Sending my A730 back!

[nategesner]

OK, I received an ASUS a730 (BT only) last night. I tested it and, while it is pretty awesome, I just don't like it as much as my Dell. I opened the box and tested it out for a few hours, and my results are below.

The size is nice. I have a 2215 right now, so that's what I compared it with. It is just barely thicker and taller, but the 2215 is slightly wider. This is a PPC that could easily fit in your pocket.

As soon as I took it out of the box, I noticed it felt light. I don't know the specs, but it seems lighter than my 2215!

The screen is awesome! Next to my 2215, the ASUS is a huge difference. It is brighter and much clearer. The 480x640 made everything look very clear. I installed my e-book reader and put it on very small text and everything was still legible, even though the text was about half the size of normal paperback text. I also installed the latest Dashboard (a must for me) with a 480 x 640 skin and it looked great. Much more information on the screen, much cleaner look, and everything was very sharp.

Speed was pretty crappy. I've read the reviews with their speed tests. But when this thing is straight out of the box and I go to open "Settings", it shouldn't be lagging or jerking. I installed Pocket e-Sword (a HUGE program) and a few Bibles (program in main memory, Bible on an SD card) and it opened twice as fast as my 2215. Opening the "Programs" or "Settings" folder was slower and the icons were drawn on the screen in a jumpy fashion. On my 2215 they all appear simultaneously and immediately. This is probably due to the complexity of drawing on a VGA screen, but it still slowed things down. edit: turns out the speed lags I noticed are the same in all VGA models because it takes a bit longer to draw the screen.

With nothing installed, the ASUS only gives me 45MB to play with. Of that 45, part has to go toward running programs. So I actually end up with about 22 MB to install programs in the RAM and about 17MB in the ROM. That's probably enough, and better than my 2215. I install most of my stuff to a memory card unless it is a large program or requires speed (e.g. betaplayer).

Camera worked well. It wasn't great, but it's pretty darn good for a camera built into a pda device. Carrying case is nice, but I doubt I would use it as I prefer to carry my PPC in my back pocket. Cradle is good, nice and heavy. The USB cable can charge and sync, so you can work without the cradle. Stylus seems very light; I prefer something with a little more heft and wish more PPC makers would give us something better.

The screen seemed to take a bit to warm up. When I first start the ASUS after a hard reset, it brings me to the screen orientation. I tried clicking on the first cross-hair about 10 times before it registered. Everything was fine after that. I did another hard reset and the same thing happened. However, this didn't happened after soft resets. I'm guessing it takes a few seconds for the screen to warm up after a hard reset.

Software: I installed several programs I normally use: Dashboard for 2003SE, Wisbar Advanced (free version), Pocket e-Sword Bible Reader, and e-Sword e-book reader. The second one had major problems and I had to remove it. I couldn't even get it to let me enter the menu to set it up. Dashboard installed on the second try, but then Wisbar started causing problems on the today page and I couldn't get it to function. My book and Bible program seemed to work well. My bible program is huge and normally takes about 20 seconds to load on my 2215. It was half that time on the ASUS!!!

I know this is long, but there's just not much information out there. Before you flame me, let me just say this was my personal experience over one night of playing around. I know it's not a scientific or professional review and don't expect you to treat it as such. I'm just throwing this information into the mix and you can do with it as you wish.

[Zack Mahdavi]

Nate, sorry to hear about your A730 woes. What do you plan on replacing it with?

[Darius Wey]

Nate, sorry to hear about your A730 woes. What do you plan on replacing it with?

"I'll be returning this ASUS today and ordering the Axim X50v to see if I can get better results."

The X50v. :)

[Zack Mahdavi]

Nate, sorry to hear about your A730 woes. What do you plan on replacing it with?

"I'll be returning this ASUS today and ordering the Axim X50v to see if I can get better results."

The X50v. :)

Ooops... Guess I missed that. Yeah, the X50v looks like a great handheld. Please report back after you've played with it! :)

[Ripper014]

Lacks ram... should try the Loox 720 next...

[NLS]

Lacks ram... should try the Loox 720 next...

second that

[Menneisyys]

Speed was pretty crappy. Yes, I've read the reviews with their speed tests. But when this thing is straight out of the box and I go to open "Settings", it shouldn't be lagging or jerking. I installed Pocket e-Sword (a HUGE program) and a few Bibles (program in main memory, Bible on an SD card) and it opened twice as fast as my 2215. But other things seemed slower. For example, opening WMP was faster, but I didn't have any songs loaded so that may be a fluke. Opening the "Programs" or "Settings" folder was slower and the icons were drawn on the screen in a jumpy fashion. On my 2215 they all appear simultaneously and immediately. This is probably due to the complexity of drawing on a VGA screen, but it still slowed things down. In either case, I certainly wasn't impressed enough by the speed.

ALL VGA devices are plagued with the (relatively) slow Start menu/Programs etc. scroll speed.

[Menneisyys]

Lacks ram... should try the Loox 720 next...


... and a good screen (never compare it to the hx4700 / the Pocket Loox 720, as in http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35630 ;) )...and a USB host... and, for some, a camera... and CIR... and a good battery...

[nategesner]

You are correct about slow speed screen on VGA devices. I thought it was just the ASUS, but it turns out every VGA screen refreshes a little slower than older devices. Like I said in my post, the programs definitely opened quite a bit faster than my 2215, which is plenty fast for me.

[etabetapi]

I too considered getting an x50v. What turned me away was the fact that it was a Dell (customer service = bleh) and that since the Asus and the Dell both had about the same battery life, I might as well get USB host, a camera, and 128 RAM. The accelerated graphics card didn't mean anything to me because I wasn't intending it for games. Oh and the fact that you can't plug in your Dell via the cradle and attach it to the PC because it can apparently fry your mother board due to some pins on the cradle being too close together? There's a thread about it on the axim site. That definitely turned me away. 8O

If the Loox is available in your country you should definitely give one a go. I have heard nothing but good things about it (although there is a debate about which camera is better, the Loox or the Asus.) That's what I would've bought if they had been available here.

[nategesner]

First, I don't think the 128MB of RAM is that big a deal. A memory card works just as well and you won't lose your programs in case of a hard reset. I know, RAM is faster. But WM2003 is limited to how much RAM it can use at once, so having an extra 80MB of RAM doesn't make things run faster. It just gives you more room to install programs. A memory card is cheaper and safer.

Second, since battery life is important to you, what do you have to do to charge a spare battery? That's right; you can only charge batteries in the PDA because the charger doesn't have a charging port for batteries. Stupid. With my Dell, I keep a battery charged and then just perform a quick swap. Easy.

USB host? It sounded good to me, until I realized it would cost me to get the cable and hardly anything is compatible with it. Waste.

As for the motherboard exploding, I read the threads and don't see any proof of it yet. If people cradle their Axim and the computer reboots or freezes up, that could be a simple conflict between ActiveSync and some other software. It doesn't mean the cradle is defective. The number of people reporting problems is less than 15%, and the overwhelming majority of those are not frying their motherboards or their USB port. And let's not forget: the number of people providing feedback is much higher for dissatisfied customers than it is for satisfied ones!

Yes, the ASUS has a camera, USB function, and more RAM. But the Dell has more built-in-memory, built-in WiFi, and cost me almost $100 less. I can use that extra money to buy a 1GB memory card and a lot of ice-cream cones, or I could get a 2.0 mega-pixel camera that would put the ASUS to shame and at least one ice-cream cone.

We all have different preferences, and I'm glad you're happy with what you bought. I just think my purchase was better and freed up some money for ice-cream cones! :wink:

[etabetapi]

Yes I know price is a big factor in everyones decision. We are not made of money. The fact is, the Dell here was actually more expensive than the Asus unless I decided to get a refurbished unit (although admittedly that didn't play much into my decision, I just didn't like the Dell.) Maybe if the Dell had been $250~$300 cheaper, like it is in the US, I would've taken a harder look at it.

The fact that it only has a 1 year warranty for that price swayed my decision even further since warranty is pretty important to me.

I agree with you about the battery issue. They should've included a second charging slot, but I like the fact that they threw in the extra battery anyway. The extended battery for the Asus was also cheaper here than getting the Dell's.

I actually bought the 730W, and I agree that the 730 is not worth the money with no built-in Wifi. That's just ridiculous; it should come standard in all PDAs. I think Asus released it to be competitive in the VGA market and they had a late release date for the 730W.

As for the RAM, I liked that the PDA would be faster in the meantime but if I needed the extra space I could convert the RAM to usable memory. My husband has a hx4700 at work and he complained that it chunked up when he tried to open two browsers on it. Yes it's unstable, but I think its a good trade off.

If I had been more into games etc., the Dell would've been the clear choice. The Asus just suited me better for the purposes I wanted it for though.

Edit: As for the motherboard issue, some people's computers actually did die, while others just froze. The way people described their problem, it seemed like something was short circuiting it, and I can only see that happening if the pins in there somehow touched. But you're right, some people did say it happened when synching with their USB cable. I honestly have no idea what it could be in that case, but it was enough to make me think twice about it. I originally considered a low end x50 that didn't have wifi so my only option would've been to sync via cable. It just makes me nervous that's all. It seems like a serious issue (even if it doesn't affect a large number of users) and Dell hasn't admitted it could be a problem, and therefore won't replace any of the damaged computer parts.