14 DAY TRIAL // Garmin-Asus is reportedly preparing for the unveiling of their first mobile phone that will run under Google's Android operating system, and it seems that the event is set to take place at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next month. The company comes a little late to the Android party, that's for sure, yet it's still good to hear that the partnership between Garming and Asus will finally pan out.
The news on the upcoming launch of an Android-based mobile phone comes from DigiTimes, which cites the President of Asustek's handheld device business unit, Benson Lin. According to the news site, while the first such device is set to make an appearance on the floor at the MWC trade show, the company will launch more handsets throughout the ongoing year, a total of 4-5 new Windows Mobile or Android phones, it seems.
However, the first Android device from the company won't come alone to MWC, as Garmin-Asus also plans to bring a Windows Mobile 6.5.3-based handset at the event, namely the M10. This mobile phone sports a Qualcomm 7224 600MHz processor inside, and it also comes with a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen display and with a 5-megapixel photo snapper, not to mention its built-in GPS receiver.
According to Benson Lin, the Garmin-Asus M10 is set to make an appearance on the Taiwanese market in the beginning of February, while sporting a price tag of NT$13,900 (US$434.4). In addition, he also said that the company intended to launch its first TD-SCDMA mobile phone on the market in China, sometime in the fourth quarter of the ongoing year. Some of the previous rumors around the web also suggested that the company might launch one handset via T-Mobile US and, while nothing has been unveiled on the matter, it's clear that one of the said 4 or 5 planned phones will land at the carrier.