Garmin Nüvifone

Garmin Nüvifone

Manufacturer	Garmin
Compatible networks	Quad-band GSM GPRS/EDGE HSDPA
Availability by country	10/4/2009 (AT&T)
Form factor	Candybar Smartphone
Data inputs	touchscreen
Display	3.5 in, color LCD
Connectivity	WiFi, Bluetooth[1]

The Garmin Nüvifone is a line of Internet-enabled mobile phone and personal navigation devices manufactured by a partnership between Garmin and Asus. It makes use of a touchscreen with virtual keyboards and buttons. The product was announced on January 30, 2008 and only a prototype (presumably not fully functional) was available at the time.

Nüvifone is a 3G hybrid handset that can be docked into a vehicle mount. Once snapped onto the vehicle mount, it can automatically kick in the embedded GPS navigation and simultaneously enable hands-free calls. It is featured with a geotagging built-in camera that can help recipients of the geocoded photograph trace to where the photos were taken.^[2]

According to the first press release by Garmin, it was expected to be made available to market in the third quarter of 2008.^[3] A later speculation pointed to the second half of 2009.

In February 2009 it was announced that the Nüvifone would be launched as the Garmin-Asus Nüvifone G60, as part of a series of forthcoming Garmin-Asus Nüvifone devices.^[4] AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the Nuvifone.^[5]

The next device in the series was the Garmin-Asus Nüvifone M20. This has a 640x480 pixel VGA touchscreen, runs Windows Mobile 6.1, offers triband GSM/EGPRS + HSPA and WiFi connectivity, plus an accelerometer, a 3MP camera, 256MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM and 4GB (8GB in some territories) of storage. The processor is a Qualcomm 7200A chip operating at 528 MHz. It also links into Garmin’s Ciao! location-based social networking application.^[6]

In 2010, Garmin announced it will stop making nüvifones altogether.^[7]

List of Garmin cell phones

Name	OS	Release Date	Availability
nuvifone G60	Proprietary (Linux)	October 4, 2009	US(AT&T)
asus	Windows Mobile 6.5.3	cost- $550.00	Asia/Europe
nuvifone M10	Windows Mobile 6.5	cost- 180.00 €	Asia/Europe
nuvifone M20	Windows Mobile 6.1		Asia/Europe
nuvifone A10	Android 1.6/2.1 Eclair		Asia/Europe
nuvifone A50/Garminfone	Android 1.6/2.1 Eclair (update)	June 9, 2010	US(T-Mobile)

See also

• Dashtop mobile

References

1. ^ Announcement summary on Engadget
2. ^ InformationWeek
3. ^ Press release
4. ^ i4u
5. ^ AT&T the exclusive carrier Garmin official site
6. ^ Pocket Picks: Garmin-Asus impresses with its M20 navigation meets smartphone
7. ^ Garmin to stop offering cell phones

External links

• Garmin-Asus
• nüvifone
• Garmin's UK Blog
• nüvifone on Garmin UK
• Pocket Picks photo gallery from MWC 08
• Pocket Picks photo gallery from MWC 09