Asus P527 Smartphone Review
Already well known for its laptops, PC components and peripherals, Asus adds yet another category to its tech portfolio growing: mobile phones. First model of society, the P527 offers a range of attractive features, Äîincluding Wi-Fi and GPS, to name two, Äîbut a number of caveats to this performance are debilitating unlocked model hard to recommend, d all the more its price of $ 550.
The candy bar-style P527 has an attractive body of silver aluminum, at 4.5×2.3×0.6 inches, is slightly smaller than the Apple iPhone. The screen is smaller as well: The 2.6-inch TFT touch-screen can display 65,000 colors with a 240×320 resolution. It is lively and bright enough for viewing photos and videos, but it is a little too cramped to comfortably navigate the menu icons from the phone using your finger. Moreover, trying to type on the keyboard to the tiny screen that appears for browsing the Web is simply desperate. Asus includes a thin cheap-feeling plastic stylus that stores in a slot on the bottom of the phone. (Considering the high price P527, we hope the company will provide a metal stylus instead.) To complete the design features are an alphanumeric keyboard and eight shortcut keys that provide direct access to various applications.
The P527 is certainly not wanting in terms of functionality. The phone runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS and supports three flavors of wireless connectivity: GSM / EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b / g Wi-Fi No 3G network support, however. Asus conveniently includes a wireless manager that you can use to enable or disable one of the three wireless radios from one screen. You also get a 2 megapixel camera that can record video, a microSD / SDHC card slot, FM tuner (antenna is integrated with a wired set of headphones provided with the phone) and support for music, photo and video playback. Business users will appreciate extras like a business card scanner, and mobile versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and others who come standard with the operating system Windows Mobile.
Perhaps the most notable feature, however, is the inclusion of a GPS chipset SiRF Star III. Coupled with the application of GB Asus (which loads from a microSD card 2GB included), the receiver turns the P527 into a GPS navigator in its own right, with spoken turn-by-turn directions and a point robust library of interest. You also get some interesting extras that add even more functionality. This application, called Location Courier sends information from your GPS location to other parties at specified intervals using text messages. A Travelog feature, meanwhile, lets you attach images taken with the camera phone to your itinerary, you can then download the data to Google Earth to create a visual representation of your travels.
Overall, we found the GPS mapping software works well and is intuitive to use, but some of the maps seem outdated. For example, if our Texas district, has been around for almost four years, it does not appear on maps provided by Asus. In fact, the GPS system put our location on a road that we had never heard before. And while the spoken directions are clear, they could use more volume.
However, our biggest opposition with the P527 is the speed. Thank you to its low-end 200MHz TI OMAPTM 850 single CPU and 64MB of RAM (the bare minimum needed to run the Windows Mobile Pro OS), the phone has been painfully slow at startup and when opening or closing a application. Things almost ground to a halt when we had several applications running at once. The situation is not much better when surfing the Net: Web browsing using the EDGE network of AT & T has been much slower than when we used the iPhone’s Safari browser. Unfortunately, speed does not improve much when we switched to a Wi-Fi.
We had no problems using the P527’s Bluetooth radio, which supports headsets, stereo music streaming, and ActiveSync via Bluetooth, among other profiles. Connecting to our Gmail account is also a snap. Once we told the P527 to check online for installation information and we entered our username, e-mail address and password, the device simply draw all the server information from Internet and configure itself. The process is more tiring for personal accounts and corporate Äîsince you must enter the server information manually, Äîbut is simple.
Camera phone is not the best we’ve seen. Although it has an automatic focusing lens, the camera images were grainy, and since the phone has no flash, you can forget about shooting in low light. The video recording feature does not provide full-motion video, it can only capture at 176×144 and 128×96 pixels. Footage shot in both resolutions looked blocky and jittery. We also want the P527 offers more space to store multimedia files, either on the phone itself or on the included memory card (which is filled to the brim with the GPS).
The P527 is a phone based on GSM, the world is sold unlocked in the U.S., we tested the phone with a SIM card from AT & T in Whitehouse, Texas. Call quality was good when we held the phone to our ear, Äîvoices sounded clear and stutter-free on both ends of the call. However, we found the speakerphone lack of volume, while it may work in a reasonably quiet room, we could not use it in a noisy environment. The P527 uses a removable and replaceable battery that Asus prices for 4 hours to 5 hours of talk time and standby time of 150 hours to 200 hours.
Currently, the Asus P527 sells for about $ 550, Aia high price which is very difficult to swallow given its low speed, lack of 3G support, mapping oddities, and so-so Web connectivity, not to mention competition from more sexy, more streamlined, and the iPhone at lower prices. The phone does have some unique applications, GPS, and it is unlocked for use on most U.S. networks. Plus, you get all the usability of Microsoft Windows Mobile OS. (Of course, if the phone is too slow for you to enjoy, so what’s the point?) If things are more important than ease of use, the P527 might be worth a look, but there smartphones best for your dollar.
Pros
Interesting GPS applications; lots of features and functionality; can be used with any GSM carrier
Cons
Slow processor and Web connections; high price; cramped touch screen; dated GPS maps; low speakerphone volume; no 3G connectivity
Conclusion
If you want an unlocked device with GPS functionality, the Asus P527 smart phone may be worth a look. Just beware of its glacial speeds and high price.
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