I’m gradually becoming less excited about the Garmin Nuvifone, and now it’s been pushed back to sometime in 2009.

It’s not that I think it’ll be a bad phone, but it’s just going to be too late. If the iPhone has turn-by-turn GPS in the next six months, what on earth will be the draw of the Nuvifone? Granted, the Nuvifone might have better turn-by-turn, but the iPhone will have thousands of apps, a superior interface (I assume), better browsing, etc.

As Unwired View points out, Garmin won’t even commit to a Q1 2009 release, meaning it could be well into 2009 before it comes out. At that point, it had better be awesome and cheap!

We’ve just installed the excellent WPTouch plug-in on this blog, making it look great when viewed from an iPhone or iPod Touch. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Mickey

Three new phones from LG are coming to Verizon in the near future.

All three look to be pretty good phones. The LG Dare (pictured on the right) is somewhat of an iPhone clone, the LG Decoy feels a bit like a Nokia N95, and the LG Chocolate 3 is more of a standard flip phone like the Razor.

All three phones support the VCAST garbage and all have decent (but not great) cameras. The Dare sports a 3.2 megapixel camera, while the other two phones have the typical 2.0 megapixel.

More info about these phones can be found on PhoneMag, and we expect to learn more about release dates and pricing in the near future.

There’s been a ton of news today about the new iPhone, so I thought I’d try to give a brief summary:

The good

• July 11 release
• 3G, as expected.
• GPS. There are already some great looking applications to take advantage of it.
• $199 for the 8 gig model, $299 for the 16 gig. They both require a two-year contract from AT&T.
• 300 hours of standby time
• 5-6 hours of browsing
• 7 hours of video
• 24 hours of audio
• Talk time is 5-10, depending if you’re using 3G or not.
• A ton of new apps you can download.
• Slightly modified design — thinner body, more tapered edges
• Free upgrade to version 2.0 for existing iPhones, though they obviously won’t get 3G or GPS. $9.95 to upgrade your iPod Touch.

The bad

• Still no MMS. Why?
• No native video support, though I presume that you’ll be able to download an app to handle it.
• No 32 gig version.
• No front camera for live video chat, as was suggested in a few places.
• Same camera on the back. I was expecting an upgrade there.

All in all it looks to be a very solid update, but nothing remarkable. I was very impressed by the $199 price, but that’s tempered a bit now that I know it requires a two-year contract.

Now, do I try to get the new iPhone or do I keep using my N95?

According to PHONE Magazine, the very iPhone-ish Samsung Instinct is set to launch on June 20.

It looks to be a solid phone — fast EV-DO Rev. A connection, true GPS and lots of touch-screen goodness. No word yet on pricing.

It’s not a huge surprise, but Gizmodo has revealed the official launch date of the 3G iPhone. From their site:

someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch has told me that Apple will announce their new model at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th.

Also, the phone won’t be available at a fixed price point, meaning carriers will be able to offer discounts if you sign a contract. That seems like a good thing for everyone, since the majority of iPhone users signed contracts anyhow.

(via Unwired View)

The CEO of Intel Germany, Hannes Schwaderer, apparently confirmed that a larger iPhone (or a mini-tablet) is coming soon. The quote from MacRumors:

As part of an Intel event for the 40th birthday of the semiconductor company at Munich’s BMW World, Germany managing director Hannes Schwaderer confirmed today what has long been a rumor on the Internet: namely, that there is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.

Personally, I’d rather see a larger version of the iPhone. The problem with most mini-tablets is that they require a wifi connection. If this was a phone, I could use bluetooth for phone calls, but still have 3G internet anywhere I went.

If this is true, this might be the 720×480 device rumored to be coming out at WWDC08.

It sure looks that way. It’s hard to tell if it will be an embedded GPS or simply support for an external unit, but it appears the support will be built-in.

From IntoMobile:

There are also references to strings mentioning satellite status, GPS time, type, position, accuracy, latitude, speed, magnetic variation, etc., which is a good sign for iPhone users looking for GPS integration.

I would think they’d really want to include it with the unit, simply so more people will have it and they can build more great apps around it. We’ll find out soon.

WMExperts have finally gotten their hands on an X1 and they’re doing a great job of testing it out.

You can read their full review for details, but here are the highlights:

• Keyboard: Pretty good, not great.
• Screen: Awesome.
• Flash lite will be pre-installed.

All in all, they really seem to like it. Here are a bunch of screens:

The LG Voyager (previously called the “Verizon Voyager” in many places) will be coming to Sprint and AT&T. The phone is expected “within this year”. It had better hurry, because there are a lot of other (better) phones coming out pretty soon too. No word on pricing, but I would expect somewhere around the $300 mark.

Also no word on the operating system. The Verizon version is running a Verizon-flavored OS. I don’t know if those phone will see Windows Mobile or something else. We’ll probably find out soon enough.