Garmin is once again bringing luxury technology to the masses with its latest advancement in portable navigation systems.

Dubbed the Heads-up Display (HUD), Garmin's new device will work in conjunction with your smartphone navigator to provide turn-by-turn directions right on your windshield.

With HUD, gone is the clunky display unit you might be using to hold your current navigation system in place, and in its stead will be an overlay of where you're supposed to go next right in front of your eyes.

"HUD redefines the navigation experience by allowing drivers to find their way without taking their eyes off the road," said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of worldwide sales.

"Head-up displays currently have their place in select high-end cars, but HUD makes this technology available as an aftermarket accessory for any vehicle, at an affordable price."

Keep your eyes on the road

The HUD communicates wirelessly with your smartphone's compatible Garmin or Navigon app, and displays information like distance to next turn, which direction to turn, and your estimated time of arrival on a transparent film on the window, or on the attached reflector lens.

The turn-by-turn audio navigation is still handled by your smartphone, though you'll no longer need to look to its screen if you happen to miss what's been said.

Should you need to take a phone call, HUD will continue displaying instructions for the current route uninterrupted.

HUD also tracks speed limits (when available) and your car's speed, and will notify you when you are driving above the limit, and can even inform you of where traffic safety cameras are located.

Since it's connected to your smartphone, and isn't relying on a default map program, HUD can also update you with traffic delays, and can advise you when to change lanes for you next maneuver.

Garmin's device is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8, and HUD's power adapter also includes a USB port so you can charge your phone while using the device.

The smartphone's audio directions can be set to play through your car via a Bluetooth connection, and any music playing in the car will be dialed down when a new direction prompt occurs.

HUD will be available this summer for $129.99 (UK£129.99), and the Garmin website claims orders will be fulfilled in 5-8 weeks.

For what it's worth, Garmin's site also makes note the HUD hasn't been approved by the Federal Communications Commission yet, and can't be sold in the U.S. until such approval is granted.

• Curious which satellite navigation system is the best? Check out our comparison to find the right one for you.

Sales of point-and-shoot cameras are falling thanks to the rise of camera-equipped smartphones, but Nikon is not about to go down with that particular ship.

Its expensive digital SLR cameras are doing just fine, after all, Nikon President Makoto Kimura told Bloomberg last week.

More importantly, Nikon's got big plans that will "change the concept of cameras," the president said.

Whether that means a Nikon smartphone or something else entirely for now remains a mystery, but Kimura had a little more to say.

Change is hard

"We want to create a product that will change the concept of cameras," said Kimura. "It could be a non-camera consumer product."

A "non-camera" product that "will change the concept of cameras?" If that's not a Nikon smartphone he's teasing then we wonder what other consumer products Nikon engineers are busy strapping cameras to in a secret lab somewhere.

"Rapid expansion of mobile devices is a change in business environment given to us," Kimura further teased.

"Our task going forward is to find an answer to that change."

Low expectations

Nikon is probably not alone in that struggle; Kimura believes point-and-shoot camera sales in April and May of 2013 fell a full 25 percent across the industry from the same time in 2012, and that the compact camera market will shrink 12 percent this financial year.

Nikon does not divulge quarterly specifics, but its estimates for the first quarter this year were reportedly "fairly low."

With a mysterious ace up its sleeve, could Nikon turn things around?

A Nikon smartphone with a high-end camera inside might struggle to make a mark, especially with devices like Nokia's rumored Lumia 1020 - with its 41-megapixel camera - on the horizon. That might end up being the phone to own for photophiles.

According to Bloomberg, Nikon may expand further by following Canon, Sony and Olympus into production of medical devices.

Reports emanating from Samsung's South Korean homeland have claimed the company will launch four versions of the forthcoming Galaxy Note 3.

ETNews suggested the range, expected to arrive in September, will launch with various spec options; from a high-end, limited edition model, to a budget model with a scaled back LCD screen.

Top of the range, the report claimed, will be a Galaxy Note 3 featuring a 13-megapixel camera, constructed from "high-quality materials" and boasting an "unbreakable" AMOLED screen.

This may mean Samsung has listened to the masses and moved away from its reliance on plastic in favour of a new material that could challenge rivals like the iPhone 5 and HTC One in terms of build quality.

Cameras and screens

ET News said the rest of the models will keep the plastic body with the second in line also offering a 13-megapixel camera, but rocking a traditional AMOLED screen.

Next up would be a device with 13-megapixel camera and an LCD screen, while cheapest of all would be a device with an 8-megapixel camera.

The report mentions not whether processors, RAM and other specs could vary with each model, but it would be relatively safe to assume there'd be options in that department too if the reports came to fruition.

Spoiling the broth?

While we're treating this report with a healthy dose of scepticism at the moment, it would certainly be no surprise to see Samsung flood the market with Galaxy Note 3 variants.

The company has released multiple versions of its flagship Galaxy S4 handset in recent months, including the outdoor-themed S4 Active and a Frankenstein's monster-style Galaxy S4 Zoom cameraphone.

• Samsung seems intent on offering versions of its Galaxy devices to suit every possible sector of the market, but it it risking watering down the popular brand?

Vodafone has angered its UK customers by announcing a switch from per-second to per-minute call charges, which are likely to cost subscribers more money.

From August 1, the Guardian reports, if a Vodafone pay as you go customer makes a call to a landline or mobile lasting, for example, 1:02, they will be charged for the two minutes.

In real terms that means a call that previously cost 26p will now cost 50p - a 92 per cent price hike.

The struggling operator is, of course, dressing this up as a benefit for its subscribers, claiming the simplified charges will help users know exactly how many minutes they have left in their accounts.

Gee. Thanks, guys!

Straightforward price hike

A post on the Vodafone website reads: "Calls on Pay as you go are getting simpler from 1 August 2013. No more complicated pricing by the second – just clear, straightforward per minute charges.

"So if your call is a minute and 37 seconds long, it'll be charged as two minutes. That way, you'll always know exactly how many minutes you have left."

Posters on the Vodafone support forum called the move "patronising," while others accused the network of insulting the intelligence of its customers.

One post read: "Please don't patronise us. This is being introduced to make more money for Vodafone, pure and simple. It doesn't make anything simpler other than the fact that PAYG customers will essentially pay more for calls."

Are you a Vodafone customer affected by the transition to per-minute call billing? Feel free to vent your spleen in the comments section below.

Photos snapped by Windows Phone VP Joe Belfiore seem to confirm that the 41MP Nokia Windows Phone we're all expecting to arrive in New York this week will indeed be called the Nokia Lumia 1020.

Some light detective work revealed that at least two pictures within the photo stream from June 29 have "Nokia Lumia 1020" listed as their source in their EXIF data.

One of the discovered photos has a resolution of 2947 x 1658 pixels (almost 5 megapixels), and the other 2352 x 1568 (3.7 megapixels), suggesting that like the Nokia 808 PureView, the camera is able to shoot at multiple resolutions, as well as following the PureView's tendancy to oversample.

A flickr of truth

The name of Nokia's PureView successor has been the subject of much back-and-forthing, with the Nokia 909, Nokia Lumia 1020 and Nokia EOS all being thrown around as potential monikers.

The data could, of course, be fake, but the fact that the pictures are now hidden from Belfiore's main page makes us suspect otherwise.

TechRadar will be at the July 11 Nokia event, where Nokia promises "41 million reasons to zoom in", so keep all eyes on the site for the news as it breaks. Oh Joe Belfiore, you were so close too.