Garmin-Asus A10 brings pedestrian-optimized GPS to European and Asian Android lovers

You ain't nobody if you don't have an Android handset (or two) these days, and Garmin-Asus has just added the A10 to its own stable of devices. It's a pretty humble 3.2-inch HVGA communicator, but it has a healthy 1,500mAh battery, a multitouch-friendly WebKit browser, and an autofocusing 5 megapixel camera with automatic geotagging. Coming with preloaded Garmin Navigation maps and software, the A10 eliminates the need for a web connection when looking up your local topography, and similarly retains turn-by-turn voice instructions while used offline. It's not altogether clear what the pedestrian optimizations are, aside from the public transport-aware cityXplorer maps, but in-car navigation is also obviously fully supported and encouraged. We're told to expect the A10 in mid-2010 for European and Asia-Pacific markets. Full PR after the break.

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Garmin-Asus Announces Newest Android Smartphone with Garmin Navigation

A10 Focuses on Pedestrian-Friendly Features and Navigation for Europe and Asia-Pacific

CAYMAN ISLANDS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK® Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), today announced the Garmin-Asus A10, a touchscreen smartphone running on the Android™ platform that is optimized for pedestrian navigation. The A10 is expected to be available in mid-2010 in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

For those times when walking is the best way to go, the A10 is ideal for city navigation because of its bright, 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, electronic compass and long-lasting 1500mAh battery. As with other Garmin-Asus Android-powered devices, the A10's GPS capabilities are optimized to ensure that customers have the best location and navigation experience a smartphone can offer. Detailed maps are preloaded on the A10 so that users do not have to pay and wait for third party maps to download from a server, nor will they lose their turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation if they are out of cell phone coverage. In addition to pedestrian navigation, the A10 is ready for use in an automobile out-of-the-box, and it comes with a powered audio mount that magnifies the volume of the device's voice commands.

The A10 is a full-featured smartphone on the Android platform that integrates Google™ Mobile Services with one-click access to Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube™, calendar, contacts and Android Market™, where users can find more than 30,000 applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their lifestyle. Android applications that include location-centric content are also able to utilize the A10's enhanced GPS capability.

To optimize a user's ability to stay in touch with family, friends and business contacts, the A10 is compatible with Microsoft Exchange server and will wirelessly synchronize contacts, calendar and enterprise email. Account setup is quick and easy, and in a few simple steps users will have their contacts, calendar and email ready to go.

Additional A10 smartphone features include a powerful WebKit browser with multi-touch, five mega-pixel camera including auto-focus capability that automatically geotags images with an exact location reference. The built-in accelerometer will quickly change the display so that screens may be viewed in portrait or landscape mode.

The A10 also supports optional cityXplorer™ maps, which makes it possible to plan and use routes that include public transit options such as bus, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems.

The Garmin-Asus A10 is expected to be available in mid-2010 in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Additional information about Garmin-Asus products is available at www.GarminAsus.com.

[juanvaldez Posted Apr 28th 2010 7:07AM]

So, it sounds like City Explorer is exclusive to Garmin-branded devices, is that correct? I'm guessing this is better than stock Google maps on Android, or is this just marketing? If it's better, does the marketplace have any good offerings? Any help? thanks.

[jimlivingston Posted Apr 28th 2010 9:33AM]

@juanvaldez - It is irrelevant. It won't take but a day before some dev rips it and has it running on other Android's.

[Adam Miarka Posted Apr 28th 2010 7:12AM]

ripoff

[filjosh Posted Apr 28th 2010 2:54PM]

@Adam Miarka Partly good news, if others follow to have Garmin Preloaded maps on Android devices. No need to have Internet or when u are in remote areas where connectivity is close to none

[BubblegumBalloon Posted Apr 28th 2010 7:14AM]

Oh come on this phones design so rips off the iphone >.>

[atc9000 Posted Apr 28th 2010 7:30AM]

@BubblegumBalloon Why you think that, looks more like a first gen ipod touch to me lol.

Or is it the fact it has a look of all other touch screen mobiles?

Don't need garmin. Have copilot and orange maps and google maps. So if my x10 cannot get me home I must be really lost.....

[jonbruc Posted Apr 28th 2010 8:07AM]

@BubblegumBalloon If you break open the case, there's an iPhone 4 inside

[dand Posted Apr 28th 2010 8:20AM]

@BubblegumBalloon

Let's face it...Apple broke the smart phone mold in 2007 and has been so successful that it's pretty much the standard for all other phones to be based on/against. I'm not a fanboy, far from it in fact, but the iPhone design is a nice one.

I'd be willing to give this handset a try.

[Atonnis Posted Apr 28th 2010 8:02AM]

Is it my imagination or has Engadget become the advertising lovechild of the Android platform nowadays?

[dand Posted Apr 28th 2010 8:17AM]

@Atonnis

Well, there has been plenty of Android news and offerings as of late and not much iPhone (with the exception of iPhonegate)

I for one welcome all the Android love...I am tired of Apple this and iPhone that. I'm just waiting for a decent Android handset to land on AT&T so I can dump my iPhone 3G.

[simvalue Posted Apr 28th 2010 8:19AM]

Does "after the break" refer to text formatting or a Pause ?

[Miakandogadget Posted Apr 28th 2010 9:32AM]

iPhone.

[wenuell Posted Apr 28th 2010 11:00AM]

Did you think it was going to be a touch screen clam shell? Did you think they we're going to make a round phone? All phone manufactures start with pretty much the same hardware parts to choose from when building a phone. You want a 3-4 inch screen. Guess what. Your phone is probably going to be a rectangle.

All you people that say they ripped the iPhone need to get over it. Congratz, to Apple for making a successful phone. But a phone is more than the sum of its physical shape.

Gamin makes GPS devices and this phone contains all the maps inside the phone. No need to connect to a tower to download a map. No need for a tower to triangulate a guesstimate of where you are. Your position is calculated from satellites. Garmin highly customized the user interface to pull addresses out of eMails and navigate to that location. Location information can be encoded in pictures and can navigate you to that location. It has all the lane assist functions of a high end Nuvi device. It has all the "smartphone" features that come with the Android OS that were missing with their first phone(G60).

You can dismiss the phone as an iPhone copy but if you would open you eyes you would see that Garmin is going what they do best. They create navigation devices. And yes they phones navigation is far superior to an iPhone or any other phone on the market. It’s their niche, its what they do. So give a little credit to theese peeps.

[alexsuraci Posted Apr 28th 2010 12:26PM]

Engadget's criteria for KIRFs appears to be "does it come from China?" Otherwise it's from us noble non-Chinese manufacturers, it CAN'T be a ripoff!