Garmin Nuvifone Finally Shipping in Asia

By Jane McEntegart, published on July 24, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: , , , | Themes: Smartphones
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Here it is, official word of the launch date for Garmin's Nuvifone.

After nearly two years of waiting Garmin has announced that the Asus-built Nuvifone will ship to Taiwanese shelves on July 27. About time, you say? We hear you.

In May, Garmin announced that the device was delayed yet again. First appearing in January 2008 and slated for a Q3 release, it was rescheduled for a June 2009 release. With that deadline fast approaching, Garmin came clean and said we wouldn't see the phone until the second half of 2009.

At the time, Garmin COO Cliff Pemble cited the complexities of smartphones as the reason for all the delays. “Smartphones are complicated and bringing one to market that’s built totally from the ground up on a custom Linux platform is not an easy task.”

Well it looks like Asus and Garmin finally figured it all out. The phone that is. They haven't quite figured out when they're going to send the device this way but we'll let you know if we hear anything.

Anyone else getting tired of waiting? Let us know so we're not alone in our fast-fading anticipation.

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Comments

vivekkurup 07/24/2009 10:19 PM
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Garmin! wow a satellite phone!!! hurraayy

grieve 07/24/2009 10:25 PM
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It is not Satellite is it??

integrates a quad-band GSM phone with 3.5G data connectivity, a Webkit-based Internet browser, personal messaging, Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and Garmin's proven personal navigation functionality

How would it "send" to satellite?

grieve 07/24/2009 10:26 PM
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here is the Specs...
http://www.garminasus.com/garmin/c [...] A9B1AF5178

Everything an iphone 3Gs can already do... and other phones have been doing for years.

tenor77 07/24/2009 10:30 PM
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grieve :
Everything an iphone 3Gs can already do... and other phones have been doing for years.



Except real GPS. Cell tower triangulation sucks for accuracy.

Greg_77 07/25/2009 3:27 AM
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tenor77 :
Except real GPS. Cell tower triangulation sucks for accuracy.


I believe the 3G and 3GS have real GPS antennas.

Rab1d-BDGR 07/25/2009 2:56 PM
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Another linux phone. Perhaps the popularity of linux phones will boost its popularity in PCs amongst less technical audiences. I wonder if apps designed for android would work with other distros...

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