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| Asus Mypal A620BT |
| Product: Asus MyPal A620BT Reviewed by: Mobile PC Magazine Geeks and gearheads have a passion for high-performance machines, tweaking their gadgets in every way possible to squeeze out those extra nanoseconds. The folks at Asus, known for making excellent PC motherboards, share that passion and released the MyPal A620BT PDA to prove it. With its sizzling performance, bright screen, Bluetooth, and long battery life, you may want to make the MyPal your pal, too. A quick look at the MyPal says nothing of the outstanding performer within. Its plastic casing has the familiar brushed-aluminum look of many Pocket PCs, but there are a few differences. The record button is on the top rather than the side, which makes it less likely to be accidentally punched as you pull the device from your pocket. The other big difference is the CompactFlash slot. Newer Secure Digital slots are now much more common and arguably better than CF, so it�s surprising that Asus has gone with the older media type. The slot has a removable panel, so it can accommodate larger CF add-in modules. The A620BT is thin and light, at just 4.9 x 3.2 x 0.5 inches and 5 ounces. Asus claims that it�s the smallest and lightest PDA with a CF slot, but we found that it weighed the same as an HP iPaq h2200, which is smaller but thicker. At any rate, the Asus is compact and pocketable � particularly for a CF handheld. So if you�re looking to maintain your collection of CF cards and peripherals, this is the PDA for you. In most respects, the MyPal is a midrange to high-end Pocket PC. Its 400MHz Intel XScale PXA255 processor is near the top of the line, but its 64MB of RAM is average. However, it does have about 32MB of free nonvolatile flash memory for backing up your contacts database and other important data. While it can�t boast high-speed Wi-Fi, the A620BT does have Bluetooth to differentiate it from lowlier Pocket PCs. The MyPal is a true friend to the eyes and ears. The 320 x 240-pixel, transflective TFT offers up the standard 65,536 colors, but it is quite bright and high contrast. It can�t match the higher resolution screen of our favorite, the Toshiba e805, but it is just as bright and easy to read. And though the integrated speaker is weak, the unit sounds great with headphones on. At its maximum volume, music verges on painful, just as it should. Asus ships two software discs with the device, but there�s not really much on them. One has the typical set of Outlook 2002 and ActiveSync 3.7 and links to AvantGo. The other includes Pocket PC themes, some free software, and game downloads. Of these, the best are IA Presenter, IA Album, and IA Zip (a WinZip-compatible compression utility). The most memorable game is Dung Cleaner, a Lode-Runner> clone in which you dig holes to evade your pursuers and collect, well, dung. Showing off in our performance tests, the MyPal systematically bludgeoned the competition in our benchmark tests. With a record-setting Spb Benchmark score of 1,691, the Asus was yards ahead of its closest competitor, the HP iPaq h4150. Battery life was also excellent, though not the best we�ve seen. The unit played video for four hours and 20 minutes, and it lasted for another hour and 15 minutes after the video stopped. But that�s still better than most Palm devices and many Pocket PCs. The MyPal A620BT may not have the most extensive spec set in the world, but in the end it�s all about the performance. Asus could have made this product wholly irresistible had it included an SD slot and Wi-Fi, but it�s still a lot of PDA for $399. -Roger Hibbert Best Feature: Record-breaking performance Worst Feature: CompactFlash slot instead of SD SPECS: Price: $399 Weight: 5 ounces Size: 4.9 x 3.2 x 0.5 inches Specs: 400MHz XScale processor; 64Mb of RAM; 64Mb of ROM; 3.5-inch 320 x 240-pixel TFT; Bluetooth; CF slot; lithium-ion battery; Windows Mobile 2003 www.asus.com |