Photos: Garmin-Asus Nuvifones M20 and G60

The Garmin Nuvifone, which was announced more than a year ago, has been rebranded as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60. It's a Linux-based, quad-band smartphone. Pricing and availability date will be announced during the first half of 2009.

The Nuvifone G60 as well as the new Nuvifone M20 will include a 3-megapixel camera with video recording and geotagging capabilities.

With the Garmin name behind it, obviously navigation is an important feature. The Nuvifone G60 and M20 come preloaded with maps and points of interest and offers turn-by-turn voice-guided directions and automatic route recalculation.

The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 is the second model in the Nuvifone series. The smartphone will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition with full e-mail support, document viewing, and Opera's HTML Web browser.

The tri-band GSM (850/1800/1900)/dual-band 3.5G (HSDPA 850/1900) M20 will also have integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Beyond the standard navigation features, Garmin-Asus offers something called Connected Services that provides such information as real-time traffic data, weather forecasts, and more. In addition, the companies announced a new application called Ciao! that lets you see your friends' whereabouts by linking location-centric social networks.

The Nuvifone M20 will be offered in various colors. Pricing and release date are expected to be announced during the first half of 2009.