Garmin-Asus nuvifone A50 T-Mobile with Android Phone

A good 2nd gen device in a sea of 3rd gens. First, it's light, much lighter than a G1 by feel and likely due to the absence of a physical keyboard. Asus and Garmin have done a splendid job designing a pretty phone, and it looks terrific.

The second thing I'd notice is that the Garmin-designed interface is targeting casual or non-technical users, so it didn't resonate with me. It's just a point to consider: you can download ADW Launcher and ditch the Garmin home screen and UI for the most part, and gain a pretty powerful launcher in the process.

Third, Android 1.6 with 2.1 features is nice but not a sustainable solution for the phone long-term. I know why Garmin went the way they did: they were challenged to integrate their own legacy GPS software and mapping into an Android container, and had access to the 2.1 SDK and so rolled their own 1.6 version. However, it will be quite some time, if ever, that this phone received a true 2.1 base. Whether you notice it or not is largely irrelevant; understand that you won't be moving to Froyo or beyond.

Fourth, the hardware is fairly fast, faster than I expected with an average CPU (600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227, the same used in the MyTouch Slide 3G). It's not a 1Ghz Snapdragon, but I was surprised at how quickly it would return UI changes for me. The memory is 256Mb of RAM and 4Gb of internal storage, 458Mb of it dedicated to apps. If you were missing Apps2SD, this makes up for it somewhat. It also supports microSD, of course.

Fifth, the device is a PND replacement, by design. The included car dock snaps on and provides a landscape orientation and charging port, with the standard bulb swivel and a stick-on base if your dash doesn't have a smooth surface for the suction cup. You might need a longer USB cable but in practice with a 2002 Neon ACR I didn't need anything longer. The Garmin maps are offline, which is a huge advantage over Google navigation as you can use this device in the wild -- all you need is a charged battery and some sky. Navigation is just fine, accurate and precise, with some nice features like local speed limits and traffic. In truth traffic didn't really work, but traffic is a hard problem for anyone to solve. As a personal navigation device I'd wholly recommend this.

Overall, I liked it but missed the physical keyboard. Swipe and Graffiti work terrific on this, and the device ran all of my own apps without incident. The included Garmin widgets and its version of a home screen are not worth keeping, and should be easier to ditch in favor of a generic home screen. The widgets, when working, were nice but unremarkable. The battery life was decent, not spectacular, and there is no way to disable 3G to conserve power (another shortcoming of rolling your own OS version). It also seems as if the device is languishing in the market, so I'd wait to see if Garmin-Asus update this to 2.1 before committing myself to a contract for one.

Technical Details

• 3G-enabled, Android-powered smartphone with powerful Garmin GPS navigation capabilities
• Built-in North American maps with millions of points of interest; voice and on-screen directions with automatic re-routing
• 3-megapixel camera/camcorder; Wi-Fi networking; Bluetooth stereo music; microSD expansion to 32 GB; access to personal and work e-mail
• Up to 4 hours of talk time, up to 144 hours (6 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, USB cable, 2 GB microSD memory card, wired stereo hands-free headset, stereo headphone adapter, premium dash mount, quick start guide, user manual