Garmin GPS phone (NavTalk)

[Happy1]

For any of you who have been waiting for the new Garmin GPS phone, it has been delayed for a week due to mapping issues. The phone is about the size of the Ericsson R380, although a it shorter and a bit wider, it is classed as IPX which is splashproof, it has a standby time of 240 - 300 hrs, GPS usage time of 12hrs and talk time of 8hrs.

You will be able to SMS your position to another phone, so for example if you are in a restaurant and somebody cannot find it, you send an SMS and it will lead them to you, good for partners apparently /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif except the other caller can request your position but only you can send the position by SMS.

The phone has full mapping facility, waypoints and gives the standard positions. It is not however recommended due to the IPX rating as a Maritime GPS.

The phone will retail at £499 + VAT, it will be available next week at the GPS warehouse. It is SIM free, so will take any of the networks chips.

Note that it is only dual band, therefore not any use in the USA and other Triband only areas.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[colvic]

So an expensive gimmick, when you can buy GPS and phone for considerably less.


Phil

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[Happy1]

Totaly agree with you 100%, It was just to highlight it to gadget freeks. Everyone seems to try and get involved in other markets, I guess the screen will be a bit small to see for anyone with bad eyesight. What happens when the phone (which is by no means small) needs updating! Best option one of each as you say, you then have the choice of a phone and a choice of a GPS.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[steve_cronin]

If you think the screen on an Ericsson R380 is small for someone who uses reading glasses (I think it's OK - both my sons have this phone) you should try the T68i! It's only slightly bigger than a postage stamp but is about par for modern phones which i had to invest in when my perfectly adequate i888 Worldphone got stolen earlier this year. My wife still has one of these but despite many offers to swap hers for my "modern, trendy compact, handbag sized little gem, she continues to decline!

Now your suggestion that this new "dual band" phone won't work in the US has me puzzled. I have no problem (well up to last year anyway, in using an i888 in the USA it has:-GSM 1900Mhz & GSM 900Mhz My sons also used their r380's which also have GSM 1900Mhz & GSM 900Mhz capability. HOWEVER in the Carribean, both of these ferquencies were not supported as they use GSM on 1800Mhz (Which I will now be able to use since the new T68i has GSM 1900Mhz GSM 900mhz & GSM 1800Mhz -although iDEN 800Mhz is still used on some islands.

Even the new T28 worldphone only has GSM 1900 & GSM 900 which is seen as the "standard" for "Worldphones" so why do you think that this new GPS "dual band" phone won't work in the USA? (assuming it has GSM 1900 & GSM 900 of course)

Steve Cronin

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[Happy1]

Steve,

I have the T68i and have had nothing but problems with the connectivity side of things, but that's another matter. I think there may be a difference from reading a telephone number on the new Garmin phone and reading a map, but I have not seen it, it is only my view. I use Garmin e-map and that is a lot larger, that is the smallest I would want to go if I was to look at a map. You would have to keep scrolling around the map on th ephone and I am not sure what the refresh rate of that screen would be, I understand it ha a 16mb memory, but this could be difficult on a boat if you intended to use it for navigation. With regards to being unable to use it in the USA, I was informed of that by Garmin (the maps we are talking about, not voice), but it may be worth double checking. I was told that although it is dual band 900/1800mhz, the base map on the phone contains country boundaries, lakes, rivers, streams, airports, cities, towns, coastlines, higways, local thorughfares and secondary roads within Metro areas. The 16mb memory can be used to download detail from the included MetroSource 'City Select' CD Rom Europe which includes GB, Ireland, Portugal*, Spain*, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland* and Norway* , * = coverage limited to metro areas. The map scale on screen is 500ft to 3,000 miles. I was talking to Gamin about a download upgrade for my 176C in order that I can use the 'tide' facility on the new version 5 charts being launched next month. The guy mentioned he had been trialing the new phone, hence the info on here for others. Perhaps it would accept other data CD's I do not know, I personaly I will not be getting one, but I am sure there are people on here with the means to buy one. It is best that people do their own research and come to their own decision. It also has an organiser on it, built in modem and WAP facility.

Please not I do believe that GSM dual band phones in the UK have 900/1800mhz capability and the additonal band for Tri-band is 1900mhz which is used in all the USA, Central & South America. This phone as I stated above is dual band 900/1800mhz.

Hope this answers the query,

<font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[andy_wilson]

Dual band

There are other combinations of dual band.

900/1800 is now commonly marketed in UK for Euro travellers and to overcome some of the congestion problems faced by O2 and Voda users. These networks are rolling out 1800 in urban areas.

900/1800 is no use in North America, 900/1900 or tri-band 900/1800/1900 is order of the day.

I have an 888 lurking somewhere if you miss it that badly!

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[Guest]

868 - T20

MY favourite phone .... 868

My least favourite phone - ALL Motorolas
My second least favourite - Nokias

I use now the T20 and keep my old 868 as spare but still PREFER the 868 .... but it looks the part - old and a lump !!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: 900/1800 is no use in North America, 900/1900

900 is used by Sprint & Pacific Bell on GSM. Or it was last time I was there (2001).

Steve Cronin

Would take you up on the i888 but it's the battery that would be the problem. I just bought a new one for my wife's phone from Ericsson and it won't hold charge for more than 24hrs on S'by and another for my step-mum's 388 from "Bits for Phones" with the same result.

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