Garmin Releases GPS Windows Mobile Handheld

Posted By: Ryan Wednesday, January 5, 2005 9:47:30 AM

Garmin has announced the new iQue M5, the company’s first Microsoft Windows Mobile based Pocket PC enabled with GPS and Bluetooth wireless technology.  The iQue M5 features Garmin’s integrated suite of Que mapping and navigation applications that use satellite technology to give consumers a sense of direction much like the Palm OS version the iQue 3600. The device be available soon in the for a cool $750 USD.

Pocket PC Garmin iQue M5“We are excited to be working with Garmin to bring their location and mapping expertise to the Windows Mobile platform,” said Scott Horn, senior director of marketing for Microsoft’s Mobile Embedded Device division. “Garmin is broadening the Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC experience by integrating GPS and navigation tools into the iQue M5.  It will give customers access to their essential information, with the freedom to roam and bring their digital life wherever their busy life takes them.”

The iQue M5 features Microsoft’s latest Pocket PC software, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, which supports portrait/landscape screen orientation for easy viewing of documents, videos and Web content.  The device is powered by a 416-MHz Intel PXA 272 microprocessor.  The iQue M5 provides the user with 64MB of RAM, 64MB of ROM and data back-up protection.  The embedded Bluetooth transceiver allows the user to establish a personal-area network with computer systems and Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, other PDAs and printers. 

Featuring a built-in basemap of North and South America, the iQue M5 shows major highways, thoroughfares, railways, lakes, rivers and borders.  Garmin includes its MapSource City Select CD as a standard accessory, so users can download detailed street-level map data, look up more than five million points of interest (POIs), and navigate to an address in the U.S. and Canada.  World travelers can also add a European or Pacific Rim basemap from the installation CD.  International versions of the iQue M5 will feature respective basemaps, mapping software and language support.

The integrated Que applications enable consumers to see where they are on an electronic map, look up a point of interest and route to it — following voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions to their selected destination.  If they miss a turn, the iQue M5 automatically recalculates a new route to get them back on track.  Advanced routing features include the ability to specify roadways to avoid and find POIs near the current route.  The iQue M5 even offers intuitive POI searches that are based on user habits.  Another distinct benefit of Garmin’s PDA/GPS integration is the patent-pending capability to attach a “location stamp” to a profile in the user’s contact database or appointment calendar and navigate directly to these important business addresses.

The iQue M5 is expected to be available in January 2005 at a suggested retail price of $749.99.  The standard package includes a USB synchronization cradle, AC wall charger, automotive mount with an integrated speaker and 12-volt adapter, protective flip cover, stylus, MapSource City Select CD, companion CD with owner’s manual, and quick-reference guide.

Garmin also offers two Palm OS versions inthe iQue series: the iQue 3600 and 3200.

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Sad Palm OS liscencees having to resort to this

Frenchie @ 1/5/2005 1:15:50 PM # Q
Sad that Garmin has partially gone to the dark side. One more loss added to the injury list of Palm OS PDA makers. When will this all end?

The world will end in 2006. Just as it was predicted in the bible along with the release of Microsoft Longhorn.... :p
RE: Sad Palm OS liscencees having to resort to this
scoT1753 @ 1/6/2005 8:21:35 AM # Q
"Sad that Garmin has partially gone to the dark side. One more loss added to the injury list of Palm OS PDA makers. When will this all end?"

AGREED!

RE: Sad Palm OS liscencees having to resort to this
Gekko @ 1/6/2005 11:58:43 AM # Q

I would not be surprised if Garmin unceremoniously announces they are no longer producing a PalmOS device.



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Nice to round off the line but where's the forward progress?

hkklife @ 1/5/2005 12:50:13 PM # Q
Now there are essentially three nearly identical (hardware & FF wise) Garmin GPS handhelds. I predict at least one of them will be EOL very soon.

Nice of them to offer variety over several price points but I'd still expect a LOT more for a $750 pricetag, PPC or not. It seems they are at least more comitted to the PDA market than I ever expected so maybe a 2nd gen iQue isn't out of the question. Of course, it likely won't run Palm OS. I'd wager that this is the "transition" unit en route to Garmin going all-PPC in '05 once they've milked the two Palm-based units for all they're worth. Looks like we're seeing the demise of Samsung & Garmin as Palm OS licensees. This leaves...no one with any "big" name recognition whatsoever!

RE: Nice to round off the line but where's the forward progress?
Gekko @ 1/5/2005 3:04:35 PM # Q

better than going backwards like the T5

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Display?

Texonite @ 1/5/2005 2:07:34 PM # Q
Nah, they say nothing about it.
That's the same crappy 240x320 "Standard PPC display"
Strange ppl

____________________
Future Online!
Sorry for my bad english :(
RE: Display?
LiveFaith @ 1/5/2005 6:04:00 PM # Q
No VGA? That would be a real benfit for GPS mapping. Strange ommission at $750. $700 is notebook territory. Although the QVGA shape is a little better, HVGA on the Palm OS 3600 version is going to look light years better for maps.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE: Display?
NewtonDKC @ 1/5/2005 10:00:24 PM # Q
I agree. To make a stand out device (which Iw ould expect from Garmin) they should have brought out a WiFI enabled, VGA device with maps and related software scaled (or scalable) to take full advantage of that resolution. As it is, they have released a low end Pocket PC with GPS at high end price. With WiFi on pretty much every PPC but the very low end, and VGA on some midrange and just about every High End device (well, depending on how you categorize high and mid range - whether by price or features, so this could whirl around) - anyway, let's hope Garmin is working on a VGA, WiFi device (and, as I said, the Mapping software MUST be able to take true advantage of VGA), then a $750 price point would be acceptable.
Or even better, that Palm is working on a WiFi, VGA, Cobalt device...but I get sick of hoping for such a thing...

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Little chance for the product

Tamog @ 1/5/2005 3:07:20 PM # Q
Hi,
I personally see little chances for this product. The ique will IMHO bash it to smithereens, because it has the better screen and the more stable OS.
However, Murphy once said to always look at the bright side of life. And well, now the PalmOs has an opportunity to show its quality in a head-to-head battle!
Just my 2 cents
Tam Hanna

Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.blogspot.com
RE: Little chance for the product
Gekko @ 1/5/2005 3:12:29 PM # Q

and the Apple Mac was "better" too.



RE: Little chance for the product
Tamog @ 1/5/2005 4:38:22 PM # Q
Ah, come on, Gekko...
Get off it. You are right about the Apple Mac-but the PalmOS has the BIGGER USER BASE. Get it?
In addition, mo0st of the users that want a handhelöd GPS will already have taken the Ique 3200/3600->too late, M5..
BTW, PocketPc and Square Display doesnt quite work-so at least their low-end models will IMHO stay PalmOs powered..
Just my 2 cents
Tam Hanna

Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.blogspot.com
RE: Little chance for the product
fierywater @ 1/6/2005 12:34:04 PM # Q
Garmin screwed up on this one. If it had VGA and WiFi and the like, it'd kick the Ique 3600 hard.

But seeing as they're releasing a GPS PPC with about the same features as a PPC from a year or two or three ago for $750, of course the 3600's better. Actually, there's a GPS PPC already out at around $400 which is smaller than the 3600 IIRC. Not a bad device.

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$750...Overpriced

vesther @ 1/6/2005 1:43:40 AM # Q
At $750, you could almost buy 2 Tapwave Zodiac Handhelds.

Personally, I'd rather have either a Garmin iQue 3600 or a palmOne Treo 650.

Powered by Palm OS since March 2002

RE: $750...Overpriced
bestoverall @ 1/6/2005 1:10:47 PM # Q
I'd been using 3600 over a year, and recently sold it on eBay. Now I'm using Treo 650 with bluetooth GPS and TomTom. What Garmin should do is to introduce a bluetooth module and software package to the existing T5 and Treo 650 users as well as all PPC users. That's the bigger market than what this new device can bring in.

There is a real need for a solid GPS software outthere. I bet if Garmin comes out with a software/map package at a right price, it will wipe out Mapopolis and TomTom because based on my experience with these software, Garmin is the best GPS software on the market.

RE: $750...Overpriced
ackmondual @ 1/6/2005 7:35:41 PM # Q
QUOTE
At $750, you could almost buy 2 Tapwave Zodiac Handhelds.

Personally, I'd rather have either a Garmin iQue 3600 or a palmOne Treo 650.

Powered by Palm OS since March 2002
/

wrong, u CAN buy 2 Zodiacs at that price. Heck, one of them can even be the zod2.

.

QUOTE
...

There is a real need for a solid GPS software outthere. I bet if Garmin comes out with a software/map package at a right price, it will wipe out Mapopolis and TomTom because based on my experience with these software, Garmin is the best GPS software on the market
/

Maybe that's Y it seems so ridiculously high priced. Perhaps you're getting "Garmin caliber" GPs software? Never used it my self, but i have heard few good praises about it. Garmin's ique's are primarily GPS/PDAs, Zods are PDAs/gaming, Gizmondo's coming out sometime in March fill the triangle by being GPS/gaming devices. Not sure if u can do anything decent PDA-wise related on WinCE OS. All of them also have some level of multimedia capabilities. I'm curious to see how they stack against each other later on and how many units they sell.

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palmOne decline continues: TE2 revealed!

mikecane @ 1/6/2005 1:22:10 PM # Q
Now we know why it was called the T5. THIS is the real TE2:

http://www.davespda.com/index.php?itemid=172

RE: palmOne decline continues: TE2 revealed!
hkklife @ 1/6/2005 2:07:49 PM # Q
Arrgh! They continue to milk that miserable little model for all its worth! And it looks like it has the same lousy silver finish too! What, pray tell, can 18-bit color offer on a screen that small? I'd rather see a backlit hard Graffiti area and user-selectable G1 & G2 than 18-bit color. At least we can hope for 64mb of "real" ram. At least it seems that for the first time ever since the days of the III series, there is going to be a standardized connector across the line. In all fairness, *IF* all of the various T|E bugs are eliminated, build quality is drastically improved and there is a stable OS under the hood, this might end up being a decent unit for the $ but I doubt many current E owners will find enough compelling reasons to upgrade.


I see the majority of P1's non-Treo '05 lineup looking like this:


Zire 31 (carryover model)$120 by this spring, $100 by late summer

Tungsten E2 $200

Zire 73 (tweaked Z72 w/ multi-connector and 64mb RAM) $300

Tungsten T6 or T7 (elongated Treo 650 formfactor w/ 320*480 screen, wi-fi/BT & no external antenna) $350 to $400

RE: palmOne decline continues: TE2 revealed!
voice of chaos @ 1/6/2005 3:04:24 PM # Q
Weak, but consider the market that this is aimed at. If the price point is low enough it could be a hot little device.

palmOne's problem is that they own the $0-$200 space, which means the margin is razor-thin. As long as they are making money, however, and avoid the "so we lose a little on each one we'll make it up in volume" mentality it's okay.


RE: palmOne decline continues: TE2 revealed!
mikecane @ 1/6/2005 3:12:42 PM # Q
Rumor is, the RAM scheme is the same as the Treo and T5. Flash.

Tapwave, save us!

RE: palmOne decline continues: TE2 revealed!
hkklife @ 1/6/2005 10:29:35 PM # Q
Mike, any word yet on if it's got 32mb like the Treo 650 or if it at least offers 64mb so things won't get TOO cramped right away?



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