Hands-on with the ASUS R50A

It's been a real MID / UMPC bonanza at CES this year, and we're not done quite yet. We got to handle the ASUS R50A at the company's small -- yet crowded -- booth, and we've brought back pictures for the gang. While the design is fairly solid on the device, the unit feels a bit slippery to the touch. The button / navigation placement works, though coming to grips with everything wasn't exactly a smooth transition. Once again, we're seeing that miniaturized Vista, and honestly, we're not totally convinced this is the platform of choice for these pixel-dense screens. Check out the gallery and see the little guy in action.

Gallery: Hands-on with the ASUS R50A

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[law @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:14PM]

i just want this for my car...

anybody know if, hypothetically, you had an iphone... could you use the data plan for something like this?

[superfresh @ Jan 10th 2008 8:18AM]

In some shots, it looks gigantic, and in others not so much. I agree -- for some reason the Vista desktop doesn't seem to jive...just doesn't have a "portable" look? Maybe I'm crazy.

[quasimoto @ Jan 10th 2008 8:22AM]

I was browsing this site on my iPhone and the device looked like a damn PSP.

[hexoDAT64 @ Jan 10th 2008 8:21AM]

I don't mean to bring up the iPhone again, but haven't these other manufacturers learned anything. People like the iPhone because the touch screen has big easy to hit and see buttons. You shouldn't have to try to hit a close button half the size of your pinky or try to balance this thing in one hand and use a stylus. Origami 2.0 looks promising though...

[Carbonize @ Jan 10th 2008 8:28AM]

Forget "Does it play Doom" does it play Halo? I mean it is a Windows platform after all.

As the guy above says, looks like a PSP on steroids.

[eddib @ Jan 10th 2008 8:50AM]

yip, looks like a PSP on Weight Gain 2000.
BEEFCAKE!

[computer.dude.28 @ Jan 10th 2008 8:52AM]

Am I the only one that looked at that picture and thought it was a knockoff of a PSP?

[Rynth @ Jan 10th 2008 9:05AM]

Well, if you bother to read other people comments, then you'd know the answer to this.

[computer.dude.28 @ Jan 10th 2008 4:57PM]

Well excuse me if I can't read comments that aren't there yet.

In case you don't get it, eddib up there posted 2 minutes before me, which was *after* I opened the post..

[Dextro @ Jan 10th 2008 8:57AM]

Holy crap, go find a girlfriend.
You're scary, and i'm a guy!

[Hinke @ Jan 10th 2008 9:55AM]

I thought "PSP" at first glance too, and the info on the screen looks tiny indeed.

Hinke

[Silent Shark @ Jan 10th 2008 2:02PM]

When I first saw this, I really wanted one. Now that I've seen more of it, the looks let it down. The back panel is hideous, the fingerprint scanner is a shade of yellow that just looks wrong, the weird gold switch is terrible, and the glossy black look just makes it look tacky (could just be the lighting at the convention though.

I'm still impressed with the size, the specs and the screen doesn't bother me, in fact the more res the better IMO. Hopefully that's not a final production model, because it looks a bit of a mess. Maybe if I saw one in real life I might like it again. For now, it's OQO all the way.

[bob sakamano @ Jan 10th 2008 10:38AM]

is that a sega game gear?!?

[Ruben @ Jan 10th 2008 3:30PM]

I wonder what Ryan thinks of that comment.

If he finds out, he might create a new rank lower than lowest for you.