Great value for money. Review on ASUS P535

It’s a long time since I have come across to write a review about. Just few days back I purchased the ASUS P535 PDA with GPS functionality and it’s awesome. It will be hitting Indian shores soon and I expect it to be a sell out. You may ask in the land of Nokia and O2 where Samsung and Sony are just finding their feet what a not so known ASUS can do. But then u sometimes have to take the off beat path to experience something great So I would leave the philosophy aside and come straight to the point. No gadget can be described without its specs so I will list the specs here

Dimensions:  9 x 109 x 19 millimetres

Mass:145 grams(battery included)

Software Environment

Operating System:  Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition AKU 3.2

Microprocessor:

CPU:   32bit Intel XScale PXA270

CPU Clock:     520 MHz

Memory, Storage capacity

ROM capacity:->  256 MB(accessible: 185.4MB)

RAM capacity: ->   64 MB(accessible: 51MB)

Hard Disk capacity:  Not supported

Display

Display Type: ->   colour transflective TFT, 65536 scales

Display Resolution:->  240 x 320

Display Diagonal: ->  2.8”

Sound

Microphone: ->  mono

Speaker:->   mono

Audio Output:-> 2.5mm jack

Cellular Phone

Cellular Networks:-> GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900

Cellular Data Standards:-> CSD, GPRS

Call Alert:       128 -chord melody

Vibrating Alert:  Supported

Control Peripherals

Positioning Device: Touch screen

Keyboard:Not supported

Directional Pad:5 -way block

Jog / Scroll Wheel:Not supported

Interfaces

Expansion Slots: SDIO, miniSD

Serial:  RS-232, 115200bit/s

USB:   USB 1.1 client, 12Mbit/s, USB Series Mini-B(mini-USB) connector

Bluetooth:  Bluetooth 2.0

Wireless LAN:    802.11b, 802.11g

Multimedia Telecommunication

Analog TV: Not supported

Analog Radio: Not supported

Satellite Navigation

Built-in GPS: SiRF Star III, 20 channels

Built-in Digital Camera

Main Camera: CMOS sensor, 1.9MP

Autofocus(AF): Supported

Built-in Flash:Mobile light(LED)

Power Supply

Battery: Lithium-ion, removable

Battery Capacity: 1300 mAh

Okay I won’t waste your precious time discussing about techincal jargons. I know many would read lots of reviews before buying this. I would like to share my experiences with the phone.

The PDA has 256 Mb of flash memory which is 128 more that the best O2 model. The processing is as soft as butter. Asus being in the hardware market and being prime technical providers for Intel and even O2 have  a bullet proof system when it comes to P535. The software bundled with the PDA like voice recognition, Business card reader where you actually capture the image of a visiting card and directly store into contacts is really useful The PDA supports Wi fi and comes with skype which in itself is  a good utility for those long distance callers. The processor at 500+ speed is very responsive and fast. The touch screen is solid built and is very responsive. With a high flash mem and a fast processor you can use multiple programs without performance drop. Along with it ASUS has bundled a ASUS monitor which gives u quick reference of running programs, memory usage extra. The CPU has three configurable modes  for customized use. The PDA comes with a leather case which saves u the pain of going to various shops in search of protection. However getting a scratch guard in India is a tough task but the O2 xda 11 atom scratch guard fits perfectly. The PDA ships with a 1 GB card so that issue is again taken care of. The Asus has a USB charger so that u can virtually charge it anywhere from laptop to pc to anything that supports USB. Just connect the phone to your Pc and work. The Bluetooth is great and its supported the Bluetooth headset, speakers amnd keyboard I tested with very well.The camera is 2MP with auto focus a thing which is not seen in phones or PDA(auto focus) and the images are really quality ones.

The main thing is about the GPS . ASUS has provided a extension slot for antenna along with the GPS receiver but u hardly require it. I tested the GPS with three software’s one  a free utility and other being GPS tuner and Mapking Asia with a trial map of Mumbai and it is just awesome. To add to the good news ASUS ships a wind shield holder from Akron( a cool add on) and a car charger which saves u extra money and u can test the GPS right away.

Few cons which I can think of is

The phone is tri band as compared to quad band but would still run in most countriesThe battery provided is 1300mah however the problem is highly solved with bundled car charger. Also the phone is charged  via USB charger hence u can virtually charge the phone by connecting it to any USB source like laptop, DVD player etc. The biggest con some may feel is 65k colour resolution to others who offer 262k but that’s hardly a issue for me. No 3g or HSPDC support but ASUS makes up for it with built in wi- fi. No keyboard. The most irritating thing I found is that the MP3 ringbones are not as loud enough and u may virtually not hear calls if the phone is kept at a distance. However the phone speaker is very good . I mean on receiving the call the sound of other person can be heard by entire room even on very low phone speaker settings . The problem of ringtones can be solved by encoding MP3 files at 320 bit rate and above as compared to standard 128.However the files play really good in windows media player and the headphone provided by ASUS is top quality.

Overall ASUS P535 is a great value for money with the software and accessories it bundles with. It has a best of line Intel processor which is fast and responsive, good Flash mem of 256 best in the market and a great GPS receiver with accessories like ARKON windshield stand and  car charger. The phone is low on battery with 1300mah but has a USB charger so it can draw power from virtually any USB source