GPS

By now, you’ve probably seen the new Knight Rider GPS unit, but you haven’t heard it yet. Well, the nice folks over Knight Industries Two Thousand (and Mio) stopped by our offices the other day, and we took some footage of the new device, which should retail in August for $269.95.

Aside from the kitsch factor, the Knight Rider GPS has some pretty decent specs: a SiRFInstantFixII GPS receiver, a 4.3-inch touchscreen (65,000 colors), an SD/MMC card slot, and a 4 million POI database.

The 6 ounce, 5.5 x 3.2 x 0.8 inch unit will also be programmed with about 300 names to start with. Not surprisingly, the default name is “Michael.”

Featuring the voice of the original K.I.T.T., William Daniels, the unit greets you with several different catch phrases.

Check out the video below.

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I just had a hands on with the Garmin Nuvifone here at the CommunicAsia conference in Singapore. While the phone didn’t yet have a GPS connection or internet access, because it’s still in a prototype stage, it’s definitely an impressive device.

Its smooth screen has a texture that reminded me a lot of old-school big screen TVs–I couldn’t tell if it was glass or plastic, but it was soft and non-reflective. It’s obvious that the device is very GPS-centric, with tons of icons for applications to help you find nearby points of interest.

The QWERTY keypad looked to be spacious enough for easy typing, and it has auto-word complete on it, so when I typed “happy” the word was already up on the screen by the time I got ot “ha.”

I did notice that the phone had a few kinks that needed to be worked out: some applications didn’t completely load and I was left looking at a blank screen. Two of the units on display were frozen, too, and I managed to freeze a third by attempting to launch the camera. Read on for another photo and more information.

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GPS manufacturer Mio isn’t going to let Garmin get away with its nüviPhone. The company announced two new phones this week at Computex: the Leap K1 and the Leap G50 Navigation PDA Phone. The Leap K1 (first previewed at CES) screams Samsung UpStage with its dual-sided form. One side of the candy-bar phone has a touch GPS screen, and the other side a basic keypad.

The Leap G50 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 device with built-in navigation capability. I stopped by the Mio booth here in Taipei to get a closer look at the phones.

Hands-On with the Leap K1

I like that the dual-sided Leap K1 keeps the phone separate from the GPS functionality. But I do anticipate some potential issues since the touch interface doesn’t seem to support phone capabilities such as accepting an incoming call.

The phone at the Mio booth didn’t have a SIM card, so testing out voice capability and the screen’s UI was out of the question, but I did like the feel of the spacious keypad. The phone side sports a 1.6-inch TFT OLED screen.

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Yesterday I wrote a post about Garmin’s $99 offer that will give BlackBerry users unlimited access to its GPS software for the lifetime of the device. One commenter asked if BlackBerrys from carriers such as Verizon Wireless that have locked down GPS software could still take advantage of Garmin’s offer.

There’s a two-part answer: you can, but it’ll cost you. Of course, Garmin isn’t the villain here. The carriers are trying to push their own navigation solutions (e.g., VZ Navigator) by locking down the GPS capabilities of phones including some versions of the Curve and phones in the 8800 series.

Here’s the official response from Garmin:

“Customers with locked-down GPS can still use Garmin Mobile, however it will require them to have an independent Bluetooth/GPS receiver, such as the GPS 10x. They can also use a third-party GPS/Bluetooth receiver with our maps. If their BlackBerry has a locked GPS, it’ll be slightly more than $99.99 because they’d have to buy the one-time-purchase $99.99 maps and a GPS/Bluetooth receiver (the GPS 10x is $99.99).”

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Garmin today announced a new GPS plan for BlackBerry users called “Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry.” The software will allow customers with GPS-enabled BlackBerrys to use Garmin GPS software for a one-time $99.99 payment. If you don’t have a GPS-enabled BlackBerry, you can use an external device, such as the GPS 10x, a portable GPS sensor that will communicate location data to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth.

Garmin Mobile will provide BlackBerry users with voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, weather, traffic information, and gas prices. Users can also use the software to find points of interest during trips, including local restaurants or entertainment destinations such as bowling alleys and more. The software will also reroute you, should you miss an important turn while you’re driving, no thanks to the screaming kids in the back of your 1996 Chevy Astro.

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