T-Mobile released the first Android-powered Garmin smartphone in May to mixed reviews, and slow sales.
This week, the wireless carrier has dropped the price of the phone, from $200 to $130, looking to keep the price competitive in a world where Froyo will soon be the norm.
The phone has a 3.5-inch screen, 3MP camera with autofocus, and because of the GPS, the pictures can be geo-tagged. The GPS, as standard, works over 3G and Wi-Fi.
While those specs are not impressive, the Garminfone is notable because of its GPS system, which has on-board US maps, text-to-speech, full driving/walking/public transportation directions, real-time traffic, weather, local events, movie listings and even gas prices.
The next best feature is “Garmin Voice Studio” which lets users “record and customize voice directions which can also be shared with family and friends.”
Because it is more a GPS with phone capabilities than anything else, the device will come with a charging window and a dashboard mount for the car.
Result for: maps
Yesterday, Motorola noted that the long-anticipated Android 2.1 update was headed to the DROID smartphone sometime this week.
Today, they have detailed the update, with Droid users getting many of the top updates that were heralded on the Google Nexus One.
Multi-touch will be available for the browser, Google Maps and the photo gallery. Voice recognition is added, allowing for speech-to-text.
3D Gallery is added for photos, video and album art display, including a 3D stack that moves when the phone is tilted. Additionally, a new News and Weather app widget is added to the homescreen allowing for easy and customizable forecasts and headlines.
Battery life is expected to be improved as well.
Result for: maps
The latest update to Google Maps 3.4 has enabled multi-touch for the Motorola DROID, with pinch-to-zoom now available for the device, at least while using the popular app.
Last week Google updated the Nexus One to have multi-touch, silencing critics who had claimed that Google was purposely leaving out multi-touch for a number of different reasons including not wanting to pay patent royalties to rival Apple.
I updated my G1 to Maps 3.4 today and pinch-to-zoom didn’t work so it seems as though this may be DROID-only for time being.
