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

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.

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.

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%.......

[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....

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....

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

---

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

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.....

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......

First Question:-
- paired with motorola HS850 and logitech mobile traveler. but problem solved when I paired with this:
http://www.v-three.com/main/prod_bth_specs...i_1re_specs.xml


Second Question:-
- relatively, the answer is yes. but again....you will have to carry the extra bluetooth module and charger
- also, battery life might be less with the use of bluetooth.....

p/s - I have thought of doing that with 735 and my then Holux 236 but that will defeat my main pupose of reducing all the bulkiness and carrying too much electronics.....i was just fed up with too many devices and chargers.....

pp/s - review updated accordingly on the bluetooth

This post has been edited by tester1979: May 11 2007, 12:47 AM

hmm....on my previous phones....no noise at all.....its like just you and the caller only...

anyway....problem solved with my new stereo bluetooth.......

added some outdoor pictures taken using P535.

used auto/default settings

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=11325627

will add indoor and makro pictures later......

This post has been edited by tester1979: May 26 2007, 08:06 PM

hmm.....i heard the same thing....but can't seem to find it yet on their website....

anyway....i find that wm5 is enough for me at the moment.....

maybe need someone to demo to me the greatness of wm6 first before going through the hassle of upgrading and then installing all the software again....that is tedious....

he he he....maybe when we having beamfest or gathering....you can show me....

the thing is.......i dun need the features from 1,2,4,5 unless they are very cool looking.....

and I thought that we can send contacts via bluetooth or infrared?

added indoor pictures......

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=11325627

added makro pictures.....but will try find better subject soon....

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=11325627

can get the accessories like pouch......though they do give ori pouch together....

i dun see the need for other accessory as the package is very complete for me...


- pda
- extra stylus
- home charger
- car charger
- licensed softwares
- free car mount
- ori leather pouch

extra batteries got sell at the service centre......

but i dun feel the need for it as we can charge using usb cable, home charge and car charger.....plus for my usage....i charge only once in 3 days.....

---

Added on June 15, 2007, 1:54 am@Strik3

i bought a soft jacket by capdase in Cineleisure....cost me RM100...this is the silicon casing with the so called unbreakable screen protector....now my p535's screen is protected from the oil and sweat........

pretty happy with it....

now i have the capdase fliptop leather casing which i am not using..pm me if you interested.....





This post has been edited by tester1979: Jun 15 2007, 01:54 AM

photos will take later at home.....busy now.....

This post has been edited by tester1979: Jun 15 2007, 02:03 PM

wah.....you guys got it at so cheap price....RM2388....with 2 gig and screen protector....

i got mine about 2 months back at RM2718 with 2 gig and screen protector and extra 12 months extended warranty for parts and labor......

different RM330 for 2 months......

he he he.....like that do always remember to think of me when you want to sell off this unit ya.....i dun mind getting a 2nd one as spare....he he he