Garmin-Asus set to launch first Android phone in Q1 2010

Garmin-Asus isn't exactly doing a ton of talking about it just yet, but PC World is reporting that the company has confirmed that it plans to release its first Android-based smartphone "no later than the first quarter of next year." An Asustek exec reportedly further added that the device could even come a bit earlier, but unfortunately didn't have anything to say about a potential price, or anything about the phone itself, for that matter. Of course, as you're no doubt aware, Garmin-Asus already has a Linux-based phone in the form of the G60 (pictured above), but it's not clear if that proprietary OS will continue to co-exist alongside Android, or if it'll get ditched in favor of Android. If it doesn't, Garmin-Asus will have quite a few balls in the air at time, since the company is already pretty firmly committed to Windows Mobile as well.

[Via PhoneArena]

[AndrewNoNumbers @ Jun 3rd 2009 3:37PM]

Good. I was wondering why they didn't use Android in the first place.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jun 3rd 2009 3:40PM]

Wait, so is the NuviPhone dead?

[Jonathan @ Jun 3rd 2009 3:43PM]

If only the article touched on this question.

[iphonerulez @ Jun 3rd 2009 4:03PM]

Was the NuviPhone ever alive? Yes, Garmin's wonderful world-beating NuviPhone is what I believe they call vaporware. I believe it was dubbed/hyped as one of the myriad of, needless to say, iPhone killers. Another brilliant smartphone conceived by a company that lost billions of dollars on GPS navigation systems. Take a navigation system, add a cellphone chip and there lies the birth of a new device called the NuviPhone smartphone. No SDK needed, no particular carriers needed. Just buy it and use it wherever you want and hack it at your own discretion. Use it at your own risk.

Everyone wanted one almost as badly as the Palm Pre. Nearly no one ever saw one, except maybe on Engadget. The site where dreams live and die in a day.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jun 3rd 2009 4:52PM]

A little engadget searching turned up that the last article dubbed this "G60" as the Nuviphone G60. So I guess somewhere along the line they decided rebrand and regroup?

At least this phone has a prayer of success, with more emphasis on smartphone, with an SDK, and carriers willing to take the plunge.

This will also leave them free to develop an integrated Garmin solution for existing or future Android devices. Which would be good. I enjoy Garmin's GPS systems.

[Junemas @ Jun 3rd 2009 3:42PM]

Yea but with 6-9 months away, they will have to come out with hardware to compete against the slew of new hardware coming out this year, starting with the PRE.

[ash @ Jun 4th 2009 2:56AM]

Aesthetically, this phone is already off on the wrong foot. Since it has GPS, it should totally know to turn around.

[Jarhead111 @ Jun 3rd 2009 3:55PM]

The G60 isn't dead, it's just taking way longer than expected. There was an article on engadget where a garmin employee said that building a phone up from scratch turned out to be way harder than expected. Hence the delays. I'm sure they still plan on releasing it.

As for this Android phone, hopefully it will actually be mostly delay-free.

[agency80nine @ Jun 3rd 2009 4:11PM]

I'm not going to bate my breath.

[lonecow @ Jun 3rd 2009 4:28PM]

When I skimmed past this article I thought the company logo said : "Gaming Anus"

[spamdeesugar @ Jun 3rd 2009 7:51PM]

It actually does but Asus screwed up the translation :(

[rento @ Jun 3rd 2009 4:31PM]

Will it have GPS? pfffffffffffff huahuahuahuahua