Magellan has annouced five new RoadMates featuring Landmark Guidance, portrait mode and, in the two Bluetooth models, safe texting. This feature, highlighted in the video above, “enables drivers to quickly and safely respond to a call with a pre-written text message. The driver may select from a text message to inform the caller that they are driving and will call them later or a text that will include the vehicle’s present location and estimated time of arrival to their destination.”
There appears to be no functionality that allows the incoming text to be read aloud to you. Garmin has implemented such a feature on their nuvi 3490LMT and 3590LMT, although it requires a phone with Bluetooth MAP (Message Access Protocol) support, which is pretty rare.
Here’s the full news release.
About Rich Owings