How would you change Garmin-Asus' nuvifone G60?
By Darren Murph 
posted November 14th 2009 3:35AM
posted November 14th 2009 3:35AM
posted November 14th 2009 3:35AM
powered by gdgt
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Android
Android please
Install Android and have the Garmin Nav app as part of the OS. Offer the nav app for others to puchase in the marketplace.
This is impossible...Garmin already announced they will not release Nav app to other phone anymore...ONLY Garmin-ASUS
Yes..if free upgrade to Android 2.0. attractive...
Garmin is creating a new andriod based nuvifone for next year 2010. Let's hope it won't be 2 years late like the first nuvifone. With an Android 2.0 base and the Garmin full GPS functionality, it should be worlds above the G60. It will have all that tasty GPS with the other goodies that people with smartphones seem to love...apps and a media player and exchange synching...it should be a really great navigation phone.
The biggest failure of the current Nuvifone is its smart phone features are dated. Mainly because development took about 2 yrs longer than anticipated.
By far its hands down the best navigation phone, period. The maps are stored in the phone so it works when you turn it on rather than having to connect to a cell tower to get the maps before you can begin navigating. I don't think there are any complaints in this area. Its basically a Nuvi device with a phone incorporated into it.
The current phone runs on a linux OS which Garmin customized to meet their needs. This OS gets scrapped on the next generation Nuvifone for the Android OS which everyone has been talking about recently.
The Android OS will give Garmin instant access to the Google app store similar to the iPhone app store. It will have more development efforts supporting the Google OS in terms of 3rd party software features like flash, acrobat readers, web browers support.
Google can worry about the OS and let Garmin focus on what it does best, navigation services.
..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg
What does all this means? I think it means the next Nuvifone it have improved on all the smart phone features that it failed to deliver on the first attempt. In addition to providing what it already does best which is navigation.
My conclusion is that the next Nuvifone will be more on par with other phone on the market with superior NAV function this go around than the last. Making for a much better product.
thanks for the link. it made it easy to see all that is possible with garmin and andriod
I'd be more optmistic if they had a track record of making good phones. Also, everyone else will have updated their phones and the next iPhone will probably be out by then which is likely to also include their own nav app.
What they should do is grow some balls and fire the people that cost them the success of the G60 by releasing it so late (or announcing it so early), because face it -- a lot of us can agree that we would've bought the phone had it been released two years ago. Then they should replace those people with those that can really set things straight for the release of their next (Android) phone since they're REALLY going to have to pull something together that can compete with a free navigation app (on Android) from Google.
It's not just failures of the G60, and new features and pricing that Garmin should be focusing on their next phone. They should also focus on their business practices, as well. They should tread lightly because one wrong move and that companies' PND products are done for. And who knows, the G60 could've already been it.
Easy...Garmin apps only available for the Nuvifone.
When Garmin makes the next Nuvifone on the Android OS and it connects to Google’s Android app store would it be possible for Garmin to release apps that only work on the Nuvifone and not all Android OS phones?
If I were Garmin and wanted people to buy the Nuvifone I would want to sell as many of Garmin products as possible without effecting the quality by releasing them on phone hardware that can't support it. Example: TomTom releasing their app on the iPhone. That just made the company look bad.
I think it would be interesting that if I owned a Nuvifone(Android OS) that I could go to the app store and buy Garmins golf app Approach G5. Or download Garmns trail apps, Oregon or Dakota line products.
Garmin could have a fitness app download with a physical clip you could wear during workouts that could sync with the phone when you're done.
The Nuvifone could be Garmins convergence product.
How many people own multiple Garmin products and would like to see them wrapped up into one product?
These are the products that set Garmin apart from others. I definitely would not want to see them available to all phones. Just Nuvifones!!
Give people an incentive to want to buy the next Nuvifone.
ATT wireless has been perfect for me, no dropped calls. Verizon sucks to me and i have evidence why i feel this way. text massaging is limiting to a low number or characters, the people i text on verizon either get it cut off or have their phone divide the text into 2 even 3 texts so more money for verizon! also i can go on the web and email while talking on the iphone with att. verizon does not allow this and just the other day i was on the phone with tech support for my web store and was able to go on the web while talking. i never understood why people love verizon wireless but i have had much better experience with att. ill probably be down voted for having an opinion on the subject and believe me im really scarred of it. down voting is such a slap in the face to us people with our own opinions, i had to get up the nerve to post in here because i was so afraid of the dreaded down vote. hope you can spot sarcasm btw
I would probably make it invisible and then ninja proof. Also i would make it a car.
The only thing that could save the phone in its current phone is being released like two years ago.
I don't see anyway to save it now, even making it with a capacitive screen, more up to date features, etc would just make it a smart phone that only a niche group of fans would care about it.
Would have had invented it in 2004 and had it as a highly visible product placement in the movie Euro Trip as a do-it-all gadget that scored you the phone numbers and got you to the finest selection of European booty via the fastest route possible.
Tagline: Just a tap away. Instant 17-25 male demographic connection.
I would make it a Touch Pro 2, yeah, that would help.
Give it a more responsive OS, with a better screen, flash support at at least 16gb of space.
Put Google Maps Navigation on it and call it a day. What an epic fail.
Take the ASUS name off it and have them put more energy into stuff we care about them doing, like netbooks. As for Garmin, thanks for showing me the way up until this point (even though you never supported my anyway...cough...free updates), my new friend Droid can take it from here.....have fun at the retirement home playing 45s.
I'd reduce the width of the bezel frame surrounding the display. I prefer more display area than bezel, and would sacrifice some thickness if it meant less wide bezel.
WinMo 6.5 please!
make it come out a year after they announced the idea.. that would of been great lol. They should've dropped it after all the iphones et al already had gps. Sorry to anyone who has one of these
By going back in time and killing the person who decided that bringing this product to market with the current competition was a good idea.