Garmin-ASUS’ nuvifone has been a long time coming, and in fact if it’s the original you’re waiting for then you’ll have to hold on a little longer. If, though, you’re willing to make do with the nuvifone M20 – the collaboration’s Windows Mobile 6.1 model – then phoneArena’s review will be of interest. They’ve been putting the compact PND/smartphone hybrid through its paces, to see if you’re better off putting all your eggs in one basket or not.
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The Garmin-ASUS nuvifone M20 is tipped to arrive in Taiwan on August 19th, according to the Economic Daily News, in association with Chunghwa Telecom (CHT). The entry-level device in the Garmin-ASUS PND-phone range, the nuvifone M20 runs Windows Mobile and has a compact 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen and 3-megapixel autofocus camera.
Well another week has come and gone as time steadily marches on and like every other week here on SlashGear, it has been a busy one. Poor old Toshiba took the old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” seriously on Monday and announced that it would be launching its own Blu-ray player by the end of 2009. That had to be hard to swallow for the execs who bet it all on HD DVD only to be defeated by Blu-ray. Also on Monday the slick HP Mini 5101 netbooks tipped up starting from $399. I’m not convinced we need another netbook on the market right now personally.
Garmin-ASUS have announced that the long-awaited nuvifone G60 touchscreen GPS cellphone will go on sale in Taiwan on July 27th, followed by a Singaporean and Malaysian launch in August alongside the Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20. The G60 should then arrive in Europe and the US in the second half of this year, as previously reported, while the M20 will bypass the US altogether but hit Europe, again, in 2H09.
Garmin-ASUS intend to launch the nuvifone G60 by the end of 2009, with some markets expected to see the GPS-centric handset as early as August. That’s the latest news from Garmin’s regional director for Southeast-Asia sales, Hektor Tung, who has also revealed that the partnership plan to ditch their home-grown Linux OS after the G60 and move instead to Android.
Garmin-ASUS have again delayed the release of the nuvifone G60, blaming the complexities of fresh hardware and custom software. The touchscreen smartphone – which was first announced back in January 2008 – is now expected to arrive in the second half of 2009, potentially in excess of 12 months delay over the original Q2 2008 launch schedule.
We stopped by to check out the latest fruits of the Garmin-ASUS partnership today at Mobile World Congress, in the shape of the new nuvifone M20 and the latest iteration of the nuvifone G60. The latter, although we’ve seen it several times before, still manages to impress: that’s primarily thanks to the user-interface, which is GPS-focused enough to truly feel like a real PND/smartphone hybrid.
More hands-on shots of the G60 and M20 – plus hands-on feedback – after the cut
While the two facts we’d really like to know about the freshly-christened Garmin-ASUS nuvifone G60 – price and release date – are still a mystery, the pair of manufacturers are at least spilling a few more specification details before the handset goes on show at MWC next week. As well as the 3.55-inch touchscreen and 3G HSDPA connectivity, we now hear the G60 will have a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging, as with the nuvifone M20, together with internet-connected GPS navigation including turn-by-turn directions, preloaded maps for North America or Eastern and Western Europe, and automatic route recalculation.
As promised, the first new devices out of the Garmin-ASUS partnership are beginning to show their hand. First up is the Garmin-ASUS nuvifone M20, a 2.8-inch touchscreen Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro device with dualband HSDPA, triband GSM and WiFi b/g. In keeping with the pairing’s obsession with location-based services (LBS), GPS and navigation get top billing: it comes preloaded with maps and points of interest (POIs) – hotels, restaurants, stores, fuel stations and more – for North America, Eastern and Western Europe, together with turn-by-turn voice prompts and auto route-recalculation.
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