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GPS-enabled ASUS A636, A632 sport Windows Mobile 5.0
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By Jørgen Sundgot, Tuesday 15 November 2005
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Windows Mobile 5.0 and GPS, oh my: the new A636 and A632 handhelds from ASUS meld a brand new operating system with positioning services and wireless connectivity. |
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Joining the increasingly heated GPS fray, Taiwan-based ASUS today introduced two new models in its A series handhelds to feature integrated receivers. Dubbed the A636 and A632, the Windows Mobile 5.0 powered handhelds follow hot on the heels of several recent bids from competing makers, including the
Pocket LOOX N520 from Fujitsu Siemens, Garmin's
iQue M4 and the
Navman PiN 570.
Featuring reasonably powerful specifications, the more capable model of the two - the A636 - harbours a 416 MHz Intel processor at its base, offering 85 MB of persistent memory and 64 MB of RAM for running applications. A 3.5-inch, 65K colour screen with a QVGA resolution of 240 x 320 pixels provides a view to the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform powering the device, enabling on-the-fly switching between portrait and landscape modes.
Although falling short of WAN connectivity as present in GPS-enabled communicator devices such as
HP's iPAQ hw6500 and the
Mio Technology Mio A701, the A636 still features a number of wireless options including Infrared, Bluetooth 1.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11b. USB is also present, and the GPS part of the unit relies on a SiRFstar III chip in a fold-out swivel module which can be oriented independently of the unit's orientation.
Expansion options are courtesy of an SDIO capable SD/MMC card slot and a miniSD card slot, the former of which enables both accessory and memory expansion whilst the latter provides memory expansion only.
Meanwhile, the A632 is an exact match for the A636 feature by feature, with the single exception of Wi-Fi 802.11b which is not supported in this model. Lastly, both models are equipped with 1,300 mAh Lithium Ion batteries and measure in at 122 x 73 x 19 mm, weighing 186 g including said battery.
Available now throughout Europe, the ASUS A636 and A632 sell in the €520 EUR and €450 EUR range, respectively.
ASUS A636
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