It is quite difficult to get hold of Asus PDAs and the new model A620 was no exception. I nearly got it several times but eventually received only apologies why it did not work. That is why there is only one other Asuses reviewed, Asus MyPal A716 which is some 18 months old. However, I eventually succeeded with the help of the firms Sunnysoft and Levi and now, I am able to introduce you to the most powerful and feature-packed Pocket PC from Asus, which markets as Asus MyPal A620BT.
I was really looking forward to meeting the device. In benchmark tests published on other servers, this Asus easily surpasses all competitors yet it sells for a good price. I was quite surprised at reactions from users in various on-line forums all of whom were absolutely satisfied. I cannot remember any criticism worth mentioning but for a minor glitch concerning the sound. Let's see if Asus MyPal A620BT is really exceptional or if the users are just less demanding. Let me add that there is also a model without an integrated Bluetooth module but with less ROM and slightly different design.
The colourful box is relatively small and contains no surprises.
The cradle is quite compact, made of black plastic with a transparent support part. The cradle connects to the PC with a USB cable.
The case will protect your device very well. The manufacturer was generous when applying padding. However, the design is nothing to write home about. It appears designed for people who carry the PDA in a bag or backpack where protection is the main criterion If you would like to wear the Asus on the belt, you'd better buy a different case.
There is not much to say about the AC adapter - perhaps just that the cable is long enough and is not detachable.
When I first held the Asus, I thought it must be made of plastic. According to the official data sheet, it weighs a mere 4.98 ounces (141 grams) but it really feels heavier than it looks. A closer inspection revealed that it is made of plastic that very convincingly pretends to be metal. Only a few small parts are made of metal. The design is not extravagant in any way. The dominating colour is matt silver with some glossy parts. There are few rounded shapes but the grip is very comfortable due to canted edges. The dimensions of 3.02 x 4.92 x 0.52 inches (76.8 x 125 x 13.3 millimetres) rank it among the average, only the thinness goes beyond what is usual.
The display on the front panel is surrounded by a silver frame with a decorative inscription "ASUS". Above the display, there is the main switch, sound record button and two pinholes increasing microphone sensitivity. On the left edge, there are two LED indicators. The upper one os orange and green and indicates various events, such as charging or scheduled meetings. The lower one is blue and, as you may guess, indicates Bluetooth activity. Under the display, there is the usual combination of a four-directional control and four user-definable buttons. The main control is round with an elevated edge which gamers will surely find convenient - there is absolutely no problem with the diagonal directions. A press of the control confirms action (e.g. select a shortcut and press to launch). I found no problems whatsoever with pressing two or more buttons simultaneously when playing games. The soft buttons are quite close to each other. However, one can assume that you always use one finger to control them, so it should not pose any problems, either - on the contrary, passionate gamers may find it an advantage. On the other hand, the distance between the central control and the closer of the buttons is sufficient to control them with two fingers comfortably. Near the bottom, there are a few dozen decorative circles pressed into the shell. On the right, 12 of them are punched through completely to serve as a loudspeaker grill.
On the back, there is nothing but a software reset button and a small cover. Surprisingly, it does not make it possible to replace the battery but conceals a Compact Flash slot. I don't understand the design, because if there were a card that needs the cover to remain open, it would not be possible to use with most other devices. Besides, the cover is made of the same thin plastic as the whole body and I was afraid it could break under a slight pressure.
Having mentioned a Compact Flash card, let's take a look on the top side, where there is the slot. To the left, there is a headphones connector - a standard 3.5-millimetre jack. To the right, there is the stylus shaft. Finally, the sound record button presses downwards, unlike the main switch.
The sides are quite plain. The only thing worth mentioning is a infrared eye on the left side. I would prefer having the infra port on the right side (because my laptop has it on the left and I have to place the PDA upside down), but it is just my problem - other laptops may have the infra port on the right. There is absolutely nothing on the right side.
On the bottom side, there are two connectors - a data connector in the middle and a power connector on the right. Unlike many other PDAs, this Asus does not need a special connector adapter for direct charging, although when in the cradle, the device charges over the data connector.
| Pocket PC | Dimensions (in. / mm) | Weight (oz / g) |
|---|---|---|
| Asus MyPal A620BT | 3.02 x 4.92 x 0.52 76.8 x 125 x 13.3 |
4.98 141 |
| Asus MyPal A716 | 3.07 x 5.31 x 0.69 78 x 135 x 17.6 |
6.95 197 |
| Dell Axim X3i | 3.04 x 4.82 x 0.59 77.2 x 117 x 14.9 |
4.94 142 |
| F-S Pocket LOOX 610BT | 3.07 x 5.81 x 0.72 78 x 147.5 x 18.2 |
7.23 197 |
| HP iPAQ h1940 | 2.75 x 4.46 x 0.5 69.8 x 113.3 x 12.8 |
4.38 124 |
| HP iPAQ h2210 | 3.01 x 4.54 x 0.61 76.4 x 115.4 x 15.4 |
5.09 144 |
| HP iPAQ h4150 | 2.78 x 4.47 x 0.53 70.6 x 113.6 x 13.5 |
4.66 132 |
| HP iPAQ h5550 | 3.31 x 5.43 x 0.63 84 x 138 x 15.9 |
7.3 206.8 |
| MiTAC Mio339 | 2.83 x 4.88 x 0.6 73 x 122 x 13.8 |
4.36 120 |
| MiTAC Mio558 | 2.83 x 4.88 x 0.6 72 x 124 x 15.3 |
6 170 |
| Toshiba e400 | 3 x 4.9 x 0.4 76.2 x 124.4 x 10.1 |
4.59 130 |
| Toshiba e800 | 3 x 5.3 x 0.6 80 x 125 x 15.2 |
6 179 |
| T-Mobile MDA II | 2.75 x 5.12 x 0.71 70 x 130 x 19 |
6.53 185 |
Although this Asus does not boast of the latest hardware components, it was very successful in benchmark tests. It is powered by an Intel PXA255 processor running at 400 MHz. As in other devices with the same processor, the user can set the processor clock at a convenient level, which is quite important in a device with a fixed battery (lower processor speed means lower consumption and longer time on battery). The user can choose between three pre-set speeds and automatic adjustment mode when the system regulates the performance according to current workload. There is a checkbox which promises to squeeze even more out the device but with a warning of lower system instability. I usually used the Asus with maximum processor speed and the box checked and did not notice any instability whatsoever. There is enough memory for data and application, although there could have been more. Out of the declared 64 MB of standard RAM, the system consumes more than 8 MB, so the user is left with "a mere" 55.29 MB. On the other hand, there is a safe storage called Flash Disk with a capacity of 31.27 MB, which can contain a full RAM backup, for example, which means you do not loose your data if you accidentally forget to recharge before travelling.
The device features a colour transflexive TFT display with a 88.9-millimetre diagonal, resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and 16-bit colour depth. It is not bad but cannot compare to that in iPAQ h4150 (which, as you may remember, is not perfect, either). On the other hand, the colours seem somewhat richer due to the yellow tint than in h4150. You won't notice, though, if you cannot compare. I like the fact that black borders around the display are minute, so that the viewable image fills virtually the whole area. You can adjust backlight at a luxurious 256 levels, separately for battery and mains operation. The touch sensitive layer is highly sensitive across the whole area - it could not be better.
Audio features of this device are absolutely fantastic! Special applets make it possible to adjust the sound to your liking. You can set the volume at five levels in the basic settings but the special applet offers 256 levels as the backlight setting does! At the maximum volume, you will hardly hear your own thoughts, so you can enjoy listening even on metro. It is also possible to adjust balance between the right and left channel, although I cannot think of a situation when this might come handy:) You can set bass and treble at four levels each but I could not listen to music with the maximum bass for more than just a few seconds. The integrated loudspeaker is good at trebles but not so much at basses, which one can expect, given its size. If the quality of playback surprised me, the recording quality and microphone sensitivity were shocking! At the highest sensitivity setting, the microphone can catch a whisper at a two-metre distance. Could have been a good gadget for many a spy:) All in all - if sound features matter when you are choosing a PDA, don't forget to shortlist this one. Let me just note that I could not make the tested Asus with firmware dating from 27/11/2003 produce any crackling sound - it behaved the same way as my iPAQ h4355 about which I have never heard any complaints...
Communication capabilities are also quite advanced. Well, it does not have Wi-Fi but otherwise, it is only praise. The basic means is a USB cradle which gave one of the best results in benchmark tests. The infrared port offers the standard serial communication speed as well as fast connection of up to 4 Mbit per second if the other device allows. It is not much yet significantly better than SIR. An upload test showed an average speed of 163 KB/s (i.e. more than 1 Mbit/s!), in the other direction, it was a standard 13.1 KB/s. You can use this Asus as a remote control for your TV or VCR but only within a 150-cm range, which is not ideal. Finally, there is a Bluetooth module. When I say that the Bluetooth Manager is from Widcomm, many of you will agree that there is no better solution in the world of Pocket PCs at the moment. I tested connecting to a mobile phone and BT GPS and everything worked absolutely seamlessly.
Of course, we must mention is power source, too. Asus comes with a 1300-mAh Lithium-Ion non-replaceable battery. I have never had a Pocket PC as long as to notice problems with a battery running too weak but many users do need an extra battery. The manufacturer claims 19 hours on battery but it must have been at the lowest processor speed and deactivated backlight. In my test (maximum backlight, maximum processor speed, deactivated Bluetooth, standard work with documents), the Asus lasted for 4 hours and 16 minutes, which is longer than average. I could not perform more tests for time reasons but I guess with automatic processor regulation and reasonable backlight intensity, you could achieve a double value.
Expandability is an area where Asus represents the proverbial exception that confirms the rule. Unlike most other new Pocket PCs that offer either an SD slot or a combination of SD and CF slots, this Asus is equipped only with a CompactFlash slot type I or II. It is a question whether it is better to have an SD or CF slot if you cannot have both. In my opinion, a CF slot is a better option - there are more CF cards on offer than those in the SD format, not only I/O, such as different types of network adapters and GPS modules, but also memory cards with much greater capacities.
Asus does not offer any add-on packs, jackets or other hardware extensions, the only accessory available is a foldable keyboard. Of course, you can connect other accessories over Bluetooth which does work, unlike in some competing devices.
The ROM comes preloaded with the Windows Mobile 2003 Premium Edition operating system as well as a few bonus applications. One of them is ASUS Backup - as the name suggests, it is a utility that can back up and restore your data to a memory card or the Flash Disk. It is quite simple and offers to backup either the complete RAM contents or just the PIM data.
Another application that takes care of your data is SmartKeeper. When the battery power decreases under a certain level, SmartKeeper will automatically perform a backup. If you accidentally loose all power, you can easily restore your data.
The there is ASUS Launcher, an uncomplicated application launcher, assigned to one of the HW buttons by default. There is nothing more in the ROM but you can install other applications from two CD-ROMs.
First of all, there are three great applications from IA Style - IA Presenter, IA Album and IA Zip. IA Presenter is intended for those who need to work with PowerPoint presentations on their PDA, including the possibility to resent them (using a special CF card). The second one will please those who require a sophisticated image and photo manager. The third one, IA Zip, works with ZIP archives.
The CD-ROM includes three interesting games, two of them from pocket game masters Jimmy Software. The first one is a wild 3D shooter called X-Ranger. If you don't like this type of games, at least you can check out how fast your Asus is and what it can do. The second game is a classic, bird's eye-view arcade in which you must destroy a zillion enemies with your small spaceship before you can enjoy a sweet victory. The last full game on the disk is Dung Cleaner, another Lode Runner clone.
Finally, the first CD includes a few dozen themes to liven up your Today screen as well as eight demo versions of various applications. The other CD offers usual software from Microsoft, such as Microsoft Outlook 2002 and Microsoft ActiveSync.
Asus MyPal A620BT sells for a reasonable price. For your money, you are not getting cutting-edge technology packed with new wonderful features and capabilities but a fine-tuned, reliable piece of good hardware. MobilePlanet (affiliate) offers the Asus including a free CF WLAN card for a decent U.S. $349.95!
I use Spb Benchmark for a complete performance test. Having reviewed several new Pocket PCs, I will compare them. If you are interested in the detailed results, the complete .XML file is available for download here: Asus MyPal A620BT (2003, 400MHz) [2KB]. If you copy the contents of the file to the form on this page (click on Add device), you can compare the results with other devices.
Copyright 1999 - 2003, Pavel Koza