GARMIN’S MOBILE PHONE: The relationship between navigation devices and cell phones has grown closer over the years and Garmin’s nüvifone announced today unites the two devices. Darren Murph at Engadget gives the basics and some photos on the now formal device that will be probably be released in the third quarter. Ed Hardy at Brighthand notes that “Garmin once made a line of GPS-enabled Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds, but its upcoming device won’t be a smartphone. Instead, it will be a feature phone with its primary feature being, obviously, mapping and routing.” The Garmin phone is compared to the Appe iPhone by Jason O’Grady at ZDNet. O’Grady calls the nüvifone impressive, but says it still lacks some iPhone features: multi-touch, slim profile, iPod - though the nüvifone does have a media player and the iTunes mobile store - though O’Grady expects the nüvifone to add some mobile music store. IntoMobile’s Dusan gives the usual details on the Garmin phone, some nice screenshots and notes the phone’s “Where am I?” function of telling drivers where they’ve parked their cars.
BIG DAY FOR MOBILE: Carlo Longino at MobHappy writes the most mobile and consumer friendly reaction to today’s 700 MHz spectrum auction news. Sure, you can read the AP story that gives the straight-up news that bids on the wireless spectrum reached a key benchmark today, meaning the spectrum’s winner must keep part of the spectrum open to any phone, software and network. But, Longino takes this news a step further by saying he hopes today’s news will “lead to a sea change among operators, and help encourage them to truly open up their networks and increase competition, so as to deliver more innovative services to consumers at better prices.”
MIT TEACHES GOOGLE: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will offer a class this term focused on developing applications for Google Android-based phones, according to Michael Oryl at Mobile Burn. He says the class is the first mobile software development course offered at MIT.
BUSINESS SYNC FOR IPHONE: Software that syncs an iPhone with Microsoft Outlook is mentioned by Jack Cook at Mobility Site. The application, launched today, is in a public beta testing mode right now and allows the iPhone access to corporate e-mail, contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.
PRINT TO CELL ADS: Wireless and Mobile News writes today that Google is experimenting with QR codes. While that term means little to consumers, it should. The technology allows people to take photos with mobile phones of bar codes on print ads — those images are then decoded by software on the phone that gives the user more information on the advertised product such as a Web site, coupon or contact details. Julia at SMS Text News says this technology is being used in Japan and she’s wondered why it is not more widely used.
