Asus P320

Asus P320 PDA cum Smartphone

Review:

First to start with, its really a superb PDA phone which makes the users to "Big with the mini GPS PDA Phone". But what about other features and aspects of the phone. Lets find out now...

First of all with its specs...

Operation System = Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1™ Professional

Form = Bar Type

Dimensions 99 ...
...-------------------------------
Ur Time, Newstation, ASUS Zip, Backup, Voice Commander

Camera = 2 Mega-Pixels (Auto-Focus)

Video MPEG4 / H.263 / .3gp Playback and Record
Audio/Video Streaming

Picture Format = JPEG,PNG,GIF,BMP

Audio = MP3,WMA,AAC,AAC+

Ringtone = 128-chord Polyphonic,MP3

JAVA = TAVA Enabled with J2ME (CLDC 1.1 + MIDP2.0)
more

Asus P320 PDA cum Smartphone

Review:

First to start with, its really a superb PDA phone which makes the users to "Big with the mini GPS PDA Phone". But what about other features and aspects of the phone. Lets find out now...

First of all with its specs...

Operation System = Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1™ Professional

Form = Bar Type

Dimensions 99 x 54.5 x 13.35 mm

Battery = 1100 mah 3.7 volt Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) Battery

Weight = 105g with battery

Standby Time = 200 Hours
(Vary with different networking environment and scenario)

Talk Time = 4 Hours
(Vary with different networking environment and scenario)

Display = 2.6" TFT LCD ,Touch Screen ,65536-color ,240 x 320 resolution

CPU = TI 850 200 MHz

Memory = Built-in 128MB Flash ROM, 64MB DDR RAM

Expansion Slot = Micro-SD ,supports SDHC

Communication
------------------------------
WLAN 802.11b/g
USB v1.1
Bluetooth V2.0+EDR
WAP HTTP / WAP 2.0

Messaging = SMS/MMS, Push E-Mail

Battery 1100mAh Li-Ion

Apps Included
----------------------

Word (editor), Excel (editor), Power Point (viewer), IE, Windows® Live, Clock & Alarms, Calendar, Calculator, File Explorer, Contacts, Notes

GPS = Inbuilt SiRF StarIII

Business Functions
-------------------------------
Ur Time, Newstation, ASUS Zip, Backup, Voice Commander

Camera = 2 Mega-Pixels (Auto-Focus)

Video MPEG4 / H.263 / .3gp Playback and Record
Audio/Video Streaming

Picture Format = JPEG,PNG,GIF,BMP

Audio = MP3,WMA,AAC,AAC+

Ringtone = 128-chord Polyphonic,MP3

JAVA = TAVA Enabled with J2ME (CLDC 1.1 + MIDP2.0)

Other Features
--------------------------
ASUS Today, Theme Manager, Profile Manager, GPS Catcher

Now for its pros....

First to start with it comes with a touch-screen and a stylus and i must admit that its far better to get a good touch-screen for such kind of mid-ranged phones.

Size and form-factor is a huge advantage (nearly 1cm in thickness approx.).

Its price (£209.30 approx. in GBP) is very competitive and is also cheap to a PDA with In-built GPS (SiRF Star - III).

2.0 MEGA PIXEL Camera performs good under daylight conditions. Also Night mode option is present and varius other options for contrast/brightness adjustment, hue etc are also present. Camera functions can be well exploited by using Third party Camera applications.

Expansion slot
------------------------

This phone supports Micro SD Memory Cards. Its comes with a 1GB Micro SD card and with applications mainly for "Business class" people like Word, Quick Office etc..

This phone also supports SDHC (SECURE DIGITAL HIGH CAPACITY)
memory cards hence it must support upto 64 GB (The Maximum SD Card size as of 2008).

THE GPS IS VERY GOOD. IT TRACKS SATELLITES WITHIN 20 SECONDS (SOMETIMES WHEN INSIDE THE HOUSE ITSELF) AND ITS SPEED IS VERY GOOD. WORKS GREAT WITH THIRD PARTY GPS APPLICATIONS. Good Job ASUS!!!!....

Other Pros/Features
-----------------------------

The headphones are good (though not the best among its class) but still it satisfies the users with a good voice and audio playback clarity.

Wi-Fi 802.11b/g performance is very much satisfying.

Video playback is good at 15 fps which is common among PDA phones. Higher fps rate playback is only found in some PDA's. Hence this can't be said as a "con".

This phone supports WMA, MP3, AAC, AAC+ Formats which cannot be mentioned as a clear advantage. But it also supports WMV, MPEG 4 (DivX/Xvid) Movie playbacks too thich is not supported in many smartphones today. Though this playback might need some third party plugins...

Phone speed is quite good even when 2/4 GB Memory cards are used (though slight reduction in speed can be noticed), this speed is far better than that of Nokia E71 (which i personally own along with this phone).

Four keys are given (along with five way circularnavigation key for accessing menu, placing and ending a call (separate keys), another button for closing Windows and Dialog boxes).

Also Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR and with A2DP support performs very good. This is not anyway included in the rating as its now-a-days common in every phone.

Also another two keys are present which are user customizable keys.

Stereo Music Playback Speakers (in-built) performs good and is satisfying.

Now for the Cons...
-----------------------------

First of all i must mention it this phone is clearly a "Budget phone" which means that all the "cons" that i mention down here can be found in other PDA phones of its class which are considerably "High Priced" phones than this one..

The phone looks flimsy and not rigid. Its not "STRONG" built and its look is not very appealing.

The touchscreen navigation is quite slow and it does not recognize "Finger Touch" few times( 6 OUT OF 10 TIMES IT RECOGNIZE).

This comes with a Windows Mobile 6.1(WM 6.1) version. This is a big "pro" for many users because there are very few "Budget Phones" that comes with a Windows Mobile 6.1.

But when we take into account this WM 6.1 along with The CPU Speed (200 MHz), this imposes a "BIG" problem in my opinion. My points supporting this statement are as follows

1. Multitasking is not well implemented in this phone. Cant listen to MP3 without any breaks in songs when using other applications like Word, Excel etc. The song gets stuck up.

2. Speed is very slow, That is CPU power for handling WM 6.1 is very low as it must be (400 MHz and above as in case of HTC TYTN II)

3. Phone navigation speed gets reduced when opening two or more windows in phone itself.

Now when coming to battery. Battery life is poor when using GPS. Though its 1100 mah when using GPS or Wi-Fi after fully charging the phone over-night, after 30-45 minutes of usage battery level is reduced to half (1-2 points are only shown (varying), Totally 3 points are used in Battery indicator (In Display, Right Side top corner).

Though 2.0 MP camera performs very well in indoor and outdoor situations, LACK OF FLASH MAKES IT TO BE LESS EFFECTIVE. But this cant be said as a "con" as many Business class PDA's don't have flash. But still i put forward this point for you to notice.

Also Back Camera doesnt have AUTO-FOCUS (AF) enabled. This is a drawback that must be considered along with lack of flash.

Due to LACK OF FRONT CAMERA, one cannot make video call or video conferencing.1

Personal Opinion.
----------------------------

I personally own this phone. Though there are "cons" like processing speed and lack of flash. this phone is the best for its money. It has a GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY.

Once you start using this phone, you will be very much satisfied by uing this phone as it provides a lot of features like GPS which is VERY VERY GOOD (EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE) for the money that you gave for purchasing this PDA phone.

Rating...
-------------

LOOK = 7/10

STURDYNESS = 7/10

USER INTERFACE = 7.5/10

DISPLAY = 8/10

TOUCHSCREEN USAGE = 7/10

CAMERA ( BACK 2 MP ) = 7/10 (I would have given it 8 if it had Auto Focus)

FLASH = 0/10 (Flash is absent.. This is just to bring it to your notice.)

AUDIO PLAYBACK = 6/10

Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) = 8/10

GPS (SiRF Star - III) = 10/10

VIDEO PLAYBACK = 6/10

OFFICE UTILITIES USAGE (MS WORD, EXCEL etc) = 8.5/10

HEADPHONES = 7.5/10

MEMORY CARD SUPPORT (MICRO SD, SDHC 2.0) = 10/10

(Theoratically it must support upto 64 GB, which is very much sufficient for such kind of phones but can;t be used in practical as phone speed would detoriate by a very much considerable amount. Still its support freature for such kind of cards makes me to give it 10/10)

OVERALL RATING = 91.5/140 (FLASH RATING VALUE NOT INCLUDED
= 91.5/150 (INCLUDING FLASH RAING VALUE)

Rating above 70 is recommended for users to buy such kind of business class "Budget" PDA's.

Personal Opinion..
-----------------------------

Personally i own and use this phone and im very much satisfied with the interface it provides and all other bunch of applications that comes with it. This phone is sturdy to use and its damn good.

Hence i would personally recommend the users to buy this phone so that its all in one package for one's business needs and yes, it also satisfies me for the entertainment ( Music playback is good ).

If one want to get a good feel of GPS and other various features which a budgetary amount, this phone is highly recommended. Else for those who doesn't consider money, you are good to go with other High-End PDA's like Tytn 2 From HTC etc...

Thanks For Reading This review

Regards

Nishanth Lakshminarayanan. 

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