Garmin-Asus introduced a new Android smartphone in their navigation-centric roster of handsets. Called the Garmin-Asus A10, it offers a change of pace for the company, integrating software that's better optimized for pedestrian navigation, rather than the turn-by-turn driving guidance that's been the focus of their previous releases.
Of course, it has provisions for automobile use too, so it won't exactly be useless when driving around the city. We're not exactly sure what it means to be optimized for pedestrians, since they don't detail it, but we're guessing it has something to do with public transport integration (bus, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems) on the cityXplorer maps and some of the bundled apps. There's really little to go on from the press release.
Details of the Garmin-Asus A10 include a 3.2-inch touchscreen (HVGA resolution), a 5.0 megapixel camera module, aGPS (obviously) and a 1,500mAh battery. It gets all the usual Android niceties, of course, from the Google suite of apps to Exchange support to the Webkit-based HTML browser with multi-touch capabilities.
Like all Garmin-Asus phones, it comes with pre-loaded maps, so you don't need to get lost when going without a cell signal (as you would with the Google Maps Navigation). While "optimized" for pedestrians, it comes with a dashboard mount in the box too. We're thinking a belt clip (or a wrist mount) would have been more appropriate, though.
The Garmin-Asus A10 is slated for a mid-2010 availability in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific. No word on pricing has been given.
[Garmin]
