With Windows Mobile 6.5, the new nüvifone M20 boasts interface improvements, such as large touch-optimized icons and a streamlined Home screen, and comes preloaded with Facebook. In addition, users will be able to take advantage of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile to easily download and install additional applications to their M20.

The Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20 will soon to be launched with Windows Mobile 6.5 in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech, Turkey and other markets by the end of 2009.

M20 Specifications:

• Tri-band GSM / GPRS / Edge 900/1800/1900
• 900/2100 HSPA 7.2 Mbps
• 802.11 b/g WLAN, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, HFP, HSP, A2DP, AVRCP, mini USB 2.0
• 3MP camera with auto-focus and geo-tagging
• 95.3 x 52.5 x 12.8 mm
• 2.8″, 65K, TFT with touch lens

The nüvifone G60 has the same core features as a high-end Garmin nüvi and comes preloaded with maps and millions of points of interest (POI) for North America. Customers who purchase a nüvifone will have everything that they need to use the device as an in-car navigation unit including a dashboard and windshield mount.

Because the maps reside on the nüvifone customers always have access to navigation and they can receive turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions that speak street names to millions of destinations. If a turn is missed along the route, the nüvifone will automatically recalculate a route and get the user back on track.

The nüvifone G60 will be available in AT&T stores or at www.wireless.att.com on October 4 for $299 with a two year service agreement after $100 mail-in-rebate. Nüvifone Premium Connected Services which includes traffic updates, white pages, weather, movie, local events and fuel price content are available for $5.99/month after a 30-day trial.

Both the new nüvifone G60 and M20 incorporatefeatures such as 3.5G data connectivity, SMS text messaging, email, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more. The nüvifone M20 have a full HTML browser that customers can easily zoom in or pan with their finger, and pages may be viewed in either portrait or landscape.

Users can supplement the preloaded POI data with internet enabled local searches and automatically navigate around traffic congestion while seeing the estimated traffic delay along their route. Other services include weather, gas prices, flight status, local events, movie times, Ciao!and more (content pricing and availability may vary by country).

The nüvifone M20 is on schedule for delivery in Europe in the second half of 2009, and additional details about pricing, availability and carriers will be announced in the coming months.

M20 Specifications:

• Tri-band GSM / GPRS / Edge 900/1800/1900
• 900/2100 HSPA 7.2 Mbps
• 802.11 b/g WLAN, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, HFP, HSP, A2DP, AVRCP, mini USB 2.0
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (Upgradeable to WM 6.5)
• 3MP camera with auto-focus and geo-tagging
• 95.3 x 52.5 x 12.8 mm
• 2.8″, 65K, TFT with touch lens

[via sogi]

The home screen features three primary icons – “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map.” Secondary icons appear on the side of the home screen and can be organized by the user’s preference. Customers can easily scroll through the icons by swiping their finger across the large touchscreen display, and a built-in accelerometer allows every screen to be viewed in either portrait or landscape orientation. Similar to nuvifone M20, the G60 will comes with pre-loaded maps of North America or Eastern and Western Europe, and has millions of points of interest (POIs) including hotels, restaurants and street addresses. There is also pre-installed Ciao! application to share your location with your friends.

Garmin-Asus expects to announce the nüvifone G60’s pricing and availability in the first half of 2009.

The nüvifone M20 supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and offers a desktop-style web browsing experience. Users can zoom and pan web pages with their finger as they view the information in either portrait or landscape orientation. In addition, they can easily navigate to an address on a web page with only a few taps of the screen. When available, the M20 will comes with preloaded maps and points of interest (POIs) – hotels, restaurants, stores, fuel stations and more – for North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or other regions. You can also make use of the connected service for real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.

The nüvifone product line also includes Ciao!, a LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks. Through Ciao!, nüvifone users will see their friends’ location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease.

The nüvifone M20 has exceptional entertainment capabilities with the combination of a 2.8″ TFT touch display with VGA resolution, built-in microphone and speakers, built-in 4Gb/8Gb My Storage, and ActiveSync for Outlook, Microsoft Office, and multi-media synchronization. The three megapixel camera automatically geotags images with the exact latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Users can then save the image on their phone, email it to a friend, or navigate to where the image was taken.

Garmin-Asus expects to announce the nüvifone M20’s pricing and availability information in the first half of 2009. There will be four color options, blue, red, black or yellow.

[via gizmodo]

The original Garmin nüvifone that was announced in 2008 will be re-branded as the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60. The Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2009, and additional information about the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 will be released at the Mobile World Congress trade show.

Garmin-Asus nüvifone series will offer the same turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation features found on high-end Garmin portable navigation devices (PND). It has preloaded maps and millions of points of interest that allow drivers to quickly find a specific street address, establishment’s name or search for a destination by category. In addition, the nüvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search. The nüvifone also features Ciao!, a social networking application that bridges the gap between multiple location based social networks and integrates them seamlessly into one device.

More Garmin Asus Nuvifone G60 live photos available here

The Garmin Nuvifone is a full touch screen phone with a 3.5-inch size display screen and pre-loaded maps for navigation. The last time we check on them during the CommunicAsia 2008 in June, the Nuvifone does have a solid software with responsive touch experience on top of the integrated Garmin navigation solution. Will they be facing more competition in year 2009 with more full touch screen joining the mobile devices family?

Garmin Nuvifone Specification:

• GSM Quadband
• HSDPA
• Build in WiFi
• 3.5-inch touch screen
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus
• 2GB internal memory
• memory card slot

Check out the Nuvifone photo gallery here

via [phonemag]

“This new suite of digital maps helps tourists locate stadiums, hotels, restaurants, and more – so they can spend their time being spectators instead of worrying about how to get there,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Presently, Garmin is the only satellite navigation manufacturer that is able to offer these highly-detailed maps.”

Offering nearly seven million points of interest (POIs) and available on a convenient microSD/SD card, users simply insert the maps into virtually any current Garmin personal navigation device (PND). Road and POI names are presented in Pinyin, the most common Latin-alphabet phonetic spelling of Mandarin Chinese. These maps offer full coverage of China, including street level detail for more than 980 cities and the roads that connect them – just select a destination and your nüvi gives you turn-by-turn directions to that location.

In addition, Garmin is posting a set of free custom POIs for the most important Chinese sporting venues in Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, and Qingdao. Each entry is sorted by both city and type of sport – and contains specific dates for competition. This custom POI database can be downloaded at http://www.garmin.com/extras

Available in Q4 this year, the Nuvifone is suitable replacement navigation device especially for car driver. When the nüvifone is docked onto the vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, activates the navigation menu, and enables hands-free calling so that the user never misses a beat in the conversation and is able to begin routing to their destination with ease.

Source [navigadget]

Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry users can navigate to addresses in North America, or search millions of points of interest (POI’s) – places like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and tourist attractions. Once a destination is selected, Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry automatically calculates the fastest route to the destination, and provides voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions along the way. If a turn is missed en route, Garmin Mobile automatically recalculates the route based on the user’s current location. Map data is provided by NAVTEQ – a world leader in premium-quality mapping.

BlackBerry customers will also have access to real-time traffic, fuel, and weather information. The real-time traffic service identifies accidents, road construction, or other incidents affecting traffic, and routes users around the congestion. The fuel feature displays helpful fuel information such as the filling station’s name, fuel price, type of fuel, and distance to the station. Real-time weather information lets users see weather conditions and forecasts at their current location or anywhere in North America.

Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry’s $99.99 one-time purchase is available directly from Garmin at www.garmin.com/mobilephones. The one-time purchase plan for Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry is not transferable between BlackBerry devices.