vB Easy Archive - NuviFone negative press... My opinion.

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NuviFone negative press... My opinion.
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Posted by: codeworks

So, after watching Sunday football and seeing about a half dozen commercials for this NuviFone, I decided to pick one up. Afterall, I was looking at GPS models and this seemed like a good time to take one for a test drive (get it? Take one for a drive?).

The video review on the NYT states that the 'flicking' does not work so well. My phone flicks just as well as my iPhone. No, I am not crazy about the type of screen, however, This is a phone built on top of a GPS and from my experience, most GPS units have this same screen coating.

As a GPS: Top notch. Uses Garmins Nuvi software (latest version) including speed limit display, extensive POI database, traffic alerts, etc... Although the screen drawing is just a hair behind the Nuvi 1490T that I also tested (which costs $500 and has a faster processor).

As a phone: One of the best sounding phones I have talked on. Crystal clear on both ends. Again, I am impressed. Keypad is nice.

Battery life: This thing has a battery? Not good! Turned it on at 4:00 PM yesterday. By 10:00 PM down to 1 bar. Granted I used it a bit and have the brightness a little higher, but this could use some work.

Web Browser: Seems to be built on the Web Kit web browser. Not the fastest, but once the pages are there, they look excellent. Compressed to fit on a screen with the Zoom buttons present. Again, I do not agree with Mossbergs assessment of the zooming. Mine worked great.

Email: Setup of my 2 IMAP4 accounts was a breeze. Set to auto download new emails every half hour. It displays emails in text format, however, you then have a button to display in the web browser which will format in full HTML detail. I thought this was a nice feature.

Keyboard: I had zero issues with this keyboard. Fills the whole screen. Easy to type on. The only issue I have is that if you turn on 'key clicks', the clicks dont seem to keep up with the actual key presses.

SMS: Works fine. Threaded.

Nice things: The car bracket is very nice. The power adaptor (not included) plugs in to the cradle itself and not the device, so a simple button press frees your phone from the car cradle. Nice feature and well executed.

Although I did have issues with syncing at first, it turned out to be user error. There is a sync application in the tools section that you must go to at the same time you are running the sync application on the PC. I am sure that was in the manual, however.... I neglected to read that.

Camera: Although it is 3MP, I dont think these are pictures you would want to display for all to see.

Not nice: Rumor has it that you can use this as a stand alone GPS even when you dont have a SIM in it. That is not true. You can use ANY ATT SIM, even non functioning ones, however, you MUST have a SIM in the phone in oder to use as a PND.

All in all, I think this device is getting a bad rap. No, I dont agree with the $6/month charge for all the extras (traffic, weather, white pages, movies, etc), but on a normal phone, you pay $10 a month to just use the Telenav, right?

This is not an iPhone. This is a GPS with a phone built in. Every other phone out there is a phone with a GPS built in. No, you cannot download applications. No you do not have your Facebook and Twitter apps built in to the phone. No, you cannot play games.

But you do have the best GPS device on the market that adds a solid phone, email, web, texting, and music playing capabilities. If I were to rate this GPS I would give it a 8/10. If I were to rate it as a smart phone, I would give it a 5/10.

If you are looking ask yoursefl if you are looking to purchase a GPS with phone capabilities or a Phone with GPS capabilities. There is a big difference.

Thanks for reading.

Posted by: kingstu

One of the things I don't like about AT&T's version of the phone is that they removed a lot of features that were in the Asian version. They removed USB Tethering, Google Local Search, RSS Feeds. They also removed the car charger and locked it so an AT&T sim is needed. If you unlock the phone you can use the GPS features without a sim at all. Adding those features won't make it a smart phone but it will make it even more useful.

I have just tried adding custom POI and though since the source code for this phone is freely available on garmin's website it won't take some clever people too long to modify it so it can do more.

Posted by: Cingulair

In my opinion, I think this phone was a horrible idea. I think it was something that they thought up (Garmin).

"Hey a GPS device with data capabilities. Why not just make a phone? Kewl!"

Only thing is once they got rolling, they decided to limit support. Or they lost interest in putting a lot into it. Overall, I think it was a good idea turned bad like so many other handsets out now. I called to see, if they would possibly be making software to cater to truck drivers. Their reponse is they would only be making one device to cater to this. The 465 unit. I mean I think the phone would cause a new standard in stand alone GPS and phone/GPS devices in the future. But once again, a lack of support and innovation will shorten a good thing and make this handset a piece of crap before it leaves the gate good. People fail to realize that's what makes the iPhone so great. It's not the phone itself at all. Apple took the time to make a well thought out store and syncing program all rolled into one. You can sync personal data, add apps, music, movies, etc. almost just by connecting your phone to the pc. Who else offers this. Everyone else is trying to make touchscreens. If anyone else any easier way to get movies, music, and sync with a pc and to upload it to the handset. They would instantly be a strong competitor to the iPhone. Even the Nuvifone could be a challenger. But no one else is willing to put out that kind of effort.