PDA Buyer's Guide Reviews ASUS's A730w

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ASUS_A730W.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ASUS_A730W.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Power users rejoice: the feature-packed A730W has every feature you can pack into a Pocket PC except a mobile phone. This VGA device has WiFi, Bluetooth, a 520MHz XScale processor, 1.3 megapixel camera, dual expansion slots and a user replaceable battery. Impressive. Does this top of the line ASUS live up to its feature set?...The A730W arrives on the heel of the A730 which we reviewed in September 2004. The units are identical in most respects, using the same casing and having many of the same features. Thus our reviews of the two units share some editorial text. The A730W adds WiFi (that's what the "W" stands for), has 128 megs of RAM rather than 64 and thanks to firmware improvements does a bit better on benchmarks and camera performance."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040103-PDABuyersGuideA730w.jpg" /><br /><br />Looks like a fantastic unit, overall, but PDA Buyer's Guide finds that the battery life is indeed very poor, especially with Wi-Fi on. :( Too bad; it seems like nearly everything else was done right on this unit.

[Menneisyys]

Quote from the article: "In our tests the unit lasted about 2 hours on a full charge in a mix of use with brightness set to 60%: access PIM info, working with Pocket Word and Excel, playing MP3s for 30 minutes, watching a five minute video, shooting 10 photos and playing games for an hour. If you have Bluetooth turned on, battery life will be reduced by about 30 minutes."

Interesting to see that most new VGA PDA's have certainly inferior (read: they consume far much power) BT unit than the 2210. If you switch on the BT on the 2210, and use it for e.g. web browsing, you barely notice the difference in the (absolutely great) battery life. How come no manufacturer can achieve the same (low) power consumption?

[omikron.sk]

Interesting to see that most new VGA PDA's have certainly inferior (read: they consume far much power) BT unit than the 2210. If you switch on the BT on the 2210, and use it for e.g. web browsing, you barely notice the difference in the (absolutely great) battery life. How come no manufacturer can achieve the same (low) power consumption?
You're right (except for great battery life on h2210).

Question: Why there always have to be some "IF" ? :cry:

[Menneisyys]

You're right (except for great battery life on h2210).


Well, I'd certainly be very happy if my Pocket Loox 720 consumed the same power than my 2210 at the same, non-CPU-intensive and the-screen-is-akways-switched-off tasks like recording MP3 with NoteM :)

IMHO the 2210 has really great battery life.

[Kowalski]

Standby time wasn't terribly impressive either, with the unit losing 10% charge per day

my 1 year old 2215 still uses 3% battery per day. 10% is realy, realy bad!
think of it, you leave the device with 30% battery and 3 days later, boom hard reset!

IMHO the 2210 has really great battery life.
i totally agree with you, if especialy if you are not using wifi alot and can sacriface a little screen brightness, the battery life is realy good

[bjornkeizers]

This doesn't really surprise me - the A730W only has an 1100 mah battery after all. 8O

Compare that to the HX4700 - 1800 mah - or the Loox 720 - 1640 mah - and it's obvious the A730 won't last long.

That's one of the reasons I took it off the list of potential candidates for my next PPC. I'm going to buy a Loox 720 instead of an HX4700 (the third candidate) 1100 mah just won't cut it for any long term surfing.

[pdagal]

Don't forget that you do get a 2nd battery with the A730W which certainly helps matters. Though you do have to carry that battery with you-- one extra thing in the bag or pocket.

[Duncan]

Don't forget that you do get a 2nd battery with the A730W which certainly helps matters. Though you do have to carry that battery with you-- one extra thing in the bag or pocket.

Plus - no charger on the cradle - so the spare battery has to be charged on the a730 itself. Hardly convenient.

I can't help but think that the extra battery offer is an attempt to ward off criticism of the (frankly appalling) battery life.

[Deslock]

Size: 4.62 x 2.78 x .53 in. Weight: 4.67 oz.
That doesn't sound right.... specs I've read have it at 4.62 x 2.87 x 0.67" and 6.something ounces.

[johncruise]

I don't see any backup battery compartment in the specs. Does that means that when I replace the main battery, ASUS will hard reset itself? (in other words... all data will be lost?)

[Duncan]

Size: 4.62 x 2.78 x .53 in. Weight: 4.67 oz.
That doesn't sound right.... specs I've read have it at 4.62 x 2.87 x 0.67" and 6.something ounces.

That's right -

117.5 x 72.8 x 16.9 mm and 170 g - which is - 4.63 (4.626) x 2.87 (2.866) x 0.67 (0.665) in. and 6.00 (5.996) oz (the official figures given by Asus).

[rob_ocelot]

Interesting to see that most new VGA PDA's have certainly inferior (read: they consume far much power) BT unit than the 2210. If you switch on the BT on the 2210, and use it for e.g. web browsing, you barely notice the difference in the (absolutely great) battery life. How come no manufacturer can achieve the same (low) power consumption?

I think we've found the dirty little secret as to why models with more than 64 MB megs were only trickling onto the market when there was overwhelming demand for such models. It requires a lot of power, espeically in standby mode. Then there's the fact that WM2003SE has to push 4 times as many pixels (yet still feels like molasses) so you need a speedier processor and/or accellerator card. Add to that the larger power consumption of the screen and is anyone surprised that battery life for these units (with no wireless on) is on par or worse than the original iPAQ models?

I guess the hit wouldn't have been so bad if battery technology had kept up with processor, screen and integrated wireless advances.

By far the most disturbing trend I see with the new VGA models is the tendancy to add things to make them even more brick-like. Does nearly every VGA model have to be dual slot and have an integrated camera so as to make it look like there's a reason why it's so damn thick? (other than the space requiements for the new screen).

I've pretty much unanimously heard that if HP released a 4150 form factor VGA model with 128MB of RAM then they'd have a 'must buy' on their hands. Well, the Asus A730W is about 85% there. A good solid effort but I think I'll wait to see what the next generation of VGA models will bring.

I think back to the time when they were first integrating Wifi and Bluetooth (separately -- both together in the same unit *and* operating at the same time was crazy talk). I'm glad I waited a generation for the technology and more importantly the implementation of said technology to mature.

[Deslock]

I think we've found the dirty little secret as to why models with more than 64 MB megs were only trickling onto the market when there was overwhelming demand for such models. It requires a lot of power, espeically in standby mode.
Those who've upgraded to 128MB RAM (ala www.pocketpctechs.com) reported that there is not a significant decrease in battery life. But it is strange that this model appears to suck the juice down faster than the X50v...

[pdagal]

Pretty much only the old Axims had a door for the replaceable coin cell backup batteries. The ASUS has an integrated backup battery that protects your data when you swap main batteries. It'd be pretty cruel of them if they gave you two batteries but you lost data every time you swapped them!

I don't see any backup battery compartment in the specs. Does that means that when I replace the main battery, ASUS will hard reset itself? (in other words... all data will be lost?)

[JustinGTP]

I am stuck between Pocket Loox 720 and Asus A730W. The Asus will be easier to get, but I cannot stand how the stylus port is on the bottom, I mean, how are you going to get the stylus out when the device is in the docking station. I know that you can take it out before hand, but this is inconvenient. Also, I don't like the fact that you can't charge the second battery at the same time - the Loox can and most iPaqs can.

Also, does anyone know if the 1800mah extended battery will fit into the back, or does it stick out?

Thanks,

Justin.

[johncruise]

It'd be pretty cruel of them if they gave you two batteries but you lost data every time you swapped them!

Hehehe... you never know. :lol:

[Jeff00000168]

http://www.geocities.com/dellaximx50/Geo4.JPG

[Menneisyys]

A new review, just posted today: http://pocketmatrix.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20035

[Menneisyys]

Interesting to see that most new VGA PDA's have certainly inferior (read: they consume far much power) BT unit than the 2210. If you switch on the BT on the 2210, and use it for e.g. web browsing, you barely notice the difference in the (absolutely great) battery life. How come no manufacturer can achieve the same (low) power consumption?

I think we've found the dirty little secret as to why models with more than 64 MB megs were only trickling onto the market when there was overwhelming demand for such models. It requires a lot of power, espeically in standby mode. Then there's the fact that WM2003SE has to push 4 times as many pixels (yet still feels like molasses) so you need a speedier processor and/or accellerator card. Add to that the larger power consumption of the screen and is anyone surprised that battery life for these units (with no wireless on) is on par or worse than the original iPAQ models?

Well, I've spoken of only the power consumpion of the BT unit. With my 2210, my wife can chat for hours via BT GPRS &amp; the StowAway BT keyboard. If used via BT, Internet connection (sharing) doesn't cause much more power consumption than through, for example, ActiveSync-based web browsing/internet access.

By far the most disturbing trend I see with the new VGA models is the tendancy to add things to make them even more brick-like. Does nearly every VGA model have to be dual slot and have an integrated camera so as to make it look like there's a reason why it's so damn thick? (other than the space requiements for the new screen).


Well, both the hx4700 and the PL720 are pretty slim: 14.9 and 15.2 mm's, respectively. The 1940 is 12.6, the 1910 13 mm's, the 4150 13.5 mm. So, I woulnd't say the double-slot double-wireless VGA PDA's are much thicker than the slimest one-slot ones.

Actually, the 2210 (QVGA, double-slot, single-wireless) is 15.0 mm's, meaning the much more advanced hx4700 is even thinner than the 2210!