the exact same phone reception.

The Verdict

Unlike most reviews, this verdict isn't for you. If you made it to the end of the headline, you already know what to do. But because I care, I thought I'd say something to the makers:

Garmin: Please get your act together in the phone space. You have two choices: Either make tidy useful navigation apps for the major platforms, or make real phones. There's no such thing as a PND that also makes phone calls (though I think that was the original plan for the G60).

You are great in your field, but even teamed with Asus, you aren't better than the lowliest phone maker, so you have to play catchup: Pick a mobile OS and stick with it. Skip Windows Mobile (for now) and make a serious push into Android. To do that, you'll have to see what everyone else is doing. Don't just set yourself up to lose in the end to an HTC running a TeleNav or TomTom app. You're good at making tough hardware, so why not differentiate with a rugged outdoor Android smartphone?

I urge you to re-consider your premature departure from the mobile app business. Garmin brand equity would sell a lot of iPhone apps, especially if they came with the Nuvi interface most people love more than TomTom's or Navigon's. It may bruise the ego a bit to focus on software instead of hardware, but I just don't see how successful you can be by doing what everyone else is doing, only later and worse. I didn't mean to be this harsh, but I also didn't expect the G60 to be so bad.

In Brief

The home screen is cool for a dumbphone, with three major buttons and a slider of auxiliary options

The navigational experience I have enjoyed on regular Nuvis is here, almost completely intact, but since you can already get that without buying this phone, it's not a major plus

See above—like, every single word of this piece



]]> Garmin makes the best portable navigators out there. Millions of people, including me, are fans. But following notoriously lengthy delays, the first Nuvifone should have been euthanized, not put on AT&T shelves next to the iPhone—for $100 more.

The Nuvifone G60 GPS phone is out this week for $300, an absurdly high price for even a smartphone in this age. But the Nuvifone is not a smartphone, not even a clever one.

What's Bad

• The resistive touchscreen reminds me of phones circa 2006, bad for everything but big-button tapping.

• There's no homescreen button, to quickly take you out of a mire of menus.

• It's crashy—screens froze twice while I was writing this, forcing a full-on hard restart.

• Sometimes the accelerometer just stops working completely.

• The camera is terrible—if the hardware button required for the shutter even works—and there's no video of any kind.

• The web browser is all but useless, because it relies heavily on zooming in and out, and the touchscreen easily confuses swiping and tapping.

• The interface looks cool at first, but there are strange design choices throughout. Want an example? The QWERTY keyboard only appears in horizontal mode—it's ABCDE in vertical mode. Also, no "Where To?" button, a la older Nuvi devices.

• You have to pay a $5/month premium charge to check the weather, traffic, local events and other services—all of which can be found on free apps from real smartphone platforms (not just iPhone).

• Even when using email (let alone calendar), there doesn't seem to be any awareness of the rest of the internet: The email wizard lets you enter any address and password, but it doesn't say whether it can actually get mail. This tenacious little phone is still trying to log onto my Hotmail account.

• The battery ran down completely during my first day of testing, after a few phone calls and some modest GPS navigation, and the battery indicator drops fast when it's just on standby. In fairness, you shouldn't use this phone or any other phone without a car charger, if you intend to use it for GPS navigation.

• There is no car charger. It's missing the $7 USB-to-cig-lighter adapter. AT&T probably wanted to sell it separately, but when I asked at my local AT&T store, they didn't even carry it.

• Since it's an AT&T phone, it has to compete with the iPhone and other handsets that are way better. If the Nuvifone were on Verizon, it would at least have a network advantage in certain markets that it could lord over the iPhone herd. But even Apple haters would have a hard time spending an extra $100 on this—with the exact same phone reception.

The Verdict

Unlike most reviews, this verdict isn't for you. If you made it to the end of the headline, you already know what to do. But because I care, I thought I'd say something to the makers:

Garmin: Please get your act together in the phone space. You have two choices: Either make tidy useful navigation apps for the major platforms, or make real phones. There's no such thing as a PND that also makes phone calls (though I think that was the original plan for the G60).

You are great in your field, but even teamed with Asus, you aren't better than the lowliest phone maker, so you have to play catchup: Pick a mobile OS and stick with it. Skip Windows Mobile (for now) and make a serious push into Android. To do that, you'll have to see what everyone else is doing. Don't just set yourself up to lose in the end to an HTC running a TeleNav or TomTom app. You're good at making tough hardware, so why not differentiate with a rugged outdoor Android smartphone?

I urge you to re-consider your premature departure from the mobile app business. Garmin brand equity would sell a lot of iPhone apps, especially if they came with the Nuvi interface most people love more than TomTom's or Navigon's. It may bruise the ego a bit to focus on software instead of hardware, but I just don't see how successful you can be by doing what everyone else is doing, only later and worse. I didn't mean to be this harsh, but I also didn't expect the G60 to be so bad.

In Brief

The home screen is cool for a dumbphone, with three major buttons and a slider of auxiliary options

The navigational experience I have enjoyed on regular Nuvis is here, almost completely intact, but since you can already get that without buying this phone, it's not a major plus

See above—like, every single word of this piece



]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2009/10/garmin-nuvifone-g60-gps-phone-review-do-not-buy-review/feed/ 0 Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 launches in Taiwan, Windows Mobile and all http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/19/garmin-asus-nuvifone-m20-launches-in-taiwan-windows-mobile-and/ http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/19/garmin-asus-nuvifone-m20-launches-in-taiwan-windows-mobile-and/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:05:00 +0000 admin Following last month's launch of the proprietary OS'd G60, Taiwan's now playing host to the Windows Mobile-based M20 from Garmin-Asus, the joint venture's second model. Local carrier Chunghwa will be carrying the phone, which features HSDPA, a VGA display, 3 megapixel cam, and comprehensive navigation capabilities that earn it the Garmin name -- but it turns out they'll also be launching the iPhone 3GS and Hero in the next few days, a situation that effectively defines the phrase "hostile competitive landscape." Best of luck, Garmin-Asus -- given the Duke Nukem-esque delays you've encountered in your bumpy road to retail, you need all the luck you can get if you want to turn a profit any time soon.

Filed under: , ,

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 launches in Taiwan, Windows Mobile and all originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]> Following last month's launch of the proprietary OS'd G60, Taiwan's now playing host to the Windows Mobile-based M20 from Garmin-Asus, the joint venture's second model. Local carrier Chunghwa will be carrying the phone, which features HSDPA, a VGA display, 3 megapixel cam, and comprehensive navigation capabilities that earn it the Garmin name -- but it turns out they'll also be launching the iPhone 3GS and Hero in the next few days, a situation that effectively defines the phrase "hostile competitive landscape." Best of luck, Garmin-Asus -- given the Duke Nukem-esque delays you've encountered in your bumpy road to retail, you need all the luck you can get if you want to turn a profit any time soon.

Filed under: , ,

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 launches in Taiwan, Windows Mobile and all originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2009/08/garmin-asus-nuvifone-m20-launches-in-taiwan-windows-mobile-and-all/feed/ 0 User manual for Garmin’s connected nuvi 1690 reveals “nuinfo” service branding http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/17/user-manual-emerges-for-garmins-connected-nuvi-1690/ http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/17/user-manual-emerges-for-garmins-connected-nuvi-1690/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:34:00 +0000 admin The connected PND, by most accounts, is a dying breed. Dash couldn't pull it off, TomTom's execution was downright pathetic and no one even remembers that Insignia made one. But considering that Garmin's nüvi range has always delivered, we're going to let the nüvi 1690 ship before passing judgment. Said navigator, which just slipped into the FCC's database a fortnight ago, didn't have too many details attached to it, but a recently discovered user manual reveals that although Garmin's local-data service will be powered by Google, the company has branded it with the virtually-unpronounceable name "nuinfo." Yeah, we have no idea, but we're definitely interested in finding out what the ultimate plan is -- the shots of the device in the manual lead us to believe that local weather information will be on tap in addition to the usual waypoint searching and so forth, but unless Garmin throws these so-called "connected services" in gratis, every smartphone owner on the planet will simply laugh and move on.

[Via GPS Tracklog]

Filed under:

User manual for Garmin's connected nuvi 1690 reveals "nuinfo" service branding originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]> The connected PND, by most accounts, is a dying breed. Dash couldn't pull it off, TomTom's execution was downright pathetic and no one even remembers that Insignia made one. But considering that Garmin's nüvi range has always delivered, we're going to let the nüvi 1690 ship before passing judgment. Said navigator, which just slipped into the FCC's database a fortnight ago, didn't have too many details attached to it, but a recently discovered user manual reveals that although Garmin's local-data service will be powered by Google, the company has branded it with the virtually-unpronounceable name "nuinfo." Yeah, we have no idea, but we're definitely interested in finding out what the ultimate plan is -- the shots of the device in the manual lead us to believe that local weather information will be on tap in addition to the usual waypoint searching and so forth, but unless Garmin throws these so-called "connected services" in gratis, every smartphone owner on the planet will simply laugh and move on.

[Via GPS Tracklog]

Filed under:

User manual for Garmin's connected nuvi 1690 reveals "nuinfo" service branding originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]> http://www.metajunk.net/2009/08/user-manual-for-garmins-connected-nuvi-1690-reveals-nuinfo-service-branding/feed/ 0