Wednesday, November 14, 2007

ASUS P527 Phone


GPS navigation is not one of those things most users consider to be crucial in a PDA-phone, at least not in the same way as features like W-Fi and Bluetooth are. But even though most consider it to be a bonus rather than a requirement, it is surprisingly found in quite a few entry-level devices even when high-end ones give it a miss.

Examples will be devices from Mitac and E-Ten, companies which tend to put a GPS chip into every handset they sell, even the 2.5G ones. Another of these manufacturers is Asus, and a good example is its upcoming P527 handheld.

Like the Asus P525 before it, the P527 comes with a numeric keypad. This makes it easier to punch in phone numbers for dialing and even for keying in text compared to writing on the screen. It also eases in users switching over from regular mobile phones as most of those have numeric keypads as well.

As mentioned earlier, the P527 will come with GPS for navigation. This utilizes the SiRFstar III chip, that we've generally had good experiences with in other devices like the Dopod U1000 and Mitac Mio A501.

Like many other Windows Mobile PDA-phones, the P527 comes with quite a few wireless connectivity features. Granted, it's doesn't have HSDPA or 3G, but all others like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are available. A bonus is the inclusion of an FM tuner.

Other notable features of the P527 are a 2-megapixel autofocus camera, a microSD slot with support for SDHC cards, and a 2.6-inch QVGA display. It is also reasonably compact with a thickness of 15.4mm and weight of 125g.

The Asus P527 will be available in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the end of November. Thereafter, it will be sold in Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India and Turkey.


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