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Let’s just say we aren’t huge fans of the Garmin-Asus nuvifones we’ve handled so far. The current devices not only look and feel half-baked, the interface is quite a letdown. We felt at the time that the company wasn’t serious about competing in the mobile phone space. We take that back now that we’ve had some hands-on time with the A50 which runs Android 1.6 and the M10 on Windows Mobile 6.5.3.

(Credit: CNET Asia)

The A50 now comes with a slimmer chassis compared with the G60. The build quality of the demo set we tried at last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was admirable and looks trendier than the standard dull satnav slabs. We did miss the matte display on the G60 as the A50 comes with a standard glossy panel. The capacitive screen measures 3.5 inches with a resolution of 320×480 pixels. We didn’t have a chance to see how the display holds up under harsh lighting, but when tried indoors, we had sharp visuals with acceptable clarity. We did feel that certain actions had a bit of lag, especially when switching between portrait and landscape modes, but this is a prototype unit, so improvements will likely be made along the way. The controls on the front are touch sensitive and we think the reason for this is so the user doesn’t have to exert pressure when the device is in a car dock, making it easier to input commands.

(Credit: CNET Asia)

Earlier, we mentioned that Garmin-Asus completely re-skinned the vanilla Android interface. You can see this right from the home screen. Instead of the usual panel-style home screens, the A50 provides you with three generous buttons to make a call, navigate to your destination, and see where you are on the map. On the right is a column of applications which you can customise to show the ones you use more frequently. When in portrait mode, you slide the menu tray out from the right. In landscape, you do this by swiping up. The shortcut column stays visible on both the home screen and in the main menu so you have ready access to your most used apps anywhere. The widgets panel didn’t seem that exciting, but it’s there in case you want to be reminded of the standard Android interface. Right now, we think we can live without it for now.

(Credit: CNET Asia)

The A50 runs on Android 1.6 and, when we asked if there would be an update to newer versions, the company said it is looking at this without committing to any launch time frame. At least we didn’t get a straight no. With the A50 comes Garmin’s expertise in satellite navigation, so it’s no surprise the device is well-stocked with navigational features, including lane assist, junction views and information on weather, traffic, fuel prices, etc. We have no qualms that the A50 will be a very competent satnav when it ships.

(Credit: CNET Asia)

Google Street View is also supported. You can attach a location in your message, hook up to your office email account with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and take pictures with the on-board 3-megapixel camera. The A50 comes with 4GB of built-in memory as well as a microSD expansion card slot.

Expect this nuvifone in Europe in the first half of 2010, although pricing and launch dates for Asia have not been released. Meanwhile, the M10 which runs Windows Mobile 6.5.3 will be available next month in Asia.

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