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PC maker Asus has collaborated with GPS device manufacturer Garmin on the latter's long-awaited line of location-centric smartphones.

The Garmin-Asus Nüvifone series will be on display at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 16-19.

The nüvifone G60 model, a rebrand of the original model introduced by Garmin back in January of 2008, will be distributed in the first half of this year.

The nüvifone devices will feature Garmin's location-based service (LBS) technology, which provides turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation like that of the company's high-end portable navigation devices (PND).

It had been rumored, now confirmed, that the first Nüvifone smartphone, was built with Asus.

"This alliance is advantageous to both companies because it allows us to combine our resources and establish a strong foundation from which we will innovate and introduce the world to the benefits of LBS-centric mobile phones," according to Garmin Chairman and CEO Dr. Min Ka. "We've been working with Asus for over one year on the initial nüvifone that was announced in 2008 on the basis of an ODM relationship."

More on the Nüvifone G60
Rumor has it the nüvifone could go for around $499.99 and be available from AT&T.

Its touch screen measures 3.5 inches. Turn the screen on and you'll see icons labeled Call, Search, and View Map, representing the phone's most important functions.

It allows drivers to find a specific street address, establishment names or search for a destination by category using a database with millions of points of interest. These points of interests are supposed to be enhanced through support for Google local search capability, which nüvifone links to through its 3G cellular-wireless data connection.

Turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions guide the user to their destination. If they miss a turn along the route, nüvifone - as with Garmin’s standalone nuvi navigators - automatically recalculates the route and gets them back on track, speaking the names of the streets along the way.

In addition to Web browsing, users can make use of nuvifone's wireless connectivity to send and receive e-mail, text, and instant messages, and to subscribe to Garmin Online to receive constantly updated real-time traffic, fuel prices, stock prices, sport scores, news reports, local events and weather forecasts.

Nüvifone, which can play music and video, allows you snap a picture and have it automatically tagged with the exact latitude and longitude reference of where it was taken. The phone also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs at Google's Panoramio picture sharing site.

Garmin said it plans to preload maps of North America, Eastern and Western Europe on nuvifone.

James Alan Miller contributed to this article.