Garmin was one of few companies that made quite the splash last week at CTIA 2008 in Las Vegas, announcing partnerships and updates for their Garmin Mobile XT navigation application, which we reviewed here on Symbian-Guru. The updates include enhanced user interface, as well as the inclusion of Google Local Search, which should really position Garmin Mobile XT as a fierce competitor, if it wasn’t already. Users can expect the new version to debut in July 2008.

For those of you into customisation, and things that are just plain cool, I found this thread on HowardForums.com recently showing how to get custom vehicles on Garmin Mobile XT on your S60v3 handset. Garmin offers a whole selection of cool, crazy, and fun new vehicles, which show up on your screen while navigating to a destination. I, for one, am REALLY excited to see a GPS company FINALLY making GPS fun by offering something like this.

You can visit this link to look through the currently offered vehicles, everything from an RV to an Ambulance to the Black Pearl pirate ship! Simply download the .srf file and use a file browser such as Y-Browser on your handset or a microSD card reader to drop the file into the /garmin/vehicles directory on your memory card. You can then swap vehicles in the ‘map options’ area in the application. Note that you must have at least v4.10.60 in order for this to work.

Personally, I’d also like to see ‘personality packs’ that would make the voice navigation much more friendly and personable. I wouldn’t mind downloading a gangster or a redneck to direct me around town, how about you?

Categories: Applications
Tags: features, garmin, garmin mobile xt, navigation