New Asus PDA Coming In Q2

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article1.asp?datePublish=2002/12/27&pages=14&seq=66' target='_blank'>http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/A...pages=14&seq=66</a><br /><br /></div>The Asus A710 is a successor to the A660 (sold in the US as the <a href="http://www.zayotech.com/">Razor Zayo</a>). The new unit will have GPRS and 802.11b connectivity (it's not clear whether one unit has both, but it would be very cool if that's the case). I love this quote: <i>The company aims to rank among the top three PDA vendors in Taiwan within two years.</i> Sounds like Asus is in this for the long haul. Let's hope the A710 has a bigger battery...

[JonnoB]

Let's hope the A710 has a bigger battery...

And doesn't use NAND memory!

[R K]

In order for Asus to succeed, I think it's going to need something unique about their PPC that no one else has, without making too many unexpected compromises in the process.
I see so many new Pocket PCs that would have made it to everyone's must-have list were it not for some unseen compromise.

How great would the iPAQ H1910 be if it had a whole 64MB which was accessable by the user? How great would it be if it had a regular 3.5mm headphone jack instead of a 2.5mm jack that makes it incompatible with most headphones without some adapter? How great would it be with integrated SDIO?
Of course, it's granted that these extra features would have raised the price, and here's where the problem lies.
For a further example of the dilemma, take a look at the iPAQ H5450.
It's almost everybody's dream-PDA right? Despite the bugs, the biggest problem is the price. Not many are willing to shell out the price of a average desktop for a handheld.

Maybe this is one thing that we'll learn from this whole experience--there's no such thing as an ultimate PDA. Some are catered to mainstream users, some to high-end, and some to the thrift, but so far there are none that fit on everyone's wishlist.

With that in mind, it seems like there are only two choices that manufacturers can make in the end. They can either pour so much blood, sweat, and tears to try and make a dream-PDA, or they can try to cater to a certain portion of the market and hope that that portion can bring them more profit than any other.

As for me, the iPAQ H5450 does well for now. Only time will tell whether the rumors of the Toshiba e750 are true, and whether there'll be any unforseen compromises that come with it as well.

[JonnoB]

The 5450 is indeed, nearly a dream device, but its cost is not justified. I would gladly pay the price, but the price should demand the missing features.... namely:

- an integrated IO slot that does not sacrifice memory (CF or a second SDIO)
- scrolling wheel or buttons
- 100% working dpad

I believe the low cost Pocket PC are good and most don't need all the fancy features, but there is a market for a device that has it all and people will pay the price for it.

[vincentsiaw]

hopefully this asus comes with great color display, with higher resolution if possible off course, i kind of tired with 320*240 can they make a vga resolution instead ? man... :roll:

[Gen-M]

In order for Asus to succeed, I think it's going to need something unique about their PPC that no one else has, without making too many unexpected compromises in the process.

This is true of ANY product. It holds true for toothpaste. :?

Not many are willing to shell out the price of a average desktop for a handheld.

I am hearing this a lot. Does anyone have any hard evidence that the 5400s are not selling in volume? :?:

Until I see some hard numbers, this is BS. :roll:

There is a high end market, and a low end market, and probably another one in between. I wish people would stop making statements about market segments that they, personally, do not belong to. Just because you don't want to buy PPC XYZ does not mean that others don't too.

(Sorry RK - I don't mean to take this out on you, but you hit the button. You are far from the worst offender. :) )

[heov]

i currently use the zayo (got it for 400) and thinks it's great...

it's pretty much the fastest PPC out today thanks to the ASUS Performance Enchancement (APE) and it proved itself in numerous video playback tests and even the Quake FPS test (it got 11fps, as opposed to the average xscale 7fps, see www.pocketmatrix.com)

Furhtermore, it's the only lightweight PDA (4.9oz and 0.5" thick) that has a 400mhz xscale and 64mb of ram. Plus it's made of metal and you know you've got the asus quality (i don't know about support)...

I think there next PDA will be great, but I don't expect it to sell well because it will be slightly bigger and too expensive for people to buy it here... Maybe it'll be good if they can advanced on their APE to make it burn other xscales, but i doubt such will happen. They arleady use FIR (not SIR like others, iPaq use CIR- good for range), which has IRDA speeds of 4mbps (not 115kbps like SIR in other PPCs) and makes it a great remote!

Anyway, i think i'm expecting too much from ASUS...

[JonnoB]

Furhtermore, it's the only lightweight PDA (4.9oz and 0.5" thick) that has a 400mhz xscale and 64mb of ram.

Not the same 64mb of other 64mb Pocket PC devices as it has that NAND memory implementation.

[mar2k]

Not the same 64mb of other 64mb Pocket PC devices as it has that NAND memory implementation.

The Asus A600 has a full 32MB Flash ROM and full 64MB user-accessible RAM.

I'm not sure about the battery comment. While we would all love a bigger battery, the MyPal's battery is rated at 1200mAh. That seems pretty darn good for such a slim device.

[Janak Parekh]

While we would all love a bigger battery, the MyPal's battery is rated at 1200mAh. That seems pretty darn good for such a slim device.
My point is that with GPRS and/or 802.11b, unless you put a larger one, your life is going to suffer. Witness the 5450 and its 1250mAh battery (although its 802.11b happens to be non-power-saving as well).

--janak

[mar2k]

While we would all love a bigger battery, the MyPal's battery is rated at 1200mAh. That seems pretty darn good for such a slim device.
My point is that with GPRS and/or 802.11b, unless you put a larger one, your life is going to suffer. Witness the 5450 and its 1250mAh battery (although its 802.11b happens to be non-power-saving as well).

--janak

My bad. I didn't put this together with the GPRS / 802.11b part. I would agree that would be pushing it.

[don dre]

At least with the 5450 you will ahve the option to put in a more powerful battery when its released. With Wifi I guess you'll need it. Still, it was smart of them to listen to PPC Thoughts readers (I know this is where the idea came from :lol: )and put in a removable battery. The more choice the better for us as consumers and the more chance someone will get it right. I would very much like to start seing 128mb RAM in the near future esp for $700. If the 5450 had that much RAM I'd own one already.

[heov]

the current a600 uses normal NOR flash (as stated)... the same chip in other pocket pcs... INTEL 2F...128 or something like that- i know it's the same on in my iPaq w/ 32MB of ROM... And you get 63.47MB accessible RAM to the user on my PPC...

Again, yes, of course it would need a bigger batter if it were to support both GPRS and WiFi... Doesn't the iPaq 5450 only have a 1250mAh battery? I think asus will have to somehow cram in a 1400+ battery in order for this thing to sell- but in today's market price is everything...

[torgamm]

Someone else noticed that the new Asus A710 looks like the Casio E-3000 ?


http://www.pocketpcitalia.com/cebit2003/asus_mypal_4.jpg http://www.casio.co.jp/release/2003/images/e_3000/01_S.jpg