September 11, 2008 ASUS is making a new foray into the world of touch screen-interfacing with the announcement of its ASUS P552w PDA phone. Though its not clear when it will appear or how much it will cost, we do know that the unit packs a 624MHz processor, GPS, a 2.8" touch-screen, in-built camera (though only 2 MP), 3.5G HSDPA, plus Bluetooth and WLAN 802.11b/g connectivity in a tidy 102 x 60.5 x 14.5 mm (4" x 2.4" x 0.57") package weighing 105g (3.7oz). The touch-navigation system, dubbed "Glide", promises simple fingertip access to applications and intuitive control of actions like zooming, scrolling and flipping.
Like the company's other smartphone offerings the ASUS P552w will run on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system and will ship with Google Maps (though it;s not available in the US), photo and music management applications (EziPhoto and EziMusic) and programs designed for common web applications like RSS newsfeeds, YouTube movies and Flickr. One clever spin-off of this is the ASUS SMS Location Link - a feature which lets users at different locations to quickly locate each other by sending SMS messages and receiving a link to relevant info and directions via Google Maps.
While comparisons have already been drawn between the appearance, and the 3D touch interface of the HTC Touch, we'll be interested to see how the P552w shapes up when it hits the market. Read on for specs.
Specifications:
- Networks: HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900, Class 10
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1™ Professional
- Color: Black or White
- Dimensions: 102 x 60.5 x 14.5 mm
- Weight: 105g (with battery)
- Standby Time: 300 hrs with 3G and 250 hrs with 2G**
- Talk Time: 3 hrs with 3G and 5 hrs with 2G**
- Display: 2.8" TFT, Touch Screen 65K color, QVGA 240 x 320 pixels
- Processor: Marvell Tavor 624MHz
- Memory: 256MB Flash + 128MB DDR
- Expansion Slot: MicroSD with SDHC support
- Connectivity: WLAN 802.11b+g , USB v1.1(FS), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
- WAP Browser: HTTP / WAP 1.2.1/2.0
- Messaging: SMS / MMS / Email / MSN / Push E-mail
- Battery: 1100mAh Li-Ion
- GPS: SiRF StarIII with internal antenna
- PIM: Word (editor), Excel (editor), Power Point (viewer), IE, Windows® Live, MSN, Voice Commander and Push
- Email (Exchange Server)
- Other Features: Google Maps, Anytime Launcher, ASUS Today, Multi-Home, EziMusic and EziPhoto
- Camera: 2.0 Mega pixel Fixed Focus (JPEG, PNG, GIP, BMP)
- Video: Record:MPEG4@QVGA 24fps / H.263@QCIF 24fps, Playback:MPEG4@QVGA 30fps / H.263@QCIF 30fps, Audio/Video Streaming
- Audio Format: MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+
Note: Google Maps is only available in Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UK, Taiwan, and China.Via ASUS.
