By We waited FOREVER for Garmin-Asus to release their first phone and when they did, no Android was in tact. But the company’s are finally fulfilling their promise by launching the Garmin Nuvifone A50 and MobileBurn got a hands on opportunity:
Do you see the UI? That looks NOTHING like Android and is obviously heavily modified. It’s called the Breeze UI and is the same experience Garmin currently offers on their AT&T, non-Android Nuvifone. Speaking of which, no carriers have been announced but we would expect AT&T to be a sensible/viable option on launch.
As for specs:
- Networks: HSDPA Cat 8 7.2Mbps, HSPA / WCDMA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 21001, GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, GPRS EDGE Class 12
- Platform: Android 1.6 with Breeze UI
- CPU: Qualcomm 7227 ARM 11, 600MHz
- Memory: 4GB Flash + 256 MB SDRAM + 256 MB ROM
- Connectivity: WLAN 802.11b+g, USB v2.0 (HS), Bluetooth 2.1
- GPS: Qualcomm GPSOne, Assisted GPS, Aided GPS and standalone GPS supported
- Display: 3.5″, HVGA 320 x 480, TFT capacitive touch
- Camera: 3 Mega-Pixel, Auto Focus
- Others: Proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, e-compass, accelerometer
- Battery: 1150mAh Lithium Ion
- Standby Time: 250 hours
- Talk Time: up to 3 hours
- Expansion Slot: micro-SD™ (support SDHC)
- Browser: WebKit browser
- Messaging: SMS / IM / MMS
- Email: MAP, POP3, Exchange
- Exchange Support: Calendar, contacts, e-mail
- Video Playback: MPEG4 / H.264 / H.263 / WMV
- Video Recording: MPEG4 & H.263 with audio via AMR-NB
- Streaming: Audio / Video
- Audio/Ringtone: MP3 / WMA / AMR-NB / AAC / AAC+ / AAC+V2 / eAAC+, SP-MIDI
- Advance Navigation/LBS feature: European maps & POIs, Connected Services2, Indoor location3, Junction view with lane assist3, Where am I?, Where’s My Car Parked?, Track Logs & Route Planning
- Phone Applications: Google™ Search / Gmail™ / Google Calendar™ / Google Talk™ / Google Maps™ with Street View / YouTube™ / Picasa™ / Panoramio™ / Android Market™
I’m eager to learn more about the Breeze UI on this and it’ll be interesting to see how Garmin/ASUS position this… or the carriers they run on. How will the navigation experience compare to Google Navigation? Is this on your wish list?
Color me unimpressed…..
YES! Android 1.6! Finally! Move over Nexus One. There’s a new kid in town!
(The fact that it’s tied to AT&T hammers the last nail in the coffin for me)
Eh..I love the effort they put into the customization of 1.6, defiantly gave it fresh look but comon…were on 2.1 already…ill just stick with my rooted droid (which i have tethered right now for my laptop internet hehehe)
it doesn’t even have a LED-Flashlight – pffft
I was hoping so much on a hardware-wise amazing phone with QWERTY keyboard AND the Garmin navigation software.
But it’s just the Garmin navigation software on an outdated device with an old version of Android. :(
The HSPA specs look suspect: it seems to support all of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Euro HSPA. Surely, a single phone does not support all of them – there must be more than one model, each supporting a subset.
If a single phone did support both AT&T (Rogers/Fido/Bell) and T-Mobile (Wind/Mobilicity) HSPA, that would be a major selling point in my books!
I think the big selling point is that it has the maps stored on the phone, so you can use the gps navigation even when you don’t have any cell reception. I’ve often wished for just that feature on my ancient Helio Ocean.
Admittedly, I’m still going to wait for the Verizon Nexus One, though. :)
I was actually expecting that a Garmin device, especially being a smartphone, would have higher specs. This is the biggest letdown since the GeeksPhone One. I’ll pass.
It actually looks pretty nice and they did a pretty good job. Will it sway me to get it…probably not. Not when I can just use Google nav which is pretty excellent for my daily use.
@jo, who says its competition for the N1? Did you look at the specs? They’re completely different.
@Ryan, do you know what the actual differences are between Android releases? I contribute to the AOSP, I know. Take two phones, one running plain eclair, and one running plain donut, and I dare you to find an average schmo who can tell the difference.
@Nick, how is it outdated? The only faster HTC phone is the N1.