Garmin Nuvifone G60, sold by AT&T

Features: GPS navigation with preloaded maps, e-mail and texting, 3-megapixel camera, Internet browser. It comes with a car mount, but no car charger.

Price: $299.99 after rebates and a contract

Ups: Camera has autofocus and the option to geotag photos. The screen flips smoothly between vertical and horizontal viewing. It's easy to type on the touch-screen keyboard, which also works vertically or horizontally.

Downs: When I tested it, not every Web site I visited would recognize it as a mobile device, so sites like Facebook.com were loading the full page on my screen, instead of an easier-to-use mobile version. Some alluring features like traffic updates, weather, movie times and gas prices require an extra $5.99 a month subscription.

When you consider that many smartphones offer some of things on an app for a one-time price or free, it's a big turn-off.

Sifting through your e-mail becomes clunky and changing settings for an account becomes a hassle, especially if you have more than one POP or IMAP e-mail account setup.

Bottom line: This is for someone who does a lot of traveling but doesn't use their phone for much more than calls.

It's a great GPS device, but if you're going with AT&T, get an iPhone, which is cheaper, and consider paying for a GPS application service.
___

(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.