Garmin-Asus nüvifone M10 Review

In the topic will talk about the navigation communicator based on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 from the alliance of Garmin-Asus.
Attention, traffic!

1. Preface

The year was 2009, and for 3 years now I have been the happy owner of the ASUS P535 LKS. During this time, he survived the move from WM 5.0 to official WM 6.0, and then to self-made WM 6.1.21018. But as time went on, it was hopelessly outdated, which in practice was most often expressed in a catastrophic shortage of RAM for simultaneously launching at least two applications.
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At the same time, on the Internet, I met information about the upcoming announcement of the M10 communicator from Garmin-Asus. His TTX and the appearance of me hooked, but knowing the time lag of the asus from the announcement to the start of sales, I just made a mark and forgot about it ...

And on March 9, 2010, the Ukrainian representative office of ASUS announced the start of sales of the M10 in Ukraine. I must say that Garmin-Asus took into account the mistakes of the previous model M20 and M10 assigned a price that is adequate to its characteristics. I decided to purchase it.

2. Characteristics

• Connectivity: GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA 900/2100
• OS: Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz
• Memory: 512 Mb RAM
• Storage: 512 Mb ROM, 4 Gb on-board flash, microSD connector with SDHC support up to 32 GB
• Screen: 3.5 "TFT 480x800, resistive touchscreen
• Interfaces: USB 2.0 (microUSB), Wi-Fi 802.11b / g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, audio 3.5mm
• Navigation: Built-in GPS with a-GPS support
• Camera: 5 Mpx with autofocus and geotagging, no flash, video recording 640x480 to MP4
• The rest: stereo speakers, accelerometer
• Power: Li-ion 1500 mAh battery, standby time up to 600 hours, talk time up to 8 hours
• Dimensions: 116 x 58 x 14 mm, 138 g

Size comparison with ASUS P535:

3. Completion

The kit itself includes the communicator itself, a Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery, a high-quality belt case for belt, 2 stylus, a wired stereo headset with a microphone and volume control, a USB-microUSB cable, a network charger 220V -> USB, CD- disk user manual.



In fairness it should be noted that the disc was absolutely useless, because it contains ActiveSync in all languages ​​of the world, which is suitable only for Win2K / XP. Also on the disc is a large sticker with a serial and information about what can be found inside the trial Outlook. In fact, the disk was a folder called Outlook, in which a lot of empty folders for all languages ​​of the world.

It should also be noted that the device has already installed the Garmin Mobile XT navigation software with a map of the region of purchase, in my case Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the car kit is not included in the delivery, despite the fact that this communicator is positioned primarily as an advanced navigation solution. Although it is believed that in some countries, auto kit is still included in the package.

4. Appearance

I decided not to insert photos previously published on the net, but I made mine. Perhaps they are not so high quality, but real.



The front of the device is a display, earpiece and 3 buttons Answer, Start, End. Touch buttons, when pressed, do not light up, but the device vibrates at the same time. By the way, just as with vibration, any recognized pressing on the touch screen is “confirmed”. It is very convenient, it is immediately clear whether the press worked or not.

The metal overlay on the bottom of the faceplate is purely decorative.

As you can see, the joystick is not in any form. At first, it was unusual, but I quickly got used to it, because the touch screen is very well adapted to any kind of scrolling, and the OS too.



Behind the device are stereo speakers and a camera. There is no flash. The sound quality is good, the volume too.





On the left side is a microUSB connector for charging and synchronizing with a PC, as well as a connector through which power is supplied to the device when it is installed in autocred. Accordingly, the power cable is connected directly to the autocredle, and the device is put / removed with a slight movement, it is convenient.
On the right side is a volume control, rather tight, so as not to accidentally press in your pocket.



On top of the device is a power / sleep button, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack, into which you can connect both a standard wired headset and any other headphones.

At the bottom of the device is a microphone, a strap mount and a stylus socket, which is mounted bottom-up. The stylus is telescopic, it sits very tightly, it is impossible to shake it out, it can be removed with a sufficiently large force. For all the time of using the device, the stylus got it only 1 time to mark the checkboxes in the backup, which was written under WM 5.0.



Under the back cover is a 1500 mAh battery, as well as a camera eye and stereo speakers.



Under the battery there is a slot for attaching a SIM card and a microSD flash card. Declared support for microSDHC up to 32 GB. I use a 8 GB card, there are no problems, the card does not “fall off” when sleeping and then waking up the device.



In general, the device is tightly knocked down, a reliable monolith is felt, there is no backlash anywhere and there is no rattling. In his hand, the device sits confidently, not least due to the soft plastic on the back cover.

5. Display

The 3.5-inch TFT display has a physical size of 46x76 mm and a resolution of 480x800. Colors are colorful, graininess is not visible. The matrix is ​​not AMOLED, apparently TN + Film, good viewing angles. Inversion occurs when viewed from the left at a large angle to the normal (about 60 degrees by eye). Inversion is observed on the left because the device is designed primarily for navigation, and in the original autocredle it is horizontally left side down. In the sun, the information from the display does not read very well, mainly because of the gloss. The screen itself does not fade much.

6. Camera

The camera with autofocus has a resolution of 5 megapixels. There is no flash.

The following resolutions are available for photography: 2592x1936, 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480. When you turn on the wide-angle mode, the following resolutions are available: 2592x1552, 2048x1216, 1600x960, 1280x768, 800x480.
It is possible to self-timer after 2 or 10 seconds. The following effects can be applied to the pictures: black and white, negative, sepia. It is possible to turn off the shutter sound and adjust the frequency of the light source.
In addition, there is a geotagging feature. If it is enabled, then the shooting coordinates are recorded in the EXIF ​​tags of the created JPG file. The coordinates are taken from the GPS, so it automatically turns on while doing so.

The following resolutions are available for video shooting: 800x480, 640x480, 352x288, 320x240, 176x144.
Format of created files: mp4, 3gp, h264.
Recording is done with sound.
There is the possibility of blending effects: black and white, negative, sepia.

Sample photo:

7. Performance

The device is equipped with a Qualcomm MSM 7227 processor, which operates at 600 MHz. In the process, the device does not heat up.

Processor performance is more than enough for all tasks that can be performed on this device. There are no brakes at work, the graphical interface is very responsive, scrolling is smooth everywhere, the screen is not redrawn in pieces. There is no jerk when taking photos / videos. Playing an unconverted movie in Xvid 720x400 25.00fps format is carried out smoothly, without jerks and stutters.

Separately, it is worth noting a large amount of RAM, which already has 512 MB in this device, of which 356 MB is available for the system, and about 225 MB for the user. This is more than enough for any modern program, including running simultaneously. In the process, there were no cases that there were less than 150 MB free, even with about 10 programs running, including navigation, which is traditionally very demanding of resources.

8. Navigation

Garmin-Asus M10 has the full right to be called a navigation communicator. The device is equipped with high-quality sensitive GPS-module. The speed of searching for satellites after recent use is less than a minute, it often happens less than 10 seconds, you just have to go outside. By the way, indoors in the middle of the house at a distance of about 4 meters from the window, 4-5 satellites are caught, which is enough to determine the location with good accuracy.

When you turn on the device or when you restart it, the GPS module automatically turns on. If necessary, it can be disabled manually. GPS works independently of the GSM module or any other interfaces, it is completely independent. Also no internet connection required.
At a considerable distance from the last location with the GPS off (more than 1000 km), when it is turned on, the device offers to connect to the Internet and update the “satellite map”. It is optional, you can refuse.

The communicator comes with the pre-installed Garmin Mobile XT navigation software with maps of the region of purchase, in my case with a detailed map of Ukraine.

9. Software shell

The communicator runs on Windows Mobile 6.5.3. Over it, a proprietary shell from Garmin-Asus is installed, which includes both the main screen and a set of additional software to expand the capabilities of the device. Corporate software actively uses all the capabilities of the device, including an accelerometer.

In general, it is worth noting that the communicator is usable from the moment of purchase without preliminary finishing, there is enough standard software for almost all needs.

I don’t see any point in considering the standard software WM 6.5, so only additional software will be described below.

Main screen and task manager

The shell allows you to place up to 5 screens on the site, each with 9 icons. All of them can be replaced, moved.
Task Manager allows you to switch to any running application by selecting it in appearance. It is possible to close any application or all at once.

Status, GPS screen, Wireless Manager

The status screen allows you to control the battery charge level, volume, cellular signal reception level, on and GPS level, data transfer.
The GPS screen allows you to turn on and off the GPS, displays the signal level of the satellites, current coordinates, speed.
Wireless Manager allows you to turn on and off all available wireless interfaces. Each interface is autonomously controlled and independent of others.

Facebook, Music, Media Gallery

The Facebook application allows you to manage your Facebook account, track changes, write messages, etc.
The Music application allows you to play MP3 songs, you can create playlists.
Media Gallery allows you to view images and photos located on the device. When you turn the device into landscape mode, the picture effectively rotates and turns around to full screen.

Clock, weather, MSN Money

It is possible to set alarms, start the countdown timer and stopwatch.
The Weather application displays the weather in the nearest settlement (determined by GPS), the source is my.garmin.com.
MSN Money allows you to view stock quotes.

Service, Where am I, Motion counter

The Service menu provides quick access to viewing information about recent routes, viewing the map of the Garmin Mobile XT application, etc.
The Where I am screen displays the last recorded address of your location when GPS was turned on. This could be, for example, a parking place.
The movement counter displays statistical information collected while driving while GPS is on. It is noteworthy that in this case it is not necessary to use a regular navigation program, I used another one, but the statistics were collected anyway. While driving displays the current speed. It is possible to reset statistics for the last trip or for all time.

Program menu (Start) and Options

The program menu, which is displayed by a single press of one of the three Start touch buttons, contains a list of all installed programs. Here you can also see all the branded programs that are not in the WM 6.5 package.

System information and information

System information allows you to view the "iron" stuffing of the device, as well as the version of the firmware of the device itself, ExtROM and the radio module.

Memory and the contents of the onboard 4 GB flash drive

It is possible to view both available and total memory RAM, ROM and memory cards.
As you can see, the maps of the pre-installed Garmin Mobile XT are located on the onboard flash drive. There is also a detailed manual on the use of the device with 128 pages. Included with the device is only a brief printed guide to use.

Call, Search, Map Overview

Applications launched by pressing each of the 3 buttons, all the time located at the bottom of the main screen, regardless of the current page.

Virtual keyboard

View of the virtual keyboard with different layouts. When you press a key above it, a tooltip pops up with a large image of the character being entered, which is convenient.

Marketplace

The Windows Marketplace application allows you to install additional software on your device placed in the directory. As you can see, there are a lot of free applications on the list.

Newstation, Shared Internet

Newstation allows you to read news RSS feeds of various sites.
Shared Internet allows you to share the Internet, available on your device, for external devices connected via USB or Bluetooth.

Currency Converter, Backup, Adobe Reader LE

Currency Converter allows you to recalculate the required amount from one currency to another. The exchange rate is updated from the site my.garmin.com.
Backing up allows you to make a backup of your contacts, messages, documents and recorded gps-tracks of the Garmin program with the possibility of subsequent recovery at any time.
Adobe Reader LE allows you to read PDF documents, in particular, a detailed manual on the use of the device itself.

Flight status

The Flight Status application allows you to find out the schedule of departures of the nearest airport in any direction, view the flight status, find out the arrival time of a flight.

Type of installed Yandex.Maps, Navitel Navigator, Google Maps

The view of data screens of navigation applications is given only as an example, in order to be able to evaluate their usability on the display of this resolution. Naturally there is the possibility of turning into a landscape mode. All 3 programs are not included in the delivery package and were installed independently.

Impressions

In general, I really liked the communicator. It works fast, stable, without failures, freezes and reboots. The battery lasts for 2-3 days, depending on the intensity of use of the device. This is facilitated by the relatively low frequency of the processor in combination with a capacious battery. For some reason, recently, very little attention has been paid to this factor, considering the time allowed to work without recharging to be just 1 day. After all, this is first of all a phone that should always be in touch. And charging every day can be not only technically impossible, but it is also possible to simply forget to do this by coming home after a hard day’s work.

The price of the communicator at the time of purchase was $ 489, in my opinion this is an adequate price for a device with such hardware and all the pre-installed software. Do not forget that the device is only 2 weeks on sale on the territory of Ukraine, so you should expect the traditional price reduction in the next few months.