The long-awaited Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20, which we got our hands on way back at the beginning of the year, is finally getting some launch love, but don't expect to see people roaming the streets with it anytime soon in the States. The M20's been launched on Taiwan's Chunghwa network, marking the first phone to run Windows Mobile from the alliance between the GPS guru and hardware manufacturer.

Presser [via Engadget Mobile]

Earlier this year we reported on the Garmin Nüvifone G60, a collaboration between GPS giant Garmin and Taiwanese hardware manufacturer Asus. The G60 was first announced back in January of 2008 and slated for a third-quarter 2008 launch that would eventually be delayed until June of 2009. It now looks as if that delay wasn't the last one for the G60.

Engadget Mobile is reporting that the G60 has been delayed once again with an anticipated release sometime during the third quarter of 2009. The company is citing hardware/software complexities as the reason behind the pushed back release date.

The G60 was first thought to be a Windows Mobile phone but development has since gone the direction of Linux OS.  The Garmin M20 is a Windows Mobile based phone and is still slated for a Summer '09 release.

Not that we were likely to see it with a widespread U.S. release, but it looks like the Asus P565 — which at one point was calling itself the world's fastest — may have been killed off by Asus' recent teaming with Garmin.

German site GPSandCo (translated) reports that the P565 has been pulled from the French and German markets, likely because of the new partnership.

Sounds like Garmin-Asus is really going to be pushing its Nuvifone line. And why not? We were plenty impressed with the M20 at Mobile World Congress.

Via Unwired View

The black slab gods have bestowed on us another behemoth, this one born from the bowels of Asus. Behold, the P835. [via]

OK, we couldn't keep up the alluring alliteration any longer. But what we have here is a sporty little multimedia phone. It's got a 3.5-inch WVGA screen running Windows Mobile 6.1 with its own custom "Glide" interface on top, Opera Mobile for your browsing needs, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball, and it reportedly can serve as an honest to goodness wireless access point. And, again, we'll point out the little Windows flag button, which could well point to a future 6.5 upgrade.

Full specs after the break, and more online at ASUS' Web site.

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We grabbed some hands-on time with the first Windows Mobile phone of the Garmin-Asus alliance, the nuvifone M20. We gotta say, we're darn impressed. The styling is helped out by a multitude of color options, but in essence think "small," "wee," or "cute" — but in a good way.

The little guy has GPS down in its guts in exactly the way you'd expect from Garmin — maps are included in the 4 gigs of onboard storage, GPS location is added to photos, e-mails, texts, basically anything you'd like to add it, too. There's a special Garmin Car Mount that it ships with that will pass-through charge and holds the device in landscape. Better yet: When you get a call when the device is in the mount, it will automatically turn off your GPS direction audio (visual directions say) and go into speakerphone. Park the car and grab the phone to continue the conversation and the phone switches out of speaker automatically. Garmin-Asus also threw on a custom skin, which does the job but doesn't wow.

We're looking at dual-band 3G and tri-band GSM, so we may not see this thing in the states when it comes out "first half of 2009," and that would be a shame. The stats:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Dual Band HSPA, Tri-Band GSM
• WiFi, Bluetooth, Accelerometer
• GPS (duh)
• 2.8" 640x480 Touchscreen
• 3MP camera
• 4 or 8 GB of internal storage
• 95.3 x 52.5 12.8 mm
• 99g (including battery)
• 528MHz Qualcomm 7200A
• 920 mAh battery (yes, that is small)

More photos and some of the official press stuff after the break.

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For a short while we were thinking that the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 might be the first from the upcoming line to sport Windows Mobile. But now it's going to be the M20, which the new partnership announced today.

Here's what you're getting:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.
• Qualcomm 7200A 528MHz processor.
• Dual-band 3G (900 and 1200 MHz, tri-band EDGE (900/1800/1900).
• WiFi b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
• Dimensions: 95.3 x 52.5 12.8 mm; weighs 90 grams, including the battery.
• 2.8-inch 640x480 touchscreen.
• 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging.
• Mini-USB for headphones and syncing.
• Either 4 or 8 gigs of flash memory.
• 920 mAh battery.
• Accelerometer.

And, obviously, all the GPS goodness Garmin can muster. Spec-wise, this isn't bad at all, though we wonder how that battery's gonna hold up. Then there's the lack of U.S. 3G bands. There's plenty more to be had at the Garmin-Asus Web site, and we'll hopefully get a better look at the M20 next week at Mobile World Congress. For now, a few more pics after the break.

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We're listening in on the Garmin Press call about the nüvifone G60 that they'll be co-releasing.  They're pretty pumped about their synergistic strategic alignments (or somesuch corporate-speak), the news is that nüvifone will soon expand into a "broad range of devices." The G60 will be shown off, but more imporantly a new model be fully unveiled at MWC09, and apparently more will come later this year.

It looks like they're trying to stay mum about just what OS they're planning on using long-term.  As we said before the G60 is some custom ROM and the next device isn't likely to be Android.  Given one of these partners is Asus, it's still a good possibility that the announced device at MWC09 will run on Windows Mobile.  Later on, though, all bets are off.  Both members are part of the Open Handset Alliance and it will "be part of the strategy moving forward," so WinMo might not be the long-term solution.

If you're interested in the business aspect, it's a straightforward "contractual alliance with profit sharing" and co-branding.  In other words, no mergers or acquisitions here, they're just working together.  Both companies are free to do whatever they'd like with other gadgets, they're just working together on smartphones.

You can try to hunt down more deets at garminasus.com, but it's  pretty slim pickings.

Garmin, the GPS behemoth, and Asus, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer that has dabbled in Windows Mobile, have teamed up to finally get nüvifones, the uber-location-based iPhone-looking phones, onto the market. And Gizmodo is speculating that Windows Mobile could well be the operating system of choice. The love child would be called the nüvifone G60.

Giz is reporting that the first nüvifone out of the block won't be Android-based (sorry, guys).

Rather, it will be a phone running another "major platform." I am guessing that means Windows Mobile, but there's no telling which version, 6.1, 6.5 or 7.

We may learn a little more this morning when Asus and Garmin address the North American markets, and they've promised that we'll get a good look at the nüvifone at Mobile World Congress in a couple of weeks in Barcelona, Spain. And if this Windows Mobile angle checks out, we'll be there on top of it.

For now, check out the full press release after the break.

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The headline says it all. The Taiwanese manufacturer best known for desktop motherboards and the like has dabbled in the Windows Mobile world for some time but never really broke through.

Now, it has unleashed the P565 which was immediately hailed as "world's fastest." And, in truth, it's actually quite the beast. Full specs are after the jump. But the short version is a 480x640 touchscreen and an 800-freaking-megahertz Marvell processor. (Before you get too excited, it's lacking the 850 band for US 3G data. Grrrrrrrr.)

By comparison, the HTC Touch Pro is running a 528MHz processor, as is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The Palm Treo Pro is at 400MHz, and the iPhone 3G is listed at 620MHz 412MHz.

Of course, pure chip speed isn't everything (though it's pretty darn close). So we'll the above video speak for itself. On the left is a Touch Diamond. On the right, the Asus P565.

Wow.

GSMDome via WMPowerUser

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Well, now. This week's off to a good start, first with Sprint's integrated picture mail being linked, and now with this little gem.

Enter the Asus Glaxy7 [via wmpoweruser], an obvious answer to the Samsung Omnia. And it indeed is a looker.

What's reportedly under the hood:

• Windows Mobile 6.1.
• EDGE (850/900/1800/1900), WCDMA (900/1900/2100). That's bad news for the U.S., though, without the 850 MHz band for 3G.
• 5MP camera!
• 800x480 3.5-inch touchscreen.
• 4 hours talk time, 200 hours standby.
• 4 gigs of memory.
• MicroSD card.
• Trackball navigation.
• Accelerometer.
• Dimensions 115mm x 59mm x 13.8mm.
• WiFi.
• aGPS.
• Bluetooth 2.0.

A possible October launch also is mentioned. Let's hope we see this one sooner rather than later.