GPS obsessed

Samsung has been busy pumping out Android phones for most of 2010. China looks to be receiving one of its first of 2010 with the BCH-I899. The CDMA2000/EVDO Rev. A mobile phone features some half decent specs including:

• 3.2-inch AMOLED HVGA resistive touchscreen with 320 x 480 resolution and an anti-scratch coating
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 512 MB of internal memory expandable to 32 GB via a microSD card slot
• 800 MHz processor
• Wi-Fi
• DivX/Xvid video support
• USB 2.0
• 1440 mAh battery

The Samsung i899 phone

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Mobile couponing has been part of location-aware Foursquare’s business model since day one, but today one business decided the best deal equals free. Blynk Organic, in Charlotte, North Carolina, has decided to let the Mayor of its location eat for free.

To become Mayor, a person needs to have checked-in to Blynk Organic more than any other Foursquare user. This is definitely an incentive to visit the eatery and a great way to get some free press coverage. Smart business move on behalf of Blynk Organic.

How long this will last is an unknown at the moment, but expect more deals like this to pop up through Foursquare and other place-oriented LBS social networks in 2010.

Alanb, a poster at the gpsreview.net forums, has caught an interesting tidbit of discontinued goodness on Garmin’s website. Likely due to the near-death status of MSN Direct, the company has discontinued its nuvi x85 series GPS navigators. After the holidays no less, which seems a bit shady to me. Then again, prices of nuvi x85 navigators are now plummeting and if you sign up for MSN Direct by March 31, 2010, you’ll receive 9 months of service free. When you consider the relative lifespan of a GPS navigator it might not be such a bad deal after all.

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Motorola announced its intent to turn around its flailing mobile phone business with the Android operating system some time ago. At the time I wasn’t so sure it would happen, but fast forward to pre-CES 2010 and now I’m a little bit more confident.

Yesterday Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdry, via Barron’s, revealed that Motorola “may announce” two new Android-based handsets at CES. One would head to the AT&T network in the United States, complete with an OLED screen, physical keyboard, and the “Google experiences” (??) software environment as opposed to the MotoBlur version. A second Android handset would be available via Verizon Wireless, also in the US, and have an OLED screen but a soft keyboard.

Further making this somewhat vague revelation intriguing is a picture that appeared on a Chinese website today of a supposed Motorola phone with a huge 4.3-inch display (via BGR). No doubt a phone with a screen of that size would have an optional car dashboard mount to go along with it. It would make the perfect crossover automotive GPS navigator/cellphone, assuming the phone includes a GPS chipset.

The display would have 800 x 484 pixel resolution, the same as found on most standard 3.7-inch screens. Other features of note include an 8 megapixel camera, 1080p video playback, and a thin 9 millimeter form factor. As for a name: Mirage/Shadow is what it’s going by for now.

9to5Mac reports that two new Apple geolocation patents are hanging around in the the US patent office. One seems to cover the process of sending location information with various forms of messaging such as SMS or email while the other covers the presentation of location information. Both patents lay out processes very similar to the functionality of Google Latitude which could be why Apple decided to relegate Latitude to web app status earlier this year as opposed to allowing it to become a standalone app in the App Store.

There’s no shortage of iPhone windshield mounts on the market and aside from models that include a built-in GPS receiver, I’m guessing there isn’t much of a quality difference between different models. Don’t quote me on that though-I haven’t tried them all.

NewerTechnology is the latest company to launch an iPhone car windshield mount with its NewerTech Window Mount. The 9-inch long mount has a suction/vacuum attachment at one end and an “exact fit cradle” at the other end. Suitable for both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, the NewerTech Window Mount comes in black and includes a stiff, yet flexible neck, that the company claims “won’t get sags, drooping, or vibration problems that will require you to readjust the mount every time you look at it.”

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This video of what seems to be the Google Nexus One defies words. It’s a must see. In it you’ll get a good look at what we can expect of the user interface and most impressively you’ll get a look at a 3D Qualcomm Neocore benchmark test that is nothing short of mind blowing. Definitely take the time to check out this video.

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The Nexus One news is moving faster than its previous trickle now. Just minutes ago I posted an internal communication from T-Mobile seemingly confirming a Nexus One launch on January 5. Now Google has just announced an Android-related press event on January 5 in Mountain View, California. Coincidence? I think not.

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Google’s Nexus One will be shipping from directly from Google on January 5, 2010 at 9 AM sharp, according to TmoNews. The T-Mobile-oriented blog has a screenshot of T-Mobile’s internal communications regarding the HTC-manufactured Nexus One which you can see for yourself above. T-Mobile says it will be taking care of the “billing, coverage, features and rate plans” but Google will ship the phone. Any hardware problems or exchanges will be the domain of Google and HTC as well. No word on pricing yet.

More evidence of a Google Nexus One car dock has emerged after some pictures Nexus leaked on the ‘net yesterday. While those pictures aren’t necessarily real, FCC documentation is. Here’s a wireframe photo of said car dock and a reference to the Google Phone dug up by Engadget today.