Garminfone Android Mobile Phone (T-Mobile)

Garminfone Android T-Mobile

Garminfone Android Mobile Phone (T-Mobile). The first Android-powered smartphone fully-integrated with Garmin's premium GPS software, the 3G-enabled Garminfone smartphone for T-Mobile gives you the same navigation experience found on Garmin's standalone GPS devices--including voice-guided and on-screen directions, real-time traffic, weather, and gas prices. The mobile Web browser includes enhanced functions, including pinch and zoom capability and embedded location awareness that links information found on the Web to navigation and mapping functions--enabling you to navigate directly to a location from a Web page. The Garminfone is what I've found about the Garminfone after two weeks.

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.

Manufacturer	T-Mobile
Compatible networks	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 1700 / 2100
Availability	Available. Released 2010, June
Form factor	Bar
Dimensions	116 x 62.2 x 12 mm
Weight	136 g
Operating system	Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair)
CPU	-
Memory	4 GB storage, 256 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM, microSD, up to 32GB
Data inputs	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
Display	320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches
Rear camera	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 384 Kbps
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, EDR
USB	Yes, v2.0
Others	- SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Gmail, Push mail. IM - HTML, - A-GPS support, Garmin navigation - Location-based applications - Digital compass - MP3/eAAC+/WAV player - MP4/H.263/H.264 player - cityXplorer maps - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, - YouTube, Google Talk - Document viewer - Photo viewer/editor - Organizer - Voice memo - Predictive text input- Standard battery, Li-Ion 1150 mAh

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