Garmin-Asus Debuts Two Nuvifones
Last week, we told you about Garmin and ASUS’s new partnership that will result in co-branded, location-centric mobile phones. Now, the pair is revealing two new Nuvifones a few days before the Mobile World Congress trade show that begins on February 16th.
The two new models include a consumer-focused G60 and the more business-minded M20. Both units have navigational functions that are similar to those found on Garmin Nuvi personal navigation devices as well as Internet search capabilities for endless points of interest information.
The G60 will be a quad-band GSM phone with support for HSDPA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity. It has a 3.55-inch display and utilizes iPhone-like touch screen controls such as finger-swipe scrolling. The unit also has a built-in accelerometer and touch screen keyboard with predictive text. The G60 will run on a proprietary Linux platform. This phone supports POP3 and IMAP4 email such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail. It will also combine the phone’s GPS capabilities with its 3MP camera to automatically geo-tag images with location information. The phone incorporates social networking capabilities through the Ciao! Application. Traffic information, White Pages, weather, movie times, and local event data is available from Garmin-Asus’ Connected Services online applications.
The M20 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device with support for push email. It will offer a dual-band 3.5G/tri-band GSM radio and HDSPA along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. It will sport a QWERTY soft keyboard along with a 2.8-inch VGA touch lens display and 3MP camera with geo-tagging capabilities. It will also have 4GB/8GB My Storage. Because this is a more business-centric device than the G60, the M20 will have built-in document viewing capabilities as well as integration between the phone’s navigation functions and the device’s calendar, contacts, email, and Internet applications. The M20 also works with Ciao! and the Connected Services online application site.
Pricing and availability for both devices will be announced in the first half of this year.
