There's a new Android phone announcement prior to Mobile World Congress, the Garmin-Asus nüvifone
A50,touchscreen that will have multiple location
technologies and apps. Super GPS is integrated into the phone along with geotagging photos, related apps and features.
The A50 inncludes
Garmin navigation with turn-by-turn, voice prompted directions for use
in a car or while walking. Location features are designed into
virtually every function including email, text messaging, and photos.
The A50 has a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen
display that incorporates a finger-friendly user interface. The QWERTY
touchscreen keyboard makes it easy to send and receive messages, and
predictive text helps customers type faster. It also comes with
hardware features like 4GB internal storage, an expandable microSD card
slot, and accelerometer so every screen can be viewed in portrait or
landscape mode.
High-sensitivity GPS receivers with Garmin navigation
The A50 receives its location (latitude and longitude) information
from multiple sources including satellite, network-based and
terrestrial sources. These overlapping technologies ensure that A50
customers have the best location and navigation experience a smartphone
can offer.
Garmin navigation is included and preloaded on the A50. Because maps
are installed on the device, customers will not have to 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. The A50 also has many of the same features as a high-end
Garmin nüvi® navigation device such as lane assist with
junction view that guides drivers to the correct lane for an
approaching turn or exit and realistically displays road signs. Ready
for pedestrian or automotive navigation out-of-the-box, the A50
includes a custom Garmin car mount and vehicle power cable.
The A50 also supports cityXplorerTM maps so that
customers can plan and use routes that include public transit options
such as bus, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems. cityXplorer
content is available as an optional download for select cities. Thanks
to the A50's e-compass, customers will know their heading even when
standing still.
In addition to Android Market, the A50 has preloaded, apps through
Garmin-Asus' connected services, which includes real-time,
location-relevant information like weather, traffic, fuel prices,
safety cameras, flight status. Connected services information varies by
country.
Customers also have access to Street View in Google Maps and 3D landmark images.
Surf the web
With a powerful, multi-touch capable WebKit browser, the A50 allows
users to browse the web at quick speeds and view streaming content. In
addition, it automatically identifies location information embedded
within web pages allowing the user to quickly navigate to the locations
published on the world-wide web.
Take quality photos
The A50 includes a three mega-pixel camera with auto-focus that
automatically geotags images with an exact latitude and longitude
reference of where the photo was taken. Customers may then save the
image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the
geo-tagged image to friends.
Access to thousands of applications
The A50 integrates Google mobile services with one-click access to Google Search by voice, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, calendar, contacts and Android MarketTM, where users can find more than 20,000 applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their lifestyle.
Powerful enterprise email capability
The A50 includes on-device sync with Microsoft Exchange server, with
the ability to 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.