Garmin With Wifi

 

I really like how Garmin GPS devices work. I know that they have had GPS PDAs in the past, but they did not have wifi. I know that Asus and Pharos make GPS PDAs with wifi. I am just wondering if we will ever see a Garmin device of any sort with built in wifi. If I wanted one now, I think that the closest I could come is to buy a used Garmin PDA and add wifi. Or get a smartphone and add Garmin Mobile XT. Or wait until the forthcoming Garmin Nuvifone is released.

Who knows what the future

Who knows what the future will bring?

im sure of it, especially

im sure of it, especially with their venture with the nuvi phone.
Especially if tomtom, or another rival threatens to come out with one first.
Really everything is going to tie into the smart phones out now, with wifi, gps, phone.

This comes back to what quality GPS you want. as the more things added, the less focus on the main thing gps.

wifi would be nice on nuvi's wide screen, but look at price for just gps, new one is 500, imagine for wifi.

in the end though, i would love it, but that will be very nearly crossing into pda/smartphones.
something will have to give, compromise

Garmin With Wifi

I agree that it is crossing over into PDA/smartphones. On the one hand Garmin has discontinued their PDA/GPSs, but on the other hand they have announced the Garmin Nuvifone. I know that Pharos has the Pharos Traveler GPS 535x http://www.pharosgps.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=001_PT... and
and Asus has the Asus MyPal A639
http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=8&l2=0&l3=0&l4=0&model=...
I am tempted to try one of these, but I can't find anywhere locally that carries them in stock. The other issue for me is that I have tried a couple of others, namely Dash and a device with Tom Tom software, and I did not like it. I do think that there is still a niche that could be filled. I know that my Garmin StreetPilot 2730 works well for me, but it is not something that can easily be hand carried. The Nuvi line with its nice display and internal battery would seem to be a great platform in which to add wifi. In fact, if Garmin made a Nuvifone, minus the phone, that is just about what it would be. It seems to be working for Apple. For example, they have iPods and iPhones, but they also have the iPod Touch which looks like it is an iPhone without the phone. If it had a SiRF Star III GPS I would seriously look at it. With the Clarion MiND http://www.clarion.com/us/en/top.html now being available, I guess time will tell if a connected GPS has a place in our futures. I know that when I have been traveling I like to bring along my Garmin. Although I have the StreetPilot 2730 now, if I had say a Garmin Nuvi 765 Wifi, it would be great for checking email while stopping for a meal, etc. The other thing is, while I know a lot of people have broadband on their smartphones, not everybody is willing or able to spend that much per month for mobile internet. Wifi hotspots seem to be somewhat common nowdays, so I think it would be a helpful option/feature.

The other thing that might be interesting to add as A-GPS to supplement regular GPS. The reason I say this is dead reckoning is not a feature that I hear about very often anymore and perhaps for good reason. And I realize that A-GPS is unlikely to be as accurate as traditional GPS, but in areas where GPS signals are absent, there are often signals from CDMA or GSM providers. So why not add A-GPS as a supplemental feature? I am not sure if it would be cost prohibitive, but if phones have it now, it can't be that expensive. It actually looks as if that is essentially what Navizon does now http://www.navizon.com/ Something like this application sort of suggests to me that GPS devices that can be upgraded after the sale would be a nice option, which sort of points back to a GPS/PDA and/or a GPS PDA smartphone.

It also looks like this company is dabbling in a similar area http://arstechnica.com/journals/hardware.ars/2008/11/17/qual...
http://www.qctconnect.com/products/gpsone.html .

I'd rather see

A GPSr that could use bluetooth to share my blackberry's data connection for traffic updates, and other location-based services.

--
*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

tehnology on the horizon

I think many products are going to change when WIMAX becomes universally available. WIMAX is being tested in the Baltimore area now. There are new Nokia hand held devices coming, netbooks will have it. I'm sure a lot of devices will support it and it will have a major impact on how we and our devices connect.

WiMax in Baltimore

cfkozel wrote:

I think many products are going to change when WIMAX becomes universally available. WIMAX is being tested in the Baltimore area now. There are new Nokia hand held devices coming, netbooks will have it. I'm sure a lot of devices will support it and it will have a major impact on how we and our devices connect.

The network being installed in Baltimore, XOHM (Zome) isn't WiMax as defined by the WiMax consortium. You have to be a SpinTel - er Sprint/Nextel subscriber to use it.

--
ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

your point?

a_user wrote:
cfkozel wrote:

I think many products are going to change when WIMAX becomes universally available. WIMAX is being tested in the Baltimore area now. There are new Nokia hand held devices coming, netbooks will have it. I'm sure a lot of devices will support it and it will have a major impact on how we and our devices connect.

The network being installed in Baltimore, XOHM (Zome) isn't WiMax as defined by the WiMax consortium. You have to be a SpinTel - er Sprint/Nextel subscriber to use it.

Not sure what your point is. You expect the 'real' Wimax to be subscription free? My point was just that wireless broadband service is changing and devices may have more options for a 'connection' in the near future. We also may need new devices to take advantage of new connection technologies.

A list of Wimax (or so called) deployments can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deployed_WiMAX_networks

I'm...?

I'm a bit confused as well. Can you explain your expectations again..

I have simulated nuvi w/WiFi

Not sure why you need WiFi on a GPSr, but I effectively do. I have Garmin Mobile 10 for Smartphones (purchased $44 on Ebay) on my Palm TX. It came with Bluetooth GPS 10x, City Nav NT, and Mobile XT which makes it look just like a nuvi (at least if switched horizontal with its 480x320 LCD).

It even has free traffic, weather, gas prices, etc. but to get that mobile I would have to make an ad-hoc WiFi connection to my laptop w/cell phone data gizmo. I could connect to my WiFi at home to get weather/traffic. Or I could simply run nRoute on my laptop using the 10x or eTrex Legend HCx (if I had Mobile PC it would make my laptop a giant nuvi).

The 10x has SiRFstar III. Not quite as sensitive as my HCx, but the 10x is the size of a tictac box and runs 22 hrs on li-ion battery.

--
nuvi 750, eTrex Legend HCx, Mobile 10/Palm TX, GPS 45

Wimax vs. Wifi

allbizz wrote:

I'm a bit confused as well. Can you explain your expectations again..

Oversimplified, Wimax is a new wireless technology that can deliver fixed point client access (your home) as well a portable access (your car) as well as infrastructure for both data and telecommunications services.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

Putting the GPS enabled phone devices aside, the regular GPS units get their traffic info mostly from radio transmissions (FM or satellite). The GPS is strictly a receive only device. Imagine what these devices could do with a 2-way 75Mb/sec data connection.

wut would u do with wifi?

wut would u do with wifi?

WWIDWW?

I think you're only limited by your imagination....

Realtime time updates of POI information.....hotel availability, gas prices, restaurant specials, drive a new street and upload the data to Garmin for future releases of the data, realtime traffic updates, etc, etc

Imagine

DuaneC60 wrote:

I think you're only limited by your imagination....

Realtime time updates of POI information.....hotel availability, gas prices, restaurant specials, drive a new street and upload the data to Garmin for future releases of the data, realtime traffic updates, etc, etc

Bingo!

WiMax in Baltimore

cfkozel wrote:
a_user wrote:
cfkozel wrote:

I think many products are going to change when WIMAX becomes universally available. WIMAX is being tested in the Baltimore area now. There are new Nokia hand held devices coming, netbooks will have it. I'm sure a lot of devices will support it and it will have a major impact on how we and our devices connect.

The network being installed in Baltimore, XOHM (Zome) isn't WiMax as defined by the WiMax consortium. You have to be a SpinTel - er Sprint/Nextel subscriber to use it.

Not sure what your point is. You expect the 'real' Wimax to be subscription free? My point was just that wireless broadband service is changing and devices may have more options for a 'connection' in the near future. We also may need new devices to take advantage of new connection technologies.

A list of Wimax (or so called) deployments can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deployed_WiMAX_networks

As the system being installed in Baltimore is not compliant with the WiFi Forum specifications, you will be unable to use a compliant WiFi card or device to access the network. The device has to be a Sprint/Nextel device. And no, I wasn't stating it should be free.

--
ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

Simulated nuvi w/WiFi

efflandt wrote:

Not sure why you need WiFi on a GPSr, but I effectively do. I have Garmin Mobile 10 for Smartphones (purchased $44 on Ebay) on my Palm TX. It came with Bluetooth GPS 10x, City Nav NT, and Mobile XT which makes it look just like a nuvi (at least if switched horizontal with its 480x320 LCD).

It even has free traffic, weather, gas prices, etc. but to get that mobile I would have to make an ad-hoc WiFi connection to my laptop w/cell phone data gizmo. I could connect to my WiFi at home to get weather/traffic. Or I could simply run nRoute on my laptop using the 10x or eTrex Legend HCx (if I had Mobile PC it would make my laptop a giant nuvi).

The 10x has SiRFstar III. Not quite as sensitive as my HCx, but the 10x is the size of a tictac box and runs 22 hrs on li-ion battery.

This is very similar to what I have been considering. Since it doesn't look as if the Garmin Nuvifone will be available for a while yet, I have thought of getting an Asus P527 or similar smartphone with SiRF Star III GPS and adding Garmin Mobile XT. I already have a work Nextel, but coverage isn't good where I like to ride my ATV and I have though that a smartphone/GPS/wifi may just fill the void.

Wifi???

a_user wrote:
cfkozel wrote:
a_user wrote:
cfkozel wrote:

I think many products are going to change when WIMAX becomes universally available. WIMAX is being tested in the Baltimore area now. There are new Nokia hand held devices coming, netbooks will have it. I'm sure a lot of devices will support it and it will have a major impact on how we and our devices connect.

The network being installed in Baltimore, XOHM (Zome) isn't WiMax as defined by the WiMax consortium. You have to be a SpinTel - er Sprint/Nextel subscriber to use it.

Not sure what your point is. You expect the 'real' Wimax to be subscription free? My point was just that wireless broadband service is changing and devices may have more options for a 'connection' in the near future. We also may need new devices to take advantage of new connection technologies.

A list of Wimax (or so called) deployments can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deployed_WiMAX_networks

As the system being installed in Baltimore is not compliant with the WiFi Forum specifications, you will be unable to use a compliant WiFi card or device to access the network. The device has to be a Sprint/Nextel device. And no, I wasn't stating it should be free.

Me thinks you have your wifi confused with your wimax. Maybe you want to restate your argument.

food for thought