WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Garmin-Asus, announced the Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20, a  web-browser and premium super navigation  smartphone with a Windows Mobile operating system. The Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 will be on display at  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The nuvifone M20 is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise email. The smartphonece combines a dual-band 3.5G/tri-band GSM phone with Wi-Fi connectivity, desktop-like internet browser, push email, document viewing, multi-media capability, Bluetooth and Garmin sat nav.

The nuvifone M20's full QWERTYtouchscree keyboard makes it easy to send and receive SMS, MMS and emails. The nuvifone M20 can also be synched with a computer so that contacts and emails are always available. HSDPA wireless connectivity and enterprise grade Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) ensure messages are sent and received quickly, including those with attachments.

The nuvifone M20 is designed with location based services (LBS) at its core. Navigation functions are linked to frequently used applications such as calendar, contacts, email, internet applications and more, simplifying the nuvifone user's day as they travel from one location to another.

The nuvifone M20 supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and offers a desktop-style web browsing experience. Users can zoom and pan web pages with their finger as they view the information in either portrait or landscape orientation. In addition, they can easily navigate to an address on a web page with only a few taps of the screen.

The  nuvifone M20 has the navigation capability of a premium Garmin nuvi(R) sat nav, and comes with preloaded maps and points of interest (POIs) - hotels, restaurants, stores, fuel stations and more - for North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or other regions. 

The  nuvifone then gives turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions and automatically recalculates if a turn is missed along the way. In addition, the nuvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search. The nuvifone harnesses the power of the worldwide web and information about local merchants and attractions is continually updated.

The nuvifone M20 takes GPS navigation one step further via Connected Services, a suite of online applications and data from Garmin-Asus that adds location intelligence to navigation, phone and browser functions. The expandable list of applications includes content like real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.

The nuvifone product line also includes Ciao!(TM), a ground-breaking LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends' whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks. Through Ciao!, nuvifone users will see their friends' location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease. Nuvifone users can also choose to have the nuvifone automatically update their social network location information.

The nuvifone M20 has exceptional entertainment capabilities with the combination of a 2.8" TFT touch lens display, built-in microphone and speakers, built-in 4Gb/8Gb My Storage, and ActiveSync(R) for Outlook(R), Microsoft(R) Office, and multi-media synchronization. The VGA (640x480) display brings action to life when watching video or looking at photographs. The three megapixel camera automatically geotags images with the exact latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Users can then save the image on their phone, email it to a friend, or navigate to where the image was taken.