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ASUS P525 Pocket PC phone gets reviewed
CNET's Australian outpost had a chance to put the ASUS P525 smartphone through its paces recently, using the BlackBerry 7130 series and the just-launched HP iPAQ hw6900 series as measuring sticks. They found it compared favorably to both, clocking in a bit heavier (though similarly sized) to the 7130 and besting the hw6900 for battery endurance, though some folks cross-shopping the P525 with the hw6900 might be swayed by the latter's QWERTY keyboard nonetheless. Strangely, though the P525 includes business card recognition software, the reviewer found that the phone's 2-megapixel cam wasn't sufficient to deliver the clarity needed for the software to actually function. The lack of 3G is a downer, too, but hey -- it looks mighty purty, and that's the important thing with a smartphone, right?
ASUS P525 wins FCC approval: US release possible?
We know durn well that an FCC nod means absolutely nothing for a handset's chances of stateside release, but doesn't this seem like a no-brainer for ASUS? The quad-band P525 fills a niche that no other manufacturer has in the States, offering the versatility advantage of Pocket PC Phone Edition with the usability advantage of a traditional keypad. Granted, the device lacks EDGE or any form of 3G, but built-in WiFi makes the situation (arguably) bearable. Ah well, wishful thinking; we're sure we'll this thing'll ultimately be destined for import shops at prices that leave only ASUS fanboys' mouths salivating.
ASUS releases P525 Pocket PC phone
If HTC has anything to say about it, most of the major Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition contenders these days are sporting QWERTY keyboards and a bit of bulk. ASUS is taking a different tact with their new P525 smartphone, and if you can stand the lack of text input, it might make a decent bid for your smartphone buck. The quad-band GSM phone has a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, 2 megapixel camera, 416MHz Intel XScale processor, 802.11b WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, miniSD, 128MB flash ROM and 64MB of SDRAM. Even better news is that all of this fits into a 5.6-ounce, 0.75-inch thick form factor. The P525 also sports push email, along with Skype, though without UMTS you'll probably want to be doing most of that on a WiFi connection. No word on price or where exactly this is dropping for now, but we'll keep an eye out.[Via Geekzone]
