OFF TOPIC: However appealing to most... production Asus p525 PPC Phone in my hands.

I'm going to tease you a little bit with a quick picture, but instead of loading everything up on this thread, I'm just going to link you to a quick page I made up on our site.

http://www.proportable.com/storage/jodea/images/p525.htm



You're more than welcome to post questions and comments on the thread... This production unit is quiet a bit more developed than the demo that was used at CeBit... which basically was a non-working piece, highly reported as simply a Skype VoIP phone.... That is not the case.

 

Sweet....!

 

Does it support PUSH email?

 

Nice... think I'll stick with my Nokia N80 though

 

looks like a work of art <3

of course i would've been more excited for tablet news

 

Yes it does... This overview of mine is being updated as I go through things, but that is one thing I really should have mentioned already...

 

Love the phone just wish it had a querty keyboard and was cdma. oh well.

 

cdma blows...... seriously it does... maybe not if you have verizon, but in terms of world use, cdma is ancient.

... again, with a qwerty keyboard it'd be a communicator... and wider. This fills a void I think between those and between what is still really considered a "smartphone", even though smartphones are basically dead to me. The handwriting recognition is what sets pocket pc's apart and always has. The only difference is that on a device like this you can do more with it than enter contact information or stuff into you to do list. I don't use handwriting a lot, except when I use my tablet, but I use that mainly for drawing and it's a much larger device......I've used it for talking on msn before, but something about it makes me think - "I'm at home, why aren't I using a keyboard", even though those who get into the tablets for a good period of time say they're more productive that way and would never go back to a keyboard.

For me, the problem with the communicators is basically confusion of your fingers... or thumbs really........ Yes, you have a qwerty keyboard (and I'm young, I'm a faster learner), but they're not good for people with big hands (and you know what they say about that)........ But to use handwriting to email, im, text message, write forum replies....... it's quicker than if you were skilled on a thumbpad, in all seriousness.

For me, I was good with the unit in portrait mode, but my replies could be a lot longer in landscape and for me, I wear a bluetooth headset 90% of the day, so I don't even have to move this unit if I don't want to. If I'm going out and I've got some tighter jeans on or something, I don't think I could without my slvr, but in terms of being on the road, this replaces the need for a seperate, larger, pocket pc which is a common device we sell all the time...... My main "like" about it is that it's design goals put more focus on the phone than most other pocket pc phones and even though Asus wanted to focus on the phone with the P505, that seperated the pocket pc out of it a bit because you have to flip down the keypad to show the majority of the screen....... this does a really nice job of both and really meets it's design goals.......... for those wanting a communicator, maybe that's next on the list for Asus, but I doubt it.....

 

Nice looking...but it doesn't even have edge. I would much rather use gsm, but their lack of third generation data speed is a killer for me. Once you have evdo(vzw, sprint 3g), using edge is like watching paint dry. And using gprs is even slower.

 

I have a umts card in my car and have a wireless network set up for traveling with multiple computers in the car..... Although I see much more need for that kind of speed on my laptop to transfer files and things.... It could be useful on the phone in certain situations, but for me, as long as I'm within 300' of my car, I've got better speed than most people's dsl...... so for me, I'm connecting the phone to wifi for data transferring through a seperate cell network than I would be say using the phone itself to connect to my laptop to get service.... I would assume that's really the best use of anything faster for this type of phone.... unless of course you're into watching streaming video..... and in that case, ok, you got me

... For me, wifi at home, wifi at work...... and wifi in the car.... means close to no dead spots, but my case is certainly far from the norm and I realize that.

 

Hey CDMA technology is better. Just not the phones unfortunetly. But you can get sweet cdma phones in korea i think it is. and yes i use verizon. I wont go with anyone else. Their reception in CT is unmatched by any other company. I do love querty keyboards though.I actually like the design of the motorla Q much smaller.but the asus is a much better pocket pc im guessing.

 

Yah- there's nothing wrong with CDMA in areas where it is widely used: Japan, Korea have far more advanced network tech than the rest of the world (and its all based on CDMA).

As for NA, its a split- either you go with Verizon (or Sprint / ALLTEL) and get CDMA, or the majority of other networks, which support GSM. It really comes down to the amount of handsets which support them. The types of services that are achieved on NTT Docomo in Japan are still 5 years off for GSM.

But travel to Europe with CDMA, and you're screwed.

 

Right...... leave Japan out of this because what they have is a techno wetdream if there ever was one. Europe is still far more advanced than we are and I see that when I make it over there. I mean this time two years ago umts networks were out for a while and very, very widespread... it was great. Here, I'm lucky because Cingular finally just went live here in NEPA with their umts service and in NYC and DC it's pretty widespread

 

Just a quick update..... A few of you emailed me to ask about accessories and Asus is working on figuring out the package that we can import into the US. I mentioned that I was using this unit over the weekend with a pair of motorola bluetooth stereo headset and really liked using the unit for music and videos along with the obvious phone use. Asus then suggested bundling their own bluetooth stereo headset for the US version, with pricing around $600. Considering the cost of the motorola stereo units ($120) and they fact that Asus' headset is thinner...... I thought this might end up being a great package for the price, let alone just a good phone.

 

thats a pretty competative price. for the phone and bluetooth headset. it would cost the same price just for a 700 series treo.

 

That's what I thought.... I never fully believe anything till it's down on paper, but that was a passing suggestion this morning....... I don't know how or if they can do it, but that would be great, especially for the functionality of the unit, a stereo headset would just help show all the features of the pocket pc.

 

WHAT THE, how did I miss this thread?

Oh yeah, Justin I officially hate you now.

That phone looks amazing~!!!!! Probably expensive as hell, but HOLY CRAP~!

Looks like something Samsung would produce, very nice indeed.

Go ASUS

 

.. thank you... thank you...

Eureka... my goal was to get everyone to hate me...

We're looking at around $600, which isn't bad at all for this phone... and Asus is even looking into including a bluetooth headset that they make with the purchase...... which makes it an even better buy. Now, I never really like to talk about demos all that much, because I've been burned in the past with products that change when they get to production. This however is a full production unit at this point and prospects of bringing it in are very real (finally - two and half years after first seeing the older model at a Computex)...

All I can say is that I've demo'd a loooot of stuff over the years and I am an electronics guru in my own right, in terms of shelling out cash for new toys and like I said...... For an Asus fan, this is the holy grail...... but even for people who've never heard of Asus, I've got them drooling. In fact, on the 4th, I was out on the lake and I got a call..... not a cell call, but a skype call from an old client in Italy..... I put them on speaker and they had a webcam... so I'm sitting in the middle of a lake with people watching me in the middle of an international video call..... If for no other reason, everyone will want this unit, simply for the fun of it.

 

Any updates on availability in the US? If it is on the horizon I would be glad to hold off on buying t-mobile's mda...

 

say, how long the batteries last on those phones?

So far 90 % of the PDA/Phones I have tested, batteries run way way faster than any other phone.

 

They have crap battery life. You have to give up battery life to get a better interface and better features.

 

PPC = bleh. I still like Palm, with lots of customization ofcourse!

 

I used the P525 as a crutch this weekend.... I didn't charge it from Friday until this morning and I can honestly say a few things about battery life that I noticed over that specific period of time. Of course a little computer isn't going to be as good as just a tiny little phone, even with a slightly larger battery. However, I found there's a lot of great things you can do over the course of the battery life.

1. 4 hours of talk time... easy... no joke.. this is dead on, if not low.
2. Normal pocket pc stuff really doesn't use up all that much life... it's very much like Asus' other pocket pc's in that with ppc stuff alone, the life is easily over ten hours on this regular battery.
3. MSN/AIM/Yahoo + Skype/SMS + Hotmail/POP3/Outlook+ Cell with the option to make conference calls..... I dare you to find a more complete communication tool....
4. Just like the P505, you can turn this unit complete off to save power... it's going to take you offline, so im's and emails won't come in, but if you get a call, the phone will turn on and ring.......

In this situation, my Razr wouldn't have lasted all weekend, and I easily made it, plus I did message a lot...

 

So...are there any updates on this one? Looks like everything is perfect on it except one thing - it lacks 3G. It just seems so dumb for such a high end product not to have a 3G standard, I mean ASUS is dumb not to put it...it almost make otherwise a perfect thing obsolete before it is even released.

 

Updates...... I'm still the only person with one in North America...... and after about 4 months, it's still the most wicked device I've ever used. I really don't care about 3G because I've got 3G built into my car, and use wifi at home, work... in the car.... so it's not a big deal for me, but really even 3G speeds aren't fast enough to really go what I do with it. I've been using it of late to tivo programs when I'm on the road. I can go onto tivo's site on the phone, program whatever I want... it'll record at home and then transfer to my server, rip it to the size I need, and then transfer itself to my phone. It's pretty darn cool.

As of today, we're supposed to be getting them in within 6 weeks or so. I believe the US price will be $600 and Asus wants to bundled it with an extra battery and a pretty sweet stereo bluetooth headset. We've got quite a list of those on an informal advanced order list since I posted this. The quantites we have coming in will probably be gone with in a 3-4 weeks.

 

Have you had a chance to try if it works with any of the GPS fo PDA software like iGuidance, TomTom, OnCourse?

 

It's not a gps phone.... that's basically the only thing it doesn't have. If you're talking about teaming it up with a bluetooth gps reciever - that on the other hand certainly does work. Any GPS software for pocket pc will work. I personally have NavigAtor, which is a great, great software that we used to sell with the pocket pcs and now actually comes with the latest A636n models....... and I've got an old Asus BT GPS reciever that we used to sell and that'll team up with the phone just fine. BT GPS recievers aren't the easiest to find, but they're out there... we may even have some left... I just remember they weren't cheap.

 

Thanks, great! That is what I meant, BT GPS. That is all I need. By the way, there is plenty of them out there and they have come down in price too. I bought one about a year ago, for ~$150 and they can now be had for well under $100. I am not sure if I already asked to be added to the informal pre-order list, but if I haven't please count me in.

 

Well drop me an email... Basically, we already have a bunch on order and once we confirm they left Taiwan, I'll get an advanced order page up and shoot and email to all of those on the list and give them a chance to get an order in.