Garmin-Asus today announced their second Android-powered phone, the A10 (for reasons unknown, they’re seemingly not calling it a nuvifone).
Just like the nuvifone A50, the device aims to be a pedestrian navigation device (as in, for pedestrians, not a boring navigation device), and will come with Garmin’s navigation software and maps pre-loaded.
The benefit of pre-loaded maps is that no matter where you are (reception be damned) you’ll be able to use the navigation features (unlike Google Maps).
The disadvantage here is the you’ll have to manually update the maps every-so-often so that the maps are current (unlike Google Maps). Sadly, there is no word on the process/price for updating the maps.
The screen has the same HVGA (320×240) resolution as the A50, and, just like the A50, it will support Microsoft Exchange (whether this means it’s running Android 2.1, with native Exchange support, or — like the A50 — Android 1.6 with Exchange on top, isn’t clear from the press-release).
The phone includes a 5 megapixel camera, which is pretty standard fare for current Android devices, but still an improvement upon the A50’s 3 megapixels.
In fact, aside from the camera spec bump, I don’t really see much of a difference between the this A10 fellow and it’s elder sibling, the A50.
Unfortunately, no price details were mentioned, but the device is set for launch in Europe and Asia-pacific some time around the middle of 2010, and will include a car mount kit — just like the A50. *A50* *A50* (…those were meant to be echoes…)