Asus Garmin M10 Smartphone review
Introduction and package contents:
Officially presented at the last Mobile World Congress in February last, the Garmin GarminM10 was expected to turn a wary public majority against its bigger brother, the Garmin GarminG60, which has not actually met successful.
The new smartphone while a 100% touch jointly developed by Garmin and Asus covers the main concepts of the older, offering a fine array of course navigation and integrating one of the latest versions of Windows Mobile (6.5.3) . For the rest, the Garmin M10 does not really lift the doubts expressed about the concept of coexistence between GPS and a mobile phone.
You will therefore understand that the GarminM10 is primarily a GPS. It is therefore legitimate to find in the box all accessories necessary for its proper functioning in a vehicle, since it is indeed in your car as your GPS phone feels most comfortable. The packaging offered by Garmin and Asus is therefore quite comprehensive and not suffering from any gross deficiency.
If all the accessories seem good, we regret the short length of USB cable. Needed to recharge your phone with the charger, because you have to plug it, the cable is a little short when you want to ask the terminal for example on a table during loading. The cigar lighter socket does not suffer from this type of fault and a cable is long enough to accommodate all types of vehicles and all types of parks breezes. The headphones, however unpleasant to use and provide a quality sound questionable.
Design, finish and ergonomics:
Elegance. Here are the most appropriate term when it comes to evoke the aesthetic of Garmin M10. The design of the phone is indeed simple and elegant. The wide screen 3.5-inch resistive contributes largely to this aspect very carefully, since it has a beautiful finish. In use, the brightness (configurable by the user) is very nice and makes navigation quite pleasant. Nevertheless, it is fickle and pressure from the stylus are not always taken into account. It must then back outside twice to activate the selected keys. The same observation when writing an SMS because the keys are suffering from a slight lack of sensitivity.
In terms of buttons, the M10 is equipped with the bare minimum given that it is simply hang up and get the keys and a menu button, symbolized by the Windows logo, located just below the screen. On the edge of the phone, found an order dedicated to volume control and the mini USB. On the top are integrated key switching and 3.5 mm jack, which allows you to connect any headphones or earphones. The stylus fits for him at the bottom right of the phone, where a slot is provided for this purpose.
In the absence of radius, it deplores the lack of cash for the 5-megapixel sensor on the back of the phone, making it very vulnerable to dust. On the other hand, the M10 is devoid of buttons for triggering the camera and taking snapshots in itself. Using the stylus is therefore required, which is proving somewhat restrictive from the first shots.
From a general point of view, the grip of the phone is nice and, despite a long and weigh quite large. The camera seems pretty solid and robust. The material present on the back of the phone are also quite pleasant to the touch. The touch interface offered by Garmin and Asus still fairly intuitive and is not unlike that of its predecessor, the G60. One can also observe the manager's effectiveness 3D, which allows you to switch between active applications.
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User Interface:
After several hours of use, several specific jump quickly to the user's eyes. Thus, the management of the accelerometer seems somewhat risky because the phone screen has a tendency to rotate somewhat untimely. The lower lateral movement is a tendency to tilt the screen in landscape mode or to return to the default mode. An imperfection which takes on a whole different dimension when, during the writing of SMS, the screen suddenly starts picking on you. To avoid any inconvenience, use the phone in a stable is therefore strongly recommended.
Another shortcoming is observed, it relates to sending SMS, since they do not support delivery receipts. Therefore impossible to track your shipments to ensure that your recipient has received the precious card. The radius of bullet points, we note the poor quality of listening provided by the phone during calls. Thus, during several calls made with mobile, great was our disappointment that the sound quality was not at the rendezvous. Same story on the side our partners, because they have reported the uncertain quality of communication. Defects still largely concern when disabling a phone.
The plus side, the interface offered by the two manufacturers is quite nice and intuitive. It allows a novice user to quickly familiarize with the various menus, assuring him a pleasant navigation. A bargain, as the leaflet provided with the phone let you delivered to you within the tree of M10. Too brief and lacking depth explanations, the record fails in its primary mission is to enlighten a whole new user. Pity.
Boarding one of the latest versions of the Windows Mobile operating system (6.5.3), the Garmin M10 and offers a wide range of applications and customizable gadgets. The Market Place tab allows you to access a vast catalog of downloadable applications. Ideal for enthusiasts of all kinds of gadgets whose utility can sometimes be questioned, but never mind, your phone is also there to make you happy.
Features and Characteristics:
The M10 is primarily aimed at backpackers and proposes a set of tools for people taking so much time in the plane to their home. The application "Flight Schedule" lists, as its name suggests, all flight schedules. The tool is quite comprehensive as it allows you to refine your search by airports and airlines. Departures and arrivals are clearly distinguished to avoid confusion. Note that a search by flight number is also available.
A currency converter is also fairly complete set available to the user so that it can assess the value of its portfolio around the world. For the most confused, the Garmin M10 also offers an application identifying the various points of interest located nearby. Dubbed "Where am I", the latter allows you to locate the hospitals, police stations, service stations or car parks near your position. Food lovers will regret the absence of a tool dedicated to restaurants. This will rely on the functionality of your GPS.
To satisfy the Sky watchers watching the slightest thinning, an application dedicated to the weather is also proposed. The tool is fairly complete, since besides the temperature and weather overall, it also indicates the humidity and wind speed. A trend for the next five days is also available. The Garmin M10 is also equipped with a geolocation tool, which allows to locate the particular place of your shots. A vanity that is rather useful when large shipments through unknown lands.
Boarding the operating system Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the phone Garmin and Asus offers naturally Office Suite Microsoft Office. It includes mobile versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and One Note. A version of Adobe Reader is also available to create and read all your data to PDF. In terms of desktop solutions, the proposed equipment is therefore quite satisfactory and does not suffer from any particular deficiency.
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Multimedia and Camera:
With a 5 megapixel camera, the M10 produces images of good bills without reaching heights of neatness and cleanliness. One regrets the lack of flash that makes it very difficult or even impossible to take pictures in adverse lighting conditions. So do not expect to immortalize the best moments of your sleepless nights, because your phone will show allergic to darkness.
In video mode, the camera is doing rather well, since the records are still relatively fluid. Note however that the image tends to be lagging on the screen during recording. This inconvenience is not systematic but occurs sporadically, especially in light conditions especially bright.
The musical performance of the device are correct but again, do not expect to heights of precision and quality. The quality headphones and frankly leaves to be desired, their use revealing a glaring lack of bass and treble restitution of not always very accurate. The optimal level of volume it remains just a little bit. In general, the MP3 player suffers from a lack of obvious settings and is much too simplistic. It would have been so valuable to include an equalizer audio tapes, which is sorely lacking on this model.
The internal memory of M10 is large (4GB) and allows you to store a large number of multimedia files. We note with pleasure the presence of a microSD slot, which lets you expand the storage capacity to suit your needs. In terms of games, the system is sparsely filled, since the icon menu dedicated to these applications do not actually conceals a single game, solitaire. A fair bit anyway.
Navigation System:
Let's talk now the real strength of the Garmin M10, namely its navigation system. The model proposed by Garmin and Garmin GPS Asus embeds a relatively simple to use. The regulars of the mark will learn very quickly with this new navigation tool. Once connected to the cigarette lighter socket of your vehicle, sufficiently quickly locates the GPS satellites and does not let you give yourself the space of a few moments.
The map display is clear and precise enough to him. The instructions given by the camera are just as much. One finds here the quality of equipment provided by Garmin. The "Search" tab at the bottom of the main menu page allows you to quickly enter your destination address. Note that these are of course memorable. A search for points of interest is also at your disposal and you can search for restaurants, hotels, shops of all kinds or cinemas located not far from your position.
The system also integrates the function Junction View. This allows a quite realistic view of road signs (speed limit, no entry, crosses). Even if the driver is supposed to watch the road to see these signs, this application may be useful for drivers less attentive. The Panoramic Photos application, located in the heart of the "Search" tab offers a playful search of your points of interest, since it displays the photos of significant places or areas located around your position.
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Internet connectivity:
From the point of view of connectivity, the nüvifone embeds a full arsenal, which found a connection 3.5G (HSDPA) and WiFi (802.11b / g), which allows a fast and reliable navigation using the Internet browser Explorer. This is simple to use and allows you to easily manage your favorites. There is a lack of innovation inherited from the iPhone "pinch to zoom". No need to spread your fingers on the screen to zoom in the heart of a page, use the stylus to reveal more appropriate.
Bluetooth 2.0 provides connections for telephones and other devices nearby. A manager of emails is also proposed. With support for POP or IMAP, you will use most email clients. We also note the presence of a fairly complete wireless manager that allows you to activate the flight mode phone, Bluetooth, GPRS connection and configure your wireless connection. Social networks are obviously in the spotlight since found a Facebook application. The undisputed leader of the discipline is not the only network to benefit from this law passes, since access to Picasa is also introduced. Therefore you can share your photos on both social networks and this, almost instantaneously.
Streaming is not forgotten since Youtube shortcut allows you to directly access the video sharing site. Finally, the supplied USB cable allows you to connect your phone to any computer. The M10 can then be used as a storage medium or as a mass media synchronization. Your files are then transferred to your computer using the supplied software.
Conclusion:
Finally, the results are mixed for the new baby and offered by Garmin Asus. The main conclusion from this test is that the nüvifone M10 is primarily a GPS before a mobile phone. Benefiting from the expertise of Garmin, the GPS is quality and offers a set of powerful navigation tools. The fighters or others looking for a navigation device, simply and effectively so they can find happiness in this model, although it should be noted that the latter can never replace a real GPS.
As mobile phone, the picture is far less positive, since the nüvifone M10 suffers from deficiencies highly prejudicial. Its small comfort in the multimedia field, poor quality of communications observed during the week of use or the capriciousness of the screen, give it an unattractive status.
Note also the battery life which, as on most smartphones, will pose a problem for heavy users and constantly connected. Still, the nüvifone M10 nonetheless is appealing. Its elegant design and full connectivity can seduce and less demanding users who want above all benefit from a powerful navigation tool. That leaves a lot of work to do on the side of Garmin and Asus to offer us a more balanced phone.
Pros:
- Stylish
- Navigation system performance
- Full connectivity
- Large internal memory
Cons:
- Screen capricious
- MP3 player too simplistic
- No flash
- Autonomy uncertain
- Poor quality in communications
