Everyone’s still tapping their toe, waiting for the Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20 and G60, and the official line is that we’ll be seeing the GPS-centric smartphones before the end of the year and that Android was in the cards for future devices. Well, it looks like the G60 will be the one and only Linux-running nüvifone, as Garmin-Asus has gone on the line and said the Android and Windows Mobile baskets are where they’re putting all of their eggs from here on in. Considering Android itself is Linux-based, it will be interesting to see how or if it will replace Linux as a mobile OS. Android still has the publicity, and if one of Linux’s few selling points is a low cost (an area in which Android gleefully competes), we may be seeing more manufacturers making similar transitions in the near future.
Garmin had promised their Android phone would arrive in 2009 before, but considering their first announcements, the G60 and M20, had been delayed since then, it would have been reasonable to presume the Android schedule would have been kicked back. Not so, apparently - Jacqueline Yang, Asustek VP of Marketing, confirmed the Android nuvifone would be out before the first quarter of 2010. When I talked to the Garmin-Asus boys back at MWC about their navigation-focused handsets, they sounded fairly sure about Android, but the big question remained “when?” If the G60 and the Windows Mobile M20 can come out this summer, then an Android follow-up for Christmas could happen, but considering the pace at which things have been going so far, it sounds like a long shot.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised after plenty of earlier delays, but during a conference call, Garmin admitted that their two smartphones won’t make it until the second half of this year; the last rumour we had heard of a release date pointed to June, which sits dab-smack at the midpoint, but it’s easy to imagine that window widening into Q4 or even 2010.
This is yet another blow to the Garmin and ASUS’ nüvifone momentum, but focused location awareness is a niche few other manufacturers have chosen to tackle (the HTC Touch Cruise is the only handset that immediately jumps to mind), so perhaps they can actually afford to wait and make they get they get the job done right. Even if the launch of the Windows Mobile M20 and Linux G60 is only mediocre, there remains promise in an Android handset down the line, and after playing around with the handsets up to this point, I think an Android version will really hit the spot.
Garmin and ASUS have been hard at work on their nuvifone lineup. The Garmin-ASUS nuvifone M20 was recently launched as a slim GPS-centric smartphone powered by the Windows Mobile platform. But, the duo’s new-found smartphone aspirations don’t stop there. Garming-ASUS are putting the finishing touches on the bigger, and arguably better, nuvifone G60. And, rumor now has the Linux-powered nuvifone G60 launching in June!
The nuvifone G60 is actually the original nuvifone that Garmin announced way back in 2007. Garmin and ASUS have apparently needed the time to iron out all the kinks with its Linux-powered GPS-phone. But, according to an inside source, the nuvifone G60 should finally see the light of day in June. With a 3.55-inch touchscreen, 3G (HSDPA) connectivity, WiFi and GPS the nuvifone G60 will be a handset to watch.
ASUS has just launched the P835, rather impressive touchscreen device running Windows Mobile 6.1. The screen clocks in at 3.5″ and 800 x 480 pixels, and comes along with a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band EDGE and tri-band UMTS. Opera Mobile comes included, with navigation made possible by a trackball, and above all, it can be used as a Wi-Fi access point for up to 10 devices. Who needs a MiFi hub? The P835 is also featuring a new version of the Glide interface that revamps the old look. This would be the very same Omnia-fighter we spotted in September, and is certainly slick enough to butt heads with the big boys.
Gamin-Asus had announced their second nüvifone late last week before Mobile World Congress, and we got some time to play with it here at the show. Although there’s been a saddening lack of new Android devices here at the show, Asus has already confirmed that they’ll be doing something with it this year - the fact that the M20 is packing Windows Mobile shows that the nüvifone series will be hopping across lots of OSes. They’re pitching the M20 as an enterprise e-mail device, but as you can tell from the video, it’s a bit hard to swallow without a physical keypad. Regardless, the M20 is extremely slim and compact, while still offering all of the handy GPS-centric services of its bigger brother. The two should kick off the brand in the first half of this year, with more form factors on the way before 2010.
You’ve probably already heard that Garmin and Asus have formed a partnership to jointly develop location-aware smartphones. Today we have two news to report from the new company. Let’s roll, shall we?
First, we got the official specs of the G60, aka the original nüvifone. The Garmin-Asus’ smartphone will come with a quad-band GSM radio, HSDPA support, 3 megapixel camera, 3.55-inch 272×480 pixels touchscreen, “advanced mobile HTML web browser,” Wi-FI, and of course a built-in GPS receiver. Naturally, navigation is at the heart of the nüvifone G60, hence the device will come with preloaded maps of North America or Eastern and Western Europe, with millions of points of interest (POIs). In addition, the nüvifone also boasts Ciao!, an LBS app that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks.
Then, we learned about a new colorful phone called nüvifone M20 - an all-in-one device powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. Specs wise, there’s a Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) 7200A 528MHz CPU, 2.8-inch VGA (640×480 pixels) touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, 4Gb or 8Gb of built-in storage, WiFi, HSDPA, accelerometer, GPS. Again, Garmin’s navigation and maps come pre-loaded with the device and so does Ciao! LBS app.
Pricing and availability is unknown at this stage, but they’ve promised to release those details during the first half of 2009. In the meantime, if you happen to attend Mobile World Congress, Garmin-Asus should have both phones at display at their booth #7C37 in Hall 7.
Garmin’s GPS-centric nüvifone has been on the rocks for awhile, last aiming for an early 2009 release, but they have not only nailed down that timeframe, but also announced a full-blown partnership with Asus, and rebranding the device as the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60. The team-up isn’t totally uncalled for, since Asus was tapped earlier to produce the nüvifone, but it does cement Garmin’s commitment to getting into the smartphone game over the long term. Of course, Asus will continue doing their own thing too, since there’s been talk of an Ee Phone potentially running Android in their future. More info on Garmin-Asus will be available in about an hour from their conference call. We’ll be sure to get our hands on one of these at the 2009 Mobile World Congress coming up soon.
In a rather high-brow CES interview talking about a future where the TV becomes the focal point of all family activity and every single wall is a display, ASUSTek’s CEO Jonney Shih let slip of what he called an EE Phone, which would potential control all of these interfaces. When it comes to low-cost technology, it doesn’t get much cheaper than free, and that’s what Android is. It’s not like we haven’t heard of the possibility of such a handset coming out in March, or that ASUS has been giving Android some fresh looks. We really could use a few more Android manufacturers, that’s for sure.
File this under “rumors” as haven’t heard anything official from Asus, but apparently the Taiwan-based computer maker is planning to release an Eee-branded mobile phone in March of this year.
According to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), the launch of the low-cost Eee phone will be part of the company’s revised strategy to focus on the development of “affordable quality products” in the times of the global economic crisis. The source added that Asus planned to unveil such a phone during 2008, but has rescheduled its plans for some reason.
We’ll certainly be watching any news coming from Asus and as soon as we hear something about the specs — like which OS it will use — we’ll let you know. Stay tuned in the meantime…
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In a rather high-brow CES interview talking about a future where the TV becomes the focal point of all family activity and every single wall is a display, ASUSTek’s CEO Jonney Shih let slip of what he called an EE Phone, which would potential control all of these interfaces. When it comes to low-cost technology, it doesn’t get much cheaper than free, and that’s what Android is. It’s not like we haven’t heard of the 