With the proliferation of smartphones with a GPS chip, the GPS market is undergoing some stiff competition. Little matter, Garmin, in partnership with Asus, have launched a hybrid device allying geolocation services with a 3.5 inch touchphone. Announced a while ago, the PNDPhone Nüvifone G60 is here at last. It’s a first: a GPS navigation player moving into the coveted mobile phone market. We’ve been testing it for three weeks! Here’s what we make of it…


A remark on the positioning of this product before we go into details on the handling. While the Nüvifone is in our mobile phones product survey, it isn’t easy to see market positioning right away, or even to see who might buy it.

The Nüvifone isn’t just a GPS and it isn’t just a phone. Rather its a device with geolocation services – supplied depending on where you are or where you want to go – and applications that communicate with each other.

Garmin hopes to actually create a new market segment, the "navigation phone".segment. The G60 is the first device in a range to come (some of these terminals will be based on Windows Phone or Android) whose main objective is to unite the features of phones, GPS’ and geolocation. In view of the increased competition on the mobile phone market however and the success of smartphones with on-demand GPS solutions – which will be available for peanuts in the months to come - who’s really going to be interested in the Nüvifone?

Looks like a GPS

The Nüvifone doesn’t look all that from the outside: not playing the design card either then! Solid and thick, it doesn’t have much in common with most smartphones. The insides are closer to what you’d expect from a GPS than a mobile phone and so is its allure.


No one will be choosing it for its stylishness – it lacks originality and singularity. We do recognise the quality of the materials used on the back of the device however. The rubber, matte touch is nice and isn’t easily scratched (in contrast to the glossy black plastic of most smartphones!).

The matte touch screen (resolution 272 x 480 pixels) displays neither exceptional colours nor contrast, but is nice to use due to good sensitivity. You can still make out the info displayed in full sunlight, not the case with the shiny screens favoured by other brands. For a device of this type that will often be placed on a windscreen, the matte screen seems a logical choice.


The finish inspires confidence. Its tough, robust aspect has at least one advantage: you don’t worry about damaging it too much, nor clipping/unclipping it from the holder that comes with it (very simple installation). The little hood that protects the microSD slot however, comes off in your hands (not attached). Careful not to lose it.

The Nüvifone is also delivered with a full car kit: windscreen holder, cigarette lighter charger, hands-free.

Interface and menus

Now lets turn this thing on and… waiting… waiting… 1m15s needed to display the home page! Not a record time as the Toshiba TG01 does worse, but it’s certainly disconcerting! According to Garmin, this is the time needed to load the map data and avoide any latency during use of the device.


Once it has woken up, you get an interface that looks a universe away from current multifunction phones. Garmin has gone for very GPS-style graphics. Obviously, for a mobile phones, this is a bit of a surprise. Here once again, Garmin can’t be said to be playing the design card: the icons are pretty chunky and austere overall. Those used to the Garmin GPS interface won’t be disorientated.


The good news is that navigation is intuitive and efficient on the whole: you quickly get an idea of what you can do with the device. There are nevertheless a few inconsistencies: some functions are here when we’d have preferred them there. The three main fixed icons do not for example include access to contacts. You have to go and find them on the side. For a phone, contacts access seems pretty important, doesn't it?!

The virtual keyboard feature is also astonishing. While keying is relatively precise, the keyboard is independent, for example, from the web navigator. According to the manufacturer, this is to give maximum surface area to the keyboard. The Nüvifone offers relatively effective predictive text.


The responsiveness of the Nüvifone is good. Applications open rapidly and the device suffers from no slowdowns. Only the accelerometer feature is sometimes a bit erratic, jumping around from portrait to landscape.

Connected services

The GPS function is the same as on stand-alone GPS’ and geolocation is very well integrated. With good sensitivity on this device, you get a display of your location rapidly.



There are moreover a good few apps based on geolocation: places of interest, nearest pertrol stations, restaurants, hospitals, hotels etc. The "go!", button is nice, giving you the route to your meeting place in one click. The Google search feature helps you find what you need nearby (doctor, bar etc.) and follow the route given to your destination. The Nüvifone maps are on pedestrian mode by default, but once you have the car kit installed you can get it to switch.

The Nüvifone gives rapid access to weather, plane times (with departure/arrival gate) and so on. If you take out the yearly subscription, you can also receive real-time traffic info and speed camera warnings and get access to a database of cinema times and local events as well as directory information.

As announced further up, the phone is supplied with a car holder and can completely replace a PND without the loss of any features.

Multimedia experience

When it comes to multimedia (audio and photo, it doesn’t play video or film), the Nüvifone can back you up if need be, but only if you’re really desperate. The photos, though geotagged, are rather approximate. Audio is compromised by a constant hiss.



Internet navigation is quite efficient. Display of a page is rapid and the touch zoom feature works well. You have to zoom out to get the full page.


The Nüvifone lasts for a day and a half with moderate use (voice and mail communication, a little bit of surfing, use of the GPS) before needing to be recharged.