Asus A600/620 Pocket PC

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdaordie.com/peakdetail.asp?PeakID=149' target='_blank'>http://www.pdaordie.com/peakdetail.asp?PeakID=149</a><br /><br /></div>I doubt we'll ever see it on this side of the Atlantic, but this is a new device from Asus that, interestingly enough, has a CF but no SD slot. Curious to see an OEM go the other way! More photos at the PDAorDIE site.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/mt030430a8.jpg" />

[kidA]

that's either a small hand or a big device. :?

[Abba Zabba]

I tried to load the page but no luck. From the looks of things it not the prettiest looking device but who knows. I think it's prettty strange that the decided to interate CF but not SD, wonder why :?:

[Techtoys]

Don't know about the size of this one, but I evaluated the Asus (Zayo) A600 for use at work. It was small (smaller than an iPaq) and of exceptional build quality. Most of the people I gave the units to loved them, although some were diehard pen and paper people.
It will be interesting to see what adding a CF slot does to the dimensions. Weird going for that rather than an SD slot though.

[dMores]

well i guess it's easier to get a cf-to-sd converter than the other way around :)

[rmasinag]

I think CF is good as it has more expandability than SD right now, besides the SD WiFi is still vaporware. I also don't think CF will be obsolete 2 yrs from now. I wouldn't mind getting this is it has PXA 255...can't click on the link so I dunno specs :(

[rmasinag]

Errr......can someone pls post spec..looks like link is not werking too well, the screen doesn't look transflective either :?

[trachy]

Does the SDMI concept extend outside North American borders? If the major labels don't have as much influence in those markets, I can see why manufacturers might thumb their noses at SD. Of course, you'd think with BMI being a German company that wouldn't be the case.

[sub_tex]

I'd take CF over SD any day.

SD I/O devices are slim to none. I can grab plenty of CF modems, wifi cards, etc.

[mar2k]

It does look quite huge in that one shot but its actually suprisingly thin::
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/a/mar2k/photos/Asus_A620.jpg

Another::
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/a/mar2k/photos/Asus_A620_2.jpg

I ran the article through a translator and they are noting thickness at around 1.3cm == 130mm. The current A600 which everyone refers to as a slim device == 128mm. Will see if that holds up. It does look like there is a little bulge though at the CF slot to accomodate Type II card.

[Timothy Rapson]

It looks like a Toshiba E335 with a CF rather than a SD slot. That sounds great for a low end device. The CF has more expansion possibilities for us and far cheaper memory prices for MP3 and video users. Did you see the deal where Dell is selling six 256MB CF cards for $101 after all the rebates? WOW!. 1.5 gig of storage for $101? Amazing.

Couple that with a cheap device like this and you could do a LOT of multimedia.

[Duncan]

People sometimes talk about CF cards as if they were yesterday's technology BUT coming soon:

4GB MicroDrive from Hitachi which they claim will be half the cost of a 4GB CF card, will have four times the capacity of the nearest SD card, be faster than either and use less power (on average) than either!

CF cards will, by the very fact of their form factor, continue to have much bigger capacities than SD.

WiFi cards that fit flush within the CF card slot (no arial poking out) are on the way - that won't happen with SD for some time to come.

Siemens have their new CF45 GPRS CF card on the way that has most of the workings within the actual card and a very little (slim) bit sticking out. SD form factor GPRS cards will be a while yet and they are still likely to have bits sticking out!

CF cards can have SD, xD and mini-SD cards inserted into them. A CF card slot is perhaps the best way of making sure that a) a Pocket PC is future proofed and b) can work with digicam cards.

CF combi cards are coming that will offer memory AND something else (e.g. WiFi). The SD equivalent is also coming from SanDisk BUT the WiFi part is contained almost entirely within the module that sticks out of the top!

Upgradeable CF cards! Socket are planning to introduce CF cards that are upgradeable by means of mini-SD cards - not something you can do with SD currently.

CF cards are more shockproof and less prone to damage generally (including one technology magazine's microwave test - in which the SD card failed immediately but the CF card survived several 'bakings' before it ceased to work!

CF is cheaper and has a wider variety of possibilities. I see no reason why this should not continue to be so for a while!

So having a CF II slot only continues to make more sense than an SD slot only...

[PapaSmurfDan]

People sometimes talk about CF cards as if they were yesterday's technology BUT coming soon:

CF is going to stay for a long time and it is silly to think that it will fade away. Some new notebooks now have CF slots, such as the IBM x31. The only real issue with Compact Flash, I have at least, that it is a 16 bit PCMCIA interface vs a 32bit PCI interface like CardBus PC cards. Then again, its not that big of a deal for the application it is being used in.

I wonder how hard it would of been for Asus to put a SD slot in that device also? Its not like SD slots take up much space.

-Dan

[danmanmayer]

There is more available... yeah yeah it is all coming to SD... But it all exists NOW on CF. So go compact flash go... That and i have a bunch of old CF cards that i can no longer use because of my SD device. (and my digital camera is smart media)

[ziad]

French site http://www.mobi-mania.com/ knows a little bit more about this PDA... it's an Ultra-thin PPC 2003 device, with GREAT translective screen (in these pictures, i'm sure the brightness is too low), PXA255 400 Mhz, 64 MB RAM and 64 MB ROM..

PS : It's a new PDA, not the European version of the Asus A600

[HTK]

the CF card survived several 'bakings' before it ceased to work!

well, in my case I don´t thing this worths much, i´m not planning to bake my SD card.

And talking about cards, I think it´s cool to come with the CF slot, but a SD compartment ( on the side maybe ) would be good too, even if it adds a little on the thickness... so you can use the CF for wireless capabilities and SD for storage

[Sslixtis]

In addition there appears to be a A710 model that has a CF type II slot and an SD/MMC slot.

8O

[daveshih]

Yeah. Supposedly this is the very first ppc with ppc2003, according to the press (rumors).

Also, it has a handy backup unit that works in the background and keeps track of all your work. It's pretty impressive, as the reviewer did a test with Solitaire. The restore successfully restore not only everything else, but also to the "card" of the solitaire game that the author was playing before hard-reset.

Also rumored that there will be "jacket" much like ipaq that will add future functionalities.

I thought about posting it yesterday, but was too busy doing it. Glad Jason got around to it.

Dave

[gdenerval]

I'm going to get the Acer n10 in Singapore instead [http://www.acer.com.my/news/n10_news.asp]. But I'll keep an eye out for the Asus and see how it compares. The Mitac Mios are sweet devices too - seems Taiwan these days is pitching to rival Japan as a source of good PocketPC implementations

[Will T Smith]

People sometimes talk about CF cards as if they were yesterday's technology BUT coming soon:

4GB MicroDrive from Hitachi which they claim will be half the cost of a 4GB CF card, will have four times the capacity of the nearest SD card, be faster than either and use less power (on average) than either!

CF cards will, by the very fact of their form factor, continue to have much bigger capacities than SD.

WiFi cards that fit flush within the CF card slot (no arial poking out) are on the way - that won't happen with SD for some time to come.

Siemens have their new CF45 GPRS CF card on the way that has most of the workings within the actual card and a very little (slim) bit sticking out. SD form factor GPRS cards will be a while yet and they are still likely to have bits sticking out!

CF cards can have SD, xD and mini-SD cards inserted into them. A CF card slot is perhaps the best way of making sure that a) a Pocket PC is future proofed and b) can work with digicam cards.

CF combi cards are coming that will offer memory AND something else (e.g. WiFi). The SD equivalent is also coming from SanDisk BUT the WiFi part is contained almost entirely within the module that sticks out of the top!

Upgradeable CF cards! Socket are planning to introduce CF cards that are upgradeable by means of mini-SD cards - not something you can do with SD currently.

CF cards are more shockproof and less prone to damage generally (including one technology magazine's microwave test - in which the SD card failed immediately but the CF card survived several 'bakings' before it ceased to work!

CF is cheaper and has a wider variety of possibilities. I see no reason why this should not continue to be so for a while!

So having a CF II slot only continues to make more sense than an SD slot only...

Excellent analysis Duncan. I'm glad to hear about CF cards with mini-SD memory slots. That solves the dilemna of I/O vs memory. If they offer a bluetooth/mini-SD card my Jornada may suite my needs for another year or two.

Indeed CF usage is still growing, not shrinking. Laptop vendors are starting to include CF slots. They are very big with Tablet PC vendors right now. Effectively, most function of PCMCIA (16-bit) can be accomplished in the CF form-factor using 1/3 of the space. Space is DEFINITELY at a premium in mini-laptops and tablets and I would fully expect this market to migrate AGRESSIVELY to CF.

You may of noticed MemStick and SD slots in a few vendors notebooks. This is very limiting if you're not invested in that particular technology. A vendor can include a CF slot and a 4-1 CF adapter (they ARE available) and serve ALL markets (Though xD still requires a standalone adapter).

In the arena of fragmenting memory card standards, CF is the balwark against balkanization of flash card standards. Professional level Digital cameras ship with CF and they will continue to ship with CF for the forseeable future due to their practicality and acceptance of Microdrives. CF's bit level compatibility with 16-bit PC-cards facilitates easy migration between the unlimited variety of I/O based laptop cards and CF versions.

[darrylb]

And talking about cards, I think it´s cool to come with the CF slot, but a SD compartment ( on the side maybe ) would be good too, even if it adds a little on the thickness... so you can use the CF for wireless capabilities and SD for storage

If only HP would put a CF card in the 5000 series. That would make it a reall killer. I personally dont like the expansion sleeves as they add too much bulk to the unit. Having the CF slot on top and the SD on the side would be great.

It is annoying to keep being told that SD is the way of the future while seeing the CF technologies improving so much faster. :(

[huangzhinong]

Mitac 558 has buildin CF and SDIO slot, buildin Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Buildin 64Mb Rom and 64Mb Ram, transfective LCD and much more slimer than Ipaq 5400. The first PPC use 32bit memory bus. 400M CPU and PPC 2003.
www.pocketpc.com.hk

[darrylb]

Mitac 558 has buildin CF and SDIO slot, buildin Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Buildin 64Mb Rom and 64Mb Ram, transfective LCD and much more slimer than Ipaq 5400. The first PPC use 32bit memory bus. 400M CPU and PPC 2003.
www.pocketpc.com.hk

If it had 128 Mb of RAM and was available in New Zealand - I'd be in for one of these! :| Still 64Mb ROM is cool (assuming you can access some of it ala iPaq file store). I'll definately put it on my list of possibles.