The company also claims to have “received positive demand from the consumer market” though without actual statistics it’s not clear exactly how “positive” that demand has been.  Long delayed and found underwhelming by reviewers when it finally debuted, the Garmin nuvifone has strong PND functionality but is generally outclassed by rival touchscreen handsets when it comes to other applications.

The M10 will hit stores sometime in the first half of 2010. An exact retail price for the handset is not offered and there are no details on a launch of the device in the US or anywhere other than Asia and Europe. We have talked about the M10 before, but in case you missed it, I will run down the specs below.

The M10 is a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 smartphone with a 3.5-inch WVGA touch screen. The handset uses an onscreen virtual keyboard and has 4GB of storage. The M10 also has 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Power comes from a 1500mAh battery, and the device supports WiFi and HSDPA connectivity. The M10 has full turn-by-turn GPS navigation thanks to Garmin.

The A50 sports a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen with an onscreen QWERTY keyboard. The handset has 4GB of internal storage and storage can be expanded via a microSD card slot. The handset also has an accelerometer and full turn-but-turn GPS navigation courtesy of Garmin.

The A50 GPS uses satellite, network, and terrestrial sources to get location information for tracking in all situations. The device can synchronize with Microsoft Exchange. The camera built into the A50 has 3MP resolution and can geotag images and sports autofocus. The A50 will ship first in Europe and specific availability and pricing will be offered later.

Via Android Community

That gets you a 3-megapixel autofocus camera with GPS geotagging, the UI from Garmin’s standalone PND range and both 3G access together with AT&T’s WiFi hotspots.  For a further $5.99 per month you can have the so-called “Premium Connected Services”, which nets you traffic updates for the PND app, weather reports, movie and local events listings and fuel prices, together with white pages access.  You know, the sort of stuff you can find online.

It’s hard not to look at the nuvifone G60 and think “you’re a bit too late”.  If the handset had arrived a year or so ago, when Garmin first said it would, then this could’ve been the flag-bearer for the location-centered mobile world.  Now it’s looking a bit old-hat, frankly.

Press Release:

AT&T and Garmin Announce a New Mobile Navigation Era with nuvifone, the Navigation Phone

The Garmin nüvifone™ G60 Coming Soon to AT&T Customers

Dallas, Texas, Olathe, Kansas, September 29, 2009

AT&T* and Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) today announced the Garmin nüvifone G60 will be available beginning October 4 only for AT&T customers in the U.S. in AT&T stores and online at www.wireless.att.com.

The nüvifone G60 provides one of the easiest-to-use location experiences available because it is the only phone to fully integrate the world’s best selling GPS navigator with voice, data and mobile web.

“Personal navigation devices are already all about mobility and taking the Garmin experience everywhere as your mobile phone is truly compelling for customers who travel often,” said Michael Woodward, vice president, Mobile Phone Portfolio, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We expect the nüvifone to be the guide for local restaurants, the least-expensive gas and the nearest coffee shop for many customers.”

”The nüvifone weaves location into nearly every facet of its functionality making it ideal for people who depend on location to navigate everyday life,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “The nüvifone has Garmin’s easy-to-use interface, so navigating to a meeting directly from its calendar or contacts pages, or geotagging an email or photograph with a location stamp, is intuitive, useful and fun”.

Navigate with turn-by-turn guidance
The nüvifone G60 has the same core features as a high-end Garmin nüvi® and comes preloaded with maps and millions of points of interest (POI) for North America. Customers who purchase a nüvifone will have everything that they need to use the device as an in-car navigation unit including a dashboard and windshield mount. The device can easily be mounted in the car or detached for portable navigational use.

Because the maps reside on the nüvifone customers always have access to navigation and they can receive turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions that speak street names to millions of destinations. If a turn is missed along the route, the nüvifone will automatically recalculate a route and get the user back on track. The nüvifone is able to provide reliable location information in the most challenging conditions because it has a real GPS receiver with Garmin’s HotFix™ technology and assisted GPS.

The nüvifone also has a “Where am I?” feature so users will know their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, intersection, hospital, police station and gas station with one touch of the screen. Another great feature of nüvifone is for users who cannot find their car in an unfamiliar spot or crowded parking lot, nüvifone will automatically mark the position in which it was last removed from the windshield mount.

Surf the web
Nüvifone customers are just one click away from a full HTML browser that can be accessed via the nation’s fastest 3G network, or AT&T’s more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. Garmin’s location link, which parses addresses on the web with latitude and longitude information, allows customers to easily navigate to addresses they discover on the web by simply touching the address. The touch-screen virtual keyboard which includes predictive text, is customizable to QWERTY or A to Z to allow customers to easily type in web addresses or send and receive text messages

Capture quality photos
The nüvifone G60 also includes a three megapixel camera with auto-focus. The camera automatically geotags images with an exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. Customers may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the geo-tagged image to others.

Stay connected
In addition to millions of preloaded POIs, customers can supplement the data with additional free and subscription content. The nüvifone includes free access to AT&T’s Yellow Pages, flight status and converter. Premium Connected Services gives customers subscription access to real-time traffic information, fuel prices, White Pages, weather and more.

Price and Availability

The nüvifone G60 will be available in AT&T stores or at www.wireless.att.com on October 4 for $299 with a two year service agreement after $100 mail-in-rebate. Nüvifone Premium Connected Services which includes traffic updates, white pages, weather, movie, local events and fuel price content are available for $5.99/month after a 30-day trial.

For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com.

Additional information about the nüvifone product line is available at www.nuvifone.com.

1 Coverage not available in all areas. Other terms and conditions apply.
2 AT&T Promotion Card: Card valid for 120 days wherever major credit cards accepted. May be used to pay wireless bill. Not redeemable for cash and cannot be used at ATMs or gas pumps. Some restrictions and other charges apply. See terms at store or at att.com/wirelessrebate. Limited-time offer. Other conditions & restrictions apply. See contract, rate plan brochure and rebate form at store for details. Subscriber must live & have a mailing address within AT&T’s owned wireless network coverage area. Up to $36 activation fee applies. Equipment price & avail may vary by market and may not be available from independent retailers. Messaging or Data package may be cancelled anytime. Early Termination Fee: None if cancelled in the first 30 days, but a restocking fee up to $20 may apply; thereafter up to $175. Some agents impose additional fees. Allow 60 days for fulfillment of AT&T Promotion Card. You must be customer for 30 consecutive days to receive Promotion Card. Offer expires November 21, 2009.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Problem is, the nuvifone M20 isn’t quite good enough at both to make it preferable over, say, an ASUS smartphone and a Garmin standalone PND.  The 2.8-inch VGA display doesn’t react to ambient light, and so is instantly washed out in bright sunlight – no good for pedestrian navigation, then – and the buttons are hard to press.

To make matters worse, the GPS is very slow to grab a signal – around three minutes, in fact – and address entry isn’t handled very gracefully; you’ll be pecking for some time at the tiny onscreen keyboard.  The M20 feels sluggish, too, with panning maps producing stuttery visuals.  Meanwhile images are “the worst we had ever taken with a 3-megapixel camera” and you’ll need an adapter to use your own headphones with the mediaplayer app.  In short, it’s expensive, untalented and late; not a great showing for Garmin-ASUS’ first shipping smartphone.

It also has a comprehensive sat-nav app from Garmin, which the company is hoping will differentiate the smartphone from rival devices.  Pricing in Taiwin is unknown, but Garmin-ASUS are expected to launch the handset in the Asia-Pacific region over the next few months, as well as Europe in the second half of 2009.  No US launch is expected.

Release schedules for the nuvifone G60 have been something of a running joke over the past year, with the handset first tipped to arrive in Q2 2008.  It’s a quadband GSM, triband (850/1900/2100) HSDPA 3.6Mbps device, with WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, a 3-megapixel autofocus camera and, of course, GPS.  It runs Garmin’s custom software on top of a Linux core, with a 3.55-inch resistive touchscreen and up to 4hrs talktime.

As for the M20, that runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and has dualband HSPA (900/2100), WiFi b/g, Bluetooth and a 3-megapixel autofocus camera.  Its display is smaller, at 2.8-inches, still resistive, and there’s GPS for geotagging and navigation.  No prices for either device have been released.

The release ties into a preview piece from a Malaysian site [via GPSTracklog] published earlier this week, with more screenshots than you could hope for and, in the short time they had to play, generally positive feedback.  You can check out our hands-on with the two nuvifone models here. 

Press Release:

Garmin-Asus nüvifone™ Available for Purchase in Asia

CAYMAN ISLANDS & TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), announced that the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 will go on sale in Taiwan on July 27, and in Singapore and Malaysia by the end of August. Also in August, the Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20 will go on sale in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

“We can’t wait for our customers to start using a nüvifone,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “Our lives are all about location. The nüvifone is designed around that premise and that’s what differentiates it from the myriad of other phones on the market.”

“Whether it’s talking and navigating simultaneously, geotagging a photograph or navigating to an address on the web, the nüvifone seamlessly links navigation with other commonly performed activities,” said Benson Lin, Asus Vice President and General Manager of Handheld Business Group.

The Navigation Phone

The Garmin-Asus nüvifone series is a breakthrough product line that integrates navigation and location based services (LBS) like no other phone in the market today. It is ideal for those seeking an all-in-one, LBS-centric touchscreen phone, mobile web-browser and personal navigator. The nüvifone G60 and M20 have touchscreen displays that feature three primary icons – “Call,” “Search” and “View Map.” Customers can easily scroll through the other icons by swiping their finger across the displays, and a built-in accelerometer allows every screen to be viewed in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Navigate Wherever, Whenever

The nüvifone G60 and M20 come with preloaded maps of North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or specific Asia-Pacific regions. Since the maps reside on the nüvifone, customers will receive turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions to millions of destinations without accessing their carrier’s data plan. The nüvifone G60 and M20 utilize a real GPS receiver with hotfix, in addition to A-GPS (assisted GPS), so that customers always have directions at their fingertips, regardless of if they are in their provider’s coverage area.

Just as with Garmin’s acclaimed nüvi® product line, the nüvifone series has millions of preloaded points of interest (POIs) including hotels, restaurants and street addresses. The POIs can be easily accessed for turn-by-turn voice prompted directions. If a turn is missed along the route, the nüvifone G60 and M20 will automatically recalculate a route and get the user back on track. The nüvifone also offers a “Where am I?” feature so that users will know their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, intersection, hospital, police station and gas station with one touch of the screen. And to help them find their car in an unfamiliar spot or crowded parking lot, the nüvifone automatically marks the position in which it was last removed from the windshield mount. The nüvifone comes with a unique suction cup mount cradle that fastens to the windshield and will also charge the device while it is being used.

Connect and Communicate

Although navigation is a key component of the nüvifone series, the devices do more than “just navigate.” Both the nüvifone G60 and M20 incorporate top-of-the-line phone capabilities with premium features such as 3.5G data connectivity, SMS text messaging, email, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more.

The nüvifone G60 and M20 have a full HTML browser that customers can easily zoom in or pan with their finger, and pages may be viewed in either portrait or landscape. Users can surf the web on their phone via Wi-Fi or 3G networks, and the pages are presented similar to a PC browser.

Everything You Need

Customers will also enjoy the benefit of location-based services seamlessly integrated with nüvifone’s intuitive user interface and turn-by-turn navigation. Users can supplement the preloaded POI data with Internet enabled local searches and automatically navigate around traffic congestion while seeing the estimated traffic delay along their route. Other services include weather, gas prices, flight status, local events, movie times, Ciao!™and more (content pricing and availability may vary by country).

The nüvifone G60 and M20 include a built-in camera with auto-focus. The camera automatically geotags images with an exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location or email the geo-tagged image to others. The nüvifone also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through select picture sharing site, which are searchable and are sorted by the distance from the current location.

Specifications

nüvifone G60 nüvifone M20
2G Connectivity Quad-band GSM / GPRS / Edge 850/900/1800/1900 Tri-band GSM / GPRS / Edge 900/1800/1900
3G Connectivity 850/1900/2100 HSDPA 3.6 Mbps 900/2100 HSPA 7.2 Mbps
Other Connectivity 802.11 b/g WLAN, Bluetooth, HFP, HSP, AVRCP, A2DP mini-USB 2.0 802.11 b/g WLAN, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, HFP, HSP, A2DP, AVRCP, mini USB 2.0
OS Linux (closed platform) Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (Upgradeable to WM 6.5)
Camera 3MP camera with auto-focus and geo-tagging 3MP camera with auto-focus and geo-tagging
Dimensions 112 x 58.1 x 14.6 mm 95.3 x 52.5 x 12.8 mm
Display 3.55″, 65K, anti-glare resistive touchscreen 2.8″, 65K, TFT with touch lens
Email POP3 / IMAP4 / SMTP Push / Enterprise / POP3 / IMAP4 / SMTP
Internet HTML browser based on Webkit platform OPERA browser, HTML, WAP 1.2.1/2.0
Messaging SMS SMS / MMS / IM
Talk Time Up to 4 hours 3G: Up to 3.5 hours / 2G: Up to 2.8 hours

Price and Availability

The nüvifone G60 will be available in Taiwan on July 27, and in Singapore and Malaysia by the end of August. The nüvifone G60’s distribution strategy for the Asia-Pacific market will differ by country. In Asia, it will be available through carriers and retail channels. The nüvifone G60 is on schedule for delivery in Europe and the United States in the second half of 2009, and additional details about pricing, availability and carriers will be announced in the coming months.

The nüvifone M20 will be available in August in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The nüvifone M20’s distribution strategy for the Asia-Pacific market will differ by country. In Asia, it will be available through carriers and retail channels. The nüvifone M20 is on schedule for delivery in Europe in the second half of 2009, and additional details about pricing, availability and carriers will be announced in the coming months.

Additional information about the nüvifone product line is available at www.GarminAsus.com.

About Garmin-Asus

Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.

About Garmin Ltd.

The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200.

About ASUS

ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100,” and has been on the listing for 12 consecutive years.

ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks, and nüvifone and Ciao! are trademarks, of Garmin Ltd.

All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

“Smartphones are complicated and bringing one to market that’s built totally from the ground up on a custom Linux platform is not an easy task” Cliff Pemble, president and COO, Garmin

Rumors earlier this year tipped a June arrival for the nuvifone G60, but according to Garmin the handset is currently in certification testing.  It’s unclear whether the nuvifone M20, which runs the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS and therefore should be a more familiar prospect for Garmin’s hardware-partner ASUS, will also be delayed.

Garmin are insisting that carriers are still “very interested” in the nuvifone G60, and that they still envisage GPS-enabled smartphones to be a key element in their business plan.  Customer sales in the US for Garmin’s business overall rose 20-percent in Q1 2009.

[via Navigadget]

We got to see it at Mobile World Congress, and the Nuviphone will be making its debut as the G60. The Nuviphone’s GPS origins will allow it to make use of location-based applications like no other device has before. In addition to this, the phone can send messages pegged with GPS coordinates to say to the recipient “Hey, I’m right here,” making it super difficult to ditch your family at Six-Flags, I mean, making it easy to find them.

Garmin won’t stop with the G60 either. They’re expected to launch the G20 WinMo based phone soon after the G60.

[Via Reuters]

More hands-on shots of the G60 and M20 – plus hands-on feedback – after the cut

The three main icons on the homescreen have a scrolling menu bar down the right-hand side, with Garmin’s new Ciao! app being the most obvious addition.  Garmin confirmed that Ciao! uses location-based services such as Buddy Beacon, although you need a nuvifone in order to use Ciao!  The G60′s accelerometer works throughout the OS – something we wish other handset manufacturers would follow suit on – flipping orientation between portrait and landscape, and it’s in the latter when the G60 feels most like a PND.  There’s no hardware home key, which seems like the one true interface mistake; instead you long-hold the on-screen ’back’ button to return to the main menu.

As for the Garmin-ASUS nuvifone M20, it’s a somewhat less impressive handset than the G60.  That’s perhaps because it’s more obviously a Windows Mobile 6.1 device; smaller than the G60, and available in a range of pleasing metallic colors, there’s a new custom homescreen but it’s less distinctive (and less standalone-PND) than the original nuvifone.  Nonetheless, there’s the same range of location-based services, including Ciao! and the integration of GPS with contacts.  Appointments, in fact, are particularly slickly coupled with location: not only do schedule items have a link from their location, but they also indicate weather forecasts for that area in the day agenda list.  It feels a solid little device, though we’re not sure it’s as convincing a product as the G60.

We’ve got video of the two Garmin-ASUS handsets processing, with demos of some of the features and more details on availability.  We’ll add them in as soon as they’re edited and ready; until then, enjoy the live pictures!

Points of Interest (POIs) are automatically updated with the latest information, and there’s also access to real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.  As with the M20, Garmin-ASUS have included Ciao! support on the G60, a social-network-connected location-based service that can map out friends’ locations, similar to Google Latitude.

If most of this sounds like functionality that’s already available on standard smartphones or high-end PNDs, it might be Garmin-ASUS’ little tweaks that make all the difference to the G60′s usability.  The main menu has been boiled down to just “Call, “Search,” and “View Map”, and GPS data can be included in everything from email, SMS, photo sharing and social networking to the G60 automatically remembering where it was removed from the included windscreen mount so as to navigate you back to your car.  During a call, a “Where am I?” option appears on-screen: when selected, it automatically displays the exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, intersection, hospital, police station and gas station.

We’ll still have to wait to hear on availability and price – which Garmin-ASUS are promising to reveal in the first half of the year – but hopefully we’ll get a chance to play with some of these newly-revealed features at MWC next week.

Press Release:

Garmin-Asus nüvifone™ Product Line on Display at Mobile World Congress: Garmin-Asus announce nüvifone G60 specifications

BARCELONA, Spain/February 12, 2009/Business Wire — Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), will feature the Garmin-Asus nüvifone product line at its co-branded exhibit at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 16-19, 2009 (Hall 7, #7C37). The Garmin-Asus nüvifone product line currently includes the newly announced nüvifone M20 and nüvifone G60.

The Garmin-Asus nüvifone product line represents a significant step forward in location based service (LBS) technology and offers a superior and innovative value proposition for those seeking an all-in-one, LBS-centric phone, mobile web-browser and personal navigator. Although every Garmin-Asus nüvifone has LBS at its core, each device has unique characteristics because they’re designed for specific audiences. The nüvifone G60 is designed for the active on-the-go user who wants an easy-to-use device and appreciates the peace of mind that comes from a device that answers common questions like “Where am I?”, “Where am I going?” and “How do I get home?”

The quad-band GSM nüvifone G60 with 3.5G was designed for high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) networks and supports Wi-Fi for fast data connections. When used on a HSDPA network, the nüvifone G60 has the ability to download files at a fast transfer speed that makes internet searches and downloading large files a breeze.

The nüvifone G60 has a large 3.55-inch display that features three primary icons – “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map.” Secondary icons appear on the side of the home screen and can be organized by the user’s preference. Customers can easily scroll through the icons by swiping their finger across the large touchscreen display, and a built-in accelerometer allows every screen to be viewed in either portrait or landscape orientation.

The nüvifone G60 was developed with an LBS-centric design philosophy. Location information is added to everyday applications including email, SMS, photo sharing, social networking and more in order to enhance applications and share location information with others.

Navigation is at the heart of the nüvifone G60. The nüvifone G60’s sat nav operates like a Garmin nüvi® with preloaded maps of North America or Eastern and Western Europe, and has millions of points of interest (POIs) including hotels, restaurants and street addresses. The POIs can be easily accessed for turn-by-turn voice prompted directions. If a turn is missed along the route, the nüvifone G60 automatically recalculates a route and gets the user back on track. In addition, the nüvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search. The nüvifone harnesses the power of the worldwide web and information about local merchants and attractions is continually updated.

Users can also supplement the POI data with LBS-centric applications from Connected Services, a suite of online applications and dynamic relevant data from Garmin-Asus that adds location intelligence to navigation, phone and browser functions. The expandable list of applications and content includes real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.

The nüvifone product line also includes Ciao!™, a ground-breaking LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks. Through Ciao!, nüvifone users will see their friends’ location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease. Nüvifone users can also choose to have the nüvifone automatically update their social network location information.

The nüvifone G60 features an advanced mobile HTML web browser. Users can surf the web on their phone via Wi-Fi or 3G networks, and the information is presented similar to a PC browser. The nüvifone G60 supports POP3 and IMAP4 email such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. The touchscreen soft keyboard is customizable to QWERTY or A to Z, making it easy to send and receive messages. The nüvifone G60 also includes predictive text to help prevent typing errors.

The LBS-centric nature of the nüvifone G60 shines through when using the three megapixel camera with auto-focus. The camera automatically geotags images with an exact latitude and longitude reference of where the image was taken. The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the geo-tagged image to others. The nüvifone also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site. The Panoramio photos are searchable and are sorted by the distance from the current location.

Although cell phones have long been considered an important device for safety, the nüvifone G60 takes it one step further by allowing individuals to place calls and identify their exact GPS location while making a phone call. With one touch of the screen during a phone call, the “Where am I?” features tells users their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, intersection, hospital, police station and gas station. And to help drivers find their car in an unfamiliar spot or crowded parking lot, the nüvifone G60 automatically marks the position in which it was last removed from the windshield mount.

Garmin-Asus expects to announce the nüvifone G60’s pricing and availability in the first half of 2009. Journalists should contact Garmin-Asus media representatives to arrange product demonstrations or interviews. Additional information about the nüvifone product line is available at www.GarminAsus.com.

About Garmin-Asus
Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.

About Garmin Ltd.
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200.

About ASUS
ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. ASUS was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as No.1 in quality and service.

ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks, and nüvifone and Ciao! are trademarks, of Garmin Ltd.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

In addition, since there’s an always-on data connection, the M20 throws in traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times, together with links to social networking services with location mapping through Ciao!, which sounds quite a lot like Google Latitude.  Details are scarce, but there also looks to be a custom GUI on top of WM6.1, and we also now the nuvifone M20 will come with either 4GB or 8GB of storage, and a 3-megapixel camera with geotagging.

Garmin-ASUS will announce pricing and availability details for the nuvifone M20 in the first half of 2009; the product page is here.  They’ll be showing the M20 at MWC next week, so we’ll bring you live footage of the GPS-obsessed device from there. 

Press Release:

Garmin-Asus Introduces nüvifone™ M20

BARCELONA, Spain/February 12, 2009/Business Wire — Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), today announced the Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20, an all-in-one phone, mobile web-browser and premium navigation system with a Windows Mobile operating system. The Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20 will be on display at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 16-19, 2009, at the Garmin-Asus exhibit (Hall 7, #7C37).

As the first Garmin-Asus nüvifone powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise email, the sleek and colorful nüvifone M20 is designed for on-the-go professionals who want a fashionable and functional smartphone to manage their busy work and personal lives. This powerful device combines a dual-band 3.5G/tri-band GSM phone with Wi-Fi connectivity, desktop-like internet browser, push email, document viewing, multi-media capability, Bluetooth® and Garmin sat nav.

The nüvifone M20’s full QWERTY soft keyboard makes it easy to send and receive SMS, MMS and emails. The nüvifone M20 can also be synched with a computer so that contacts and emails are always available. HSDPA wireless connectivity and enterprise grade Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) ensure messages are sent and received quickly, including those with attachments.

Recognizing that location is relevant to every aspect of every day, the nüvifone M20 is designed with location based services (LBS) at its core and has the most advanced LBS experience of any Windows Mobile phone. Navigation functions are linked to frequently used applications such as calendar, contacts, email, internet applications and more, simplifying the nüvifone user’s day as they travel from one location to another.

The nüvifone M20 supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and offers a desktop-style web browsing experience. Users can zoom and pan web pages with their finger as they view the information in either portrait or landscape orientation. In addition, they can easily navigate to an address on a web page with only a few taps of the screen.

The GPS features of the nüvifone M20 usher in a level of sophistication never seen before on a Windows Mobile smartphone. It has the navigation capability of a premium Garmin nüvi® sat nav, and comes with preloaded maps and points of interest (POIs) – hotels, restaurants, stores, fuel stations and more – for North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or other regions. Selecting a destination is straightforward and requires limited input from the user. For example, users can search for a destination by typing in the specific name or address of an establishment, search by category, or navigate to addresses in the nüvifone M20’s contact database or on the web. The device then gives turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions and automatically recalculates if a turn is missed along the way. In addition, the nüvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search. The nüvifone harnesses the power of the worldwide web and information about local merchants and attractions is continually updated.

The nüvifone M20 takes GPS navigation one step further via Connected Services, a suite of online applications and data from Garmin-Asus that adds location intelligence to navigation, phone and browser functions. The expandable list of applications includes content like real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.

The nüvifone product line also includes Ciao!™, a ground-breaking LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks. Through Ciao!, nüvifone users will see their friends’ location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease. Nüvifone users can also choose to have the nüvifone automatically update their social network location information.

The nüvifone M20 has exceptional entertainment capabilities with the combination of a 2.8” TFT touch lens display, built-in microphone and speakers, built-in 4Gb/8Gb My Storage, and ActiveSync® for Outlook®, Microsoft® Office, and multi-media synchronization. The VGA (640×480) display brings action to life when watching video or looking at photographs. The three megapixel camera automatically geotags images with the exact latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Users can then save the image on their phone, email it to a friend, or navigate to where the image was taken.

Garmin-Asus expects to announce the nüvifone M20’s pricing and availability information in the first half of 2009. Journalists should contact Garmin-Asus media representatives to arrange product demonstrations or interviews. Additional information about the nüvifone product line is available at www.GarminAsus.com.

About Garmin-Asus
Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.

About Garmin Ltd.
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200.

About ASUS
ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. ASUS was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as No.1 in quality and service.

ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks, and nüvifone and Ciao! are trademarks, of Garmin Ltd.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.