Cell, Cell, Cell: Garmin nüvifone G60

As we march forward to the holidays, the Big 4 cellular carriers are throwing loads of new mobile phones into the marketplace in hopes of enticing you to bring one home. Now, you could be forgiven if you thought your choices boiled down to just four models--iPhone, DROID, Palm Pre or Motorola CLIQ--since marketing dollars have focused our attention on those. Thusly, over the next few weeks we'll be highlighting some of the newer releases that offer interesting features or great prices in an effort to ensure that they don't completely slip through the cracks.

Garmin nüvifone G60

The first phone from GPS giant Garmin was announced last February, the nüvifone G60 was just picked up by AT&T in October and landed in the midst of a very competitive GPS market landscape. Much like the organizer functionality of the standalone PDA of old, GPS navigation capabilities are moving quickly to the mobile phone arena with services provided by cell carriers as well as dedicated software for smartphone platforms such as the iPhone, which has been attracting big names like TomTom to Navigon and Magellan.

But Garmin's holding fast to offering its own GPS-centric device, and the nüvifone G60 offers most of the trappings of a late Oughts smartphone, including touchscreen interface (based on Linux), Wi-Fi networking and HSDPA 3G cellular connectivity (for both U.S. and foreign networks). But at its heart it's really a Garmin nüvi GPS device, and that's not such a bad thing. While some reviewers have dinged the device for its underpowered web browser, lack of third-party apps and shorter-than-expected battery life, others have also noted that the nüvifone G60 offers the "best navigation experience you'll find on a phone" (so says Engadget). And MobileBurn notes:

Just as the original Apple iPhone was considered by many to have been a great iPod with a phone tossed in it, the Garmin nuvifone G60 is something along those lines. It is a great GPS navigation device, and an OK phone. It does most of the things a modern phone needs to be able to do, and well enough to matter.

Michael Oryl from MobileBurn also offers a video hands-on look at the device (with the second part available on YouTube):

The nüvifone G60 is currently available at the AmazonWireless store for just $99 for new customers (current AT&T customers can also upgrade to the G60 at a pretty good price as well).

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Comments

[Nasir Gul on December 11, 2009 at 03:40 PM]

very cooool mobile G60...haven't found any problem :)
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[John on January 11, 2010 at 11:37 AM]

nice detail...Havent heard of Garmin manufacture mobiles....thanks for the post...

[buy DSi R4 on January 20, 2010 at 01:10 AM]

Considering this is garmins first phone, its pretty nice. despite its hideousness.

[Restaurang on January 21, 2010 at 08:32 AM]

its cool.looks awesome..

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