Garmin-Asus and Optus have announced a smartphone designed for those looking for a true 'all-in-one' navigation experience to help make sense of life's twists and turns. The Garmin-Asus A50, available exclusively in Australia to Optus customers, is designed to provide a user-friendly, intuitive and consistent mobile navigation experience for consumers.

The Garmin-Asus A50 brings together the power of the Android operating system with on-board industry-leading Garmin navigation. This smartphone, available on the Optus Mobile Dual Band network, which now provides 3G services to over 96 percent of the Australian population, integrates location information across a number of phone features meaning the device is ready to take you where you need to go at a moment's notice.

"The A50 from Garmin-Asus easily integrates navigation into the features of a smartphone that everyone has come to take for granted, so you don't need to compromise one for the other," said Matt DeMoss, national sales and marketing manager, Garmin Australasia. "Whether you want to navigate from a text message, geotagged photo or image, website or email, no navigation challenge is too hard for the Garmin-Asus A50."

Austin R. Bryan, Marketing Director, Optus Consumer said, "Partnering with Garmin to launch the A10 and now the A50 to the Australian market is another example of Optus driving to get the latest and greatest smartphones into our customers' hands first. Navigation systems are increasingly becoming a vital personal and business tool, combined with Optus' generous talk, text and mobile Internet allowances, the A50 will help our customers to get on with their daily tasks quickly and efficiently."

Unique in ticking the boxes for a top of the range smartphone as well as excelling at mobile navigation, the Garmin-Asus A50's large and bright 3.5 inch display gives you a clear view of all the integrated Google mobile services available. With one-click access to Google Search by voice, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, calendar, contacts and Android Market, the Garmin-Asus A50 is one of the most complete Android-based smartphones available in Australia to date.

Other essential smartphone features available on the Garmin-Asus A50 include a multi-touch webkit browser, document viewers for Microsoft office and PDF documents, an advanced music player, and three-megapixel autofocus camera. The feature set, on top of advanced mobile navigation, makes the Garmin-Asus A50 a companion that will help make sense of the day's tasks.

The Garmin-Asus A50 delivers on the promise of true in-car quality navigation in a mobile device. Including a full in-car mount and car charger, this smartphone is the first device in Australia to offer photoReal Junction View and is ideal for use on the dash of your car and when on foot. Garmin's heritage of quality navigation devices means that this device rises to the occasion whenever you need to get from a to b, without the need to rely on external accessories or other subscription services.

Making it even more of a life companion, the Garmin-Asus A50 includes several Optus mobile services such as voice-activated 124 'Yes' local search, Optus Video, preloaded social networking apps like Facebook, Mobile TV and the Optus Games store.

Available in Optus stores and online. Competitively priced, the Garmin-Asus A50 is available to consumers for $0 Upfront on the 'yes' Social $49 plan over 24 months# and to small business customers for $0 Upfront on the 'yes' Business Complete Max $49 plan over 24 months#.

The A50 is the second navigation-centric smartphone available from Garmin-Asus, joining the A10 launched last month in Australia. Both devices are designed with user friendliness and reliability in mind, giving you the ability to take an in-car quality navigation device with you wherever you go.