Reviews Roundup: Asus A730, Asus A716, and iPAQ 6315

[Janak Parekh]

Several cool reviews came out today. If you've been waiting to buy a Pocket PC, you may find these of interest.<br /><li> PDA Buyer's Guide has just <a href="http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ASUS_A730.htm">put up a review</a> of Asus's A730.<br /><li> PDAToday <a href="http://www.pdatoday.com/maximumpda_more/2052_0_2_0_C/">has a review</a> of Asus's A716 MyPal Pocket PC.<br /><li> iPAQ HQ wrote in to let us know that they've <a href="http://www.ipaqhq.com/articles/link.php?id=217">uploaded a review</a> of the iPAQ 6315. For those of you who are planning the purchase of a new device shortly, which one are you thinking of, and why?

[PeterLake]

If you've been waiting to buy a Pocket PC, you may find these of interest.

Why would you ever wait to buy a new PDA?

[Wiggster]

If you've been waiting to buy a Pocket PC, you may find these of interest.

Why would you ever wait to buy a new PDA?

So you can afford tu buy 2 at once!

[Duncan]

From PDA Buyer's Guide: There aren't many VGA Pocket PCs on the market and your choice boils down the the A730 and the iPAQ 4700 which should be available by early October. Grrrr *Loox 720* grumble, grrr....[/quote]

[PJE]

I wouldn't buy an Asus A730 until I've seen the performance of the new 2700G video chip...

Asus A730 as a ratio Dell Axim X30 @ 624MHz when compensated for CPU speed

result = (Asus/Dell) * (Dell MHz/Asus MHz)

0.58 - Spb Benchmark index
0.19 - Graphics index
0.37 - Graphics test: DDB BitBlt (frames/sec)
0.16 - Graphics test: DIB BitBlt (frames/sec)
0.19 - Graphics test: GAPI BitBlt (frames/sec)
0.40 - Arkaball frames per second (frames/sec)

(All others were close enough 1.00 so they were omitted)

This shows the graphics to be SLOW... and highlight the 4x increase in screen data being moved around.

I'm waiting for the first X50 numbers.

[marlof]

I want the BenQ P50. Or some similar form factor running Windows Mobile Software for Pocket PC Phone Edition. Pretty please.

[Chris Leckness]

I'm waiting for the first X50 numbers.

Yes! I too can not wait to see the X50 numbers! From the specs that are floating around, they should be nice...

[Kati Compton]

Hmm. I'm a bit disappointed in just the memory copying performance and file reading speeds in the A730 review. Slower than the other units compared. That shouldn't be VGA-related, either.

Question is, is this the "new new" 730 after they realized some problems and went back to fix them, or pre-fixing? I didn't have time to read the comparison in depth.

[PJE]

Hmm. I'm a bit disappointed in just the memory copying performance and file reading speeds in the A730 review. Slower than the other units compared. That shouldn't be VGA-related, either.

It probably is VGA related. If the screen memory is within a shared memory map then the CPU can't access the memory whenever the video controller is accessing memory. With VGA the video controller will be much more active, reducing CPU access to main memory.

This assumes the CPU/LCD controller access the same memory bank.

[jpjehu]

I think that to make a VGA device work in real world activities it has to have at least the 624Mhz processor - with the ATI addition if possible. My toshiba is fair with speed unless I try anything too demanding, but the processing needs seems to be more of a mathematical reality - I estimate that the quadruple pixeling would require a minimum of a 50% increase in processor power to seem comparable with any PPC running QVGA - which seems to be roughly true with the below par recent benchmarks from the 520Mhz VGA PPCs. I bet the 4700 or the dell unit will perform on par with the QVGA devices, which is a substantial accomplishment considering the resolution IMO. I don't really like the 4700, and can't wait for the dell to actually become a reality, but I have preordered the 4700 anyway because I think it's the only one that will perform decently.

[PJE]

...but I have preordered the 4700 anyway because I think it's the only one that will perform decently.

Looking at the video on the Intrinsyc website (48 mins in)

http://www.intrinsyc.com/intel_news.html

The new Intel 2700G video chip seems to drive the display at a nice rate. I'm hoping that it has some 2D acceleration built in as good as the 3D to handle fonts, bitblt etc..

Dell's likely to be getting my money as I can't afford $650 for the HP. :(

[mvv_hyd]

...but I have preordered the 4700 anyway because I think it's the only one that will perform decently.

Looking at the video on the Intrinsyc website (48 mins in)

http://www.intrinsyc.com/intel_news.html

The new Intel 2700G video chip seems to drive the display at a nice rate. I'm hoping that it has some 2D acceleration built in as good as the 3D to handle fonts, bitblt etc..

Dell's likely to be getting my money as I can't afford $650 for the HP. :(
HP sucks big time in terms of price... dell is my choice too

[yanathin]

Wait a sec... in that video they said Dell was getting that graphics card. What is the 4700 getting for the graphics? The same thing?

Actually, here's a better question... if the 4700 has been benchmarked, how does it compare to the a730?