Garmin Nuvifone, The Garmin’s First GPS-enabled Smartphone will Launch on Q2 2009

Garmin has become synonymous with on-the-go directions since its introduction into GPS navigation in 1989. Founded by Gary Burrell from Kansas and Min H. Kao from Taiwan, the corporation’s empire extends to car GPS, hiking navs and even sonar fishfinders.

Garmin’s nuvis is the premier series of GPS products offered by the popular manufacturer, and to many techies, the nuvi series offers the best performance, with quick cold starts, accurate turn-by-turn directions and rapid rerouting

Also coming is the Garmin nuvifone, a Smartphone with GPS capabilities to combat the success and popularity of Apple’s iPhone 3G.

Many industry insiders labeled Garmin’s nuvifone as the messiah of GPS-enabled Smartphone industry, with enough features and navigation prowess to usurp the iPhone from its gold-platted, fruit flavored throne.

Garmin’s nüvifone combines a 3.5G mobile phone capability, web browser, and personal navigator into an all-in-one device. Sporting an iPhone-like look, the nüvifone has a 3.5-inch touchscreen display,a built-in camera and comes with both WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The handset supports the expected wireless e-mail and text messaging, and its media player handles MP3, AAC, and MPEG4 files.Including preloaded maps of North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or both.

While on car the nüvifone could get docked onto the vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, activates the navigation menu, and enables hands-free calling so that the user never misses a beat in the conversation and is able to begin routing to their destination with ease.

The nüvifone is Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability. Nüvifone users can search for locations like “coffee shops” and Google will sort the results based on the user’s current location and relevance.

The built-in camera allows individuals to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to a recipient who can navigate directly to the location

According to Garmin’s latest press release,

The nüvifone will not be available in fourth quarter of 2008 as previously announced. While we had hoped to have carrier launches in the fourth quarter, we have found that meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated. We remain pleased with carrier interest in the device and are working toward making necessary design changes to meet their requirements. We anticipate launching the product during the first half of 2009.

Garmin hasn’t announce the nüvifone price yet, but it should cheaper than $197 iPhone 3G (8GB) or $297 iPhone 3G (16 GB).

Garmin recently share the nüvifone screenshoot. As you can See its theme looks like iPhone !