It is not hard to understand why Garmin wants to get into the mobile smartphone market. Now that every smartphone comes packaged with a GPS and compass, GPS companies have to take notice and come up with their own products to offer an alternative to consumers that wish to have GPS navigation ability built into their smartphones.
Competitors like TomTom and Sygic have already released their navigation software as iPhone apps – with varying degree of success and takeup. Nokia announced earlier this year that all Nokia smartphones will get free turn-by-turn navigation bundled in - which is a real draw for many would-be buyers or phone upgraders. Perhaps the biggest threat to all GPS-centric companies like Garmin has to be Google Maps, which is slowly starting to roll out a turn-by-turn navigation system on Android 2.x. Google Maps is backed by vast data, mapping, satellite, search and street view capabilities that no GPS company can realistically hope to match. The only drawback to the Google Maps Navigation solution is that it is entirely cloud-based. So while it's immediate and constantly updated, it'll be slow or even completely inaccessible if you drive through an area with poor data coverage.
With these factors in mind, the Garmin-Asus alliance makes a lot of sense – and the A50 and A10 are the products of this alliance.
The Garmin-Asus A50 is a step-up from the entry level Garmin-Asus A10. The basic differences between the A50 Android smartphone and the A10 are that the A50 has a larger screen and a sleeker design. The A50 doesn't have a standard 3.5mm headphone jack though but it uses the same processor as the entry-level model.
The A50 features a 3.5", 320x480 capacitive multi-touch screen, a Qualcomm 600MHz processor, Wi-Fi, GPS, 4GB of internal Flash storage and 256MB of RAM. Storage can be expanded to 32GB with a MicroSD card. Aesthetically, the Garmin-Asus A50 smartphone is sleeker and more rounded than its A10 counterpart. Although the A50 can't claim the latest screen technology like the super AMOLED screen of the Samsung Galaxy S, the Garmin-Asus A50 screen provides reasonable viewing angles and it is relatively bright and clear. The A50 screen can be hard to view in direct sunlight and unfortunately, it can be less responsive to touch as compared to its competitors.
Garmin-Asus A50: Interface Navigation
The Garmin-Asus A50 has four touch sensitive buttons below the display (back, menu, phone and home) located around the five-way navigational pad. Although most of the interaction will involve the phone’s touchscreen, if there is a need to use the navigation pad, you will find that the edges of the navigational pad are too thin and some users might find it quite hard to press it properly.
Garmin-Asus A50: Running on Android 1.6
The Garmin-Asus A50 runs the older Google Android 1.6 OS but it has created a skin with a unique interface that centres on GPS navigation. Similar to the A10, its home screen forgoes live widgets in favour of extra large 'Call', 'Where To' and 'View Map' icons. A right mounted shortcut bar provides access to commonly used functions; the bar can be dragged towards the left side of the screen to open the main menu, and icons can be dragged to and from the shortcut bar.
Most users won't be put off by the fact that the A50 is running the older 1.6 version of Android, but they might find that some newer apps in the Android market are not compatible with this OS.
Garmin-Asus A50: Excellent GPS navigation
As expected, the Garmin-Asus A50 possesses excellent GPS navigation capabilities. Based on the same software as Garmin's standalone GPS/Satnav units, the A50 user interface is simple to use and very effective. The map screen is clear and straightforward. Other features include a handy save parking spot feature, which automatically saves your location as a parking spot when you remove the A50 from its in-car cradle. With the Android's notifications bar, dragging it down during navigation gives you the option of quickly ending the current route or to access any previously saved parking spots.
Garmin-Asus A50: Other Features
Web browsing on the Garmin-Asus A50 is aided by the inclusion of multitouch technology. It lacks Flash support though due to the limitations of the OS. Other features of the Garmin-Asus A50 include a 3-megapixel camera with auto focus, a built-in accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a digital compass, a healthy 4GB of internal memory plus a microSD card slot for memory expansion.
Garmin-Asus A50: Conclusion
While the A50 lacks the polish of the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy S, overall, it's a Android phone with fantastic GPS navigation capabilities. In order to have an iPhone with similar GPS navigation/mapping software, it will set you back by about USD$60-80 worth of TomTom or similar applications in addition to the original cost of the iPhone. Even then, you won't have true multitasking ability or the car kit that comes as part of the free accessories. All in all, a recommended product for users that wish to make use of their smartphones as a comparable substitute for their standalone GPS navigation units.
