Well folks, believe it or not, but the wait for the Garmin nuvifone G60 is almost over.  On October 4th AT&T Wireless well begin selling the handset for $299 after a 2-year contract signing and $100 mail-in-rebate.  Garmin-Asus’ G60 is said to provide the “easiest-to-use location experiences available because it is the only phone to fully integrate the world’s best selling GPS navigator with voice, data and mobile web.”  So it’s probably best to think about the G60 as a GPS with an integrated phone, and not the other way around.

The G60 will include a 3 megapixel camera with geo tagging, be preloaded with a ton of POIs, have access to AT&T’s 20,000 WiFi hotspots and come packed with a dashboard and windshield mount.  When the G60 is removed from the in car mounts it will automatically mark your position just in case you can’t find your way back to your car in the crowded mall parking lot.

So the question on everyone’s mind is can the G60 compete with the iPhone?  Fortunately, and unlike many other smartphone’s out there, it sounds like the G60 will be a fully functional GPS, which is something Apple’s handset is most certainly not, unless of course you purchase some aftermarket accessories, which even then could be a stretch.  300 bones is quite a lot to spend on a phone, but if you consider the cost of a GPS and a phone combined, then you might look at this as a steal.  Just keep in mind that the battery life will most certainly be a concern since GPS tends to be a hog in this department.

Word is that Malaysia will be the first to receive the Garmin-Asus phones, the nuvifone G60 and M20, sometime in the next 30 days.  This doesn’t exactly line up with the rumored June launch we heard about in April, but at this point we’ll take what we can get.  When the Linux and Windows powered phones will becoming over seas to the US and UK is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure: no one really cares.

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