COMPUTEX: Asus A636 GPS PDA (lots of pics)

[Andrew]

We flew to the other side of the world to take a few pictures of the new ASUS MyPal A636 built-in GPS PDA.  Why?  For your benefit and because we had nothing better to do.

The Asus 636 Pocket PC with integrated GPS (view larger image)

Check out the above shot of the Asus A636, I encourage you to view the larger image.  Apparently they've been putting this device through the ringers at Acer because it looks pretty beat-up with the paint coming off of the edges.  But the Asus rep assured me looks don't matter and the device runs great (it's in a glass case so I couldn't confirm that).  Oh, and when it's sold new the paint will actually be finished and not crumbling off.

Asus A636 Dummy (aka cardboard mockup) with specs (view larger image)

Asus MyPal A636 Specs

• Intel PXA 272 312, 416 or 520 MHz device (they're not totally sure yet)
• 3.5" TFT screen, QVGA
• GPS built-in
• Bluetooth 1.2
• WiFi 802.11b
• SD slot (or maybe mini-SD, but likely not)
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0
• Memory ?

Above I ripped a mockup device off of its stand to take a picture next to the available specs, I wasn't supposed to because the rep kind of ran over and took it off of me, but they were only using masking tape to hold it to the stand so how was I supposed to know?  Notice in the specs that it says 312 or 416 MHz Intel processor.  To be honest I don't think they really know what processor it will have yet, another person told me 520MHz.

Rats, we already have our first complaint before we've even thought about reviewing it, the headphone jack is on the bottom and not the top.  C'mon Asus, move it to the top before it's released, so what if all the GPS antenna and internals are in the way up there (view larger image)

The top of the Asus A636 (or the left handside if it's in landscape mode) (view larger image)

Left side of the dummy Asus A636, notice it says "Mini SD" on the card slot but in the specs it says SD, seems like another case of specs confusion (view larger image)

Back of the mockup A636 device, not much interesting here, so (no larger image)

I asked about a release date and Asus said likely late fall for Asia and next year for the USA.  It took them a long time to get the A730 device out (BargainPDA.com A730 Review) after announcing it, so hopefully they're faster with this one.  It looks nice, and GPS is a great integrated application to have with PDAs of course.  Mitac also released their new Mio169 Pocket PC / GPS integrated device a couple of weeks ago and had that at the show, we'll cover that in an upcoming article.  Here's a couple of pics of Taipei and the show for a closer.

The Taipei 101 (yes, it's 101 stories tall) building is next to the Taipei Convention Center, it towers over you and is rather impressive.  It's got a nice 5-story shopping mall on the lower levels (view larger image)

There were so many scantily clad girls representing various tech companies it was hard to ever really pay attention to the gadgets (definitely view larger image)

[Brian]

Interesting that the flip out GPS mechanism is different from every other that has been done before it, flipping out form the side instead of the top.

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

[Antoine Wright]

Sounds like you are having a good time over tehre Abaxter. Gotta love those cardboard demo models.

Side ways GPS is interesting, but probably kool. Headphones on the top or bottom: kool. As long as they dont go sony and put them on the side I think we'll be fine [)]

Battery life on that thing will suck like wings at Wing Bowl. Oh well. Everything cant be perfect right?

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[Andrew]

yeah, good times being had here...well except for a little earthquake we just had that made almost go in my pants (no joke).

when i was using that cardboard cut out initially i thought it was the real thing and astounded at how light weight it was. it must have been the jet lag. they wouldn't take the *real* one out of the glass case [V]

[fermi337]

This would be considered a mid-range device, right?

Reminder to Brian: Add the lifedrive and the tungsten e2 to the avatar gallery

[Brian]

I would say not, with dual wireless and GPS, it's as high end as it gets. At least the price tag will be.

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

[Pony99CA]

quote:

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Originally posted by abaxter
Rats, we already have our first complaint before we've even thought about reviewing it, the headphone jack is on the bottom and not the top. C'mon Asus, move it to the top before it's released, so what if all the GPS antenna and internals are in the way up there

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Actually, on a GPS device, it actually makes sense to have the audio and power ports on the same surface. Why? So you can connect it to a car mount with audio amplification just by sliding it onto the mount.

If you have the audio jack at the top and the power port at the bottom, you have to connect at least one cable separately.

Steve

Silicon Valley Pocket PC
http://www.svpocketpc.com