Garmin-Asus had its Nuvifone G60 and Nuvifone M20 smartphones on display at GSMA 2009, and they weren't behind glass cases this time. Take a look at our hands-on photo gallery.
The Garmin-Asus booth at Mobile World Congress 2009. The two companies recently formed an alliance to develop and distribute co-branded GPS-enabled smartphones to be known as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone series.
2 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60
The original Garmin Nuvifone, which was unveiled over a year ago, has now been rebranded as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60. Unlike last year's GSMA, we actually got to see a working model of the G60. This is the smartphone's main screen. The Call, Search, and View Map menu options will be carried throughout the Nuvifone series.
3 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Full navigation capabilities
The Nuvifone G60, as well as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20, will come preloaded with maps and points of interest and will offer turn-by-turn voice-guided directions and automatic recalculation, just like Garmin's in-car GPS.
4 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Connected Services
The Nuvifones include a featured called Connected Services that provides such information as real-time traffic data, weather forecasts, White Page listings, movie times, and more.
5 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Live search
With Connected Services, you'll also be able to perform live searches. The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 features an HTML browser based on a Webkit platform and can connect via Wi-Fi or a cellular connection.
6 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Onscreen keyboard
The Nuvifone G60 has a 3.5-inch, 272x480 WQVGA touch screen and a soft QWERTY keyboard. To enter a destination, you can manually enter an address, search for a POI, or use an address from your phone's contact list.
7 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Smartphone features
In addition to the navigation capabilities, the Nuvifone G60 is a Linux-based smartphone that supports Outlook e-mail and Calendar support and document viewing.
8 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Phone capabilities
The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) handset that also supports tri-band HSDPA (850/1900/2100). The company has not announced whether the G60 will be offered by a carrier, though it did say it's in talks with service providers.
9 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20
The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 is the second model in the Nuvifone series. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition, and features a 2.8-inch VGA touch screen with an accelerometer and onscreen QWERTY keyboard. The M20 will be offered in various colors and in two storage capacities: 4GB or 8GB.
10 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Camera capabilities
The Nuvifone M20 is equipped with a 3-megapixel camera that can record videos and geotag photos.
11 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Nice and thin
The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 is a nice, compact handset. It measures 3.7 inches high by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick. The screen looked really sharp and vibrant, though slightly on the smaller side at 2.8 inches.
12 of 12 Bonnie Cha/CNET Networks
Ciao!
The Garmin-Asus Nuvifones will ship with a new application called Ciao! that lets you see your friends' whereabouts by linking location-centric social networks and then showing friends' locations on a map. You'll then be able navigate to their locations from there.
