When I see a company like ASUS coming out with a diverse selection of Windows Mobile Smartphones, I’d pay attention. Their earlier crop of Smartphones weren’t that exciting, visually and physically, but I had some inkling that they were simply stretching their R&D muscles.
And today we have the ASUS P526 running on the Windows Mobile 6 Professional platform. The overall design is recognizably ASUS – an elegant, business-like design that should appeal to the general market.
Simple, smartly designed box. Nothing gimmicky here.
The ASUS P526 is a svelte 15.4mm thin. It feels adequately solid, although there’s slight creaking when I applied some pressure. It’s only a shade wider and taller than my RAZR, so I’m pretty happy with the dimensions of the ASUS P526. It’s very business-like, with a gun metal shade of grey accent surrounding the dark graphite grey body. No fingerprint magnets here. Every exposed surface, save the screen, is matte.
ASUS has certainly improved the usability of the P526. On the left, the long forgotten rocker wheel has made a comeback. It really makes navigating the menus much easier. And below that is the OK button, or as I’ve discovered, is the Today Screen button. Strangely, I cannot assign these buttons to perform different functions. Too bad.
The left side
On the right, a first (for me) from any PDA manufacturers, a Hold button. Slide this switch and the screen dims, and all the keys are locked. I really like this, rather than the software approach. Below that is the Camera button. You’ll have to press and hold this button to activate the camera, and remember the rocker wheel? You use that for the digital zoom. There’s quite a bit of camera options to play with, but many of them aren’t useful. There’s a burst mode, but it’s like 1 frame per second. Accessing the White Balance, or Exposure metering requires way too many taps for my liking. Then again, when I’m taking photos with the Smartphone, I normally use the default settings. And right next to the Camera button is the reset button, and followed by the microSD slot.
The right side
At the bottom, you’ll find the 2.5mm headphone socket and the mini USB 1.1 slot for charging and synchronizing. I’m a little disappointed by the 2.5mm headphone socket, but I guess it’s a tradeoff for keeping the device so slim.
The bottom side.
Nothing much on the top side, other than the power button.
Flip the device around, and you’ll see the 2 megapixel camera, and hidden under the rubber flap is the GPS antenna connector. The speaker is adequately loud, but I’d suggest setting the device to “Vibrate and Ring” when you’re outdoors.
On the front, the numeric keypad has good mechanical feedback. On each side of the keypad is the Call key and End key, and below those are the Mode/Task Switcher button and the Clear key. The Mode/Task Switcher can be set to cycle through 4, and only 4, applications of your choice under Mode setting, or to cycle through all your running applications under Task setting. Above the numeric keypad are the Left Soft key, Windows Start button, Voice Commander/Record button and the Right Soft key. So many buttons so you’ll hardly need to take out the stylus to navigate your phone.
The ASUS P526 has a built-in SiRF Star III chip, but you’ll have to supply your own GPS software. That’s quite a shame since ASUS already bundles the full version of Monster Chinese software. There’s also a SPB Bonus disc with a full version of SPB Backup.
At the heart of the ASUS P526 is the TI OMAP 850 processor chugging along at 200 MHz. It’s not a terribly powerful processor, but I tested it with the Iron Man trailer in DivX format using TCPMP and it was smooth, even on fast action scenes. In terms of connectivity, you have a selection of EDGE, GPRS and the P526 is a Quad band phone. You have Bluetooth, but surprisingly, no WiFi.
The 1300 mAh Lithium Ion battery gives you 4 hours of talk time, and 150 hours of standby time. Perhaps that’s the reason WiFi was taken off the features list. The battery is replaceable, and under the battery is the SIM slot.
And now about the screen. It’s a 2.6-inch TFT display that supports 65K colours at a resolution of 240x320 pixels. And this is a source of my disappointment. To my dismay, the visual quality is pretty poor. It reminds me of the early iPAQ Pocket PCs and how badly they displayed ClearType. It had something to do with how the pixels are oriented on the display. I think a similar issue exists on the ASUS P526. Turning ClearType on produce jaggies and ugly finging on the text. So make sure you test this out before you decide to plonk down your hard earned cash.
ASUS doesn’t disappoint when it comes to accessories. Right out of the box, it comes with a car mount, a car power adapter, and a stereo hands-free kit – all you need to utilize the ASUS P526 in your car. Also included in the box is the usual charger, a USB sync cable and a pretty classy looking faux leather case.
On the software side, ASUS includes a few interesting in-house applications. There’s the ASUS launcher that tries to make the Windows Mobile 6 Professional interface “friendlier”. It looks more like a mobile phone interface and you can navigate through all the options using the rocker switch. Another useful application is the Call Filter application. It lets you filter your incoming calls. This is quite a useful feature that I’m sure some people would appreciate.
What do I think of the ASUS P526? It’s missing a few “must haves” when compared to its competitors, such as the missing WiFi connectivity, no 3G and a rather lackluster screen. I’d give it a miss.
However, it I were to take the device for what it offers, I’m pleased with the slim form factor and it’s business-like outlook. ASUS definitely paid close attention to usability with the myriad of buttons, my favourite being the rocker switch and the hold button. I could happily browse through the phone without having to take out the stylus. It’s too bad ASUS didn’t bundle a GPS software to go with the built-in GPS chip, but with the bundled car-kit, you can use the money you saved to buy a GPS software you like.
Review made possible by Gadza World at Digital Bay, Queensbay Mall (tel: 04-642 8601). Contact them for details.
