Posts Tagged gps

In other news…

Some miscellaneous news stories.

Droid v. iPhone Deathmatch (review)

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140718/Deathmatch_Motorola_Droid_versus_iPhone?taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=1

Samsung Bada smartphone (running Samsungs open Bada OS) image leaked.

http://nexus404.com/Blog/2009/11/12/samsung-bada-smartphone-gets-leaked-bada-phone-to-be-available-in-december/

Breakdown of differences between Droid and Eris (review)

http://www.redmondpie.com/motorola-droid-vs-htc-droid-eris-9140103/

Samsung Behold II pricing revealed

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-behold-ii-available-nov-18th-19999

Hacking your T-Mobile to run Google Maps Navigation

http://www.softsailor.com/news/11620-how-to-install-google-maps-navigation-on-your-g1.html

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Scathing rebuttal from GPS Nav company

You know you’ve hit more than a nerve or two when your competitors determine that you are either the devil or … well, what else is there. Read this email from startup Cloudmade (producer of data and tools for mapping and navigation applications).

Meanwhile, in the process of building out end-user applications rather than sticking to being a platform player, Google is causing considerable collateral damage. Its move into the territory normally occupied by mobile operators, OEMs and small, medium and large developers is turning the marketplace against itself. The honeymoon is over and the do-no-evil days have ended. Google has declared any monetizable pocket in tech a target, including the key franchises of Apple, Microsoft, the mobile operators and now also mobile application developers. The problem with Google’s approach is, the value is not in horizontal services, but in leveraging the democratizing effect of the app stores to use the 100,000+ vertical apps as a way to divide the market into tiny segments and let them flourish and gain traction

Article posted at Tech Crunch

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Droid “Phone Holder” car mount announced

Motorola has added a cradle accessory for the Droid phone being released on November 6th. The simply-named “Phone Holder” is intended to be either dash or window mounted in your vehicle in order to provide the same vantage point as dedicated GPS devices available today.

I’ve read a number of opinions about how the new GPS navigation offering from Google is going to have only slight impact on the GPS manufacturing market. While there are some reasonable points to these arguments — hard to use the phone while it’s being used as a GPS, necessity of a data connection to pull down maps which makes the feature nearly useless in low coverage areas, search and rescue needs — I believe the impact will be a lot more serious than people think. The pounding that Garmin and TomTom took on the stock market in recent days lends weight to this possibility. If the navigation functionality offered by Google and the Droid is even moderately good, I can’t imagine how GPS makers can survive without getting into the mobile phone market.

Phone Holder Accessory

phone_holder

Multimedia Dock
Some initial reports when the Droid was revealed last week stated that the multimedia dock was included in the Droid package, while others are claiming this is a for-purchase accessory.

multimedia_dock
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Verizon feature overview & Google Maps Navigation

Verizon has a rather nice overview of a few of the Droid features that everyone is sure to love. One of the things that I’m most looking forward to is the addition of Google Maps Navigation. This functionality should make every executive at Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom sweat profusely.

A number of people have been using GPS systems in their car for a number of years. Garmin seems to be the most ubiquitous system on the road these days with the TomTom probably coming in at a distant second. However, I’m not aware of real “street view” imagery in use on any of these devices not to mention purchasing the head unit or getting maps for countries not in North America can set you back a few dollars. This feature is fantastic primarily because it turns your phone into a *true* GPS navigation device without the need for a seperate device.

Google Maps Navigation overview

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