Asus MyPal A636 Pocket PC with GPS, Bluetooth WiFi
By Marc Perton 
posted Nov 13th 2005 11:33AM
posted Nov 13th 2005 11:33AM
The Asus MyPal A636
was generating buzz before it was even announced, thanks
to specs that include integrated GPS, a battery life of up to 44 hours, and built-in Bluetooth and WiFi. Now the
Windows Mobile device is nearing release, and has also picked up a little brother, the A632, which matches most of the
features on the A636, but shaves off WiFi. Both handhelds include an Intel XScale processor at 416MHz processor, 64MB
RAM, 128MB flash memory, and a 3.5-inch display. Pricing is set at roughly $520 for the A632 and $600 for the A636.
looks awesome... :D
looks awesome... :D
Why aren't all of these pdas phones by now? Who would spend > $500 for something that can't make a phone call?
It really does.
If this were available now - I'd buy it.
IF THIS HAD A PHONE FEATURE THIS WOULD BE THE PHONE OF ALL PHONES!!!! MAKE IT!!
44 hours wha? Has there been some amazing breakthrough in battery technology?
Maybe I am missing something but is this a phone too? The specs don't say that it is.
Someone tell me it can run linux
Waaaaiit. 44 hours? Are you serious?
But look at the screen: "240 x 320 (QVGA) screen" WTF? Would it kill them to put a VGA screen on this? Now THAT would make it an awesome PDA.
If Nextel would release a WIndows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC, it would probably be better than this with GPS, and phone funtionality. However, since this doesn't have phone functionality, it doesn't require a carier, contract, etc...
Hey Russ, good point. We need VGA before we have hte perfect pda. For anything over $500, I expect nothing less than perfection.
Actually, come to think of it, I might demand OpenGL-ES from my PDA too.
Why do PDAs always go half way? This one has awesome features but a QVGA screen. That's several-year-old technology. And what's up with the 416mhz processor? No way these things are worth upwards of $600. Take out the GPS and you've got an underpowered PDA with a tiny screen and decent battery life that costs way too much.
Since it has Widows Mobile, you can run Skype on it. If you are calling the US and a certain many other countries, you can make calls for 2 cents a minute. Or other Skype users free. Seriously, that would be one of the main reasons for me to get a PDA with WiFi and Windows Mobile, to get skype and make cheap calls
No one is seeming to acknowledge the greatest thing about this device: Location-aware, network-connected applications! With everyone going googoo over Google Maps/Earth, what sort of amazing apps could be written to take advantage of a mobile device with GPS and WIFI? Yes, there could be some better specs on the hardware, but imagine the NEW uses that this affords (besides just making phone calls, checking you email, or browsing the web...)
I think people are forgetting that unless you're in a city or a very tech-savvay town, somewhere on the west coast or the northeast, wifi coverage is spotty at best, if it even exists at all. This is not "connected."
And you can get a $79 GPS unit that will connect to your PDA, or for around $100 you can get a Bluetooth one. The convergence is nice, but you can get a PDA with the same specs, just lacking the GPS, for about $200.
But if the battery life really is 40 hours, that's the newsworthy technology. I've never had a PDA with anything approaching a reasonable battery life, so that would be awesome.
Battery life 44 hours. OK maybe it will run for 13 hours. How will they do this? By turning off the screen and playing an mp3. With the screen off I'll eat my hat if you get anything over 5 hours.
Battery technology is NOT evolving that quickly so don't get too excited. Also can anyone explain this comment?
> Now the Windows Mobile device is nearing >release, and has also picked up a little >brother, the A632, which matches most of the >features on the A636, but shaves off WiFi
Are you telling me that Asus is going to release a pda without wifi? This is hardly a massive money saver so I'm befuddled.
Why out of all things did they leave out WiFi on the smaller model? Plus, I second that the resolution sucks. If I get GPS I want totally highres Maps and all.
44 hour battery life ? My guess (and I stress GUESS) is that that figure is with no back light and the thing basically sitting at idle. Because 44 hours is probably triple what any CONSUMMER can actually get out of any other PDA currently on the market. And if it was using some groundbraking battery technology...
1) It would cost more than $500
2) We'd see such in laptops already
3) The engadget post would be about the battery itself, and not this PDA (or at least there probably would have been a separate article about it on engadget...)
That said it's a nice looking machine. Buy I kinda don't get people complaining about the 416 mhz xscale. I'd say that's competative...they're aren't too many companies offering PDA's with more horsepower. I mean I'd love the extra punch too (and it certainly CAN be done in handhelds), but it's not exactly anemic for a pocketable device. As for the screen, QVGA is OK for most PDA type functions. But if you're going to be looking at maps on the small screen (as GPS functionality would suggest) you want your display as clear and sharp as possible IMHO. And 640x480 on a pda ain't that hard to do anymore...
Bascialy I dig it, but I'm just way to stuck on clamshells w/ keyboards.
FLIPSTART! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?
(Oh course the Flipstart couldn't possibly have ANY kind of 44 hour battery life...)
heheh AssPal. Preset to vibrate.
Draggin' the forums down to my level since '03!
Still only a QVGA screen.
p.s.: Dear Engadget -- please list screen resolution when you quickly rhyme off specs so we don't have to drill into articles to find out that yet again its something we wouldn't try and sit and read websites on. This little corner of the industry is giving me blue-balls already.