Nuvifone

[The Judge]

Anybody going to Taiwan next week?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/24/g...nth-in-taiwan/

http://mytechnews.info/b/2009/07/scr...60-part-1.html

[hbt]

Anybody going to Taiwan next week?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/24/g...nth-in-taiwan/

http://mytechnews.info/b/2009/07/scr...60-part-1.html

hi judge,

do you have info on how much is the price of nuvifone in taiwan?

[The Judge]

I read it is going to be in the range of US$600-700 for the 2 variants-- one with a proprietary Garmin OS and another with WinMo.

[hbt]

I read it is going to be in the range of US$600-700 for the 2 variants-- one with a proprietary Garmin OS and another with WinMo.

hi sir,
so which sir do you think i should buy? that is applicable to our map.
parang nililigawan ako ng nuvifone eh hahaha

thanks and God Bless

[The Judge]

I'd go with the proprietary OS phone (G60) as I'm not a fan of Windows. Both will work though with any Garmin compatible maps.

[hbt]

thanks for the info judge and more power

[The Judge]

Let us know if you manage to get yourself one. I can imagine the sidewalk of Taipei's IT District filling up with people trying to snatch up one of this long-delayed and highly-anticipated phone from Garmin/Asus.

[hbt]

i have 2 friends going to taiwan end of this month.

my kumpare frequents there as his family is base there as pedia, while he have business here. while the other one just going to have a vacation there. i told both of them to look it up. lets see. if i got one i'll let you guys know
btw on your other link, i notice that the price is 1500 in malaysia, so thats about 20t+

[The Judge]

That's good for us if it is just priced at 20K+.

The only problem is the region spec of the phone if it comes from Taiwan. Last time I was there, 99% of Nuvi's sold, even in Garmin dealers, have chinese GUIs.

[hbt]

hi judge,
latest news about nuvifone price its around nt16990 which is around php25485
with regards to the GUI, do you think there is an option to select it to english just like nuvi

[The Judge]

I'm not really sure. The Nuvis we have are North American versions that's why it comes with NA map and a one time free upgrade. Based on what I've seen in Taipei when I was there, most of the Nuvis sold their have no option for english as UI language.

Since it seems you have a contact who is in Taiwan right now, the best thing to do is ask Garmin-Taiwan. Another thing is will it be service locked to certain Taiwanese carrier? Since it's new, can it be unlocked?

[hbt]

I'm not really sure. The Nuvis we have are North American versions that's why it comes with NA map and a one time free upgrade. Based on what I've seen in Taipei when I was there, most of the Nuvis sold their have no option for english as UI language.

Since it seems you have a contact who is in Taiwan right now, the best thing to do is ask Garmin-Taiwan. Another thing is will it be service locked to certain Taiwanese carrier? Since it's new, can it be unlocked?

good point sir judge,with regard to the service lock
i'll ask again when we get in touch

[Tofu]

I'd go with the proprietary OS phone (G60) as I'm not a fan of Windows. Both will work though with any Garmin compatible maps.

Hi Judge,

Better hold on to your cash for the mean time. Wait until it's more circulated so that you can check the performance. G60 uses Linux OS while M20 uses WM6.1 OS. It's likely that both run some version of GMXT and it's not that accurate. Unless you just want to buy a toy.

Another issue is the phone part of the toy. I'm not sure if windows has already corrected this... there seems to be a problem with acquiring a gsm signal after you lose it for a while e.g. inside the elevator. It sometimes requires you to manually search for a network if you lost it for a few minutes. Unlike normal cell phones that actively search for network full time, those smart pda phones search for a few minutes then stop searching to conserve battery power and maybe resume searching after an hour. You'll end up not being able to receive your calls and messages.

I'm not sure about the linux OS, but I assume that it's the same banana. Those gadgets are designed to conserve power by default. Unless they designed it to use multiple processors, one for the phone, one for the PDA, and of course another for navigation just like those Blackberries.

Best bet is still Symbian OS, as they know phones. Don't you think?

[The Judge]

Yes you may be correct but I don't intend to buy the WinMo version as Windoze in a phone really sucks! I had one before and sold it after 3 days of use and at a considerable loss at that.

The BlackBerries do not have multiple processors and I am not aware of any smartphone that has one (if we have the same definition of processor). For navigation, the processing of GPS data is not CPU intensive. The graphics performance of the device will matter most so that it can display and update the roads, ploygons, etc. at a fast pace (real time).

[Borgie]

The nuvifone is also hyped as an alternative to the iphone not only in terms of better GPS functionality but also with the UI and touchscreen simplicity... but if it runs on XT, imo i'll wait for user reviews before i get one (if i have the moolah)...