Garmin, ASUS announce location-centric mobile phones

The Garmin-Asus nüvifone series will encompass several models in 2009, with the first to be announced shortly at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain from February 16-19 of this year.

The devices will "seamlessly connect, communicate and navigate," and the first model out of the stables will be the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60, a rebranded 2008 Garmin nüvifone expected in the first half of 2009.

The series' calling card is the turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation abilities found on high-end Garmin GPS navigation devices. The phones will have preloaded maps and millions of points of interest that allow drivers to quickly find a specific street address, establishment's name or search for a destination by category.

In addition, the nüvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search, and the device will feature and integrate Ciao!, a social networking application.

Would you buy a mobile phone just for its GPS?