I don't believe that you can use a bluetooth keyboard at all with the G60. The available bluetooth profiles are whatever they allowed. One of the advantages of the A50 with andriod is that you can add apps to give you functionality that the device doesn't have at all. With the A50 you can get weather without paying the connected services $5.99 a month required for with the G60. There are so many apps for andriod that it just allows you to get your phone to do more. That is the benefit of a smartphone platform for the nuvifone. Windows on the M10 and M20 also let you do that but I like the Breeze UI of the G60 and A50 better than windows mobile.
Turns out that the constant switching on of the G60 was because there was a (possible) corrupt microSD card after I did a Master Clear. Not sure if it Master Cleared the card as well, but once I removed the card, the unit switched off and stayed off. I then reformatted the card - all okay now!
A guy on the G60 Facebook page said this to me about APAC firmware:
No I cannot get [APAC] to work. I'm sure there is a way but I'm not that computer savvy. I do know the update looks at the firmware already on the phone when it boots and decides whether or not to update. I think the phone carrier (ATT) deliberately made it difficult. On garmin nuvi devices its simply changing the software number on the garmindevice.xml but the G60 is Linux.
Looks like we'll still have to tinker around some more. Wonder who the brave ones are?
Copy every file you can find on the G60 over to a folder on your HDD.
Delete everything else but gmapsupp.img (that's your map) on the phone, then run the installer for the new firmware. See if that works. It may not, then just copy the files back to your phone if it didn't work out for you.
That is how I update the Nuvi650 each and every time I add new maps to it.
Phone: Garminfone (Eclair 2.1) from T-Mobile now on Rogers!
Here is some info about updating to the latest firmware for an APAC G60. Not sure if it will work on the AT&T phone but it looks interesting.Firmware Info
Here is some info about updating to the latest firmware for an APAC G60. Not sure if it will work on the AT&T phone but it looks interesting.Firmware Info
Both vs2 and I have had problems trying to use non-ATT firmware. It doesn't work
We are hoping, waiting, searching and asking if anyone has successfully been able to update from ATT to APAC or other firmware. Here's hoping it won't take too long!
Has anybody ran across any after-market accessories custom designed for the G60? I might me interested in an Otter Box, but I rather doubt that one will be designed for the G60. I might be interested in an extended battery, but I suspect that is rather unlikely as well
There is very little out there. I looked but except for a few rubberized cases I didn't find much. The best bet would be to look for something that fits a phone of it's size but then the special car connector would probably be obscured.
The Garmin Nuvifone G60 is mentioned in this article:
Kent German, Senior Editor April 14, 2010
We spend a lot of time talking about our favorite cell phones, and it's equally important that we tell you about handsets to avoid. Though the following phones aren't completely abysmal, there are better options available.
There's nothing wrong with a basic phone, but T-Mobile's Nokia 1661 takes simplicity to an extreme. It has a flimsy design, its controls aren't easy to use, and it offers poor call quality. Nokia didn't do much better with the 2605 Mirage for Verizon Wireless. It has a couple of welcome features for a budget model, but we broke it almost as soon as we took it out of the box. And don't count on call quality, either. Samsung's SGH-A167 for AT&T offers better performance, but we didn't like its keypad and controls. As such, it's not for heavy callers. AT&T's Garmin Nuvifone G60 was one of the biggest mobile disappointments of 2009. It's fine for finding your way, but it's not worth its weight in plastic as a smartphone. We also can't recommend the Duet W002 or the D8. We love that they offer dual-SIM-card slots, but these iPhone clones are an experience in frustration. Use the Duet D888 instead.
The Garmin Nuvifone G60 makes a fine navigator but fails as a smartphone. It's not worth the money.
Product summary
The good: The Garmin Nuvifone G60 comes preloaded with North American maps and points of interest. The GPS-enabled smartphone is an accurate navigator and delivers decent call quality.
The bad: The G60's smartphone capabilities are limited. The accelerometer doesn't work all the time, and the user interface needs some work.
The bottom line: The Garmin Nuvifone G60 makes a fine navigator but fails as a smartphone. It's not worth the money.
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If you've been following the story of the Garmin Nuvifone at all, you know it hasn't been the smoothest of rides. After being announced in January 2008, the launch of Garmin's first smartphone was delayed time and time again, and we had all but given up on the device. Still, when word officially came that the Garmin Nuvifone G60 would be offered by AT&T starting October 4, we were eager to try it out.
The advantage of the Garmin Nuvifone G60 over the other GPS-enabled smartphones is that it comes with preloaded maps and voice-guided directions right out of the box, so there's no need to add a location-based service subscription. Not surprisingly, given Garmin's 20 years of experience in the GPS market and the company's history of excellent portable navigation devices (PNDs), the Nuvifone G60 excels as a navigator, but unfortunately, it falls flat on its face as a smartphone. The Linux-based smartphone offers the basics, such as e-mail, calendar, and document viewing, and even comes with an HTML Web browser and all the wireless options. However, the capabilities of each is limited and there are user interface and system problems.
The Nuvifone G60 feels like a half-finished product, which really shouldn't be the case since it's taken two years to come out. At $299.99 with a two-year contract, you'd be better off getting one of AT&T's other GPS-enabled smartphones and adding its TeleNav Navigator service. We hope Garmin's other Nuvifone models will be better, but we also can't help but wonder if the company would be better off designing an app for smartphones rather than coming out with its own hardware.
Design
The Garmin Nuvifone G60 has a plain but clean design. Cloaked in a black soft-touch finish, the G60 measures 4.4 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighs 4.8 ounces, so it's a bit bulky and not the most pocket-friendly device. Of course, it has to be a certain size to make it a viable navigation option in the car, but we would have preferred something slightly slimmer. On the positive side, the phone has a very solid construction and looks like it could survive a tumble, not that we recommend that you be rough with the device.
The Garmin Nuvifone G60 is the GPS company's first smartphone.
The G60 features a 3.5-inch, 65,000-color touch screen with a 272x480 resolution. It's not the sharpest display we've seen, so images and text don't look quite as smooth. However, it's still clear and bright enough for viewing maps and the like. You can adjust the brightness and like regular PNDs, you can choose from day and night map colors or just select auto to have it adjust automatically.
The display has a built-in accelerometer but unfortunately, it's very temperamental. During our testing period, there were numerous times when the screen wouldn't change orientation after we rotated the phone from a vertical to horizontal position and vice versa. It was frustrating, especially when we used the device as handheld navigator.
The user interface of the Nuvifone G60 looks easy enough at first glance. On the left, you'll find shortcuts to the main functions of the phone: Call, Search, and View Map. Meanwhile, the right side features a sliding menu of all the smartphone's other apps, such as contacts, calendar, e-mail, Web browser, music player, and so forth. As we said, it seems straightforward enough at the beginning, but after using the device, we found some inconsistencies and navigation problems that just made for a bad user experience.
For example, there's no dedicated home key, so exiting out of a program to get back to the main menu can require multiple taps of the onscreen back button, especially as you get deeper into the submenus. Also, the onscreen keyboard, though pretty easy to use, is only offered in QWERTY format in landscape mode, while the portrait keyboard is in ABC format and can't be changed. It all just makes the Nuvifone feel unpolished and half-baked.
There's isn't much else to the phone's design, as the Garmin Nuvifone G60 doesn't have many physical keys. There's a power button on top of the device, while you'll find a volume rocker and a camera activation/capture button on the right. A microSD expansion slot and a mini USB port reside on the left side; when turned horizontally, the left side becomes the bottom of the device where you can attach the included car cradle.
The Nuvifone ships with a vehicle mount, but disappointingly, there's no car charger included in the box.
In addition to the vehicle mount (both windshield and dash), AT&T packages the Garmin Nuvifone G60 with an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material. Unfortunately and much to our annoyance, there's no car charger included in the box, so you'll have to purchase one, though it'll work if you have a car charger with a mini USB connector. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.
Features
If you've ever used one of Garmin's PNDs before, the Nuvifone G60's navigation features will look and feel familiar to you. The device comes preloaded with maps of North America and offers a points of interest (POI) database containing millions of entries in categories ranging from lodging, food, and shopping to landmarks and entertainment venues. Garmin and AT&T also offer some additional connected services, such as Yellowpages.com for business searches, Flight Status to see departure/arrival times and gate numbers, and Ciao, Garmin's location-based social networking app.
The G60 is capable of getting real-time traffic updates, weather information, fuel prices, and the like, but you'll have to pay $5.99 per month for the privilege. A 30-day complimentary trial to these set of Premium Connected Services will be offered, so you can try them before deciding to continue with the subscription.
I have found myself starting to use the YellowPages.com function more often on my Garmin Nuvifone G60. Even though I have T-Mobile as a carrier and only have T-Zones (I don't have FULL internet access) I find that the YellowPages.com feature works very well. I even had a wild thought recently that Garmin would no longer charge an additional fee for their Premium Connected Services on the G60, but I rather doubt that would ever happen. I also reviewed the Garminfone (Garmin Nuvi A50) website and it looks like the currently terminology for that is simply Connected Service rather than Premium Connected Services. It sounds like there is quite a few free and low priced apps on Android devices, so I think Garmin would be hard pressed to charge for Premium Connected Services on the Garminfone.
There are over 50,000 android apps now. It boggles my mind when I think of some of the things they can do. That's why I'm very excited about the garminphone or the A50 because it can do so much more than the G60.
Garmin Nuvifone G60 - one year contract?
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Originally Posted by kingstu
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