asus

Garmin-Asus parternship kills the P565

Windows Phone News

By Phil Nickinson, Sunday, Mar 1, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Not that we were likely to see it with a widespread U.S. release, but it looks like the Asus P565 — which at one point was calling itself the world's fastest — may have been killed off by Asus' recent teaming with Garmin.

German site GPSandCo (translated) reports that the P565 has been pulled from the French and German markets, likely because of the new partnership.

Sounds like Garmin-Asus is really going to be pushing its Nuvifone line. And why not? We were plenty impressed with the M20 at Mobile World Congress.

Via Unwired View

Asus drops a hot little number in the P835

Windows Phone News

By Phil Nickinson, Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 at 6:33 pm

The black slab gods have bestowed on us another behemoth, this one born from the bowels of Asus. Behold, the P835. [via]

OK, we couldn't keep up the alluring alliteration any longer. But what we have here is a sporty little multimedia phone. It's got a 3.5-inch WVGA screen running Windows Mobile 6.1 with its own custom "Glide" interface on top, Opera Mobile for your browsing needs, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball, and it reportedly can serve as an honest to goodness wireless access point. And, again, we'll point out the little Windows flag button, which could well point to a future 6.5 upgrade.

Full specs after the break, and more online at ASUS' Web site.

Hands-On with the Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20, A Little Wonder

Windows Phone News

By Dieter Bohn, Sunday, Feb 22, 2009 at 10:21 pm

We grabbed some hands-on time with the first Windows Mobile phone of the Garmin-Asus alliance, the nuvifone M20. We gotta say, we're darn impressed. The styling is helped out by a multitude of color options, but in essence think "small," "wee," or "cute" — but in a good way.

The little guy has GPS down in its guts in exactly the way you'd expect from Garmin — maps are included in the 4 gigs of onboard storage, GPS location is added to photos, e-mails, texts, basically anything you'd like to add it, too. There's a special Garmin Car Mount that it ships with that will pass-through charge and holds the device in landscape. Better yet: When you get a call when the device is in the mount, it will automatically turn off your GPS direction audio (visual directions say) and go into speakerphone. Park the car and grab the phone to continue the conversation and the phone switches out of speaker automatically. Garmin-Asus also threw on a custom skin, which does the job but doesn't wow.

We're looking at dual-band 3G and tri-band GSM, so we may not see this thing in the states when it comes out "first half of 2009," and that would be a shame. The stats:

Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Dual Band HSPA, Tri-Band GSM
WiFi, Bluetooth, Accelerometer
GPS (duh)
2.8" 640x480 Touchscreen
3MP camera
4 or 8 GB of internal storage
95.3 x 52.5 12.8 mm
99g (including battery)
528MHz Qualcomm 7200A
920 mAh battery (yes, that is small)

More photos and some of the official press stuff after the break.

Garmin-Asus announce nüvifone M20

Windows Phone News

By Dieter Bohn, Thursday, Feb 12, 2009 at 5:02 pm

For a short while we were thinking that the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 might be the first from the upcoming line to sport Windows Mobile. But now it's going to be the M20, which the new partnership announced today.

Here's what you're getting:

Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.
Qualcomm 7200A 528MHz processor.
Dual-band 3G (900 and 1200 MHz, tri-band EDGE (900/1800/1900).
WiFi b/g
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
Dimensions: 95.3 x 52.5 12.8 mm; weighs 90 grams, including the battery.
2.8-inch 640x480 touchscreen.
3-megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging.
Mini-USB for headphones and syncing.
Either 4 or 8 gigs of flash memory.
920 mAh battery.
Accelerometer.

And, obviously, all the GPS goodness Garmin can muster. Spec-wise, this isn't bad at all, though we wonder how that battery's gonna hold up. Then there's the lack of U.S. 3G bands. There's plenty more to be had at the Garmin-Asus Web site, and we'll hopefully get a better look at the M20 next week at Mobile World Congress. For now, a few more pics after the break.

Garmin and Asus team up for the nüvifone G60; is a Windows Mobile version on the way?

Windows Phone News

By Phil Nickinson, Wednesday, Feb 4, 2009 at 7:20 pm

Garmin, the GPS behemoth, and Asus, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer that has dabbled in Windows Mobile, have teamed up to finally get nüvifones, the uber-location-based iPhone-looking phones, onto the market. And Gizmodo is speculating that Windows Mobile could well be the operating system of choice. The love child would be called the nüvifone G60.

Giz is reporting that the first nüvifone out of the block won't be Android-based (sorry, guys).

Rather, it will be a phone running another "major platform." I am guessing that means Windows Mobile, but there's no telling which version, 6.1, 6.5 or 7.

We may learn a little more this morning when Asus and Garmin address the North American markets, and they've promised that we'll get a good look at the nüvifone at Mobile World Congress in a couple of weeks in Barcelona, Spain. And if this Windows Mobile angle checks out, we'll be there on top of it.

For now, check out the full press release after the break.

More on the nüvifone G60, Garmin and Asus' Alliance

Windows Phone News

By Dieter Bohn, Wednesday, Feb 4, 2009 at 5:27 pm

We're listening in on the Garmin Press call about the nüvifone G60 that they'll be co-releasing. They're pretty pumped about their synergistic strategic alignments (or somesuch corporate-speak), the news is that nüvifone will soon expand into a "broad range of devices." The G60 will be shown off, but more imporantly a new model be fully unveiled at MWC09, and apparently more will come later this year.

It looks like they're trying to stay mum about just what OS they're planning on using long-term. As we said before the G60 is some custom ROM and the next device isn't likely to be Android. Given one of these partners is Asus, it's still a good possibility that the announced device at MWC09 will run on Windows Mobile. Later on, though, all bets are off. Both members are part of the Open Handset Alliance and it will "be part of the strategy moving forward," so WinMo might not be the long-term solution.

If you're interested in the business aspect, it's a straightforward "contractual alliance with profit sharing" and co-branding. In other words, no mergers or acquisitions here, they're just working together. Both companies are free to do whatever they'd like with other gadgets, they're just working together on smartphones.

You can try to hunt down more deets at garminasus.com, but it's pretty slim pickings.

The Asus P565 is fast ... Very fast

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:30 am

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The headline says it all. The Taiwanese manufacturer best known for desktop motherboards and the like has dabbled in the Windows Mobile world for some time but never really broke through.

Now, it has unleashed the P565 which was immediately hailed as "world's fastest." And, in truth, it's actually quite the beast. Full specs are after the jump. But the short version is a 480x640 touchscreen and an 800-freaking-megahertz Marvell processor. (Before you get too excited, it's lacking the 850 band for US 3G data. Grrrrrrrr.)

By comparison, the HTC Touch Pro is running a 528MHz processor, as is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The Palm Treo Pro is at 400MHz, and the iPhone 3G is listed at 620MHz 412MHz.

Of course, pure chip speed isn't everything (though it's pretty darn close). So we'll the above video speak for itself. On the left is a Touch Diamond. On the right, the Asus P565.

Wow.

GSMDome via WMPowerUser

Asus P565 specs

Bands: HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz (That's bad news for us in the U.S., with no 850 MHz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1™ Professional
Form Factor: Bar Type
Color: Black
Dimensions: 102 x 60.5 x 16 mm
Weight: 120g with battery
Standby Time: 3G: 300 hours; 2G: 250 hours
Talk Time: 3G: 4 hours; 2G: 6 hours
Display: 2.8" TFT, Touch Screen, 65,000-color, 480 x 640 pixels
CPU: Marvell PXA930 800MHz (!)
Memory: Built-in 256MB Flash ROM, 128MB DDR SDRAM
Expansion Slot: Micro-SD (support SDHC)
Communication: WLAN 802.11b/g, USB v1.1, Bluetooth V2.0+EDR
Browsing: HTTP and WAP 1.2.1/2.0
Messaging: SMS/MSN/MMS/ Email/Push E-Mail
Battery: 1300mAh Li-Ion
PIM & Utilities: Word (editor) / Excel (editor) / Power Point (viewer) / Windows Live, MSN / Voice Commander / Push Email (Exchange Server) / Business Card Recognition / PDF viewer
Camera: 3 Mega-Pixels, Auto Focus (Main), 300K-Pixels Camera for Video Telephony (Sub)
Video: Record:MPEG4@QVGA 24fps / H.263@QCIF 24fps; Playback: MPEG4@QVGA 30fps / H.263@QCIF 30fps
Picture: JPEG/PNG/GIF/BMP
Audio: MP3/WMA/AAC/AAC+/3GP
Ringtone: MIDI/MP3
JAVA: J2ME (CLDC 1.1 + MIDP2.0)

Asus Glaxy7: Omnia, who?

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:29 am

Well, now. This week's off to a good start, first with Sprint's integrated picture mail being linked, and now with this little gem.

Enter the Asus Glaxy7 [via wmpoweruser], an obvious answer to the Samsung Omnia. And it indeed is a looker.

What's reportedly under the hood:

Windows Mobile 6.1.
EDGE (850/900/1800/1900), WCDMA (900/1900/2100). That's bad news for the U.S., though, without the 850 MHz band for 3G.
5MP camera!
800x480 3.5-inch touchscreen.
4 hours talk time, 200 hours standby.
4 gigs of memory.
MicroSD card.
Trackball navigation.
Accelerometer.
Dimensions 115mm x 59mm x 13.8mm.
WiFi.
aGPS.
Bluetooth 2.0.

A possible October launch also is mentioned. Let's hope we see this one sooner rather than later.

Asus Slaps Glide on ZX1

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:27 am

We recently announced that Asus would be launching a new interface for their up and coming models. Before we could finish typing the

Asus Glides into Windows Mobile

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:26 am

Ahh the joy of Windows Mobile. The ability to adjust, tweak, and customize has been nothing new to us. In knowing this Asus decided to join the fun. Asus has launched Glide, designed to give Asus Windows Mobile devices a face lift.

Glide looks promising and might bring competition to HTC

Asus m536 aka "Treo Killer" Hands On

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:24 am

Tam Hana got one-on-one time with the Asus m536 (as well as every other Asus device, see our earlier post) and shows off some of the unique features e.g. the bizaro "5 way" control, which is certainly...err...unique (check out the vid below).

In fairness, for the wonky controller you are also granted a very cool fingerprint reader, a security feature that is finally starting to make its way onto mobile devices like this one, allowing you to feel very Jason Bourne-esque before you go and stream some Youtube.

And check out those "ok", "email" and "start menu" flush (touch sensitive?) buttons in the black....

Specs

WM 6.1
2.4" 320x320 screen
256mb flash
GPS
tri-band GSM (boo)
HSDPA

What's with the wasted screen space above? Gah. Unfortunately we won't see this one in the U.S. anytime soon but hopefully Asus will break into the market State side sooner than later (an issue disccused here in our forums).

Click the link below to see the super quick video of the odd 5-way in action!

Asus M930i: In the Flesh

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:24 am

Not that we'll see this device in the U.S. officially anytime soon but here are some of the first live shots of the Nokia-esque Asus M930i, an interesting entry into the competitive WM6 Standard world. The features on the device aren't too shabby and while the design is certainly...interesting. Well, at least Asus is trying something different from the likes of HTC and Palm.

Check out the specs, a first opinion and some comparison shots (Treo 680 + iPod Touch) after the jump...

Of note is the bump to a quad-band for this fella as it was earlier reported to only be tri-band, so if you wants it here in the States, feel free to import. Also, looks like the camera, processor and memory were bumped downward. Dream high, shoot low.

Dual Display (2.6' & 2.0")
HSDPA (3.6 Mbps)/EDGE
450mhz
WM6 Standard
256mb Storage + 64mb RAM + microSD
Wifi
BT 2.0
Full KB
2MP camera

But what is up with the 64mb of DDR RAM? Sure, reports on the DDR update to WM RAM has been positive (it's faster) but 64mb for WM6, even the Standard, is quite weak. And how does the device fair? Well according to Tam who had a hands-on:

From an usability standpoint, I dare to question the tradeoffs made in the M930i

Asus to Offer WM6

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:23 am

Asus and ETEN are similar in that they both are awfully far behind HTC in terms of market share and sheer number of devices they release. They're also similar in that it's relatively difficult to get ahold of their gadgets here in the US. Now they're similar in yet another way, like ETEN before them, Asus has announced they'll be offering WM6 updates for a heap of devices:

A639/A626/A686/A696 and P535/ P735 only

..The updates should hit in July; you also may care that "Terms and conditions apply" -- well, you probably don't care, terms and conditions always apply, don't they?

Read: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Asus P526 (Pegasus) Announced

Windows Phone News

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:22 am

We caught a brief glimpse of the P526 in our 3GSM Mega-Roundup 2, and now Asus has made it official. Their press release keeps using the word "trendy" to describe it, which I find a touch odd, but that's their prerogative.

The P526 stands a decent chance (for an Asus device, at least) of making its way here to the states, as it sports a quad-band GSM Radio (EDGE only, though). It also has GPS integrated. I'm telling you, my next "main brain" phone will have GPS built-in. Oh, and it'll rock WM6 when it comes out - signs point to May.

"The P526 is the perfect trendy PDA phone for users who want to utilize the user-friendly and "Live" functions of Windows Live," said H C Hung, Head of ASUSTeK's Handheld Business Unit.

Read: ASUS P526 PDA / Cell Phone Announced

WM6 at 3GSM: Mega Roundup 2, Including Device Photos

Featured

By chris#wp, Saturday, Jan 3, 2009 at 3:22 am

Today was supposed to be the day for Windows Mobile 6, but after the embargo on was was broken late last week, a lot of the details are already widely known. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a bunch of new info that you'll want to know about today. The most exciting bits: photos of WM6 running on a bunch of old and new devices - photos after the break.

It appears that T-Mobile is going to be the first US Carrier out of the gate with WM6 shipping on the Dash. The really surprising news is that it looks like a few current WM5 devices will be getting upgrades - T-Mobile has already announced they'll be giving a free upgrade for the Dash and Palm is expected to announce an upgrade for the Treo 750 as well. Given the standard operating procedure of most carriers and manufactures, not having to buy a new gadget to get the new OS is a welcome change.

The other exciting bit this morning is that both Toshiba and Lenovo are in the Windows Mobile game now (Toshiba got out of the game a few years ago, welcome back!). The MotoQ is coming to GSM too. Also after the break: the official press release, Microsoft's WM6 "Fact Sheet", and a ton of device shots.

Official stuff

Here's the offical press release. If you've been following the story, there's not much new here. If you have not, here's a few important bits:

View emails in HTML, email also requires fewer clicks to do stuff like delete and forward emails.
Built-in Windows Live Search
Edit Office docs on all platforms
WM6 Pro is the touchscreen smartphone version, WM6 Standard is the non-touchscreen smartphone version, and WM6 Classic is the non-smartphone, touchscreen version (quit snickering, you, some people still want this).
Direct Push with Exchange Server built-in (for those of you with terminally old version of WM5)
Devices available in Q2.
All sorts of companies are on board, including: "AT&T, Chunghwa Telecom, Dopod International Corp., HP, LG Electronics, Motorola Inc., Palm Inc., Samsung, Sprint, Telefónica, Toshiba, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone."
"One-Click easy" Internet sharing (read: Dial-up Networking) over bluetooth and USB. Please, carriers, don't break this.
Built-in VOIP "backend" to make developing VOIP applications easier.

You may also want to take a peek at the WM6 Fact Sheet, which teaches us, well, it teaches us the same things but in a shorter, better-looking format.

From the horse's, er, mouth, comes this gallery of Window Mobile 6 screenshots

Finally, Microsoft has a new Windows Mobile 6 page up, for those who want the official pretty. They also have a great webcast available as well (Internet Explorer required, naturally) hosted by Pieter Knook, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Devices division (since my name is Dieter, a guy who puts an "i" there in his name is OK in my book).

WM6 Devices that should make it to the US:

Toshiba's Back!

Great to see Toshiba (and Lenovo, see below) come back to the PocketPC game. Toshiba's really out-doing themselves here, the G900 and the G500 both look great. The G900, the one with the full keyboard there, is a HSDPA WM6 Professional phone with all sorts of neat little innovations, including:

Fingerprint sensor feature for extra security and easy menu navigation
3-inch wide, colour W-VGA display for enhanced viewing quality
Read and write access to a USB flash memory device
2 mega pixel camera
Secondary camera for video telephony
Support for VoIP

The G500 is no slouch either, despite having WM6 Standard. It has essentially the same specs as the G900m, just lacking the touchscreen. Strangely, Toshiba's site says this little bugger runs WM5. Say it ain't so, Toshiba.

Moto Q9: Awesome; Moto Q: Coming on GSM

The original MotoQ made a big splash followed by a bit of fizzle. I think the Q9 is significantly better looking and significantly cooler, if only because it's being offered as a quad-band GSM phone with HSDPA right out of the gate.

Quad-band GSM plus 3.6 megabit HSDPA
QVGA display
Just 11.8mm thick
2 megapixel camera
Stereo Bluetooth
microSD card slot

Read: Motorola Q q9 with HSDPA - MobileTracker

The original Q is also getting the GSM treatment. With the Q9 coming, all I can say is yawn. The last photo here is the Q GSM veriosn next to the Q9. I know which one I prefer.

HP: iPaq keeps chugging along

HP hasn't impressed me lately, with any luck this new Voice Messenger iPAQ 500 will change that. It's got VOIP built in and a full 6 hours of talk time on GSM/EDGE. No UMTS or HSDPA, tsk tsk, HP, you're continuing to disappoint me. I appreciate the built-in WiFi, though. It looks like HP is positioning this as a kind of super-office-phone, using VOIP when you're at work and the cell radio when you're not. More on the iPAQ 500 at Mobility Site

HTC: T-Mobile Dash to Run WM6, HTC Vox: Pretty Please, come to the USA

It's worth saying again: Big Ups to T-Mobile for announcing they'll be offering WM6 on future and current Dashes. Oh, yeah, the upgrade will be FREE, available in Q2.

Also new from HTC and running WM6 Standard, the HTC Vox. This looks like a great form-factor to me. Here's hoping I'll be able to get one in the states soon. Shots of the Vox below, including comparisons to the Dash (aka. the HTC Excalibur)

Samsung SCH-i760: Best Slider Yet?

Ever since I saw the (battery-less) i760 at CES, I've been in love. The little wonder is due to come out on Verizon. I really like the innovation of moving the 5-way down to make space for a full 12-key phone pad, I really like the slider on this guy, I really like the fact that it runs WM6 Standard. Samsung seems to be doing a really good job with form-factors lately (check out this dual-sliding awesomeness, though no word yet on what the linked f520 will have for an OS). Übergizmo has a video from CES of the i760.

Since the i760 has me so jazzed, I have to include a few extra photos here.

Palm Treo 750 Running WM6

Here's what appears to be a 750 running WM6. It does appear to be that horrible 240x240 resolution (though it's worth noting that WM6 supports 320x320, the Treo's resolution on the PalmOS versions). Palm will be announcing upgrade to the 750 later. JOY.

Live Search is out of Beta

They renamed it "Live Search", thank the lord, so that it doesn't share the same name with the built-in Search app on WM. This is one 3GSM announcement you can apply to your current phone - it works just fine with WM5 (it's built-in to WM6. You can go get it here.

Live Search for Mobile, which we first revealed in December, is now out of beta and available for public consumption in two localized versions - United States and United Kingdom.

Read: Pocket PC Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

WM6 SDK for developers available soon

Although WM6 looks to be fully backward-compatible with WM5 apps, that doesn't mean that there aren't new WM6 toys for developers to play with. Linked is a white paper describing the new tools available to developers.

The Windows Mobile® 6 developer platform release focuses on a few core goals: simplify line of business (LOB) application development and deployment, make the task of building a single application that runs successfully across the many different devices in the Windows Mobile family easier, and provide an enhanced user experience. This paper explains the new Windows Mobile 6 features and their purpose from a developer's perspective. This paper also explains the many new tools provided by the Windows Mobile 6 Software Development Kit (SDK), and provides some guidance on getting started developing Windows Mobile 6 applications.

Read: What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6

Devices that may or may not (sniffle) make it to the US

Asus has a few devices coming, we'll start with the Aries, a UMTS Tri-band (850, 1900, and 2100) QWERTY phone with a scroll whell, 2 megapixel cam (and smaller one on the front).

Here's the Pegasus line: P735 (no keyboard on front) and P526 (keypad on front). Not much in the way of details on these yet, but the P526 is pretty darn good looking. The P526 also should have GPS built-in and has won a design award too, rightly so.

i-mate

i-mate has announced a slew of great-looking phones, I really hope that they make their way to these shores, but I'm not optimistic. Pictured here is the i-mate SPL, now available in colors.

Also new from i-mate is the JAQ4, a QWERTY phone with Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, which is disappointing, but it does feature WiFi, so that helps.

The JAQ3 will also run WM6. Here is it next to it's newly announced big brother. Specs on both here

Lenovo

Good news: Lenovo is also jumping on board the Windows Mobile Bandwagon! Bad News: we know next to nothing about these two phones. More details as they come - one of which I hope will be the explanation for that intriguing "Google G" we see in that first shot.

Phew! That'll do for now. There are other announcement by other manufactures like Gigabyte and BenQ, but I don't think there's much of a chance of seeing those in the US market.