Garmin-Asus A10 : The ASUS Adroid Phone

So you think ASUS is just about personal computing, desktop and laptop well thing again because now ASUS ventures into the Android phone market. Most of the earlier nuvifone models which ASUS brought to the market had been available on limited territories and we hope that this time with this latest phone model it will be available worlwide.

ASUS is bringing into the market the debut of its phone for the Android platform in the form of the nüvifone A10. Excited? Well, let us take a look at the details of the Garmin-Asus A10 via a review from hardwarezone.com.ph.

Design

As Garmin-ASUS' first Android-based handset, the nüvifone A10 is bestowed with a characteristically solid profile and soft curved edges that makes it eye-catching as it is comfortable to hold. While the design don't differ much from most Android handsets, the A10 is decidedly focused on leveraging its Smart3 philosophy to create a tightly integrated experience for communication, navigation, social networking and location-based services.

Much like its predecessors, the nüvifone A10 offers a touchscreen-based experience on the bright vivid 3.2-inch HVGA touch-capacitive screen. Despite it being powered by the Eclair (2.1), the A10 has a decidedly different take of the conventional Android homescreen, starting off with a navigation widget that is akin to a standalone GPS receiver. It is, of course, not surprising in the least considering that the A10 is imbued with Qualcomm's gpsOne hybrid A-GPS solution.

Performance

GPS lock-on is positively fast, taking approximately 33 seconds for a first fix from a cold start. Once in navigation mode, the nüvifone A10 performs very much like a standalone GPS unit, thus enabling users to confidently navigate their way to the intended destination using Lane Assist and Junction View. In addition to in-car navigation, the A10 also includes on-foot navigation support – great for pedestrians or cyclists, especially in its present smartphone form factor.

Having said that, the 3.2-inch screen size, while comfortably large for a smartphone, is less impressive inside an automobile due to the issue of screen glare. The audio department fares better, resulting in audio cues that sound bright and clear coming from the built-in speakers. Garmin-ASUS has also graciously include 4GB of internal storage, most likely for storing large amounts of mapping data, in a bid to offset the limitation of Android 2.1.

Conclusion

As the first Android smartphone to incorporate Garmin's renowned GPS system, the Garmin-Asus nüvifone A10 has many things riding on it. Great GPS performance, combined with the relative 'openness' of the Android platform and microSD expansion (up to 32GB microSDHC supported) should please those looking for a capable smartphone that also includes all the sat-nav goodness of Garmin.

Product Specifications

• Networks: HSDPA, UMTS 900/2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 820/900/1800/1900
• OS: Android 2.1
• Memory: 512MB SDRAM, 512MB ROM, 4GB eMMC Flash
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, USB 2.0, WLAN 802.11b+g
• GPS: Qualcomm GPSOne-Gen7 (A-GPS supported)
• Navigation: Pedestrian navigation, Automobile navigation
• Display: 3.2" HVGA 65K TFT with capacitive touch
• Camera: 5MP with auto focus
• Expansion Slot: microSD (SDHC supported, up to 32GB)
• Other Features: Android Market, Google Talk, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps
• Talk Time: 560 - 710 minutes (2G / 3G)
• Standby Time: 530 - 660 hours (2G / 3G)

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