Garmin introduces the new nüvi 880, a premium portable navigation device with speech recognition and dynamic MSN Direct content.

“Garmin’s nüvi 880 uses speech recognition to make navigation easier and safer than ever. Now it’s possible to keep both hands on the wheel, tell nüvi what to do and where to go, and you’re on your way to stress-free travel,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s worldwide vice president of sales. “And with enhanced MSN Direct services, the nüvi 880 provides cutting-edge content like traffic, fuel prices, news and business headlines, and a wireless ‘send to GPS’ capability.”

Features of the nuvi 880 include 4.3 inch color touchscreen, Bluetooth, Garmin Lock, music player (MP3, Ogg, and Flac formats supported), audio book player (subscription to Audible.com required), picture viewer, currency converters and more.

Three months of free MSN Direct service is included with the purchase of the nüvi 880. Owners can re-subscribe for $49.95 a year, or a one-time charge of $129.95.

Garmin also offers the nüvi 850, which offers speech recognition capabilities but without MSN Direct services or Bluetooth wireless technology. All other features are comparable to the nüvi 880.

The Garmin nuvi 880 has an MSRP of $1071.41 and is scheduled for 2nd Quarter 2008 release.
Via the Garmin site.