Garmin Announces Nüvifone

First new phone I’ve seen since the iPhone that looks interesting. The UI looks clean, and the hardware looks nice, too. (Why do so many companies insist upon putting ad-like decals all over the front of their cases?) As phones gain GPS features, it makes sense for Garmin to start making phones — the days of dedicated handheld GPS units seem numbered. Let’s wait and see what the price is, and how the UI really works, though.

Jason Fried makes similar comments, and notes:

Aside from Apple, Garmin is the only company I’ve seen that understand UI design for small devices. The Nuvi is dead simple to use. If they can translate their GPS UI chops into a phone UI, they may be on to something big.

I have a several-year-old Garmin handheld GPS, and I agree: the UI is pretty good.

★ Thursday, 31 January 2008