Camera Phones Plaza

There were many rumors about the Nuvifone G60, a Garmin cell phone that was said to be the result of the collaboration between Garmin and Asus, and about its release which didn’t become reality due to unknown reasons. However, after being delayed so many times, the Nuvifone G60 has been announced. Finally, some might say.

The phone is expected to become available in the Taiwanese market at first, starting this month. The release date is said to be July 27, meaning tomorrow. In addition, the same handset will be launched in two other countries by the end of next month (August, to be more precise). The two countries are Malaysia and Singapore.

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But the plans made by the Garmin-Asus alliance, if I may call it this way, are more complex than just that. It seems that August will be the month to release another device, the Nuvifone M20, a smartphone based on the Windows Mobile. It is expected to hit several markets, from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

As for the release of both handsets in the European continent, we sure hope that customers will have the chance to buy them by the end of this year.

As for the prices, we don’t know right now the details, but we can wait for tomorrow for new information.

(Source: UnwiredView)

You probably remember the nüvifone M20, the last product that resulted from the collaboration between Garmin and Asus, a phone that followed closely the footsteps of the first Garmin cell phone that was ever built, the G60 (the team that built it was exactly the same).

It seems now that the Taiwan-based company persists in announcing Asus-only-branded handsets, despite the alliance between Asus and Garmin.

Therefore, Asus has just unveiled the Asus P835, which is said to be the best PDA phone that one can find in the market, which was “designed for business-savvy professionals”. The design of this new phone is quite simple and elegant, as you can see for yourselves, and it’s based on a better version of the Asus Glide interface, which is said to be “the most innovative, intuitive and interactive mobile user interface available today”. Not to mention the fact that “new Glide has been given a significant facelift over its predecessor, boasting new icons that can take the beauty and interactivity of the interface up a notch – making the best even better”.

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As far as the features are concerned, they include: quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), a tri band UMTS/HSPA connectivity (900/1900/2100 MHz) that enables fast HSUPA 7.2 Mbps download speeds and 2Mbps upload speeds, the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, an on-screen QWERTT keyboard, a 3.5 inch TFT touchscreen with 65k colors and a WVGA resolution of 800x400 pixels, USB v2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR connectivity, Opera browser, Wi-Fi Access point, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and video capabilities, assisted GPS, Qualcomm 7201A 528MHz processor, an internal memory of 4GB and microSD card slot.

Measuring 115x59x13.8 millimeters and weighing 148 grams, the phone provides no more than 6 hours on 3G networks or 7 hours on 2G networks and up to 350 hours of stand-by time.

Unfortunately, Asus didn’t unveil information about pricing and availability, but we sure hope that we will get to see what the Taiwanese company says it’s the best PDA phone very soon.

(Source: Press release)

After announcing the first Garmin cell phone ever built, the G60, the collaboration between Garmin and Asus seems to be more prolific than most of us would have expected it to be. The co-branded alliance decided to announce one more device, the nüvifone M20, which is an all-in-one phone, combining a mobile web browser, excellent navigation system, and not to mention the Windows Mobile operating system.

The phone is expected to be presented at the 2009 edition of the Mobile World Congress which is to be held in Barcelona.

As far as the features are concerned, they include: a combination between a dual-band 3.5G with a tri-band GSM, Wi-Fi connectivity, internet browser similar to the one used when surfing on desktops, push email, document viewing, Bluetooth connectivity, Garmin sat nav, a full QWERTY soft keyboard, location based services (also known as LBS), Ciao!, “a ground-breaking LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks”, a 2.8 inch TFT touch lens VGA display with a resolution of 640x480 pixels, a 3 megapixel camera with geotagging (it means that the images are given the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates), integrated microphone and speakers and 4GB/8GB of internal memory.

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As I said earlier, the Garmin cell phone is said to show its face at the MWC 2009 (which is to take place starting next Monday), while details about pricing and availability will be given to the large public by the end of the first semester of 2009.

(Source: Press release)

There were many rumors circulating on the Internet concerning a collaboration between Garmin and Asus (ever since last summer), but the news wasn’t official until a couple of days ago, when the two companies made the highly anticipated announcement. This means that they teamed up with one purpose and one purpose only in mind, more precisely to co-develop the first ever Garmin-branded cell phone. This is the main purpose, of course, because, as a secondary goal, they will develop a couple of mobiles phones based on location, which are expected to become available sometime this year.

In the given context, prepare yourselves for the first Garmin cell phone, which will be released under the name of Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60. The device will be equipped with the following features: a quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA, a very large display which is touch-sensitive and comes with a virtual QWERTY keyboard, the Garmin-branded software for navigation (it has turn-by-turn directions), pre-loaded maps and a great number of applications based on location, Wi-Fi connectivity, Webkit-based HTML browser and Stereo Bluetooth.

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“We believe that converged devices are an emerging opportunity”, said Dr. Min Kao, chairman and CEO of Garmin LTD. In addition, he said that “this alliance is advantageous to both companies because it allows us to combine our resources and establish a strong foundation from which we will innovate and introduce the world to the benefits of LBS-centric mobile phones. We’ve been working with ASUS for over one year on the initial nüvifone that was announced in 2008 on the basis of an ODM relationship. Learning from this experience, we concluded that by leveraging and combining our respective industry-leading areas of expertise at a higher level, we will be able not only to significantly expand our product line, but also to shorten our product development time”.



If the collaboration between Garmin and Asus was unveiled to the large public during a press conference that took place in Taiwan, on February 4, the first ever Garmin cell phone will be presented at the Mobile World Congress that will be held in Barcelona.

(Source: Press release)

ASUS is known as a late entrant to the smartphone game, but that doesn’t mean they’re slow learner. More than that, rumors say that the company will be launching an Android-based phone during the first half of 2009. It makes sense, if you think about it. This is an Android-handsets era that we’re facing nowadays, and everyone should consider the Google platform if they want to exist. If rumors are correct, then Asustek Computer (one of the three companies Asus split into on January 3, 2008; the other two were Pegatron and Unihan) is considering such an option.

We already know that ASUS was invited to join the Open Handset Alliance and DigiTimes is now reporting that the company is, in fact, planning to launch an Android-based handset. Rumors also say that the device will most probably be released in Taiwan first, under ASUS’s own brand, before selling it overseas.

In other news, the company sources also noted that Asustek plans to gradually phase out EMP-based (Ericsson Mobile Platform) handsets and instead will switch to handset platforms from Qualcomm and Marvell.

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While launching its 3.5G P552w PDA phone in the Taiwan market on October 28, Asustek plans to launch one 3G handset built using Qualcomm’s dual-core solutions in the first quarter of next year, the sources noted. All of this is pretty exciting and even if the handset market is actually crowded, there are many manufacturers who dare to use the Android and to put their hopes up about putting their own unique stamp on the powerful platform. Asustek’s shipments of smartphones in the Taiwan market totaled 30,000 units in the first nine months of this year, and the company expects the annual shipment volumes to reach 40,000 units by year-end.



Now, if you had to choose one company and one company only to produce a Google Android handset, which would you choose?

(Source gadgets.boingboing.net)