Garmin nuvifone G60 Review

Introduction:

The Garmin nuvifone G60 has been in the works for a long time now – almost two years. During the span, there have been a multitude of handsets released that took smartphone technology to the next level. Garmin is known in the GPS industry as a market leader in providing some stellar standalone units. The nuvifone G60 is coming into a market already crowded with location based services – both from carrier branded GPS services and alternate third party applications. Now that they’re diving head-on for the first time into the mobile world, we’ll see if their first smartphone in the US can transition smoothly to make a deep impression on customers. The phone is actually manufactured by Garmin-Asus, but AT&T is offering it simply as the Garmin nuvifone G60.

The package contains:

•    Garmin nuvifone G60
•    Charger
•    USB Cable
•    Suction cup mount
•    Dashboard disc
•    Quick Start Guide
•    Getting started CD

Design:

Taking some design cues from their lineup of standalone GPS devices, the nuvifone G60 has that traditional GPS look and feel. Although we enjoyed the soft matte touch used throughout the phone, giving it that nice rugged feel, we thought of it as being too much of the same and not providing that wow factor for a phone. Even the feel of the resistive touch screen that's utilized is reminiscent of what's used on their GPS units – it pays homage to the traditional look and feel. On the other hand, the slate form factor is fairly well sized and does not put too much of weight (4.83 oz) in the pocket. Overall, its construction is top notch with high quality materials used to make the device.



You can compare the Garmin nuvifone G60 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Taking a glance for the first time will place your attention on its 3.55” resistive LCD screen with a resolution of 272 x 480 pixels and 65k colors. Even though it may not be as highly detailed as other devices, it’s more than enough due to its use of large icons. It’s fairly bright on the highest setting with colors turning out deep and vibrant. Thankfully the matte display does not reflect too much off the screen – allowing for little or no distractions. In direct sunlight though, there is still going to be a need to shield it from the sun. Fortunately for the screen, it’s quite responsive because it has that matte feel as opposed to that plastic touch.



When you look at the left side, you’ll find the microSD slot, miniUSB charging port, and an area where it clips onto the dash mount. Buttons found on the nuvifone G60 are all flush with the surface – giving it that clean look all around. On the flip side, the dedicated camera button and volume rocker located on the right edge all feel too stiff when pressed. There’s no home button whatsoever – you’ll only see a button on the top corner of the phone that turns the display on or off. Flipping it over to its back will greet you to the 3-megapixel camera and speaker phone while removing the back cover reveals the battery and SIM card slot.

Interface:

Now the development period has been a long time coming – with a good chunk of it devoted to the Linux-based operating system that was built from the ground up. With that much time, we would have gathered that Garmin has fine tuned the platform to provide a seamless experience with some depth – apparently the case is not so. One bright spot about the new platform is that it runs relatively quick when switching between menus while the occasional menu transitions add some glamour. Unfortunately, it fails to simplify the experience for the end user – having to hit the back button constantly to get to the home screen is extremely frustrating. This is a classic example of how imperative it is to focus on the platform in an already competitive smartphone environment. One last thing to note is that it'll sometimes change the display almost instantly from portrait to landscape. At other times though, it'll require you to shake the phone a bit so it'll recognize.

Once you unlock the phone, you'll be greeted to the main menu which has finger friendly sized icons. The three main ones to the left are call, search, and view map. The first one will allow you to use the phone calling aspect of the handset while the other two are geared around the GPS abilities. On the right side is a scrollable section with more icons that perform specific functions – it moves relatively quick when scrolling. When it comes to personalization, there is very little to change in the settings – you can modify the order placement of the icons on the scrollable portion of the main menu. It would've been nice to see some more personalization – but the only other option is to choose a wallpaper. It’s nice that you can always turn the phone in landscape position and it will rotate automatically. No matter the screen you are in, you can get a landscape view, which is kind of comfy.



Phonebook:

There's no surprise with the nuvifone G60's address book, it doesn't deliver anything unseen. There's a multitude of information you can store with each contact from common items like phone numbers and email addresses, to birthdays, and web pages. In addition, you can assign a ringtone or picture to each specific individual. When you get into your address book, you can only scroll through the list – fortunately it's quick, although we preferred an input method of some sort.  The phone will be able to hold 5,000 contacts.



Organizer:

All your standard set of tools are found – alarm clock, world clock, stop watch, flight status, synchronize, converter, calendar, notes, weather, checklists, and traffic search. The latter obviously ties into the GPS aspect of the phone – allowing you to get traffic conditions based on your location. Regrettably you'll have to dish out $5.99 per month if you want updates for traffic, weather, and fuel prices. Other than that, the names of the applications already hint to what it's all about, so no surprises there. Additional software isn’t really abundant. You can sign up for Garmin's own Ciao program that'll allow you to let your friends know your exact location.



Messaging:

Clearly another frustrating thing that the nuvifone G60 totally goes awry is its text input methods. Typing a text message can be either a nightmare or satisfying experience – it depends heavily on which input method you use. In holding the handset in an upright position, you’ll be greeted to an ABC-arranged keyboard, which may be typical for a navigation system, but not for a phone. Thanks to the responsive screen, you’ll have little problems typing away – except for the fact you’ll be spending some time finding where the keys are on the keyboard. Thankfully tilting the phone to its side into landscape will display the full QWERTY keyboard – no problems with this one except for the occasional lag between the transitions. You’d want to look elsewhere if you plan on sending MMS because there’s no option for it on the Garmin nuvifone G60.



Generally all you have to do is input your email address and password then the application will do the rest itself to automatically setup your email. If it's not a generic provider, it'll require you to manually input the specific information needed. The application lacks the ability to send attachments – something that's an eye opener itself when almost every email application on other smartphones has this ability. One last thing to note is that it won't display HTML email within the application, so you'll need to click the “view in web browser” link to view photos or animations sent with the message.

GPS:

Getting right down to the focal point of this device is none other than its touted GPS capabilities. We’re going to be straightforward and inform you that it does not compare to even the most basic standalone versions – adding more insult is the fact that even some carrier-branded services provide more depth. However there are some bright spots when it comes to presentation and automatic rerouting. The interface is similar to what you find on Garmin’s GPS devices – it's fairly quick with different colors representing various road conditions on the map. The colors of the map change automatically. Darker colors are used for night mode so it’s easier on the eyes and brighter ones during daytime. Depending on the road you're on, like a rural or highway, it'll zoom the map out to give you an expanded view and zoom back in when a turn it about to come up. It's quick to reroute you if you make the wrong turn thanks to the built in digital compass – we found that it took an average of 5 seconds before it recognizes that you are off track. The in-menu options will provide the basic amenities found on standalone units – points of interests, gas prices, your exact coordinates, white pages, and routes to allow you to make way points. Listening to the female voice won't be a problem with the speaker phone – it's loud enough in the car and states streets by their names. One thing that proved to be frustrating is the system used for searching points of interests. You can look up something close to your location, but can't find something in another city that's further away. Load times are a bit lengthy when the phone is trying to search and pull up the points of interests – something that basic units can perform quickly.



In short, the Garmin nuvifone G60 excels in providing the user with an experience that's well suited for anyone using it for turn-by-turn directions. The implementation of the compass aids in the overall scheme as you set off navigating a specified route. On the flip side though, it lacks the depth in location based services and options, such as points of interests, that are found on even the most basic GPS units. Carrier branded GPS services may offer a more complete package than what's found on the nuvifone G60.

Connectivity:

The Garmin Nuvifone G60 is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100 MHz) handset – currently available for AT&T.

If this is considered a smartphone, we would’ve thought otherwise based the experience of the internet browser. For a 3G and Wi-Fi enabled device, we were shocked as to how long it took for web pages to load on the browser. Our site took close to 2 minutes before everything was fully loaded. If you can sit through the long load times, you’ll be treated to a somewhat decent scrolling experience – although the zooming in/out process is nothing short but unimaginative. You actually just need to press the associated on-screen zoom buttons towards the bottom of the page – there's going to be a slight delay before everything is rendered properly again. Pages as a whole are correctly rendered and displayed as you would see on a desktop browser. This web browser has some potential if it was able to speed up load times – hopefully updates down the road may improve it.



Camera:

Garmin definitely was haste in putting in a camera – the quality of what it produces reflects that argument. You can turn on the camera application by pressing down the stiff shutter key. The interface is uncluttered with only three icons to press – activating the geotag function, album viewer, and one to exit the application. You take photos by slightly pressing the shutter key to allow the camera to auto-focus, then pressing it all the way down to take the shot. We're quite disappointed with the overall quality of the 3-megapixel camera – dull colors, lots of noise, and lack of fine detail. Furthering the insult is the lack of options to modify your photo – such as black and white images or adjusting the white balance.


If you're a video fanatic, you'll be sorely disappointed in the lack of support for it on the Garmin nuvifone G60. You can't take or view videos on the handset – not even ones on YouTube's mobile site.

Multimedia:

We're shocked already that the nuvifone G60 has a music player despite not supporting video playback. There's nothing too fancy looking with the interface – the icons used for reverse, pause/play, and forward are all well sized. Pertinent information of what you're playing will also be displayed such as the song name, artist, album name, and elapsed time. Other than the usual shuffle and repeat functions, you can make your own playlist to use for a personal touch.

In terms of storage, you can access the 4GB of memory on the phone – but we had roughly 1.5GB to work with right out of the box. Otherwise you'll need to get yourself a microSD card to save pictures and music – it'll accept card up to 16GB in size.

Performance:

Voices for the most part sounded clear on our end with the exception of static noise in the background which was made more audible when there was dead silence. On the other end, callers stated our voice sounded audible and easily understood – no static on their side. You'll have the option to use the speaker phone as an alternative, but having it set higher than 75 percent volume will produce a crackling sound. It wasn't too terrible, but you can easily hear the speaker falter on higher call volumes. It's a decent experience nonetheless and found it relatively tolerable.

There were no issues with retaining a signal with the Garmin nuvifone G60 in the greater Philadelphia area during our testing.

Going into this, anyone would be aware of how much the battery drains when using GPS on any phone. Seeing that the nuvifone G60 is focused mostly on LBS, it performed poorly with its 1100 mAh battery  – it'll require daily charges. We were able to get one full day out of the phone using it normally for calls, internet, and GPS during a 60 mile trip. By the end of our day, we were left with only one bar remaining – and it doesn't help that there's no car charger packed with the phone. Garmin has it rated for 4 hours of talk and 250 hours of standby.

Conclusion: 

It's difficult to recommend the Garmin nuvifone G60 to consumers who  can be offered similar location based services on most phones. If it was released two years ago, it would've made a giant splash in the market with its swift Linux based platform and GPS capabilities. When this handset is touted for its GPS capabilities, it should easily be on the same level as some standalone units. Unfortunately, it doesn't come close to even some basic ones – granted though it does do a good job with turn-by-turn directions. If  Garmin continues to tweak and fine tune this platform to become a well balanced smartphone, it'll be able to compete with the likes of the juggernauts out there. Instead we are given a handset that tries to excel in one specific area and fails to imitate the balanced deep offerings of other smartphones. We'd recommend even using AT&T Navigator, which can be found on just about every phone with a built-in GPS receiver in their lineup for a well-rounded location based service.

Garmin nuvifone G60 Video Review: