Joint venture Garmin-Asus has formally launched the Nuviphone M20, a more compact follow-up to the company’s first combined phone/GPS device, the Nuvifone G60. The Nuvifone M20 sports a 2.8-inch touch screen display, a 3 megapixel camera, 4 GB of Flash storage, and (of course) connectivity out the wazoo, including 2G and 2G data service along with 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 wireless networking. However, the M20 also sports something the Linux-based G60 did not: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, including mobile versions of Microsoft’s Office productivity applications and ability to tap into Exchange-based push email.
Garmin-Asis will initially be sold in Taiwan (by the Chunghwa Telecom—which also carries the iPhone and high-end handsets from HTC( and Hong Kong; the M20 should also launch shortly in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, then land in Europe later this year. Current pricing for the M20 us NT$17,900, which is a little over US$540.
Like its G60 predecessor, the M20 comes with GPS software from Garmin, including maps, route planning, points-of-interest databases, and automatic geotagging of photos. The phones are also designed to pull in location-aware information, like local movie and show times, information on local restaurants and businesses, and more. Garmin-Asus reportedly says it expects one of the more popular location-based features on the phone for customers in Taipei will be locating parking lots.
