Garmin-Asus announces Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20

We'd been secretly holding out hope that Garmin-Asus would pull an Android piece out of its pocket in time for MWC next week, but it's looking pretty unlikely with the announcement of the M20. The second model in the nuvifone series following the G60, the new piece runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and features a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, quadband EDGE / triband HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps, WiFi, Bluetooth, and -- naturally -- Garmin-provided satellite navigation. You'll also find support for real-time traffic, weather, movie times, and other tidbits of information you're probably interested in when you're navigating, either 4 or 8GB of onboard storage, and a service Garmin is calling Ciao! -- basically a friend-finder along the lines of Google's Latitude. Look for pricing and availability to be announced in the first half of the year. Check out the gallery below, and the full spec sheet after the break.

[Via MarketWatch]

Gallery: Garmin-Asus announces Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20

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• APAC/EU: 3G 900/2100; 2G 900/1800/1900
• NA: 3G 850/1900; 2G 850/1800/1900
• Other Connectivity: 802.11 b/g WLAN; Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; mini USB 2.0
• OS: Microsoft Windows® Mobile Professional 6.1
• Dimensions: 95.3 x 52.5 12.8 mm
• Weight: 99g (including battery)
• Display: 2.8", VGA 640 x 480, 65K, TFT with touch lens
• Display Resolution: 640 x 480
• Camera/Photos: 3MP camera, JPG format with auto-focus and geotagging. View photos in JPG/PNG/GIF/BMP format
• Flash Memory: 4 GB or 8GB
• Audio: Built-in microphone & speaker; Ring tone supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB
• Headphone Jack: mini-USB
• Video Playback: MPEG4/H.264/H.263/WMV @ 30fps VGA
• Video Recording: MPEG4/H.263 @ 15fps QVGA; Streaming Audio/Video
• Messaging: SMS / MMS / Email / MSN / Push Email (POP3/SMTP/IMAP) / Microsoft Exchange Email
• Internet: OPERA browser, HTML, WAP 1.2.1/2.0
• Sync: ActiveSync® for Outlook contacts calendar, media and documents
• Productivity: Document viewing: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF
• CPU: Qualcomm 7200A 528MHz
• Battery: 920 mAh Lithium (replaceable)
• Talk Time: 3G: 3 hours / 2G: 2.8 hours
• Others: Accelerometer

[waiownsyou @ Feb 12th 2009 1:50AM]

Uh... why is one side of the phone yellow?

[Chris @ Feb 12th 2009 1:55AM]

I like it.

[Javanese @ Feb 12th 2009 4:44AM]

I think it's to let you know which side is the bottom when you hook it up on the portable/suction cup mount.

[frauhottelmann @ Feb 12th 2009 4:53AM]

The whole back is i that color!
http://www.garminasus.com/garminasus/cms/site/home/lang/en/nuvifone-m20

[000000 @ Feb 12th 2009 11:00AM]

NOW THAT IS A DPAD!!!!! Nice.

[OneLove @ Feb 12th 2009 11:48AM]

Hey its the nu ifone!

[--------- @ Feb 12th 2009 12:29PM]

I think I want one

[Danny @ Feb 12th 2009 6:17PM]

Dude, I think I just filled the cup.

[BB @ Feb 13th 2009 2:14AM]

Screen is too small.... I want big screens about 3.2-.4.2 inch...

[Zane @ Feb 12th 2009 1:57AM]

A phone in pee yellow? What were they thinking?

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 12th 2009 2:00AM]

Because every time I see yellow I remember pee...

[yG @ Feb 12th 2009 3:28AM]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Don't worry, they have different colors (blue, red and black, I think)

[absinthe party @ Feb 12th 2009 7:37AM]

Zane, you should probably start hydrating more often if that's what you think pee looks like.

[Joe K. @ Feb 12th 2009 11:02AM]

I'm really thirsty. When I was a kid I used to dehydrate, and my piss came out like snot. I mean, it was all thick and gross.

[FILA @ Feb 12th 2009 2:01AM]

i like this to, to bad it doesnt have a slide out keyboard, it doesnt look like it.

[go seki @ Feb 12th 2009 2:20AM]

"The nuvifone M20's full QWERTY soft keyboard makes it easy to send and receive SMS, MMS and emails. "

so yeah you're stuck with one of those crappy on-screen things OR unlike another touch-screen device you could use a bluetooth keyboard.

WinMo - just say no .. be a hoot to get Android onto it

[bjay @ Feb 12th 2009 2:17AM]

Nice, but where is my Today's screen(or something that makes me glance at my PIM data). How about the memory expansion slot?

[Tohe @ Feb 12th 2009 2:17AM]

Smells like team spirit.

[jakeface1 @ Feb 12th 2009 2:41AM]

maybe it will be announced on march 31st like the date on the phone!

[digitallysick @ Feb 12th 2009 2:42AM]

WinMo = fail

[Surur @ Feb 12th 2009 3:00AM]

Garmin managed to kick out a Windows Mobile phone in the quarter of the time it took them to develop their G60 version. Thats why companies do Windows Mobile phones. Its easy, fast and cheap.

Look at all the delayed Android phones - Google is clearly not making it easy to develop those devices.

And at the end of the day a Windows Mobile phone will have more built-in features than any of the newer prettier OS's.

[ai4281 @ Feb 12th 2009 10:22AM]

Clearly you don't own a WinMo phone or don't know how to use it.

While I do think that the basic WinMo UI is hard to use without a stylus, HTC, Samsung, and many other manufacturers have created amazing UI on top of the OS that make their phones awesome to use.

Plus, most of the cooked roms and themes are really cool to use as well.

It's good if a phone is good out of the box, but some people prefer tweaking their devices and making them perfect for them. I think WinMo is the most open and the easiest OS to develop and install stuff onto.

God, I'm sick of iPhone users (and others) who just say WinMo is fail. They don't know anything!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this phone and its location based services. Hopefully these apps will be made available for other WinMo phones as well. Yay for Garmin!

[philosopher @ Feb 12th 2009 2:46AM]

no 3g?!???fail

[Churma @ Feb 12th 2009 2:57AM]

You fail! triband HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps

[inteller @ Feb 12th 2009 11:00PM]

oh yeah how many carriers offer 7.2mbps.? Oh that's right ZERO.

[rreyes @ Mar 19th 2009 10:29AM]

Isn't 3G on the very first line in the specs?

[philosopher @ Feb 12th 2009 2:49AM]

Is this supposed to be real competititon to the iPhone?

[Churma @ Feb 12th 2009 2:57AM]

Haha you are joking right???

[Adderz @ Feb 12th 2009 5:05AM]

No....i think thats all that needs to be said.

[bombgigitty @ Feb 12th 2009 9:45AM]

Do all puppets suffer from piles?

[Look_Around_You @ Feb 12th 2009 10:11AM]

"Is this supposed to be real competititon to the iPhone?"

Um, maybe it's supposed to be a CHOICE for consumers.

Or are we suppose to all just want the iPhone because all of the kids in your class think it's cool?

[KilgoreTrout @ Feb 13th 2009 5:20AM]

No of course, this phone or even better the nuvifone G60, or the Archos/android smartphone,or the toshiba /Win mob, belong to a far superior class of devices.
The iPhone belongs to the dustbin of history, an overhyped , underperforming gedget, which is currently being abandoned even by the cheapskates that form its biggest market because even in that price class far better and versatile dumphones can easily be found.
The two new Garmin/Asus are smartphones: its competitors are to be found among the devices I just mentioned and among the HTC whitestone, and tungsten or even the Nokia N97.
Apple will never be able to produce anything in this class , or if it will it would be obliged to sell it at 3/4000 $ because it would need to outsource all its components and obviously it would be pushed out of the market.

[yG @ Feb 12th 2009 3:32AM]

Honestly, I think WinMo is still better than Android. I don't think Android is a real competitor in the Mobile OS market. I'm not trying to make a fight here, I'm just stating (well, more like typing) what I think.
It doesn't look bad at all. I mean it. It looks better than a lot of other phones.

Question, though: How do I reply to a reply?

:))

[Adderz @ Feb 12th 2009 5:18AM]

WinMo IS better than Android. It IS better than the iPhone and it IS better than the Pre.

The only problems i can think of that are holding it back are intuitiveness and an App Market.

WinMo has all the connections, a library of countless apps and is pretty much open to do anything you want with.

Its a shame the graphics are circa 1995, that it still requires a stylus to do anything and there is no "conformity" between apps.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 12th 2009 5:39AM]

Alderz,

Agreed.

In terms of powers, capabilities, and features, WinMo is 2nd to none and untouchable.

However, in terms of interface out of the box on most WinMo phones, don't expect much.

HTC has pretty much changed all of that though with TouchFlo 3D, and when tweaked even further via custom ROMs by way of XDA-devs or PPCGeeks, a WinMo phone's interface can be made to look much slicker than that of any other phone.

[Javanese @ Feb 12th 2009 4:40AM]

I love seeing how simple and clean the main screen is. Hopefully garmin re-engineered the winmo extensively(ala-palm), not just slap some "theme" on it.

[Adderz @ Feb 12th 2009 5:24AM]

It would just be a today plugin similar to HTC's Touchflo.

I doubt its as extensive as touch flo, Asus/Garmin mobile division wouldn't have the time/money/expertise HTC has.

[jeremiah @ Feb 14th 2009 1:00AM]

the iPhone can multitask. You have to jailbreak it first, which takes about 5 minutes. then every app you install is free! The iPhone is one of the top 3 phones available, if not the best.

[rtcteech @ Feb 12th 2009 6:14AM]

winmo blows chunks it is slow unreliable have any of you tried a g1 its GUI is much slicker faster and much more user intuitive also the apps they are coming out with are more web 2& 3.0 than winmo could ever be. Winmo is on its way out and this is the year of Android.. wait till the mobile world conference, you'll see I'm right. Besides which Garmin has already said that they are releasing an Android based phone later this year q3 I believe.

[Hamidxa @ Feb 12th 2009 6:30AM]

BS.

You are ostensibly living in the past.

My Touch Pro running Mighty Rom says that you are wrong.

It can run more apps, perform more tasks (multi task as well for that matter), and perform more quickly than virtually any other phone on the market, especially the iPhone which lags by comparison, can't multitask, and is missing over a dozen features that are considered to be standard for any self-respecting PPC owner.

[coffee @ Feb 12th 2009 11:07AM]

I hope your G1 has a goddamn grammar check somewhere for the next time you post, which hopefully will be never.

[nak @ Feb 12th 2009 6:15AM]

WinMo makes sense because most GPS devices run WindowsCE 5.0. Porting the navigation software from those devices to a WinMo 6.x phone probably doesn't take much work.

[Hurricane @ Feb 12th 2009 9:32AM]

Does it have GPS as good as the standalone Garmin units? My Pearl 8130 has GPS, but it's inaccurate as hell... at least 1000 feet off.

[Whingnut @ Feb 12th 2009 9:42AM]

Won't be seeing this on Verizon. God forbid a phone run some kind of GPS navigation other than their own VZnavigator that you have to pay for.

[R @ Feb 12th 2009 10:41AM]

I think I'll wait to see an actual production model. Because these renderings make the phone look insanely thick. Almost like carrying a regular Garmin Nuvi in your pocket.

[David @ Feb 12th 2009 10:48AM]

WinMo=Fail

Windows Mobile is dead

Considering all the new Windows Mobile phones coming out, it cracks me up to read stuff like that on some of these comments. Acer, Asus/Garmin, Toshiba, iMate, Gigabyte, Samsung, Dell, Motorola?, Palm or HTC sure don’t think windows mobile is dead.

Face it, some of the newer mobile OS’s might have improved UI’s, but you gotta wonder why they lack in capability compared to Windows Mobile. There are also enough 3rd party interfaces and the pending 6.5 release to remedy the UI complaint.

[Look_Around_You @ Feb 12th 2009 10:55AM]

"WinMo=Fail

Windows Mobile is dead"


Two months ago:

Palm=Fail

Palm is dead.

How about doing yourself a favor and not act as if you know anything about the future until it's the past.

[David @ Feb 12th 2009 10:59AM]

Did you read the entire comment, or just the first 2 lines?

[drumdbeat @ Feb 12th 2009 11:28AM]

I like David.

[chop @ Feb 12th 2009 10:55AM]

looks like an n95