It’s a fact that mobile phones with built-in GPS receivers will sooner or later kill the pure personal navigation devices. After all, who would want a device which only does a single task in the era of convergence. That being said, the latest rumor we have involves two navigation giants, Garmin and TomTom, which are apparently working to bring their own GPS-enabled phone to the market in the not-that-distant future. The rumor goes further, suggesting that this might happen till the year’s end, as the two companies have already enlisted the help of Inventec Appliances, Quanta Computer and Compal Communications to produce them. Now we have to wait to see how will this affect the market. HTC, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Samsung are already shipping the GPS-enabled devices and other handset makers are jumping-in pretty quickly with their offerings…

[Via: Unwired View]

Zagat Survey, the popular “burgundy bible” has launched a new ad-supported mobile website to help mobile phone users around the world find where to eat, drink, stay and play. Located at zagat.mobi, the new site works on any web-enabled phone, even though Zagat’s press release contains the image of the site running on the an iPhone — guess they wanted to use the hype around the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s handset to their advantage.

Anyway, the new mobile website features the company’s signature restaurant, nightlife and hotel content for all major U.S. cities, London and other select international destinations. In addition, such handy options as send to a friend via SMS, find nearby…, directions, movie times and airlines – will make Zagat’s website even more usable for both frequent travelers and regular city visitors.

AAA is releasing AAA Mobile, a mobile software suite which combines turn-by-turn GPS navigation with other location based services. For instance, users of the AAA Mobile will be able to access AAA’s Diamond Ratings for information about hotels and restaurants, as well as find various points of interest in their TourBook guide. In addition, the application will provide users with the list of AAA-approved auto repair shops, an option which is always nice to have.

AAA Mobile is selling on a pay-for-use basis, and the cost will be $9.99 a month. It is available through Sprint (NYSE: S) and will work on the following devices: Samsung M500, Samsung M510, Sanyo (OTCPK: SANYY) SCP-7050, Sanyo M1, Sanyo SCP-8400, Sanyo MM-9000, Sanyo SCP-3200 and LG 550 (Fusic).

[Via: Gizmodo]

No you don’t need a fancy new phone with built-in GPS to get driving directions. GPS will naturally help you get the information about your current location, but you can do just fine without it too…

The new service called Dial Directions figured out users who don’t have one of the latest GPS-enabled devices should also be able to experience the taste of the location based services, hence their service works on any phone that can receive text messages. All you have to do is dial DIR-ECT-IONS (that’s 347-328-4667) on your cellphone, and answer a few quick questions about where you’re going and where you’re starting. Then within seconds, you’ll receive directions via text message. That’s it — there’s no complicated interface, nor any tech knowledge required to use their service. The idea is in using a combination of speech-recognition software along with the text messaging to deliver driving instructions to the people in Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York, with more cities to come in the future.

[Via: textually.org]

Sprint (NYSE: S) is about to introduce a new social mapping service called “loopt” to its users. With the new service, customers will be able to find and connect with friends, share their location and status messages, send proximity-based messages and view geo-tagged photos and content on-the-go. What this means is that as a loopt user, you will be informed when one of your buddies in the area near you, watch his/her photos of some particular area, and all in all connect in a better way.

Of course, the new service will not work on all handsets — loopt promised that it should work on more than 25 Sprint and Nextel phones. Plus, in order to use the new service you will be charged $2.99 per month, plus standard data charges. Wondering why data charges are not bundled with the service? Kinda stupid… Still, sounds like a great service nevertheless. And yeah, it should be available within weeks. Stay tuned…

Now, that’s what I call a useful technology. I can’t count the number of times I needed a toilet within a second in the other city. The solution was always entering the closest restaurant and doing my thing in there. Thanks to the advancement in mobile technology and solid thinking of guys and gals behind MizPee, that problem is now solved.

The new service helps you find the closest, cleanest toilet near you. All you have to do is access their site on your mobile device, enter the city and address and voila… you’ll get the list of toilets in your proximity. But that’s not all, MizPee will also provide you with an entertaining reading material once you get there. Sounds like a complete service to me. What do you think?

[Via: textually.org]

Here’s an elegant GPS solution for all of you who are looking to add some navigation apps on their handsets, yet dislike the idea of a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver.

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Finally someone figured out that we don’t like wires in our cars. The Holux GR-239 Bluetooth GPS receiver is as simple as it can be — all you have to do is plug it into your cigarette lighter and off you go. No messing with the cables, no worries about battery life — it’s all built-in there. Plus, there’s also an option to connect via USB cable in an unlikely case that your device doesn’t support Bluetooth (or in case you’re using some old laptop).

The Holux GR-239 sports a high sensitivity SiRF Star III GPS receiver that can track 20 satellites at once and also has the option to use an external antenna. At the moment, it’s not available in States — it sells for £60 in the UK.

[Via: Navigadget]

It didn’t took much time for the first iPhone-dedicate social networking site to launch. Basically, iPling adds a “location twist” in the mobile social networking and targets iPhone users only. The new service is designed to allow iPhone users to discover and communicate with people who share similar interests (i.e. love Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)). Registering is free, and as far as I see, you could try it out to exchange your initial iPhone experience with the similarly-minded people. Otherwise, you could wait for the iPhone optimized versions of MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites that you currently use.

Full release after the break.

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TeleNav GPS Navigator 5.2 has been released by the California-based TeleNav, Inc. Aside from the standard navigation features, the new version also packs some social networking features. For instance, it allows users to send their current location to any other mobile phone. Furthermore, TeleNav 5.2 also enables users to share addresses of their favorite businesses (restaurants, hotels, movie theaters) and to read, rate and review them directly from a mobile phone. Finally, there’s the Fuel Finder feature for accessing information on local gas stations with the cheapest prices for that day.

The new version of TeleNav GPS Navigator is available immediately on select phones. The service is offered to customers for $9.99 per month for unlimited use. Current customers using TeleNav GPS Navigator on supported phones can access the new version by re-downloading TeleNav GPS Navigator. For more information on which phones support the new version, visit TeleNav’s site.