Garmin Nuvifone A50 Navigating to T-Mobile

[Spazmogen]

Does anyone here @ T-Mobile have a launch date other than Q2 for the Garmin A50 ?

It's $199 on a 2 year contract available sometime in June.

Source .


T-Mo News states $450 with out contract.

I hope it has a USB headset included like the old Moto L7. Without a 3.5mm headset jack it will be hard to compete with the new iPhone that also comes out in June.

Also the Connected services: will they be subscription based like AT&T tried for $5.99/month or just part of your data package?

[Jim1348]

Thank you for the update. I had just ran across the TmoNews article, but I had not seen the Engadget one yet.

The prices, both subsidized and unsubsidized, are what I expected.

I certainly agree that I would have preferred a 3.5 mm jack rather than a 2.5 mm jack. It will be hard to compete with the iPhone, but the devices with the Android operating system have a strong following.

As far as the Connected Services, I really doubt that they can market that successfully. I think that they will just be part of the data package. I think for them to be subscription based like AT&T tried for $5.99/month would be a killer.

For whatever it is worth, I have noticed that the specifications for the G60 https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?...018#featureTab specifically differentiates between the Includes Connected Services and the Premium Connected Services. The Garminfone specifications http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/phon.../services.html simply mentions Connected Services without differentiating between Included and Premium. Granted, they still could charge extra, but given the history of Android devices and the fierce competition in smartphones, I don't think charging extra would be a good move.

As for me personally, I will try and resist the urge to be the first to buy one of these. My G60 is working just fine right now. However, once the price drops on this, I will be more interested. I have noticed when I have been in cell stores that many phones keep the no contract price high even when they run a special sale price on a carrier subsidized phone. The low Amazon price on the G60 might be something we are unlikely to see on the Garminfone anytime in the near future.

[Jim1348]

There are more articles showing up about the Garminfone. There is probably not much new information in the articles, but I think what will be interesting soon is when they are actually in the hands of end users and reports start coming in.


http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363729,00.asp

http://www.phonenews.com/t-mobile-co...ability-11252/

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-...-Slide-697911/

[Spazmogen]

AT&T has stopped online sales of the G60. All trace of it is gone from their website. I imagine once stock clears the retail channel, it will be dead/unsupported.

Which means by lauch time for the Garminfone (A50), there will be no direct Garmin competition between phone companies.

[Spazmogen]

I've found an unboxing video.

http://www.phonedog.com/2010/05/12/t...hone-unboxing/

It comes with headphones and a vehicle power cable.

[Jim1348]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/18/g...infone-review/

[Spazmogen]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/5.0.0.411 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/107)

Nice find there Jim.
I'm glad they even took the time to mention headphones and what apps support the multitouch feature.

[Jim1348]

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/20...in-action.html

The video in the Garmin Blog also mentions some additional details. The Garmin Voice Studio application doesn't do much for me, but it might be very desirable for some people. On the other hand, I think supplemental A-GPS is quite desirable for me. For example, just this past weekend I rode my ATV with my oldest son in a rural area along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. The Garmin Nuvifone G60 is not actively mapping and I believe that is by design to conserve battery power. When I switch back to actively mapping it takes some time to acquire GPS signals. With A-GPS, at least as I understand it, it will start mapping as soon as the A-GPS gets coordinate data to the device. Since A-GPS gets that data from cellular mobile telephone towers quicker than pure satellite GPS, that will allow me to do mapping sooner. The flip side is it may not be as accurate as pure GPS, but for my purposes that probably wouldn't matter in many cases. Plus once it gets the satellite GPS data it will simply update.

Anyway, for those of us looking forward to this device, what features are you most interested in? Or, as another way of looking at it, what will this do that the Garmin Nuvifone G60 doesn't do? Since I do have a G60, I am looking forward to what I hope will be smoother viewing of the web. I don't have a full data plan now, but I simply use T-Mobile T-Zones. I may end up getting a data plan with this, however. I know that I do like using the YellowPages.com function and I suspect that the other Connected Services applications for movie theaters, gas stations, etc. will be quite handy.

I do hope that the Slacker Radio application will work with this and while there is no guarantee that it will, I certainly expect that I will try it. Even if it doesn't, the Garminfone should be a very nice device for me.

[Jim1348]

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/a...p?a=369&p=2619

This is one of the most thorough reviews that I have read to date on the Garminfone.

[Spazmogen]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/5.0.0.411 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/107)

Thank you again. The phonescoop review is the best I've seen as well.

Needless to say: I am really looking forward to this Garminfone release.

[Donkey]

Too bad, I already have a Garmin nuvi 760 with Bluetooth connect to my phone. So it's act as a phone.

[Jim1348]

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/compare.php?id[]=2549&id[]=1940&id[]=&id[]=&id[]=

I have used the Phone Scoop Compare Phones feature in the past and I find it nice to compare features next to one another.

[Spazmogen]

yet another unboxing video.

Mobileburn .

[Jim1348]

I haven't had a GPS Phone in ht epast that had both stand alone GPS and Aided/assisted GPS. Does this mean it should be able to start navigating much quicker than the G60 from a cold start?

[Ic0nBoy]

yet another unboxing video.
Mobileburn .

Thanks for the link.

I wish these "previewers" would show us some settings and things that we want to know are on the new device compared to the old one. I would like to know if there is copy and paste. Does the Garminfone allow tethering? I guess we will have to wait and see....