AT&T To Start Selling Garmin's G60 Nuvifone Next Week

"The nuvifone weaves location into nearly every facet of its functionality, making it ideal for people who depend on location to navigate everyday life," said Cliff Pemble, Garmin's president and COO, in a statement. "The nuvifone has Garmin's easy-to-use interface, so navigating to a meeting directly from its calendar or contacts pages, or geotagging an e-mail or photograph with a location stamp, is intuitive, useful and fun."

Garmin's nuvifone G60 was built with the help of Asustek, the Taiwanese PC maker, and has a Linux-based operating system. Asustek and Garmin have had a strategic relationship in place since 2008. Garmin rebranded its original Garmin nuvifone as the nuvifone G60 back in February, the same month Garmin and Asustek revealed another smartphone, the nuvifone M20, a Windows Mobile device.

Among the G60's features are mapping and points of interest functions similar to Garmin nuvi GPSes. According to AT&T and Garmin, nuvifone also sports a "Where am I?" feature to provide users with their exact latitude and longitude and the locations of nearby police stations, gas stations and other key destinations. The G60 has a full HTML browser, a touch-screen virtual keyboard and a location link feature, as well as a 3-megapixel camera with auto-focus.

"Personal navigation devices are already all about mobility and taking the Garmin experience everywhere as your mobile phone is truly compelling for customers who travel often," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Mobile Phone Portfolio, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, in a statement. "We expect the n¼vifone to be the guide for local restaurants, the least-expensive gas and the nearest coffee shop for many customers."