sourceGPS.com  

There’s been a lot of rumors going around that “turn by turn” navigational software will become available for the iPhone very soon - but so far everything is still rumors.

The Dutch company TomTom says they are coming out with turn by turn software for the iPhone but no date or details have been released so far. While TomTom makes great navigational software it’s all wait and see when it comes to TomTom living up to Apple Style and I’d give Garmin a better kick at being able to develop a user interface that still “feels like an iPhone”.

I may be a little bit biased here but what I would really like to see is behemoth Google step up to the plate and develop a navigational system that works with Google Earth. For them to do this they’d have to be making some big changes though and I’m sure they’re much too busy on other projects to be working on a little one like this.

As a consumer all we can do is wait for it. If you ask me - we’ve already been waiting WAY too long!

It looks like Amazon.com has had a shipment of the new Garmin Oregon GPS devices because they’ve updated their delivery time from 1-2 months to 1-2 days!

This is excellent news for all of us that want a heavy-duty buttonless GPS that’s waterproof and has a special sunlight-readable touchscreen.

Here’s our original article on the Garmin Oregon GPS.

If you waited on the iPhone because you knew that Garmin was coming out with a new device that would offer some real competition to it you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer.

Garmin had originally scheduled the buttonless, touchscreen nüvifone to come out about this time but has delayed the release due to cellular network preparations taking a little bit longer than expected. Garmin has pushed the nüvifone release to sometime in the first half of 2009.

Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO says that, “The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device, this is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for - a single device that does it all.”

He’s totally right on that one! But I think what we’re all looking for as well as network choice and the ability to use the device the way that we want to unfettered by the need to use a certain provider on a certain type of network - One of the great downfalls of the Apple iPhone.

The nüvifone obviously has mobile phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device. What really sets it ahead of the iPhone in terms of GPS Navigation is that Garmin includes their own turn by turn voice prompted navigational software while the iPhone still has to rely on a speachless Google Maps GPS interface which you also have to use a data connection for.

Since the nüvifone is a real mobile device it has an intelligently design docking mode - when the nüvifone is docked onto the vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, activates the navigation menu, and enables hands-free calling. When you take the nüvifone off of the vehicle mount it automatically marks the location of your vehicle - so you’ll be able to get back to it no matter how big the parking lot.

The nüvifone includes a built in camera that has geotagging capabilities - this means that the image has the latitude and longitude information stored inside the picture so programs can read the information and map it in a geographic location. Of course the NuviFone also features a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC capability.

So let’s hope that this one won’t be locked onto any specific network and we’ll all be able to use the device as if it were our own.

Additional information about nüvifone is available at www.garmin.com/nuvifone.

*** UPDATE!!! - The Garmin Oregon Models are available and in stock on Amazon.com NOW!

Garmin has really done it this time with their Oregon series of GPS devices targeted to those who really like the outdoors.

I’ve always found that the elements take their toll on electronic equipment and that includes GPS devices. These electronic devices are used in rugged environments so they should be able to take what mother nature can dish out.

Garmin has finally answered the call of nature and now produces a buttonless, waterproof line of GPS devices named Oregon. Without buttons there’s a lot less areas for dust and moisture to get into your electronics and wreak havoc on its’ functionality. You don’t have to be scared when you’re hiking in the rain either when you pull out your Oregon GPS because it’s waterproof.

If you’re not having enough fun hiking through rough back-country in a torrential downpour you can do it on bright sun-lit day too because the Oregon features a “sunlight readable” touch screen.

“The Oregon series plays well with others, as the 400t, 400c, 400i and 300 allow for wireless exchange of tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other Oregon units and Colorado models. Each of these models is equipped with a barometric altimeter and electronic compass and is compatible with Garmin’s heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

Geocaching is even easier with the Oregon, which quickly downloads online information for every cache, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don’t have to tote printouts with you. Cachers and collectors will be hunting for a limited-edition Geocoin minted to commemorate the launch of the Oregon series. Oregon users can experience Wherigo™, the newest GPS-based activity from Groundspeak, the people who made geocaching a worldwide phenomenon. WherIGo is a toolset for creating and completing adventure games, historical tours or other innovative activities in the real world.”

Order yours today and be ready to hunt for the limited-edition Geocoin when the Oregon series launches!

Traveling to all those foreign places that you want to visit is easy now that you have your GPS - but how are you going to make the most of your trip? With Lonely Planet’s guidebooks and your GPS you’ll be sure to make the most of your journey and see all the things you want to. As you know Lonely Planet is famous for their travel and knowledge of the world. They’ve explored different cultures and places and now they are bringing you travel guides to help you enjoy your journey even more!

It doesn’t matter if you’re going to be traveling in the USA, Thailand, Italy, France, India or Tahiti! Lonely Planet has a guide for just about everywhere.

Most Lonely Planet Travel Guides are less than $20 so hurry up and Get Your Travel Guide Today!

More and more tourism outfits are getting on the GPS technology bandwagon and renting ‘GPS Tours’ and I’m not convinced that it’s really worth it for the consumer to go out and rent one of these devices.

One example of this type of service is the GyPSy Okanagan Wine Tour in British Columbia, Canada. You can rent a GPS device pre-programmed with a tour of the Okanagan Wine Making District. The guided tour has audio prompts that tell you Read the rest of this entry »

Summer was not made for driving around in your car or truck all day long! We all need our own little bit of sunshine to help us get through a long year of hard work and those terrible office lights.

One thing that’ll make your summer activities a lot more Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since GPS technology has become mainstream people have been wondering how they can use it to track things in real time and a few companies have invented some novel devices that allow you to do it.

For clarity we’re going to break the electronics down into two parts.

We have the BEACON which is the part of the system that moves around and relays its’ position to the RECEIVER which shows the user the positional data or whereabouts of the beacon.

There are two basic approaches to relaying the beacon positional data back to the receiver and each of them have Read the rest of this entry »