Tiger Telematics Inc. has confirmed its USA release date of October 22, 2005 for the Gizmondo portable game console.

Gizmondo is on sale in the UK for a while now. The first time we reported about this multi-talented portable device (GPS, camera, etc.) was in 2003. Back then it was still called GameTrac. In April 2004 Tiger Telematics announced the Gizmondo name.
Recently the financial report of Gizmondo revealed some dirty secrets, which do not support the image of the company to say the least.

The specifications (see below) and feature-set is still quite interesting, but it is still questionable how successful the Gizmondo will be compared to the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. Yes, those do not have a GPS chip and no camera built-in, but they have tons of games and are less expensive.
A Gizmondo subsidized with smart ads sells for $239.00. An ad free Gizmondo sells for a whopping $399.00. I go those prices from the online store CNGTEK, they already take pre-orders for the Gizmondo.

More details in the Gizmondo press-release (pdf).

Gizmondo Specifications:

• TFT screen ~ 240 x 320 pixels
• 400 Mhz ARM9 from Samsung
• 128-bit 3D Graphics accelerator from Nvidia
• GPS tracking application
• GPS mapping application
• MP3 playback
• MIDI/WAV formats
• SMS
• Speaker
• Windows Media Player 9
• MPEG 4 video playback
• JPEG camera (640 x 480)
• SD flash card reader
• Mini-USB client
• Bluetooth class 2 for multiplayer gaming
• Temperature range 0°C to 55°C
• Removable SIM card
• Removable battery
• Polyphonic ring tones
• Stereo headset socket for MP3 and games
• Flight Mode
• GSM tri-band
• GPRS Class 10
• WAP 2.0
• MMS receive and send