Garmin has officially announced the Monterra and while this handheld device has the looks of a smartphone, it is actually a handheld outdoor GPS unit. The interesting part is that the Monterra is running Android. Garmin has said this is their first WiFi-enabled outdoor handheld GPS with Android. Being an Android device, the Monterra will have access to the Play Store, however putting that aside, there are some outdoor specific features that may be a bit more important for some users.

Garmin has said the Monterra will have a “vivid, sunlight-readable” touchscreen and that it will be rugged and waterproof. This unit will have a 4-inch multi-touch display along with other features to include a headphone jack, speaker and an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording. There will also be 8GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, ANT+, Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC.

The Monterra will have a dual-battery system that will allow users to use a set of regular AA batteries or the included rechargeable battery pack. Some of the more outdoor specific features include a built-in UV sensor, 3-axis compass, accelerometer, gyro and dual-band GPS with a GLONASS receiver.

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Garmin has the Monterra packed with software to include 3D MapMerge which means the user can combine two maps with the ability to then view those combined maps in three dimension. The system is also compatible with BaseCamp which is a free download that brings the ability to view and organize maps, routes and tracks.

Of course, aside from the pre-loaded options, the Monterra can also download from the Play Store. Garmin has said the Monterra will be available during the third quarter of the year and that it will arrive priced from $649.99. The $649 model will have worldwide maps with preloaded worldwide basemap and a $699.99 model will have US maps with preloaded TOPO US 100K with Navteq roads.

SOURCE: Garmin

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