there seems to be many questions and doubt. so allow me to provide some brief review on what I think would be important if someone wants to buy this PDA Phone. (I have been using this phone extensively since 1 week ago)

1. screen is beautiful and color is crisp. Some PDAs suffer washed out screen under the sun. Asus P535 does not suffer that bad. With max brightness, I can see clearly the screen.

2. some PDA suffers from the light of the pda screen where by when you tilt the screen, the light seems to be very bright at one side and causes the screen to be washed out in white. Some pdas also have a viewing problem in landscape mode. People might not realise this but try watching a movie in landscape mode. Sometime you will feel that something is wrong with the movie because one side is clear the other side sometimes seems to be reflection. Proud to say that Asus P535 does not have any of this problem. The screen remain uniformly lit at any viewing angle either in potrait or landscape.


3. Phone works flawlessly and have I would say on par reception with motorola RAZR V3 and k750i.( i only have these phones to compare to). The speaker for listening is very clear and very very very very loud. Previously using v3 and k750i, I would almost all the time using 80%-100% listening volume but with P535, I get the same loudness at 20%-40%. During my ever first phone call, i put it at 80% as I thought it would be like v3 or k750i, the moment my gf spoke to me, it felt like she was standing beside me shouting in my ear. So i had to quickly lowerdown the volume of the earpiece to 20%. oh yes, this is where the conviniently part, the volume controller buttons so that I don;t have to tap on the screen. I also do not experience any echo problem that is experienced by some user in china.


4. CPU speed is good. The built in CPU controller can be adjusted to 4 choices : Auto (102MHz to 518MHz), Turbo (518MHz), Standard (310MHz) and Power Saving(102Mhz). I felt significant speed and performance increase at Turbo. But most of the time, leaving at Auto as the software is intelligent enough to switch to higher CPU speed if there is a need to.


5. Since the past 1 week, the battery life experience I would say is good. I manage to get about 2.5 days usage before the need to recharge(10% battery left). I have the phone configured with all wireless off except the phone turned on. 28% brightness. 80% volume. bluetooth turned on and connected to my bluetooth headset when I am in my car (say about 3 hours a day). about 15 sms a day. about 1 hour total phone calls for the 3 days. Used 30 minutes of GPS and navigation software with 80% volume. Played about 1 hour of bejeweled2. I am definitely satisfied with the performance.

Update 27th April 2007. - I charged the phone to 100% yesterday and then went out. Made a few long calls and had dinner. By the time I am set to go out to KLIA to send off my gf's sister, the charge showing 90%. i turned on the gps and use garmin and let it navigate to KLIA. the trip took about 1 hour. the charge was then 70%. after an hour in KLIA, i turned on the gps and garmin again and started back home. after about 1 hour, when I reached home, the charge was showing 50%. So, assuming that the battery consumption is linear, usage of GPS with garmin voice navigation, at 28% brightness, 80% volume, phone on, 1 hour of usage takes about 20% of battery power. So i can use to probably 4.5 hours before I need to charge the phone . This is good as my last axim X51v can only use up to 3.5 hours max before I need to charge. Maybe due to the fact that x51v was using bluetooth to connect to my Holux.


6. I am pretty satisfied with the GPS performance. Having used Holux GPSlim 236 before this, P535 is just a few seconds slower to lock to the satellites from cold start. At hot start however, I got the lock within 10 seconds. At warm start, the GPS can lock within less than 1 minute. I did not really measure the time but just rough side by side comparison with Holux GPS Slim 236. For those who do not know what I am talking about:-

* cold start, having the receiver turned off for 8-12 hours (I don't see why the receiver has to do a cold start when the almanac is valid for months)
* warm start, having the receiver turned of for 30 minutes
* hot start, having the receiver turned of for 15 minutes
- disclaimer - taken from wikipedia


7. Camera is good. Auto focus helps a lot. Macro mode works very well. One thing user should be aware of. When I fully depressed the button to take picture, the camera waits 1 second before takes the picture. This could be an advantage to a bad thing depending on situation. Advantage is, this gives enough time for your hand to become steady for a fully focussed shot, for a camera without "anti-shake" feature. Bad thing is, say when you want to take a shot at that precise moment, the picture is 1 second slow. But nevertheless, the camera quality is way better than any of those pda phones outhere. (but I still love the k750i camera). Oh yes, the LED light is only bright enough when the room is in total darkness. (sarcasm intended). Posted some pictures below. Will attach pictures later for sample.


8. The multipurpose speaker for ringtone and sound is loud enough for me to hear. I have not had a missed call or new message that is received without my knowledge. this is with 80% volume setting. of course this might only be in my case as I am in my office, or room at home or in my car with my radio on. Also, during my visits to Jusco, Tesco and Digital Mall, I have had no problem being alerted for phone calls or message. I assume these places are moderately noisy.


9. Wifi is great. Detection for new network and connecting to network is really fast. Since it comes with G, surfing internet and transfering files are fast. Its also sensitive enough and I would say better than my previous X51V.


10. Bluetooth at 2.0 is fast and almost perfect. Sensitivity and connection wise is great. My only complain as with all other P535 owner is its crappy bluetooth headset connection. more often than don't, I feel a lot of noise but still can listen properly. the other person on the phone however is not affected. oh yes, its definitely no problem with my bluetooth headset as it worked perfectly with V3 and k750i.

Bluetooth problem solved - i recently bought myself a stereo bluetooth headset : http://www.v-three.com/main/prod_bth_specs...i_1re_specs.xml
The crappy connection problem was totally gone. I do not hear anymore noise at all and the voice on the other person seemed to be improved. Plus since it was stereo bluetooth capable of A2DP, the stereo music reproduction across the bluetooth was just great.

p/s - I am not recomending the brand. I am just stating that that was the model I bought and the noise problem via bluetooth was solved. Maybe other stereo bluetooth headset might also produce the same result but I am not so sure.

11. Overall feel, The phone may be squarerish but I like the design over dopods. maybe its just my preference. also, the feel of P535 is way more solid compare to dopod 818 and dopod 810 which feels plasticky. Maybe because I am used to sony clies era with the metal finishing. When you grab P535, the feel is firm and you do not feel the parts squeaking with each other.


p/s - anyone who has any question, do post it here and I will try to answer and add to this review.

updated 27th April 2007 - added on battery portion on GPS usage consumption
updated 29th April 2007 - edited error on Holux GPSlim 236. Not Holux GPSlim 240.
updated 11th May 2007 - added information on bluetooth problem that was solved
updated 27th May 2007 - apologies for the late posting of some pictures
updated 31st May 2007 - added some indoor pictures taken in KLCC

Pictures:-

Note : Sorry that I forgot to turn white balance to auto. All pictures below are with "Tungsten" mode for white balance. Thus some pictures may have over saturated colors.

1. Outdoor Pictures. Taken in Gohtong Jaya on the cable car building. Dunno which floor liao. That time was just after rain. No sunny sunlight yet but good enough lighting.


2. Indoor Pictures. Taken in KLCC. All on auto mode.




3. Makro Pictures taken in the morning at 9.30am. Sun is behind me and very bright and yellowish.



This post has been edited by tester1979: Jun 1 2007, 03:34 PM

Alas! Another satisfied user of the P535. A rather extensive review there..nice. Maybe it can broadcast to the community that this PDA deserves more credit than its given for compared to Dopod, which is also a decent brand in its own right.

Initially, it got me worried when there's only 30% battery left with minimal - medium usage (i was a Dopod 818 Pro user and battery was not a concern). It appears that the battery would only be optimized after quite a few recharges. Now running on Standard Mode will consume only 40+% battery with medium usage. Now i'm lovin it !

Hope to see more users here!

that seems to be the same case as mine.

i am on the 3rd charge now. (not counting everytime I active sync to update/install software)

i read somewhere in asus forum that best to charge fully, then use till 10%-20% then full charge again to 100%. have to repeat this cycle a few times to get the full optimization of the battery's performance.

hey, what color did you get by the way?

mine is silver. i did not take the white because the color was not as white as I thought it would be. If it was like macbook white, I would have grabbed it. plus, people in china has been complaining that the white is peeling color. same problem with some of the ipaq a couple of years ago. I felt that the silver would suit me better.

The battery performance will gradually get better and of course charging any battery fully and discharging it till its empty would be ideal. However, this is impractical in case of emergencies so i start charging it, even when it reaches only until 30%, especially considering the battery this high processing power pda needs.

I decided on the white as has enough of silver since Dopod 818 Pro. No peeling on the white surfaces but once there's a scratch on the silver sides, it will peel, like what happened to mine! So i decided to skin wrap it for good measure.

ic ic. err...do you by any chance has a picture of what happened to yours? I have not seen any picture on the internet on the peeling issues.

anyway, when you mentioned the scratch on the "silve sides" you meaning to say the silver portion on the sides of P535 white?


anyway, I have updated the battery usage on GPS. it was better than what I expected.

Well, the peeling issues..i doubt u'd be able to see it bcz i've wrapped the silver sides up in dark color.

To put it in perspective, 'd describe the peeling similar as to paint peeling off your house metal window grilles. say if you were to knock it with something metal, and there'll be a dot of paint chipped off. And from that dot, you can basically start peeling the layer of paint off easily off the surface. Hope it makes sense.

And yes, silver sides as in the silver portion.

I noticed that you set the brightness to only 28%, isnt it too dim? I still feel its dim at 50% and i push it right up to 71%.

Yeah, the battery last quite satisfactorily after recharging it a few more times. Now i feel like its gone back to good ol' Dopod 818 Pro battery performance times...haha.

not really dim for me......probably I got used to it........even my previous x51v was set at about the same brightness........also, this brightness is good enough for me in my office/room/car/night....only under the sunlight i need to push up to 100%

on another note, I kind of feel that the brightness of this thing is good.....really bright......maybe its placebo for me but I kind of feel that its brighter than my old k750i at 100% and my old axim at 100%...........maybe as bright as w810i at 100%.......

Do u find the screen that bright? It not as bright as Dopod's imo and i find that dopod's screens are generally more vibrant than most pda.

So what applications do you use in your P535? Anything interesting that'll let this thing flex its "muscles" other than GPS? hehe...

Btw, what difference you found using BT GPS i.e. Holux than using this unit's GPS actually?

[Strik3,Apr 29 2007, 02:08 PM]

Do u find the screen that bright? It not as bright as Dopod's imo and i find that dopod's screens are generally more vibrant than most pda.
- hmm.....not sure on that......as I do not own a dopod before, so cannot compare....main reason is the plasticky finishing by dopod that always turns me off. anyway, i have found that the brightness is good enough for me. as long as I can see clearly.....its good enough......plus the screen pixels are nicer compared to the mio and eten of the same category

So what applications do you use in your P535? Anything interesting that'll let this thing flex its "muscles" other than GPS? hehe...
- i installed some games........usual astraware stuff and tomb raider and some others......pretty happy with its performance....
- will try to install some CAD and engineering programs soon........

Btw, what difference you found using BT GPS i.e. Holux than using this unit's GPS actually?

- not much difference
- only 2 main difference
- one is that the Holux 236 gets fix a few seconds faster. considering that I am not a spy or someone who needs to get gps fix really fast in life threatening situation.....i don't really mind that P535 is a few seconds slower. but after getting the satellites fix, both gps receivers performs the same
- second, is that since I used x51v to connect to the Holux via bluetooth, i had limitations of 3.5 hours only to use then i need to recharge......though, i have not used gps on P535 for that amount of time, but considering about 20% gives at least 1 hour of gs operation, i might be able to strecth it to up to 4.5 hours before the need to recharge. that is great......



oh yes.....apart from the leather casing that came with the P535, do you have any 3rd party protection on yours?

i just bought a flip top P535 capdase leather casing.....so that I don;t have to take the phone out of the casing to talk......

i am really hoping they bring in the silicon jacket from capdase, the one with virtually unbreakable crystal screen protector.........that would solve my sweaty screen problem due to the touch to my cheeks....

@ tester1979:

Actually, i'm also looking for a silicone casing but could not find any meant for P535 so far. Leather casings are good but makes the whole phone too bulky than it already is to be kept in pocket.

At the mean time only have skin wrap to keep the surface from having more scratches.

If you so happen come across silicone casing for it, do PM me ya? I'll let u know also should i come across any.

Have something to ask, my screen will switch off when i'm in a call and tht's good BUT the thing is instead of just clicking the volume button, i actually need to switch on the screen again to adjust the volume which is inconvenient during a call. Do you face the same issue? or it doesnt bother you? hehe..

This post has been edited by Strik3: May 3 2007, 10:53 AM

hmm.....ok....will let you know if I see any silicon casings......

now using the capdase leather casing with belt clip......so not putting in my pockets.....

hmm....i do not face any problem that you are facing.

i set the backlight to go out after 1 minute and turn the pda off after 2 minutes. also, i do not face any problem you had. maybe i talk most of the time less than 2 minutes. if longer.....i'll be on my bluetooth headset....

beautiful..nice specs..

unfortunately lacking in design n outlook...

otom vs asus vs dopod..

haihz..i wud still select an otom item

@ Devilzzzz:

Personally, I find the Asus P535 have a rather clean and neat design although some would find it to be squarish/boxy/lack of curves, which i do not deny. However, it comes before me overall as a clean and neat design =)

@ tester:

I'm uncomfortable using belt clip for the fear of accidentally knocking the phone into something. I just bump into things at waist height, u know...lol.

Just wondering if you could test it out as in let the screen switch off during a call then see if you could adjust the volume directly instead of needing to turn the unit on to adjust volume?

Lemme know the results. Thanks...!

well design is subjective......different people has different preference.....

i personally like it because its squarish.....

anyway.....the firm built and the solid feel when you hold it in your palm is a great feeling. unfortunately dopod does not provide the same confidence to me in the built and firmness. O2 on the other hand is ok but the specs are not as good as Asus, plus I don't need 3G and Edge at the moment.

anyway........shall post some photos up later on when I have the time to take some photos

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Added on May 4, 2007, 10:20 amsame results as yours..........but how long before your screen shuts off?

for me.....usually within the first 10 seconds, I'll be adjusting the volume already. I did not wait longer.

This post has been edited by tester1979: May 4 2007, 10:20 AM

@ tester:

Ok, means its nothing wrong with my unit. I set the auto switch off at 1 minute.

Well, i'd adjust the volume within first 10-20 seconds too. However, sometimes walk to quiet area...just feel the need to adjust it bcz ppl could actually hear the other person at max volume =)

that is right......that is one of the best feature i find on P535....really loud ear piece for conversation.......even at the the noisy low yat in the peak hours is no problem.....

Asus P735 (3G version of P535) already available since last week at RM28xx
with almost the same features and form-factor. Anybody got this pda phone already ?? need opinions

Apart from having 3G that is not so indifferent than other phones', most of the comments and tester 1979's review should apply.

735 has 3G but no GPS.........so depends on your needs....

so, all the points I listed above for p535 should be the same for p735 apart from the 3G and GPS capabilities......

May I know which BT headset are you pairing with your Asus P535?

Thanks.

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Added on May 11, 2007, 12:15 amSo one could actually get the P735 + a BT GPS receiver and enjoy the best of both worlds?

This post has been edited by sonyclie77: May 11 2007, 12:15 AM