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ASUS P505 - The Next Big Thing For PPC Lovers June 16, 2005 [Pocket PC phone] | By Lutzh Haedrich. By Lutzh Ever since we saw this device the first time in real (at the CeBIT 2005 in Germany) we fell in love with that MDA compact challenger. One of the great benefits of the P505 is: it has a keypad. See our fotostory and learn more about this hot Pocket PC.  From the technical perspective the ASUS P505 does not bring anything new compared to the successor Magician (MDA compact, O2 Mini, Jam, ...). It runs the same processor, same RAM/ROM size, same OS, same camera specs. But it is different since it comes with a keypad and a real phone menu when the keypad is closed.  It also offers a jog dial like navigation key, flash light for photo shots in the dark, a bluetooth manager, different bluetooth profiles, comes with a docking station and two batteries. See pictures and comments below to find out if the ASUS P505 will be a challenger for the Magician!  With the keypad open you see the standard Pocket PC Today screen  As soon as you close the flip it looks like a standard phone. The rest of the screen below the keypad is really off.  With the navigation key on the left you can scroll through the phone menu  Costumizable - either you want to use the navigation key to only scroll up and down in your phone book or other applications or you want to use it as 5-way-joy stick. You set it as you like it!  This is what it looks like as phone with the flip closed.  The Today Phone Screen is animated and can show different information like appointments in a scroll text or an animated clock. We like the ASUS water background image most. Check out the little video what it looks like - CLICK HERE!  The P505 comes with a very beautiful docking station. You can sync and charge the device and recharge the second battery (comes with the delux pack, see end of page) in an extra slot at the same time. Look at the cool blue colour it lights up with when the device is plugged in!  Downside: The Dockingstation has no seperate power input - you have to use the USB sync cable to charge the device. That means that you can NOT use the USB to sync at work and charge the device in the docking station at home while you sync via Bluetooth  With the second battery in the cradle the blue light changes to yellow. Still beautiful  The most important difference compared to the Magician devices is of course the keypad. It is indeed the most useful add on to the device - you can easily use it the way you know it from a standard phone. Even at the start of the P505 you can enter your SIM unlock code to enable the phone stack. It protects your screen and makes the P505 better usable for any phone operation - something most people do most of the time they use a phone - make phone calls! But what I don't understand: Why did they limit it to numeric input only? Why did ASUS not add the standard phone input method to enable the keypad for text messaging and instant messaging? ASUS - your answer is welcome!  Some shots around the corners of the P505. Another downside, at least for my taste: The stylus sits at the left bottom side of the device - I nearly break my fingers to release it. Never seen this before (except from the never released Motorola MPx 300). Never ever gonna like this!  Here's another word to ASUS: External antennas may have been hip in the 90's. You can do that better. And if you have to have this "finger" looking out of the device - attach it on the other side! Have you tried to carry the P505 in your pants left pocket, like most people do? No - next time you better look into some usability studies ...  Since the Magician devices are the hottest Pocket PC Phone Editions on the world people expect to have a well manufactured device made from metal in their pockets. The ASUS P505 is a plastic toy. As you can see on this 4 weeks old device the colour comes already off on some parts. Thats crap. It shouldn't happen!  The 1.3 megapixel camera with the self portrait mirror ...  ... and a flash light. But lets call this a gimmick - it had no use on the Motorola MPx220 and so it doesn't really light up the night on the ASUS P505  All in all the ASUS P505 is a good extension of the smaller Pocket PC Phone Edition line. But I think there is still some work to do until it will be ready for the European and American market! To be honest - this device would be even better with Windows Mobile 5 since it has those ominous two soft keys that every Windows Mobile Smartphone user already knows. So lets wait and see if ASUS brings it with the newer version - at least I can imagine it. Some sources say ASUS will launch it end of third or early fourth quarter of the year in the bigger markets - anything else than WM5 on it will be a show stopper ... Some menu impressions  - The standard today screen - The ASUS phone menu, enabled via Today plug in or when you close the flip - A conference call service is integrated - Voice Commander to dial contacts/numbers and launch applications - ROM version and Storage info. ROM update was very easy to do, found a newer WWE on ASUS' homepage - Flexible processor speed is available, no tweaks needed - Automatic backup tool for scheduled or low battery backups - Internal Bluetooth Manager - makes connecting to an BT enabled PC a three click thing, really! - A good range of Bluetooth profiles is on board, since this is a Broadcom BT stack and not the MS one - ASUS Menu - personalisation for the look of the Phone menu - Camera - average quality, compareable with the Magician, but more options to resize/draw and manipulate a photo you captured. Flash is nice but not really a big thing  Whats in the Box: Standard kit: Pocket PC Docking station Charger 1000 mAh Battery USB cable Good quality leather case with a place for a second battery Manual, Software Plus kit Pocket PC Docking station Charger USB cable 2 x 1000 mAh Battery Good quality leather case with a place for the second battery Manual, Software SD Card 128 MB Some technical stuff: ASUS calls it a Pocket PC smartphone with Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC SE Phone Edition. It runs an Intel XScale PXA270 416 MHz Processor and comes with 64 MB RAM (= 53.49 MB available to the user), has a flash with 18.14 MB. The SD/MMC slot supporting SDIO, IrDA, Bluetooth 1.1 and an ASUS specific connector on the bottom of the device (no mini USB - too bad). It's a three band phone (GSM 900/1800/1900), GPRS class B and multi-slot class 10. The screen is 2.8" 240x320 and has 65K colors, camera with 1.3 megapixel, flash light and video option. It is powered by an Li-Ion 1000 mAh battery. ASUS says it lasts 4 hours of talk and 100 hours standby, 15 hours in the PDA mode. Size/Weight: 108x58x20 (124x60x22.5 with antenna)~ 170 g. Would I buy it instead of a Magician? Yes, if I am someone who uses it mostly as a phone the keypad has an big advantage. Can it beat a SE P910i? Not as long as it has the numeric input on the keypad only. Is there anything that ASUS could do better on the P505? Yes, see question above and comments below the pictures.  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 7 Comments ]
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