Dreadnought translated to English means "fearless." This name was given first in the history of linear naval ships. The emergence of a new warship with unprecedented at the time the size, thickness of armor, and armed rapidity became a sensation. This legendary ship marked the beginning of a new era of naval shipbuilding and gave its name to a whole class of vessels. The emergence of a new ASUS MyPal A730, too, to some extent a sensation, since so fine handheld computer with this combination of performance and functionality on the market was not yet. A730 is available in two versions: the junior model has only Bluetooth-adapter and 64MB RAM, 128MB of RAM and the older and once two wireless network adapters Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. In our hands got Russia's first serial sample ASUS A730.
Housing
Warship evaluate the following parameters: the outlines of the case, the value of armor, agility, maneuverability, armament, and communications. All this together makes this simple ship combat unit, able to cope successfully with the tasks. We begin the description of the new Pocket PC with the case. The first thing that catches your eye - this is a very original design.
However, the external machine has a few friends for the most discerning reader solutions. The lower curved portion is clearly borrowed from the HP iPAQ 19xx series.
This form of the bottom of the case allows convenient to keep your computer even with one hand. At the lower end of the interface connector, reset button and opening the stylus holder. The second design feature - it controls. The front panel has four application buttons and a navigation button D-pad. Buttons a bit unusual shape: button D-pad has a trapezoid shape, tapered towards the bottom, and the other buttons, too narrow, but to the side faces.
In addition to the aesthetic function of such an unusual form of fulfilling and practical - you can quite comfortably control your computer with one hand. Imagine you are standing in a crowd in a subway car at rush hour and keep one hand on the handrail. In this situation, to cope with the CPC will be the only way. Next to the navigation button you can see two holes, behind which is a microphone. Of the controls would also like to note the on / off and key management built-in digital camera that are on the left side edge.
All five keys (application buttons and the button controls the camera) reprogrammable, and shortcuts of applications can have two meanings: one - with a single click, and the second - while keeping within a few seconds. Thus we have a nine programmable buttons.
There is a lack of scroll wheel on the right sidebar or on the rear panel, as this was done at the Sony Clie TH-55. On the back is part of Asus A730 place: lattice dynamics, the camera lens, flash and a small round mirror (it seems to be able to photograph a favorite). Yes, it is also the first Pocket PC with an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera!
A sidebar is a mysterious key-lever with the image of an open padlock.
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Frankly, to my shame, I could not immediately figure out what it actually meant. But, when I guessed, it was frankly embarrassing. Judge for yourself. First, the hypothesis was that the Hold button like a handheld Sony (really, it hurts like icon), once a sense of pride for the company ASUSTek - finally, the Pocket PC there was a normal lock button controls. However, unsuccessful attempts to move this lever led me to think that there is something wrong. In the end, managed to move him, but to do so could only be with the stylus by pressing the special notch on the center lever. As a result of all this pain and stole a suspicion that the lever is not intended to, they often clicked. And it is meant that none of this is not a button Hold. Added confidence and the fact that the control buttons was absolutely still, in what position is the switch - they were always active. Decision prompted another thorough examination of the case.
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| Asus MyPal A730: Left end |
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| Asus MyPal A730: right end |
If you take a closer look closely, you'll find that on the sides of the controls are only on the silver boxes in the upper body and lower part of the forms together with the rear panel of the whole, strongly reminiscent of the cover. Another clue was the absence on the back of any serial numbers and markings of the manufacturer.
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| A Asus just opened .... |
It turned out that cover - removable and the mysterious lever used to lock it.
Under the lid are the stylus holder and a slot for the battery.
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| Removable cover Asus MyPal A730 |
At the top end can be detected already mentioned the dual expansion slot (ie for Compact Flash and SD / MMC / SDIO), carefully covered with plugs, headphone, and IrDA.
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If we talk about the size of the handheld, then there Asus'u have something to be proud of - 113 x 73 x 17 mm. Their size A730 almost as recognized by the top model PDA market - HP iPAQ h4150. Our hero is only 2 mm wider and thicker than 3 mm, but 1 mm shorter. In general, the size is quite good - especially considering that the A730 has a built-in slots for expansion cards support two types and 1.3 megapixel digital camera. While a bit more harmonious h4150 fit only one SD-slot - the smallest of the most popular. Compare the same Asus A730 with the previous model, A716, impossible - a novelty for all parameters smaller (22 mm in length, 5 mm in width and 1 mm in thickness). On the modest size and even said such a fact. Having bought a sleek HP iPAQ h1940, I received a gift to him branded pouch, which I did not like, and I soon replaced it with a more "correct" from Krusell. Old Case and pylilsya somewhere on the shelf, until I pulled him out and was not convinced (by his great joy) that the A730 fits perfectly into it.
In the hold
The heart of the CPC is the new Intel XScale PXA270 processor clocked at 520 MHz. Compared to the old PXA255 no heart, and flaming engine.
The processor can operate at lower frequencies. To choose from, there are three modes: turbo, standard and power saving. Plus, there are two operating modes are obtained by using the functions enable automatic power saving mode, which automatically switches the clock "stone", depending on its workload.
With the memory of all the A730 in order. Low-end model has on board 64 MB RAM and 64 MB of ROM, of which 19.22 MB set aside for the needs of the user. You can store personal data, but you can back up your system or PIM applications.
For these purposes, there are just two special applications. First, the utility SmartKeeper, which allows you to save a backup system to an external drive.
ASUS Backup can record the backup in automatic mode as soon as the battery will be critically low, and in manual mode where you determine the feasibility of establishing a backup.
SmartKeeper has two disadvantages. The first - is the ability to record only on external media (CF or SD), a custom section ROM in this case is not available. Second - is the lack of selective data retention, the program saves everything. However, these drawbacks are eliminated second proprietary utility from ASUS. We are talking about the program ASUS Backup.
The program allows you to save your data to any type of nonvolatile memory, including custom section ROM also has the ability to store individual information of PIM applications.
Special mention deserves the computer display. It has a resolution of 640x480 pixels and a diagonal 3.7 ".
Support such high resolution for a handheld computer provides an operating system Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. The most interesting is that unlike the Toshiba e800 in ASUS A730 all embedded applications support resolution of 640x480 pixels. It is true that when you install third-party software to periodically receive the following message:
However, in most cases the software worked without any glitches. In addition, the new operating system WM 2003 SE supports two modes at once screen orientation - portrait or landscape.
Previously, this possibility only a few applications from other vendors. Now change the orientation of the display is supported on all operating systems embedded applications.
True, the display can be rotated only 90 ° and 270 °, 180 ° rotatable implement will not succeed. Since the display size increased two times (in pixels), then added the ability to change screen font size, and changed the look of the virtual keyboard.
In the menu Start ("Start") has a new section with a list of the last five running user applications (similar to the interface of Windows XP). The new version of the operating system has changed the module handwriting recognition. Added ability to select the vocabulary for recognition and the ability to enter handwritten shortcuts for text display, a function call and run the application. The user can also choose individually writing each letter of the alphabet (of course, available in the database).
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Unfortunately, everything changes with handwriting recognition touched only basic English as the official Russian support from Microsoft yet. But back to the display. According to our measurements using a special methodology magazine Consumer: computers and programs, a maximum brightness of the display is 116Kd/m2, the minimum level of brightness - 13.8 cd/m2 (12% of the maximum brightness). It is commendable that a minimum level of illumination is not overstated, as most PDAs, so that we can, without straining to read text even in complete darkness. Believe me, the eye does not hurt. Even at the lowest level of illumination the contrast reaches 1:50, which is more than enough for comfortable perception of information from the display in almost any lighting conditions except direct sunlight. On the street to read the text can only be from the fifth division of the backlight. Also bad is the case even when the illumination. The text visible, so make a backup copy or the address can look, but read with backlight OFF can very quickly get tired eyes. Another feature of the new PDA is a USB-host, that is, it can be USB-connected drives or other devices and share data between them.
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As I mentioned above, the A730 - the first PDA (the class Pocket PC) with integrated digital camera, the size of the matrix is 1.3 million pixels. The camera can operate in a shooting photos with resolutions up to 1280x960, and in video mode with a resolution 252h288. The files can be saved in AVI or 3GPP with the flow to 384kbit / s. You can adjust brightness, set the exposure on one of the existing templates to change the digital zoom, set the time of the outbreak. In general, work with the A730 as well with a regular digital camera. Surprisingly, the quality of the images - quite decent, though not enough to print them in the format 10x15 cm surprising, because when you create files using high compression. Size of the image at maximum resolution - 151Kb.
Special software allows you to work in shooting mode, viewing, editing and photo album.
Combat power
The high value of the CPU clock gave me a bold hope that performance will be very high. For clarity, I compared the performance test, SBP Benchmark between A730 (PXA270), ASUS A620BT (PXA255), Toshiba e800 (PXA263), iPAQ h4150 (PXA263) and Dell X30 (PXA270). The only caveat - all the test results (except X30) were obtained by me earlier when I learned of the above devices, and data on Dell H30 taken from the review of this machine.
As expected, virtually all indicators are higher than the PXA255 and PXA263, however Graphic Index noticeably smaller. It is well known that the Graphic Index can give distorted results. Therefore, to test the video used an old proven method - to play the video with a known stream (320x240, the flow of 800Kbit / s).
The result was slightly lower than that of ASUS A620BT, but quite acceptable - you can watch videos.
Cruising
Large display, high resolution, serious CPU frequency - all with one hand, is an undoubted advantage of the device, while the other, with nearly 100% probability of an adverse effect on battery life. Therefore, starting the test measurements, I'm not really hoping to get a record value.
However, pleasantly surprised the battery life when playing music through a polyphonic speaker. The unit lasted just over 12 hours - a very decent time. E-book reduces this figure to 3.40 - 7 hours (depending on the level of illumination). 7 hours, naturally, at a minimum of level. But with video playback, it's not that smooth. Device is enough for 2-4 hours, then there is one, maximum two films. Using Bluetooth as an average reduces operating time by 20-30%. A nice feature is that the A730 can recharge the battery via the USB port of desktop and laptop. Depending on the implementation of the USB port, you can choose one of two modes of charging - fast or slow.
As the main battery is used Li-Ion Battery 1100 mAh production of Japanese firm Sanyo. In addition, there is also a backup Ni-MH battery.
Wireless house
To imagine a modern PDA without an integrated wireless adapter (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) is impossible.Only a few low-end models in order to save on the cost, lack of wireless communication (about the IR port, which became standard in all Pocket PC 2002, we humbly keep silent). ASUSTek company should be commended for consistency. Good taste is either there or not. Do Taiwanese developers he apparently has. We are talking about the program and administer Bluetooth, developed by Widcomm. The new computer is running its version 1.4.1 (build 51). The application is very well established itself in the work on computers by Hewlett-Packard and ASUS.
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| Asus MyPal A730: an application to work with Bluetooth |
The program supports the standard profiles: - Explore Bluetooth Device - search for devices with active Bluetooth adapter
- Connect to the Internet - access to the Internet using an access point, mobile phone or other device
- Join a personal network - the connection with one or more devices to communicate or participate in online games
- Partner with a cell phone - the connection to a mobile phone to exchange information
- ActiveSync via Bluetooth - synchronizing with a desktop computer or laptop via Bluetooth interface
- Browse file on a remote device - a connection to the remote device to control its data
- Connect to headset - Bluetooth headset support.
During testing, I connected the PDA with two different mobile phones (Sony-Ericsson T630 and Siemens S55) and wireless headsets (Jabra BT200 and Sony-Ericsson 65). Problems with identification devices and the exchange of data does not arise.
Conclusions
ASUS A730 - the first handheld, which sold all the benefits of the new operating system Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. First of all, it's display with higher resolution (it is important that all embedded applications support this resolution) and the ability to change orientation. It seems that with the release of ASUS A730 Pocket PC production in the company ASUSTek moved to another level of quality. Models have to resemble notebooks: High-quality assembly, original design, controls and a whole bunch of special technology "baubles" (a review of the text they are highlighted in bold), which create a unique handwriting company. New computer, have a truly "unsinkable", so his appearance will be difficult not to notice, but some people have to explicitly make a room.
UPDATE: Price ASUS A730 in Russia is fairly unknown, but intelligence from Moscow ASUS'a Steels know that the cost of low-end model (with Bluetooth and 64 MB of memory on board) is $ 440-500. The price for an older model (with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 128 MB) is not yet specified. Home sales set for July and August. The authors, translation:
