UPDATE: Read my Garmin nuvi 850 review and Garmin nuvi 880 review
Garmin just announced the Garmin nuvi 800 series, the first nuvis to feature speech recognition.
In keeping with Garmin’s heritage of elegant user interface design, the nuvi 800 series’ speech recognition technology sets the new industry standard for simple and intuitive use. Users mount a push-to-talk wireless remote to their steering wheel, which is used to activate voice commands — no additional setup or “training” is required. Once activated, the user can effortlessly manipulate controls by speaking the words that correspond to buttons that are on the touchscreen display, so that almost any common task can be performed without ever touching the unit.
Garmin has also streamlined the way users can perform complex points of interest searches. Driving in an unfamiliar area and hungry for some spaghetti? Simply say, “find nearest Italian restaurant,” and you’re offered a menu of nearby pasta purveyors. Use a voice command to select the establishment of your choice, and the nuvi 800 series gives you turn-by-turn directions to dinner. The nuvi 880 also knows the names of many large business brands, so a user need only say, “find nearest Starbucks” for a quick caffeine fix.
The nuvi 880 will include MSN Direct access, including some new features:
- Local events: receive special notices on festivals, concerts, and sporting events in your area, and navigate to them.
- News and stocks: the latest news headlines and financial market updates are always at your fingertips.
- Send to GPS capability: plan trips and look up destinations from the convenience of your computer, via Windows Live Local, and then wirelessly send locations to your nuvi 880.
The nuvi 850 will include all of the 880’s features, minus Bluetooth and MSN Direct access. The 800 series will be available in the second quarter of 2008.
No word on price yet. I’ll update this post with that once it is available. Here’s the text of the full news release.
About Rich Owings
Magellan already has “Find nearest [XYZ type] restuarant]” voice recognition.
The 3 biggest problems with the Nuvi 700 series are:
1) can’t remove a particular road from a route
2) detour function is useless
3) speaker/mic for bluetooth is worthless (like most PNDs)
Did they address any of the three above?
Brett,
No they haven’t, but it looks like they may have fixed items 1 and 2 in the nuvi 5000. Guess we’ll have to wait for the nuvi 890 or a 900 series to get it with other high end features though.
DOES THE BLUETOOTH PHONE COME OVER THE CAR SPEAKERS OR ONLY THROUGH THE SPEAKER ON THE UNIT?
It should work just like my 660. The calls will go through the car stereo if the FM transmitter is on.
I recently sent you an order for a Garmin 880. (It was to ship at: 2720 E.Thunderbird rd) But my best pal aready bought me a Garmim, after I just purchased a new V.W.. SO, I thought that if I sent you an E-mail in time, you would not charge my credit card, and I wouldn’t have to refuse the delivery of this item. Please call if you need to contact me/ Please call me at 480-289-0606. PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE GARVIN 880 AND DO NOT CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD. Thanks, Richard M.Kerr
thunderv
I recently sent you an order for a Garmin 880. (It was to ship at: 2720 E.Thunderbird rd) But my best pal aready bought me a Garmim, after I just purchased a new V.W.. SO, I thought that if I sent you an E-mail in time, you would not charge my credit card, and I wouldn’t have to refuse the delivery of this item. Please call if you need to contact me/ Please call me at 480-289-0606. PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE GARVIN 880 AND DO NOT CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD. Thanks, Richard M.Kerr
thunderv
I placed an order in haste, please remove my info on me and the credit car info AND DO NOT CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD Thanks, Richard M. Kerr
I recently sent you an order for a Garmin 880. (It was to ship at: 2720 E.Thunderbird rd) But my best pal aready bought me a Garmim, after I just purchased a new V.W.. SO, I thought that if I sent you an E-mail in time, you would not charge my credit card, and I wouldn’t have to refuse the delivery of this item. Please call if you need to contact me/ Please call me at 480-289-0606. PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE GARVIN 880 AND DO NOT CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD. Thanks, Richard M.Kerr
thunderv
In your evaluation of the new nuvi 800 series you state: ..
The nuvi 850 will include all of the 880’s features, minus Bluetooth and MSN Direct access.
The Garmin site has a comparison site that states the nuvi 850 does have MSN Direct access.
Did you error or was this added later after your report?
Harold
I have a Nuvi 850. It is terrible: voice is too low, battery runs out very quick, hard to recharge, touch screen not always response… Too much troubles. In compare with my old C340, the new Nuvi 850 is terrible.
Thanks for sharing your experience. FWIW, have you updated the firmware?