Garmin nuviphone G60 AT&T leak
An anonymous tipster has sent the Engadget folks some in-house AT&T training material that indicates Garmin’s nuviphone G60 will finally be released on October 4-squarely in the fourth quarter as expected. The G60, manufactured in partnership with ASUS, has been a long, long, long time coming. And only time will tell if the long wait will effect its commercial success.
One thing is for sure, the nuviphone G60 is expensive. With a 2-year contractual commitment and a minimum $30 per month data plan, you’ll still be paying $299.99 for the G60-and that’s after a $100 mail-in rebate. When it comes right down to it, you’re just paying extra for a connected PND in a mobile phone form factor. In fact, the nuviphone G60 comes with a dashboard mount in the box.
One thing I’m not clear on in Engadget’s material, presuming it’s real, is the $5.99 monthly cost for “Garmin Premium Services”, which includes real-time traffic updates, gas prices, weather updates, local event and movie listings, and white pages access. The first month is free with purchase after which the charges will automatically take effect until you decide to cancel them. Shouldn’t this be included in the AT&T subscription price though? Or am I misreading something?
In any case, basic navigation works right out of the box and as long as a SIM card is inserted in the phone, it’ll continuing working with a contract or not.
So, has it been too long for nuviphone success? Will you buy one at such a high price point? Or just opt for a cheaper Garmin PND that’ll still fit in your pocket?
Read