Garmin reported in their shareholders meeting today that…
…the nuvifone will be released on the open market in Asia this month or early July and said it is “getting very close” to a carrier launch of some models in the U.S.
The delays have been endless, but I hope they are really that close. One reason…I need a new phone!
More info at TWICE.
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Does anyone know what kind of GPS chip this thing has? It seems like most GPS-enabled mobile phones are pretty weak when it comes to GPS reception, compared to standalone units, like those made by Garmin. Will it be assisted or non-assisted GPS?
This is a built in GPS unit, so you must expect it to be just like a nuvi when it comes to GPS reception and functions.
Weird. My comment the other day didn’t show. I’m sure it will have a high-quality chipset and assisted GPS.
It may not even be in the same league, but I wonder how the Garmin Nuviphone will stack up against the TomTom app for the Apple iPhone.
The advantage here is that the iPhone can do just about anything you want it to, but the TomTom app may be limited in what it can do due to the GPS chip in the iPhone.
The Nuviphone would be expected to be the more accurate of the two, but wonder if it’ll be limited by its software as what more it can do because GPS. Although Garmin has stated it’ll release Nuviphones based on Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, will that help or hamper the Nuviphone?
I guess we won’t know until we can get our hands on these things.
The TomTom cradle will have its own GPS chipset.
Does that mean the cradle will be required to use Tomtom on the iPhone?
I don’t believe so, but it should mean better reception and faster lock when it is attached.
Faster lock?
My iPhone never takes more than 4 seconds to get a street-accurate GPS signal. The GPS chip in the cradle won’t have aGPS, so it would actually provide a slower GPS lock.
(This is a bit of a guess, so please someone correct me if I’m wrong. I guess it’s possible that the Tomtom software will first get the GPS data from the iPhone’s built-in aGPS chip, and then use that information to help the cradle’s GPS chip know where to look for the satellites, which could help the cradle’s GPS chip get a lock faster than it normally would, but I still don’t think it would have a faster startup-to-lock-time than the iPhone already has (although it would eventually have a stronger, more accurate signal, provided they use a decent GPS chip). I’m not sure if this two-way communication through the dock to use both GPS chips at the same time is even possible with the current iPhone hardware and OS, or if Tomtom’s software could make it work together despite hardware/OS limitations.)
Good to know that it locks so fast. How does it perform in urban canyons?
In big cities with the iPhone, Skyhook WiFi positioning helps get a decently accurate position (maybe not quite street level accuracy, but close) in a couple of seconds, and the aGPS should still be able to get a GPS signal in just a few seconds. In an urban canyon, the “circle of accuracy” might stay bigger for longer. So instead of having a possible location circle with a radius of 15 to 20 feet, like on a Garmin 60CSx, the radius might be 30 to 75 feet on the iPhone, but as with any GPS device, the longer it’s active, it can get a better signal over time.