Garmin-ASUS have outed their latest smartphone, and the nuvifone A50 is the first to be based on Android.  The A50 has a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, custom Garmin-ASUS UI and preloaded turn-by-turn navigation with voice prompts.  The company also provides real-time weather, traffic, fuel prices, safety cameras and flight status information. Meanwhile there's also a multitouch-capable browser, 3-megapixel autofocus camera with geotagging, 4GB internal memory and a microSD card slot.  An accelerometer handles page orientation flips, and there's Exchange support and the usual Google apps including access to the Android Market. No pricing details as yet, but the Garmin-ASUS nuvifone A50 will drop in Europe sometime in the first half of this year.  Based on the partnership's past success in meeting launch estimates, however, we wouldn't hold our breath. Press Release: Garmin-Asus nüvifone™ A50: An Android™ Smartphone with More Location Technology Than Any Other Smartphone Mobile World Congress 2010 BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK® Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), today announced the Garmin-Asus nüvifone A50, a touchscreen Android-powered smartphone with multiple location technologies and apps. The A50 benefits from the personalization and enhanced features offered by the Android platform, and also includes Garmin navigation with turn-by-turn, voice prompted directions for use in a car or while walking. Location features are designed into virtually every function including email, text messaging, and photos. The A50 will be on display at the Garmin-Asus booth (Hall 8, #8B127) at Mobile World Congress, February 15-18, 2010. “The A50 brings premium navigation features to the Android operating system, offering users a seamless location based experience along with access to the wealth of applications that the platform affords” “The A50 brings premium navigation features to the Android operating system, offering users a seamless location based experience along with access to the wealth of applications that the platform affords,” said Benson Lin, vice president and general manager of ASUS’ personal mobile devices business unit, handheld business group. “Location is relevant to everything you do,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “The A50 integrates navigation and GPS functionality throughout the device, which gives customers the versatility and reliability they need as they navigate their day.” The elegant and thin A50 has a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen display that incorporates a finger-friendly user interface. The QWERTY touchscreen keyboard makes it easy to send and receive messages, and predictive text helps customers type faster. It also comes with hardware features like 4GB internal storage, an expandable microSD card slot, and accelerometer so every screen can be viewed in portrait or landscape mode. Access to thousands of applications The A50 integrates Google™ mobile services with one-click access to Google Search™ by voice, Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube™, calendar, contacts and Android Market™, where users can find more than 20,000 applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their lifestyle. Powerful enterprise email capability The A50 includes on-device sync with Microsoft Exchange server, with the ability to wirelessly synchronize contacts, calendar and enterprise email. Account setup is quick and easy, and in a few simple steps users will have their contacts, calendar and email ready to go. High-sensitivity GPS receivers with Garmin navigation The A50 receives its location (latitude and longitude) information from multiple sources including satellite, network-based and terrestrial sources. These overlapping technologies ensure that A50 customers have the best location and navigation experience a smartphone can offer. Garmin navigation is included and preloaded on the A50. Because maps are installed on the device, customers will not have to wait for third party maps to download from a server, nor will they lose their turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation if they are out of cell phone coverage. The A50 also has many of the same features as a high-end Garmin nüvi® navigation device such as lane assist with junction view that guides drivers to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit and realistically displays road signs. Ready for pedestrian or automotive navigation out-of-the-box, the A50 includes a custom Garmin car mount and vehicle power cable. The A50 also supports cityXplorer™ maps so that customers can plan and use routes that include public transit options such as bus, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems. cityXplorer content is available as an optional download for select cities. Thanks to the A50’s e-compass, customers will know their heading even when standing still. In addition to Android Market, the A50 has preloaded, apps through Garmin-Asus’ connected services, which includes real-time, location-relevant information like weather, traffic, fuel prices, safety cameras, flight status. Connected services information varies by country. Customers also have access to Street View in Google Maps and 3D landmark images. Surf the web With a powerful, multi-touch capable WebKit browser, the A50 allows users to browse the web at quick speeds and view streaming content. In addition, it automatically identifies location information embedded within web pages allowing the user to quickly navigate to the locations published on the world-wide web. Take quality photos The A50 includes a three mega-pixel camera with auto-focus that automatically geotags images with an exact latitude and longitude reference of where the photo was taken. Customers may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the geo-tagged image to friends. Availability The Garmin-Asus nüvifone A50 is expected to be available in Europe in the first half of 2010. Specific availability and pricing details will be given in the future. Additional information about Garmin-Asus products is available at www.GarminAsus.com. About Garmin-Asus Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.