Garmin is releasing a new app for Android users that shows live traffic camera views on a nuvi portable navigation device (PND).
By using your Android phone’s wireless connection, you may look up real time photos from traffic cameras across the U.S. and Canada to get a look at traffic and weather conditions–a first for PNDs, says Garmin.
The app is called Garmin Smartphone Link for Android. You connect the phone to the PND via Bluetooth to deliver other services as well, including local search, weather, “myGarmin messaging,” ratings of points of interest and tracking. A paid premium tier of services includes the photo-live traffic cameras, advanced weather, fuel prices and real-time speed and red light camera alerts.
Garmin is also introducing its thinnest 5-inch portable navigation devices (PNDs) to date in a nuvi 3550 series that shows photo-realistic junction views of highway intersections for 60,000 locations.
The PND also now provides faster search and routing. A nuvi 3550LM comes with free lifetime map updates and a nuvi 3590MT provides lifetime traffic updates over HD Radio, so you receive updates every 30 seconds instead of the usual 2-6 minutes. You also get voice activated navigation plus Bluetooth hand free calling. This last nuvi is also compatible with the new Smartphone Link Android app.
Also new is Garmin’s latest Golf navigation device, the Approach G6. It is the company’s first device to provide maps for all 25,000+ golf courses worldwide.
Source: Garmin