Nuvifone + Eee Phone = Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60

We're getting just a little tired of Garmin's nuvifone, or rather the fact that it never appears despite periodic news. We expected it last year. No show. We expected it at CES. They "forgot" to bring it. Now we've got more interesting nuvifone news, but still nothing you can hold.



So what's the news? The Garmin nuvifone is now the Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60. At a press conference in Taiwan on February 4, 2009 Garmin and Asus made public their joint venture into the mobile phone market.

It turns out that all this talk about an Asus Eee phone and the Garmin nuvifone was all referring to the same device. It was revealed that Asus had been helping Garmin with their nuvifone since it was first announced in 2008. As a result of this joint venture the nuvifone will now be rebranded as the Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 and all phones released in the future will also be branded as Garmin-Asus.

We are now one step closer to seeing the nuvifone in the wild. It will be on display this month at the Mobile World Congress in Spain (unless they "forget" it again, yeah Garmin, we're still bitter). Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can actually get one here in the states. Garmin-Asus is currently negotiating with GSM carriers in North America which means it will probably be on either T-mobile's or AT&T's network (or both).

Good job Garmin. It looks this nuvifone thing just might actually happen this year, although that's what we were told last year. Keep your fingers crossed.

Get the latest news and information on cell phones at TopTenREVIEWS' Mobile Tech site. Get the latest tech news from the TTR Tech Blog:

Mobile Phone Industry Hits Glass Ceiling

Windows 7 Has 6 Versions

Apple Rumors: iPhone Video Call, Background Apps, Flash

Toshiba TG01: Sleek Smartphone Weighed Down by Windows Mobile?

Eee PC Super Battery to the Rescue