Let me just be honest here, I want to be excited about this, I was hoping to be excited about this but I’m not. The last Garmin phone to enter the US market met less than favorable reviews. Check that, the reviews were downright nasty. We’ve been waiting for some more info on this phone since its FCC debut back in early January. That being said, while the phone itself looks cool, one of our super ninjas whose had some hands on time with this phone says it’s slow, super slow. In fact, we’re told to already chalk this up in the “pass” category.  Either way, we’re learning the phone will sport a 3.5 inch 480×320 capacitive touchscreen, 4 GB of internal storage with the usual microSD expanded storage option. Of course the major selling point is the pre-loaded Garmin navigation system with all the standard bells and whistles that you would get in an off the shelf unit. According to Engadget you’ll also get sync with Microsoft Exchange server and includes all the usual Google mobile services like search by voice, Maps with Street View, Gmail, YouTube, and Android Market. Rounding things out are a multitouch WebKit-based browser and 3 megapixel autofocus camera that automatically geo-tags your snaps.

Sounds like a pretty standard set of features, yet the unfortunate news is what we’re hearing behind the scenes and the sluggish behavior of the device itself. The only savior is that our ninjas are using pre-release software and t hat things can change prior to its expected launch May 5th. The only savior is that our ninjas are using pre-release software and t hat things can change prior to launch. We’ll be watching MWC for more news here, but we’re already suggesting you look elsewhere for Android goodness unless you absolutely, positively need turn by turn navigation pre-loaded on your phone.

Engadget