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Welcome to the 2010 Garmin Nuvifone A50 review. The Nuvifone A50 is our first ever Garmin mobile phone writeup so we had a significant play with the phone. Officially it is branded a Garmin-ASUS which makes it like Sony Ericsson which does sound more impressive. It is priced under $600 as an outright purchase which is a little expensive BUT you do get a proper GPS navigator!
First impressions of the phone are good. Decent build quality, including the bright and simple to use menu system. The Nuvifone A50 functionality is biased towards navigation more than mobile phone so the main menu has nice big icons for navigation and basic phone functions. You also get the usual web browser, email, and a multitude of Apps that comes with the Android OS.
The platform it runs on is customized version of Android 1.6 operating system, so you have access to additional Apps if you wanted to install them and combined with free map updates stored in the phone for the life of the phone which makes the whole package quite desirable.
The menu system works really well and just as slick as other Android phones or the iPhone. However most of the cool stuff that is standard on other Android's are hidden away but at least accessible. The Garmin navigation software on the Nuvifone has be updated to take advantage of mobile phone functionality so it looks like the traditional Garmin menu. All the usual navigation features are there and it does works better than most App based navigation software you have to buy for other mobile phones. We think its probably the best navigation system you can get. Sure it has some quirks but there's plenty of substance.
The phone system of the A50 works as well as any other phone. However in the end many won't get one because while it looks good it doesn't look that good and the mobile phone networks aren't making an effort to publicize its existence. Maybe a price drop will help?
We liked the Nuvifone A50 and so will you if you want one of the best GPS navigator/mobile phone experience available in 2010. Since the map data is on the phone you don't need a huge data plan either which makes the A50 as appealing as the Nokia E series or GPS biased phones.
Specifications
- Garmin-ASUS Nuvifone A50
- Network
Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Dual-band 3G 1900/2100 (Dependent on country)
HSDPA 7.2 Mbits data speed (download)
- Design
Touch screen
- L116 x W62.5 x D11.9 mm
Weight 140 grams
- Display/s
3.5 inch External TFT 320 x 480
- Camera
3MP
- Video Camera
640 x 480 pixel main video camera
- Connectivity
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth V2
- CPU
600Mhz
- Memory
4 Gig on board
Up to 256MB available to user
MicroSD up to 32Gig
- Ring tones
MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
- Features
A-GPS
Compass
Accelerometer
JAVA Apps
Music and Media player
Organiser/Calender
SMS, MMS, IM, Email
JAVA MIDP 2.0
FM radio with RDS
Speaker Phone/Hands free
Li-Po 1150mAh battery
Up to 18 days Standby
Up to 9 hours Talk Time
- Price history
Under $599 AUS 2010 (Outright)
