October 26th, 2010 - Computer maker Asus and GPS maker Garmin jumped into the combined smartphone/GPS business with the nüviphone G60 back in 2009, and despite a series of follow-up devices and expanding to embrace Google’s Android platform, the devices have failed to resonate well with the consumer marketplace. And now Asus has pulled the plug, saying on Monday that it is ending its mobile phone partnership with Garmin. The move will likely put Garmin out of the mobile phone business—at least for the time being.

Although the broader smartphone market has seen explosive growth in the last year, the Garmin-Asus devices have failed to sell in significant volumes, and consumers have generally found the basic mapping and navigation functions that come with many smartphones are good enough for everyday use. Garmin competitor TomTom has also worked to tap into the market for improved mapping and navigation capabilities, releasing a version of its software for the Apple iPhone.

Asus is primarily known for making desktop, notebook, and netbook computers; however, the company also markets mobile handsets under its own name, separate from Garmin.

Industry watchers expect Asus’ decision to terminate its partnership with Garmin will see Garmin withdraw from the mobile handset business, perhaps focusing its efforts on bringing its navigation software and solutions to smartphone platforms like the iPhone and Android, without partnering with a specific device manufacturer.

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Summary

The Garmin Asus A10 is an Android 2.1 powered smartphone that pays special attention to GPS navigation.Pros:

* Excellent GPS Navigation
* Great Call Reception & Quality
* Support for Google Mobile Services
* Support for Android Market

Cons:

* Sluggish Interface
* Average Looks
* Camera is Below Par
* Poor Battery Life

Introduction, Features

Back in May I reviewed the Garmin Asus Nuvifone M10, a smartphone that paid a great amount of attention to its GPS navigation feature, so much so, that it felt like it had ignored other aspects of its smartphone identity including multimedia and UI.

Now, five months later, I have with me the successor to the M10- the A10. This time around, Garmin Asus have dumped the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS and adopted Android 2.1 for the A10. The navigation software has also been updated and the UI sports a fresh new look. Let’s see if all these changes bode well for the navigation device-cum-smartphone.

Features

The Garmin Asus A10 has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320x480 and color output of 256K. Like mentioned earlier, it runs Android 2.1 OS with a heavily skinned UI available as an alternative. The A10 has less than 1GB of internal memory but the good news is that it supports up to 16GB of microSD cards. Like other smartphones in its price-range, the A10 does well by not leaving out any connectivity features and supports Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. It uses a microUSB port to connect to the PC and to charge.

Imaging on the A10 is handled by a 5MP autofocus camera with no flash. The Android OS means that it supports Google Mobile Services that includes apps for Gmail and YouTube. If you are looking for more apps, you will find them in the Android Market; all you need is a free Google ID.

Design & Usability, GPS

The Garmin Asus A10 offers you a choice between two homescreens (which are essentially two entirely different UIs) - Breeze and Classic. The former is a slightly skinned version of the basic Android and includes multiple homescreens, a notification bar et.al. Choosing the latter removes all homescreen save one with widgets on the right (that can be rearranged) and three large buttons on the left that let you make calls, use the GPS or view the pre-installed maps.

Okay, so while the Classic view put the strengths and functionality of the A10 right up front and center, I preferred the Breeze view, since it offered more ability to customize. Also, the interface itself is very similar to the basic Android UI and is therefore very simple to use. Unfortunately, the UI is also sluggish and the animations and transitions within menus aren’t smooth. The touch input is laggy and quite unresponsive. The keyboard works fine although double handed typing on the virtual QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode led to its fair share of mistakes.

The A10’s 3.2-inch display could have been so much more but unfortunately Garmin Asus took a wrong when they decided to make it out of glossy plastic. As a result the screen shines too much but at the same time its contents also look dull. Unfortunately, the A10’s overall look doesn’t atone for the embarrassing screen. The A10 has pretty ordinary looks and unlike the Nuvifone M10, there is nothing in the way it looks that would set it apart from other touchscreen phones.

GPS

Like on the M10, the Garmin Asus A10’s GPS feature is par excellence and its GPS receiver was strong enough to even get a satellite lock indoors. The A10 uses Navteq maps and the India maps and voice navigation are free for the A10 users in India. If and when you go abroad, you will need to buy the maps pack for the requisite place if you want to use navigation on the A10.

The navigation is very, very good with accurate
directions whether you are walking or driving. You can search for destination either in the normal manner by typing in the name of the place into a search bar or by browsing through nearby points of interest, saved locations, favorite locations etc. The Points of Interest especially are quite helpful since they cover plenty of options such as hospitals, hotels, restaurants, fuel stations etc.

I can honestly say that the A10 sits right beside the Nuvifone M10 as the devices that provide the best and most exhaustive navigation experience on a phone.
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This week, Garmin raised the bar in the geocaching game with the release of the Chirp wirelessgeocaching beacon. This device, used with a compatible Garmin GPS receiver, allows for the reception of programmed information into the GPS receiver. This information includes a message from the Chirp owner with coordinates to a next stage of nearby special cache container. This can open up new variations of the game not just for geocaching, but also for orienteering and letterboxing.

The models that he Chirp communicates with are; Garmin Oregon x00 and x50, Dakota, and the new GPSMAP 62/78 models. The new firmware is installed through the Webupdater software available from Garmin.

Once the software is installed, the Chirp device is programmed through your GPS. The GPS then ‘owns’ the Chirp and the last five digits of the GPS ID become the password, preventing others from reprogramming the password.

Geocaching.com has set guidelines for Chirp enabled geocaches, they are:
A new attribute for a "beacon" is added. Any caches that use a Chirp (or any future similar device) should use this attribute.

If a cache owner puts a beacon in a traditional cache and geocachers have an alternative method to find it without using the beacon, then OK. I remind you to use the “beacon” attribute.

If the cache owner insists on not providing an alternative means of finding the geocache, it must be listed as a mystery with the beacon attribute.

Cache descriptions may mention the "Chirp" as long as the text doesn't go on and on with "overtones of advertising, marketing, or promotion" as per our long-standing commercial guidelines.

We do not plan to add a new cache type just for this.



The Chirp is powered by a CR2032 battery with an expected life of one year. The suggested retail price of the Chirp is $22.95 US. REI has them available for $20 US. This cost could make the loss of a geocaching container very painful.

The transmitter works off of an open source ANT+ profile. This means that competing devices could be built that would open up this technology to all geocachers.

This examiner has purchased two Chirp’s transmitters and will have a follow-up article on setup and how He has used them.

October 19, 2010 - With so many rumors about a new MacBook Air ahead of Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event, it is getting hard to keep up. From what we know so far there could be two models, an update to the current 13.3-inch version, as well as a new 11.6-inch version.

Offering an update to the current model and unveiling one that will compete with the netbook market would be the ideal situation for Apple; this is because the netbook market is still healthy, so they need their slice of the pie. We still do not know if a smaller version will be unveiled, as recent rumors suggests that Apple is sticking with the size.When looking at the design of the current MacBook Air there is not much that needs changing, as it still looks very sleek and sexy looking. However, according to Dan Draper from Cult of Mac, it will have a design similar to that of the iPhone 4.

What Dan means by this is that the edges will be much sharper than the current model, which you can clearly see in his mockup. The new MacBook Air is expected to be thinner than the current version, as well as lighter, yet still managing to have a longer-lasting battery.

Whatever happens tomorrow, Apple has to make certain that the Air is not underpowered for business use, and they certainly need to make it more affordable.

An Australian businessman has commissioned the luxury designer Stuart Hughes to make him a diamond iPhone 4.
The new iPhone 4 has a bezel which features around 500 individual rose diamonds, while the rear of the mobile is covered in rose gold. The Apple logo on the rear of the mobile features another 53 diamonds , while the home button is made of platinum and has a huge 7.4 carat pink diamond in the middle. That's not all though as the mobile also comes with a 7kg granite chest to store the precious device.

The version used as the base is the iPhone 4 32GB and you might be wondering what the price of the mobile is. Well the figure you've all been waiting for is a staggering £5 million.
However, Stuart Hughes does offer some offer more "affordable" mobiles with a gold iPhone 4 coming in at £22,000 and a gold iPad for just £110,000.


more story:

After the success harvested by the iPhone 4, has gone out to the market the most expensive version of the device of Apple, which is characterized by his ostentatious decoration.

The phone, of which only two copies exist in the whole world, is decorated by gold and diamonds. The iPhone comes inside a box of imperial pink granite that weighs almost seven kilos.

His new owner is an Australian multimillionaire who has paid 5.700.000 euros by the phone decorated by approximately 500 diamonds that add in whole 100 carats. The biggest stone is a pink diamond of 7 ' 4 carats and it replaces to the button of beginning.

The new model is a work of Stuart Hughes, who devotes himself for time to personalize all kinds of electronic devices for order of his exclusive clientele. Between his works there can be also diverse versions of the iPad covered with precious stones, and even the most expensive console of the world.

Up to the moment, the iPhone with the highest price was valued for two million euros and was decorated by 271 grams of massive gold and 136 brilliant ones. The box of granite in the one that was appearing had golden decoration and a leather lining nobuck

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