Garmin is a well known brand that makes some of the better GPS devices on the market. The company is set to launch new mobile phones with GPS as a feature front and center called the Nuvifone. The launch was expected last year but delays have kept that from happening.
Twice reports that at a shareholders meeting last week, Garmin said that the Nuvifone would be released on the open market in Asia this month or in early July. At the same time Garmin also said that the device is getting very close to a carrier launch of some models in America.
Garmin has teamed with Asustek to product two Nuvifone versions with one running G60 and the other Windows Mobile Pro. I can only hope that the phones are better than the last Asus GPS phone I used. An Android-based Nuvifone is expected next year.
[via Twice]
I have purchased the Asus 800Mhz P565 which was released last year and I have also had an opportunity to use the P835 from Asus. I must respectfully disagree with your opinion referring that either one of those phone were in any way shape or form are bad phones. The Asus P565 is the best XDA I have ever used. I load up all my Kanji software on it and use Garmin Mobile XT (using Upupdown’s Garmin Japan Map) for my navigation. I live and work in Japan and it has never failed me. This phone is the definition of quality and has sold extremely well in Asia. For the first 6 months after it’s launch you couldn’t find the P565 anywhere. I am looking very forward to this new phone and I know others are too. It will be the very first phone to come pre-installed with integrate maps directly on to the device without having to download them. So even if you are in the most remote place on earth, you will still be able to see the map and your present location. Still though, I couldn’t dis-agree more with your negative tone towards this company’s last couple of phones. I will use my phone until it is totally dead, I am totally happy and content with its abilities. The 800Mhz CPU gives me the ability to literally do things with my phone that iPhone, Blackberry and WM users can only dream about doing. Maybe the new 3GS iPhone can but that waits to be seen, also, there are literally 1000s freeware games and apps for Windows Mobile that just are not to be found anywhere else. Asus is the pinnacle of quality, and Garmin is the pinnacle of GPS, combine the two and you have a very special phone indeed. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone looks nice, but when you are spending thousands of dollars (in total after the two year or three year (in Canada) contract) on a contract that will last for years and mega dollars on music, apps, and games. It just isn’t worth it. This new Garmin-Asus phone in my humble opinion will revolutionize the market based on it’s ease of use and price point.
I find it interesting that Garmin is creating a phone based on different software platforms. Although Garmin is more focused on the underlying hardware, it’ll be interesting to see which software platform performs the best with their hardware.