Garmin Mobile Available on Select BackBerry Phones

location based services


Garmin announced that Garmin Mobile – an application that delivers maps, directions, and turn-by-turn navigation – will be available on select BlackBerry devices. Recall Garmin announced Garmin Mobile last year about this time, with a significant upgrade to its capabilities this past July.
“The availability of Garmin Mobile on BlackBerry devices gives BlackBerry customers numerous features that they would not normally have access to,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “The advanced features of Garmin Mobile – such as real time fuel prices, traffic, and weather information – are very desirable because they help save time and money while traveling.”
Garmin Mobile is the first off-board cellular phone navigation system that visually depicts and constantly updates the user’s position on a detailed moving map. Since this is an off-board solution, mapping data is stored on Garmin’s servers, not on the BlackBerry device itself. Therefore, customers have the advantage of the most up-to-date mapping information available directly from Garmin’s servers. In order to access Garmin’s network with the mapping data, the BlackBerry device must have a data plan for network access.
With Garmin Mobile, customers will receive voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions so they can easily navigate to a specific street address or points of interest (POI) – places like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and tourist attractions. The text-to-speech functionality allows the unit to audibly announce the name of streets and POIs, letting drivers keep their eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic and tricky roadways. If users stray off course, Garmin Mobile will automatically calculate the quickest way to get back on track. Map data is provided by NAVTEQ – a world leader in premium-quality mapping.
BlackBerry customers will also have access to real-time traffic, fuel, and weather information. The real-time traffic service identifies accidents, road construction, or other incidents affecting traffic, and routes users around the congestion. The fuel feature displays helpful fuel information such as the filling station’s name, fuel price, type of fuel, and distance to the station (U.S. only). Real-time weather information lets users see weather at their current location or anywhere in North America.
In order to access the navigation benefits of Garmin Mobile through a BlackBerry, customers may need to pair their BlackBerry with either the GPS 10x™ or GPS 20SM™. The GPS 10x is a highly sensitive, portable GPS sensor that receives location data from the GPS and transmits that information to the BlackBerry via Bluetooth wireless technology. The GPS 20SM is a portable phone cradle with a built-in high sensitivity GPS receiver. When the BlackBerry is cradled in the GPS 20SM phone mount, the GPS 20SM also serves as a Bluetooth hands-free calling kit and phone charger.
More at Garmin Mobile website