ASUS P525 (PPC PHONE. OFFICIAL LYN CLUB)

The Official LYN's ASUS P525 Club starts in Post #143, Page 8.


ATTENTION! For those who're ready to whip out their wallets, cheque books / credit cards to purchase a Pocket PC (PPC) phone, namely the Dopod 818 Pro (HTC Prophet), O2 Xda Atom, HP iPAQ rw6828, etc., I suggest you think twice coz' HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

Introducing...


ASUS P525


Photo courtesy of ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc., the Taiwan-based co. which specializes in motherboards, graphic cards, notebooks, etc., has unveiled it's latest PPC phone to the world recently at CeBIT 2006, Hannover, Germany.

The P525 has come a long was from its predecessor, the P505 (MyPDACafe review). Here're the official specs from the user manual:-

1) Processor: Intel® XScale(tm) 416MHz application processor
2) Operating system: Microsoft® Windows Mobile(tm) 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition
3) Memory: 128MB Flash ROM, 64MB SDRAM
4) Display: 2.8", 65,536-colour, 240 x 320-resolution, transreflective TFT touch screen
5) Frequency band: Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
6) GPRS: Class B, Multislot class 10
7) Camera: 2.0M pixel CMOS with flash & Auto-Focus (AF) & built-in flash
8) Connectivity: WLAN (Wi-Fi) (IEEE)802.11b, Bluetooth V2.0, Infrared (SIR), USB Client 1.1 (mini-USB)
9) Battery capacity: 1300mAh Li-ion
10) Expansion slot: miniSD
11) Audio: 2.5mm audio port, built-in microphone & speaker
12) Weight: 160g (with battery)
13) Dimension: 116.8 x 59 x 19mm

Other features:-
14) Standbytime: 150 hours (approx.)
15) Talk time: 5 hours (approx.)
16) Ringtone: 128 polyphonic ringtones (Midi/MP3/WMA/WAV)
17) Java: J2ME (CLDC 1.1 + MIDP 2.0)
18) WAP: WAP 1.2.1 / WAP 2.0
19) Supported video formats: MPEG4, 3GP (recording)
20) Skype, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
21) Voice recognition enabled
22) Alpha-numeric keypad with multifunctional buttons

Sorry, no 2.5G (EDGE), 3.0G (UMTS) / 3.5G (HSDPA).

A very useful feature's the "Xscale underclocking utility" that enables the user to set the P525 to either "Turbo", "Standard", "Power Saving" / "Automatic Accord" mode to fully utilize the P525's processor & battery power.

Interestingly, a "Biz Card Recognition" prog. enables the digitalization of printed text on business cards (with reference to major languages & writing styles) so that contacts can be stored (digitally) in the P525 (sweet... ).

Another useful feature's called "MySecret" which provides information security by enabling saved files such as word documents, spreadsheets, videos, photos, etc., to be saved as MySecret files, thus protecting them from unauthorized views. I believe it's an encryption prog. that further protects private & confidential files in case the P525 gets lost / stolen.

An interesting thing's that the official Taiwanese site mentioned that the P525'll have a built-in English-Chinese / Chinese-English dictionary, but the official Global (English) site didn't mention that the dictionary'll be a feature in the P525. I suspect that the dictionary's only available in Taiwan's / probably in major Chinese-speaking regions' P525.

Although it's not confirmed to be available in M'sia, it's confirmed by CNET Asia to be available in S'pore "within the next few months" (Asus to launch P525 in Singapore) (S'poreans, rejoice! ). M'sians need not lose hope as its availability in S'pore & the P505 here last year could be a sign that the P525'll be available in M'sia as well, maybe a little later than S'pore though (well, better late than never ).

Yet, more updates on CNet Asia (Asus phones coming soon?). It seems that ASUSTek's 1st international overseas HQ in S'pore's officially opened. Looks like there's no stopping the P525 coming to the island country now.

Further research on the P525 has also yield an unconfirmed "alternate version" of the P525 with a silver casing instead of the conventional metallic black. I believe this's the 1st prototype of the P525 & the differences're merely cosmetic only, with the internal specs exactly the same.


Photo courtesy of SlashPhone

OFFICIAL NEWS & PRODUCT SITES'RE UP!!!
The official news & product site of the P525've been spotted on the M'sian, S'porean, Thai & Filipino ASUSTeK website, albeit the spec.s on the websites're still incorrect. But the point here's, if the official product site's on these regional websites, that could mean that the P525'll (almost definitely) be available in those countries soon..., / could it already be there? <insert The X-Files theme here > Keep your eyes open for the P525, fellow forumers.

BTW, for those who would like to know where to contact ASUSTeK M'sia, here're the address & contact no.s:-

ASUS Malaysia
G-2, Ground Floor, IT@SPS
Wisma SPS, Jalan Imbi
55100, Kuala Lumpur
Wilayah Persekutuan
Malaysia
+603-2148-0827
+603-2145-8379

OFFICIAL QUICK START GUIDE & USER MANUAL'RE UP!!!
The English Quick Start Guide & User Manual're available for download on ASUSTeK's support site. So's the French & Chinese ver.s Now, everyone (well, everyone who're English, French / Chinese language readers, i.e. ) can get an understanding of the workings of the P525 before it's officially released outside Taiwan & Hong Kong.

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEWS BY 1ST-HAND USERS'RE UP!!!

PIC. OF THE P525 UP ON PHONE STAR COMMUNICATION SDN. BHD.'S WEBSITE!!!
This could only mean 1 thing, my friends: The P525's just 1 step away from its confirmed release in M'sia! YAHOO!!! I said 1 step away coz' the next step's to contact Phone Star to confirm once & for all that the P525'll hit M'sian shores. Head on to their website for more details. BTW, the Product page didn't show the P525 in its list, but its pic. on the main page's sufficient enough to end all doubts.

FYI, Phone Star's the official M'sian distributor for mobile phone brands such as ASUS (Asia) & Sagem (Europe). It's also the distributor of the P525's predecessor, the P505.

BTW, their address & contact no.s're

Phone Star Communication Sdn. Bhd.
30, Jalan 4/146, Amcorp Office Park, Bandar Tasik Selatan,
Jalan Sungai Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-9057 8668 (Hunting Line)
Fax: +603-9057 1282 (Service & Repair)
+603-9057 4282 (Sales & Marketing)
+603-9057 6282 (Finance & HR)

<NEW!> THE P525'S M'SIAN DEBUT IN PIKOM PC FAIR II 2006 IN K.L.!!!

Yes, ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls. After 3 months since the birth of this thread, the P525 was finally unveiled in M'sia at the recent PIKOM PC Fair II 2006 in K.L. Con. Ctr., K.L.

It was confirmed by our fellow forumers that it'll be available from the 23th Aug. onwards at a recommended retail price of RM 2588.

ASUS P525 (PPC PHONE. OFFICIAL LYN CLUB)

The Official LYN's ASUS P525 Club starts in Post #143, Page 8.

View the links below for the links (like, duh... ).

Other links:-
1) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Global: News: Always Connected with P525 Quad-Band PDA Phone: 29th May, 19th June
2) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Global: Home > Products > Mobile Phones > P Series > P525
3) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Taiwan: Products : Mobile Phones : P Series : P525
4) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Malaysia: Home > Products > Mobile Phones > P Series > P525
5) ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-: Download > PDA > P525
6) Phone Star Communication Sdn. Bhd.: http://phonestar.net.my/
7) SOGI: http://www.sogi.com.tw/news/content.asp?newsno=3333
8) PhoneDaily: http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=4159
9) PhoneDaily: http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=4458
10) Phonedaily: http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=4550
11) CNET Asia: Product Reviews : Handhelds : Asus P525?
12) <NEW!> CNET Australia: Reviews: PDAs & GPS: ASUS P525
13) <NEW!> The Star Online: TechCentral: Home User: Asus goes Windows Mobile
14) Hardware Zone: Articles > Events > ASUS Grand Opening in Singapore
15) VR-Zone: Vrzone.com Article: Interview with Benson Lin, ASUS APAC Business President
16) PDANEWS.de: CeBIT 2006: A first Impression of the ASUS P525

Reviews:-
1) <NEW!> Digit-Life.com: ASUS MyPal P525 GSM Communicator
2) PROPortable: Asus P525 Pocket PC Phone Overview
3) Mobinaute: http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/article...=20060726170716
4) PPCReviews: http://www.ppcreviews.net/content/view/756/7/
5) MXP: http://www.mxp.cn/doc/DocTestView.aspx?ID=0000002469
6) GO3C: http://www.go3c.com.tw/Item_List_0.php?INO=PDASP502
7) gophone.com.tw: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
8) SOGI: http://www.sogi.com.tw/park/content.asp?a_id=1311
9) PhoneDaily: http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=4497
10) blog.xuite.net: http://blog.xuite.net/spy.su/stateoftheart/6767107
11) tw.myblog.yahoo.com: http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!CThzcUmG...rchive?l=f&id=6
12) Pocket PC Thai: http://www.pocketpcthai.com/modules.php?na...order=0&thold=0
13) Pocket PC Thai: http://www.pocketpcthai.com/modules.php?na...owcontent&id=56 (A more comprehensive review from the earlier one, a.k.a. Part 2. The translated version's incomplete. So, you'll need to go to the original untranslated ver. to view the complete review.)
14) MrPalm.com: http://www.thai2english.com/trans.html?query_id=161170
15) MrPalm.com: http://www.mrpalm.com/getcontent3.php?tid=391: Page 1, Page 2
16) msnth.com: http://www.msnth.com/msn/mobile/pdareview/article1.asp
17) OverclockZone: http://www.overclockzone.com/spin9/review/phone/asus/p525/: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5
18) pocket.com.il: http://www.pocket.co.il/cgi-bin/pocketil/v...style=pocket375 (This's an Israeli site & it's in Hebrew. Couldn't find a Hebrew website translater out there. Anyone out there who knows Hebrew, care to shed some light on this review for us? :wink:)
19) Mobilarena: http://mobilarena.hu/c.php?mod=20&id=1181 (This's a Hungarian site & it's in Hungarian. Couldn't find a Hungarian website translater out there. Anyone out there who knows Hungarian, care to shed some light on this review for us? :wink:)

Other forums' links:-
1) Mobile-Review.com: Asus P525
2) GeoExpat.Com: Asus P525
3) PPCSG: Official thread for Asus P525
4) NotebookReview.com: OFF TOPIC: However appealing to most... production Asus p525 PPC Phone in my hands.
5) Pocket PC Dubai: Nice Pics of Asus P525
6) discuss.com.hk: http://www8.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?...&extra=page%3D1
7) HKEPC Hardware: http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/viewthread.php?ti...&extra=page%3D2
8) Mobile01: http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=61&t=172763&p=1
9) RingHK: http://board.phonehk.com/viewthread.php?ti...&extra=page%3D1

Do check out this post occasionally for future updates.

ASUS P525 (PPC PHONE. OFFICIAL LYN CLUB)

The Official LYN's ASUS P525 Club starts in Post #143, Page 8.

As we wait with bated breath, here're some pic.s of the P525 to whet your appetites. More pic.s of the P525've been uploaded on Post #41 (page 3) to salivate to even more.










Cont' below...

ASUS P525 (PPC PHONE. OFFICIAL LYN CLUB)

The Official LYN's ASUS P525 Club starts in Post #143, Page 8.

This post has been edited by Terrasmark: Sep 10 2006, 03:55 AM

...Cont'd










Photos courtesy of PhoneDaily

This post has been edited by Terrasmark: Jun 28 2006, 06:59 PM

When will this available?

WHAT IF COMPARE TO DOPOD 838? OR MAYBE DOPOD 900?
HOW MUCH THE PRICE APPROXIMATELY COST?

So far, details of the date of launch's still very sketchy, but like I've mentioned, it's confirmed to be available in S'pore "within the next few months" (Asus to launch P525 in Singapore).

Besides, it was 1st unveiled at CeBIT 2006 recently, so don't expect it to be available really soon.

Well, you definately can't compare it to the 3.0Ged Dopod 900. It's like comparing apples with oranges. But compared to the Dopod 838, well, you 're wise enough to make your own conclussions, right? I see, you can compare (P525 vs. 838)

1) Intel's PXA270 (416MHz) processor vs. Texas Instrument (TI)'s OMAP (195MHz) processor.
2) Camera resolutions [1.3M pixels vs. 2.0M pixels (with autofocus, mind you )]
3) Triband vs. quadband
4) Non-EDGE vs. EDGE
5) Numeric (T9) keypad vs. QWERTY thumbboard, but I doubt the price difference'll be significant

BTW, please don't raise your voice. I-can-hear-you-loud-&-clear.

Terrasmark, seems like u've using many type of pdas..n now u're waiting for asus p525 right..what do u think about the price?will it be too expensive?

This post has been edited by Serj: May 20 2006, 09:50 PM

Err... Actually, Serj, I'd only owned 1 PDA phone which was the Dallab DP900 as shown in my signature. I still consider myself a PDA / PDA phone freshman as the 1st PDA / PDA phone experience I'd was June last year on the DP900. But ever since, I was obsessed with PDA phones & always take the opportunity to research PDA phones on the net, keep myself updated with news of upcoming PDA phones & try out as many PDA phones as I can at shops, fairs & exhibitions. That's how I acquire the PDA phone experience.

Yes, I've my sights well on the P525. It basically has all the features I look for in a "complete" PDA phone.

Well, price-wise, it depends on your budget & definition of "expensive" when it comes to PDA phones. I'd discussed 'bout it in my previous post (Post #5). Do check it out there. Anyway, IMO, it won't cost more than RM 3000 (US$ 790) coz' it's greatest competitors're the Xda Atom [RM 2988 (US$ 786)] & iPAQ rw6828 [(probably) RM 2588 (US$ 681)].

I am waiting for this as well They said it's gonna be somewhere 2nd quarter of 2006

Read on some forum (can't remember the link, not local one) that says the price will be at LEAST SGP 1200+...roughly around rm2500 i reckon

Well, upon further research, I'd found some sites stating that it'll be available in more countries than we'd thought earlier, with the expected launch date'll be sometime in June & the retail price'll be not more than euro 600 (US$ 765, RM 2770, S$ 1220).

1) Pocket PC Italia
2) PDAddict
3) pcdebolso.com
4) portalPPC.com

But of course, rumours're rumours. Don't expect them to be entirely true. Remember the iPAQ rw6800 series? It was rumoured to be available in Apr. Now, it'll only hit the stores at the end of this month, possibly by next month for them to gain a good footing.

It's best to ask straight from ASUSTek themselves, but even that won't guarantee you answers coz' you know how the corporate business world works. They'll never reveal the actual facts till' they think the time's right. Anyone knows the contacts & addresses of ASUSTek's regional offices (M'sia, S'pore)?

This post has been edited by Terrasmark: May 30 2006, 06:00 PM

HI terrasmark... since ur a dallab fan... what about the Dallab DX8 seems like a worthy contender...

Well, I did consider it before, but I would like to've a PPC phone which can take macro shots. 1.3M pixels' not good enough for that. I'm a person who needs a lot of notes-taking, be it from afar (notice boards, billboards, etc.) / up close (reference materials, etc.).

BTW, I was a Dallab fan till' I discovered the reasons for selling my DP900 off. But IMO, the DX8's a great device. The features're comparable to Atom & rw6828. The only thing that Dallab might lose out's the brand dept. Many people consider the brand as a deciding factor. They aren't willing to invest in some brand that's "unheard" of & not popular due to the assumption that the quality of the popular brand's better than the unpopular one. This statement holds true for some part especially when the Atom was debuted (shameful ROM, even worse than the 818 Pro, but fortunately rectified in time), but a serious buyer would go for the features 1st rather than the brand. One such person's yours truly when I bought my DP900.

Another thing's that Dallab have received a lot of bad rap lately from some groups due to their marketing strategy: using the M'sian Book of Records as their selling point. Well, IMO, it's a double-edged sword in a way that the strategy's good to expose the DX8 to more people so that buyers would consider an equally competitive & cheaper alternative than O2, HP, Dopod, etc. On the other hand, the M'sian Book of Records has been somewhat "tainted" of its value: Longest row of satay, highest fruit tower, longest human chain; records that don't serve a good purpose to the people & don't bring any benefits. But once again, a smart buyer would be wise enough to overlook the "icing on the cake" & go for the features instead.

OK, back to the topic, please. Sorry, moderators.

why dun u consider T830.. this one is better than P525 from the spec..

http://www.mobileplanet.com/product.asp?code=130765

This post has been edited by afhm: May 25 2006, 11:51 AM

Well, afhm, the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX T830's a wonderful device. In fact, I've been folowing up on the device since its announcement last year. It was 1 of the PPC phones I'd considered to acquire.

Unfortunately, it's only available for the European market & I don't have the convenience to order it from overseas. Acquiring it's 1 thing, servicing it's another.

Besides, a huge space's allocated for the QWERTY thumbboard & functional keys, making the screen much smaller, in fact, 240x240 pixels small.

From the pics, it look like a Blackberry crossed with a Nokia 6680 into the size of an O2 Mini. Nice solid and classy look to it.

But no EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA.. which I think is pretty std nowadays..

OFFICIAL SITES'RE UP!!!

1) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Global: News: Always Connected with P525 Quad-Band PDA Phone
2) ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Taiwan: Products : Mobile Phones : P Series : P525

Bro, how to get it from Taiwan hur.. as i'm desperate to get a PDA-Phone now T_T lol.. and i saw this one very very interesting indeed. I put my choice between this and the rw6828, any user experience about this pda-phone already? I know it's been sold in taiwan.. but i dun understand chinese character..

Hi jeg,
This device beats rw6828 if you're a heavy sms user. rw6828 loses out because it doesn't have any keypads, limiting your text input to using stylus or 3rd party keyboard softwares, which are not comparable to physical keypads.

Thanks.

Found out from some of Asus' PR people, the phone is definitely coming to M'sia, just not so soon yet...