Garmin has just made a announcement stating that the much-hyped Nuvifone GPS/cellphone product is going to be delayed until the “first half of 2009.” Apparently “meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated,” so it’s going to miss its previously mentioned slot at the end of this year. Sounds like bad news for a phone that’s entering an increasingly populated multi-purpose handset market.

Garmin revealed a new line of nuvi GPS units that are some of its first tailored to be used both for driving and for the outdoors. Both the US-only nuvi 500 and the North America-wide nuvi 550 have the same 3.5-inch design as many road-going nuvis and provide full street maps but also have a waterproofed touchscreen and topology maps for use either on hikes or on rivers. The interface has also been changed to add a quick toggle for the map type as well as a compass option. Beyond the outdoors features, the new line also has support for loading in photos from geocaching and photo sharing services that are tied to specific locations, and also have a historical Route 66 guide with special landmarks associated with the cross-American highway. Optional receivers provide access to either Traffic Message Channel road condition warnings or MSN Direct information about nearby gas prices and other local details.

Garmin should ship the two nuvis during the summer at $500 each for the stock 500 model as well as its 550 counterpart.

Garmin announced a new mounting solution for nuvi 760 for various Ford vehicles in Europe which include Focus, C-Max, Kuga, Fiesta, and Transit.

The new mount makes your nuvi 760 more ‘plug-n-play’ and no longer obstructs your field of vision since it now resides on your left hand side. There’s also a premium version of this mount which includes a traffic receiver to help you avoid traffic congestion.

What’s really cool of course you no longer need to have a charger cable running through your console since it uses power from the vehicle.

An Overview

Handheld navigation devices have become very popular nowadays and the demand for such devices has increased tremendously in the recent past. Garmin, a very popular company in the UK has made a very significant contribution to the industry with their latest Garmin eTrex Vista Handheld GPS System for all those who love travelling. With a wide range of navigation features supported this device can be of great help for all.

Specifications:

• With looks like a candy bar, the new Garmin eTrex Vista CX Handheld GPS Navigator this compact device has a weight of just 159 grams including batteries and its dimensions are 56mm x 107mm x 31mm. the integrated battery supports a life of up to 20 hours.

• The display of the device is also worth mentioning. The display size is defined as 33mm x 43mm which supports a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. The reflective TFT screen that supports 256 colours is yet another added advantage that helps in delivering the images with impressive quality.

• The integrated memory of the device helps to store all the route maps as it supports a 32 MB MicroSD card.

• For better reception of satellite signals, the navigator comes integrated with a GPS patch antenna and supports 12 parallel channels so that it can receive signals from 12 different satellites at the same time.

• The GPS unit is WAAS/EGNOS enabled.

• The water proof case of the GPS unit is an added advantage.

• The device also comes with Trip and Waypoint Manager Software’s.

Navigation features

• The Garmin eTrex Vista CX Handheld GPS Navigator supports 10,000 point automatic track log and also allows you to repeat your path in both directions. It can also save the details of 20 tracks you have travelled.

• The device supports 500 user waypoints with name and Graphic symbols.

• The elevation computer feature gives you details like current elevation, ascent/descent rate, minimum/maximum elevation, total ascent and descent, average and maximum ascent and descent rate.

• The database of the device is also incorporated with celestial tables which gives you details like the best time to fish and hunt along with plus sun and moon calculations

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Garmin announced a one-time-purchase plan for Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry. This one-time, $99.99 purchase is only available in North America and will give customers who own BlackBerry devices unlimited use of Garmin Mobile’s turn-by-turn, voice prompted directions for the life of their specific BlackBerry.

So if your BlackBerry has a data plan, get connected with Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry and put turn-by-turn directions and real-time traffic services at your fingertips!

Garmin today announced Garmin nuvi 255 and  Garminnuvi 255W. Different from 205 and 205W, these models will add text-to-speech feature to the mix and will cost $373 for the wider nuvi 255W, and $320 for the 3.5″ nuvi 255.

Here are the main feautres and specs:

• Up to 4 hours battery life
• Accepts microSD data cards
• Voice prompts
• Speaks street names
• FM traffic compatible
• MSN Direct for U.S. compatible
• Picture viewer
• Garmin Lock (anti-theft feature)
• Weight: 5.2 ounces (147.42 g)
• Display type: QVGA color antiglare TFT with white backlight
• Display resolution, WxH: 320 x 240 pixels
• Display size, WxH: 2.8″W x 2.1″H (7.2 x 5.4 cm); 3.5″ diag (8.9 cm)
• Unit dimensions, WxHxD: 3.8″W x 2.8″H x .8″D (9.7 x 7.1 x 2 cm)

Garmin and BMW recently announced a partnership where Garmin will customize sat nav systems for BMW 1 and 3 series based on the nuvi 360.

The portable GPS navigation system will have custom logos, pre-installed BMW dealer database and a special dock on the car’s instrument panel which means no clutter:

…includes a customized mounting bracket that allows owners to mount the nüvi directly to the interior trim on the instrument panel, rather than to the windshield via a suction cup mount like traditional Garmin portable navigation systems… The special bracket is powered by BMW’s onboard network and eliminates the need for exposed power cables. The mount charges the nüvi’s built-in battery so that the device may also be used outside of the car when navigating a city as a pedestrian.

The popular nuvi 360 model also features bluetooth, pronounces street names, and plays MP3s. Nuvi 360 currently sells for $322.

Colorado 300 is the base model of the new Colorado mapping handheld GPS series from Garmin and it includes worldwide basemap with shaded relief unlike the 400 models (400i, 400t, and 400c) which include specialized maps. However Colorado 300 supports SD cards so you can take any kind of map with you including street maps, topographic maps, coastal charts or inland lake data.

New on the Colorado series is the wireless sharing of waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches with other users, and of course the new ‘rock’n roller’ input wheel which allows for one hand control of the GPS device for most functions.

Here are the specs for Colorado 300:

• Display: 240 x 400 pixels, transflective color TFT
• Weight: 7.3 oz (206.9 g) with batteries
• Battery: 2 AA or 2 NiMH batteries
• Battery life: 15 hours
• Waterproof: yes (IPX7)
• Basemap: yes
• Ability to add maps: yes
• Built-in memory: 384 MB
• Accepts data cards: SD card (not included)
• Waypoints/favorites/locations: 1000
• Routes: 50
• Track log: 10,000 points, 20 saved tracks
• Preloaded maps: no

Garmin introduced the nüvi 260W, a widescreen personal navigation device (PND) that speaks street names during CES 2008.

In addition to features offered by other members of the nüvi 200 family, the nüvi 260W automatically calls out street names. This feature lets drivers keep their eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic and tricky roadways. The nüvi 260W also sports a sunlight-readable 4.3-inch touchscreen display.

The nüvi 260 series incorporates an internal GPS antenna that makes it thinner and even easier to mount in a car. The intuitive “Where To?” and “View Map” welcome screen allows users to quickly find a specific street address or establishment’s name, or search for a destination by category. Turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions then guide the driver to their destination. If they miss a turn along the route, the nüvi automatically recalculates a route and gets them back on track, pronouncing the names of the streets along the way. The nüvi 260W includes preloaded detailed mapping of the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico – with over six million points of interest.

The pocket-sized nüvi 260W also includes a built-in picture viewer, calculator, currency converter, unit converter and world clock. These new navigators are also compatible with Garmin’s line of rich content such as the Garmin Travel Guide and Garmin Language Guide. For additional security, Garmin has included the Garmin Lock, an innovative patent pending theft prevention system that disables the unit from performing any functions until the user types in a specific 4-digit PIN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location.

Garmin has also added the ability for customers to add custom points of interest (POI’s) from third parties such as school zones and safety cameras.

Garmin today announced a new wider version of the Nuvi 260, called Nuvi 260W. Nuvi 260W will have very similar features to the older 260 such as the text-to-speech, but will have a screen that measures 4.3″.The rest of the features for 260W are same as the 200 series such as turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions, preloaded maps of U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico and over 6 million POIs.

Other not-so-important features include picture viewer, calculator, currency converter, unit converter and world clock. In the box you’ll find the vehicle suction cup mount, car charger, dashboard disk, and the user manual.

The new ‘budget’ 260W will cost about $400. But keep in mind the MSRP from Garmin is usually very high; specially if you wait 2 - 3 months you can probably get it for $100 cheaper.