T-Mobile Garminfone gets a much-needed price drop to $129

When we got a chance to let the Garmin-Asus Garminfone send us around town for a review, we found it to be about the best nav-focused smartphone on the market. But, its $200 price made it a tough sell compared to many far more powerful alternatives. Now it's finally dropping to a somewhat more easily palatable asking price of $129.99 with the usual contract restrictions. That's a great price for a great phone with great navigation, and while we're still guessing that users here will not get invited out for FroYo anytime in the future, at this price you can afford to buy yourself some real ice cream.

[Rick Astley Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:27AM]

Still too much.

[CRA1G Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:29AM]

@Rick Astley Here's a site where you can get it even cheaper: http://is.gd/dp4K6

[Rick Astley Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:30AM]

@CRA1G

I see what you did there...

[tricheboars Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:49AM]

@Rick Astley

i agree. t-mobile should be giving this phone away. they would still be making a profit from monthly billing. in a smartphone market as competitive as it is today (android, iphone, rim) garmin's off-brand android OS doesnt have the android appeal like Samsung or a Motorola device.
i would never buy a phone made by garmin. ever. i had a nuvi and the ui was terrible. i doubt we will be seeing a garmin phone 2.0

[CRA1G Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:28AM]

"Best nav-focused smartphone"?? How about the ONLY nav-focused smartphone.

[MowDownJoe Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:02AM]

@CRA1G No, Garmin's tried others in the past.

[Hazdaz Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:29AM]

I think $130 is a very good price for this device. It's about what a normal GPS goes for, but offers up the functionality of a phone too.

Hiding it's Android roots is probably a bonus for most people that don't really care about apps, but instead want a good phone with navigation and a few extra features along the way.

[BinaryTB Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:37AM]

Too bad Massachusetts banned the usage of a cell phone while driving for anything other than phone calls (for age 18+). Yup, no GPS cell phone usage.

[cdf74dc9 Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:02AM]

@BinaryTB

Doing anything with a phone while driving is wrong even with the Bluetooth. I got to admit, the GPS can get really annoying sometime so it's understandable for it to get banned in some state. Here is some info people should know regarding cellphone banned in the states.

http://www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx

[malexandria1 Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:42AM]

I think the most of the phone GPS Apps are fine, I'm just not sold on the idea of using a phone as a GPS.

[paul34 Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:09AM]

@malexandria1

This isn't your typical GPS app. It is a "real" GPS navigator, in the sense that it doesn't require a data connection. The maps are locally stored.

[1 Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:48AM]

@paul34 Like Ovi Maps then.

[Andy Anonymous Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:47AM]

RadioShack has it for $99 new or upgrade, with no mail-in rebates.

[Garion Posted Jul 12th 2010 9:58AM]

Imagine how much Garmin could sell if they could forget about being a phone manufacturer and just make a great turn-by-turn GPS app for iOS. iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads.
Get on with it, Garmin!

[strongfist Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:53AM]

Hey, for anyone who has been following Android and you don't actually have one you should give it a try. I mean I am a full blown Android Fan Boy but I am going to try out the iPhone 4 for a full 30 days so i can have a better qualified opinion in the Android vs iOS wars.

Also one of the best feature on Android and quite possible one of the best features on any phone is the chrome to phone feature. You can check out the article on it at http://getyourgadgetsgoing.com/

[Awall Posted Jul 12th 2010 12:21PM]

@strongfist You need life 2.0 for your fandroids

[rommel Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:54AM]

Ha no ways :)

[darthgault Posted Jul 12th 2010 11:31AM]

google does GPS pretty well out of the box now doesn't it?

If someone needs crazy good gps aren't they going to buy an actual gps unit with a bigger screen?

don't know ... i just don't think this phone has a very big need for most people.

but who am i to say? ... i am one of the 6 people on the planet that lover their Motorola CLiq.

[ReadyKilowatt Posted Jul 12th 2010 10:06PM]

@darthgault

I demoed it in the store. the screen and maps look like they'd be very easy to read on a car's dashboard. The main problems I have with it is the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack (really? It's that hard to add one?) and having to depend on Garmin for software updates.

[darthgault Posted Jul 13th 2010 12:04AM]

@ReadyKilowatt

it took garmin like 2 years to develope this phone ... so its kinda a throwback to pre 3.5mm times

[POZ Posted Jul 12th 2010 12:10PM]

I am thinking $99, and thats good.

Personally, I want a dedicated nav, like the 3700 series. As, it is insane!

[iGalin Posted Jul 12th 2010 1:50PM]

I've been using Garmin XT hacked one on my Nokia N95 8Gb,
and as Nokia fan I have Ovi Maps for free now on Nokia N97 mini and NOkia 5230 Nuron, so I don't think many people will go for it.

Too bad they discontinued their Garmin Mobile 20 for Nokia Symbian®, Windows Mobile™ and Palm® OS Treo smartphones with Bluetooth® wireless technology.

However they still offer for blackberry devices.

I think TomTom still offers their GPS app for those platforms.

[gerrrg Posted Jul 12th 2010 2:00PM]

How funny...T-Mobile sent out the July Scoop email advertising the Garmin Phone at $199, the same day they dropped the price to $129.

Looks like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.