NaviGadget

nuviphone G60: everything you need to know

Feb 4, 2009 asus, garmin, gps navigation, phones

Here is some background info: We first talked about the nuviphone just about a year ago. By February 2008 we saw first nuviphone videos. By May that year we were almost sure it would come out before the holiday season. We were wrong. Then we thought there was a ‘white nuviphone‘ too. That turned out to be a photoshop job :)

By June 2008 we knew Asus would be involved with the manufacturing – and we also enjoyed some live videos. We knew something was up by July – rumors started about not seeing the device until ealy 2009. By October that was no longer a rumor. Then came December. Just as we were forgetting about nuviphone, some FCC documents gave us hope. This is when we first heard of the G60 model name.

That brings us to February 2009. Just today, Garmin, along with Asus announced their strategic alliance and rebranded the unreleased nuviphone to be known as Garmin-Asus Nuviphone G60. No technical details are revealed but they at least included some nice PR pics – all of which are included here. Oh, and the release date? Still first of half of 2009 as they mention on their brand new site garminasus.com.

Their new alliance is ready to reveal nuviphone G60 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (Feb 16-19) and also they say they will be announcing several nuviphone models in 2009.

There are rumors about G60 still using its Linux based OS, but the upcoming devices from nuviphone series may switch to Windows Mobile.

Here are the features of nuviphone G60 – binned into three categories:

Connect:

• Quad-band voice, tri-band data for anywhere, everywhere voice and high-speed wireless Internet
• Wi-Fi b/g with WPA encryption
• Desktop web experience with full HTML browser
• Location-based applications, including real-time traffic information, gas prices, flight times, weather and more

Communicate:

• Geo-tagged SMS, email and photo sharing
• Ciao! Location-based Social Networking platform that integrates compatible social networks into one easy-to-use interface
• Large screen with portrait and landscape view of each screen and virtual QWERTY keyboard on touchscreen

Navigate:

• Award-winning Garmin navigation experience, with voice prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speaks street names
• Optimized for pedestrian or automobile use with included car mount
• One-step navigation from contacts, email and local search results
• “Where am I?” safety feature displays your current address and nearest police, hospital and fuel services in one click
• Pedestrian mode for in-hand navigation

As of this writing GRMN is up about 2%.