Trodding the showfloor in Cannes, Jørgen Sundgot sits down for a moment to slobber over ASUS' new Windows Mobile communicator, the P505.
Having been so fortunate as to have had the opportunity to play with nearly every advanced mobile device in the Western hemisphere, I can honestly say that I'm not easily impressed. All the more surprising was it then, when I not only quite unexpectedly stumbled across ASUS' new P505 communicator here at the ongoing 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, but also found myself unexpectedly intrigued.
Originally slated for a launch in late 2004, I've long had my eye on the ASUS P505. Now slated for an introduction in early 2005, the device was at the time of its unveiling in early 2004 the sole Windows Mobile communicator to promise a truly pocketable size - but a lot has happened since then, including the introduction of the equally petite T-Mobile MDA Compact.
 | | ASUS P505 |
Still, the P505 remains a highly attractive device with an advanced feature set in a compact form factor that oozes of build quality. A flip covers two thirds of the P505's high-quality QVGA display, integrating a numeric keypad as well as up/down controls and pair of soft keys which currently serve no purpose - but likely will when the next version of Windows Mobile arrives.
Clear and crisp both indoors and outdoors, the 2.8" screen of the P505 offers great ClearType performance and was also a pleasure to navigate with the telescope stylus. Framing this is a two-tone grey design with a finish that's a tad on the slippery side, but which still works given the P505 is so small it'll truly fit in ones palm. Alert LEDs thankfully abound, and vibrating alert is also integrated for those moments where God-awful bundled ringtones are inappropriate.
 | | ASUS P505 |
Powered by an Intel PXA270 MHz processor running at 520 MHz, the P505 is extremely snappy - however sadly, only 53 MB of RAM is available to users; enough for the average user given the device only offers Bluetooth and not Wi-Fi, but hardly adequate for power users. Non-volatile memory is abundant, however, with an integrated 128 MB flash drive in place.
ASUS have also graciously taken upon themselves to provide Profile functionality for the P505, and also incorporates speaker dependent voice dialing and application control as well as digit dialing. They've also managed to tuck Infrared and USB connectivity under the hood, as well as an SDIO capable SD/MMC Card expansion slot and an industry-standard 2.5 mm handsfree kit jack.
 | | ASUS P505 |
There's more, however, as the P505 also integrates a 1.3 Megapixel camera - but I do have a sneaky suspicion pictures and video taken with it might not be of the best quality as light sensitivity and response times proved a bit so-so. That said, the version I fondled did not have the final firmware version on it, so this issue might be resolved by the time the P505 hits shelves.
Another minor detail worthy of mentioning is the five-way joystick placed on the upper left side of the P505, where one would normally expect to find a jog dial or wheel of some sort. It's a tad slippery, and so doesn't work as well as the aforementioned jog solutions would, but nevertheless it's a novel approach to advanced navigation - and it doesn't hurt that users can customize its behaviour to some degree, either.
Shamed only to a minimal extent by its antenna, the ASUS P505 is certain to provide some serious competition to the T-Mobile MDA Compact and other varieties of this device, provided ASUS manages to get the distribution issue sorted and keep its price down. Was I to choose between the two, I believe I'd opt for the P505 despite its tri-band GSM connectivity being inferior to the quad-band of the T-Mobile MDA Compact. Then again, it may be the allure of improved compatibility with the next version of Windows Mobile.
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