Garmin Xperia Edition App Descends On Sony Xperia Smartphones And SmartWatch 2

Navigation experts Garmin Wuerzburg GmbH has just announced the fruits of their partnership with Sony. The Garmin Xperia Edition collects all the navigation features you'll ever need to be come a one-stop shop, at least for owners of Sony's mobile devices.

The Garmin Xperia Edition brings together Garmin's premium features into a single smartphone app. Users will have access to maps that can be stored locally on the device itself, making the app usable even without an Internet connection. But aside from its own local database, Garmin also pulls in other information from online services like Wikipedia, Foursquare, and more. It can even search through the addresses stored on the smartphone's addressbook. The app also adds a pinch of augmented reality with Reality Scanner, displaying interesting locations in a camera view. The Trip Editor lets you plan out your journey while Glympse integration lets you share your location and destination with family and friends.

Those in the driver seat also get their fair share of features. Active Lane Guidance highlights which lanes to switch to in order to take the next turn. The True 3D view harnesses NASA's terrain data to provide a more accurate view and orientation of your surroundings. Live Traffic keeps drivers up to date with the latest traffic information and alternative routes. Last Mile saves the position of your parked vehicle and then switches to Pedestrian mode for walking directions, which brings us to the second half of Garmin's and Sony's navigation team up.

A new app extension will be available for owners of the Sony SmartWatch 2. This will let users receive navigation information from the Garmin Xperia Edition app conveyed via Bluetooth. The app will display a map with the current position and route. The SmartWatch 2 extension app is also compatible with Garmin's NAVIGON app, so owners of other Android devices will not feel left out.

The Garmin Xperia Edition, as the name implies, is only compatible with Sony Xperia devices, particularly those running Andorid 4.0.4 and later. Both the app and the SmartWatch 2 extension will go live around March. The Garmin Xperia Edition app will offer a 30-day trial with complete access to all features. After that period, only the map viewer and pedestrian navigation will work for free. Users may opt to sign up for a $2.95 monthly subscription or make a one-time in-app purchase of different features.

SOURCE: Garmin