Intro
It’s an open secret that Asus production is of high quality. Sometimes their decisions look bold. Take the idea of creating the communicator with touch display and hardware numeric keyboard to turn mobile phones users to “high-tech”. Windows Mobile platform looks difficult enough for people who got used to calling and typing sms with usual mobile phone. Taking out stylus takes time and touching the screen virtual keyboard with it may become a problem. Making the move to the new operating system easier, Asus added numeric keyboard to a communicator. This way the messages and numbers typing remained comfortable. All that resulted in Asus P525, a device that had a great success. Here is not the end of the story. It is rather the beginning of a new one. The company designers and market researches advanced on this. Asus P526 possesses new OS version, hardware keyboard and GPS.
We should notice the novelty is not a previous model modification. It has the orientation of its own. That caused certain changes in the outside of the device as well as in its inside.
Asus P526 Characteristics
Operating system – Windows Mobile 6 Professional
CPU – Texas Instruments 200 MHz
Memory – 64 Mb ROM, 128 Mb RAM
Display – 2.6", 320x240 (QVGA), 65.536 colours
Memory card – MicroSD
Connectivity – GSM 850/900/1800/1900, GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0
GPS – SirfStar III
Camera – 2.0 Mp
Rechargeable battery – 1300 mAH
Dimensions, weight – 110 õ 58õ 15 mm, 115 g
Asus P526 appearance and ergonomics
Quite natural thing we can’t help remembering Asus P525 when we talk about his “younger brother” Asus P526. First of all dimensions take our attention. P526 is much smaller and thinner. The weight is another thing that differs the new device from its forefather: it won’t pull your pocket off.
Let’s begin with the most interesting, i.e. the numeric keyboard. The first difference we see comparing the two communicators keyboards is the joystick absence. P525 body, which is quite big, has the only place to hold it: between numeric keys «2» and «5». P526 has got even less space. As a result there’s no joystick. Which lead Asus engineers to implement all the navigation with just a scroll wheel and some soft-buttons. Let’s have a look at this…
Soft-buttons are represented by two slim stripes. Not very convenient in use, frankly speaking. The reason why is, firstly, their size. Besides, they are joined with the “start” and “voice call” buttons. An unusual combination. The “start” and “OK” is the most frequent pair.
The scroll wheel is on the left side of the device. It works like a lever rather than a wheel: that mean it moves up and down and when you press it. Although this system is quite widespread, there are manufacturers who manage to put full-fledged scroll wheels into their devices (like HTC P3600 Trinity). Every man to his own taste, however…
Below the wheel is “OK” button that reduces an opened window or a software. There is a jut right below the button to make it easy for tactile finding.
Let’s return directly to the keyboard. Unlike his predecessor, Asus P526 has rubberized keyboard buttons. It makes them pleasant to press. Besides, they do not produce loud clicks when you press them. To the sides of the numeric part there are the “receivers”, noticeably bigger than before, “Switch” and “C” buttons. We find the 526’ keyboard more convenient, its buttons being soft and relief much more than those of 525. We can’t say the same about the navigational system, though.
Many potential owners of the device will face the “to be or not to be” question when deciding whether they need joystick or not. We would only like to give an advice. If you have such an opportunity – test both devices in the shop before you decide what is more important for you. The thing is, differences between this two communicators don’t end in the menu navigation.
As far as we’ve discussed two sides of the communicator, it’s time to turn our attention to the other two. On the right butt-end it’s got the following: «Hold» rod, that blocks the screen and buttons of an accidental pressing, “Camera” activation button, reset button and MicroSD memory card module. Asus P526 has an interesting peculiarity. If the screen is off-line (which happens when you press the power button that is on the upper butt), you can “wake” the device up by a single press of the “receivers”. Frankly speaking it’s not that good. When you wear the device in your pocket it tends to unblock when you move. That’s what the “Hold” rod is for.
On the bottom of Asus P526 there’s a slot for a headset (2.5 ìì), miniUSB slot for synchronization and charging and the stylus case. Monolithic stylus is made of plastic and sits in its case quite tight.
On the back of the communicator, there’s the camera lens, speaker and a slot to plug the outer GPS-antenna (you have to buy it separately). It’s nice that this slot is covered with the plastic stopper. The lid of the accumulator compartment moves tightly but may acquire some lost motion. Under the accumulator there is the sim-card groove. Putting the card in or taking it out should not cause any problems.
All in all P526 produces good impression. It’s made of the quality plastic, all the parts and details are set closely and tightly together. Let’s not cut the designers to pieces because of the controls block, it’s the question of taste whether you like it or not.
Asus P526. Inside the sales package.
Asus P526 box is quite big and contains the following:
- 220 V Power Pack
- in-car Power Pack
- In-car fastening
- Synchronization cable
- Cover
- Stereo headset
- Documentation
- Software CD
The in-car fastening has a long flexible “leg” and adjustable “grip” for the comfortable device placement in the car. It’s another quality thing. It can hold your communicator no matter how bad the road is.
It is strange enough that designers refused the usual belt bag and offered us something that is actually two walls connected by a rubber binding with a small eyelet so you can attach a small strap to it. Essentially this cover can only protect the device from getting scratches.
Stereo headset is well known by many because it was used in the 525th model. It bears the “accept call” button and the volume control wheel. The earphones form helps them sit tight so they won’t fall out of your ears when you move. And they are quite loud to give you proper sound even in the metro.
Software includes ActiveSync program, Paragon Software dictionary and some applications by SPB SoftwareHouse.
Asus P526 display
Small dimensions of the device offer almost no space for the screen, so it is not big: 2.6’’. It is quite convenient, though. You won’t feel big difference from a 2.8’’ display. 8 degrees of the highlight brightness seem to be enough. Still, under the direct sunlight, the display goes blind even with the brightest highlight. May be it rather glares than goes blind but that doesn’t change the problem of using this display with the sun shining bright.
The image the screen produces looks rich if compared to the 2.8’’ devices. That is the result of the diagonal’ reduction which caused the grain reduction.
Asus P526 performance
Asus P526, with the Texas Instruments CPU of 200 MHz only, can’t compare to its “elder brother” in performance. Frankly speaking, I can’t explain why the Asus engineers decided to lower the power. Their communicators are known to be more longstanding than their rivals’ ones.
Below are the results of Asus P256 test with SPB Benchmark.
| |
Asus P526 |
HTC P3300 |
|
Spb Benchmark index |
243 |
226 |
|
CPU index |
841 |
845 |
|
File system index |
101 |
93 |
|
Graphics index |
4125 |
2621 |
|
|
Asus P526 |
HTC P3300 |
|
Write 1 MB file (KB/sec) |
592 |
871 |
|
Read 1 MB file (MB/sec) |
10 |
2.84 |
|
Copy 1 MB file (KB/sec) |
676 |
1154 |
|
Write 10 KB x 100 files (KB/sec) |
121 |
114 |
|
Read 10 KB x 100 files (MB/sec) |
1.8 |
1.6 |
|
Copy 10 KB x 100 files (KB/sec) |
182 |
192 |
|
Directory list of 2000 files (thousands of files/sec) |
0.81 |
0.815 |
|
Internal database read (records/sec) |
535 |
527 |
|
Graphics test: DDB BitBlt (frames/sec) |
398 |
398 |
|
Graphics test: DIB BitBlt (frames/sec) |
143 |
17.5 |
|
Graphics test: GAPI BitBlt (frames/sec) |
439 |
430 |
|
Pocket Internet Explorer HTML load (KB/sec) |
4.09 |
4.31 |
|
Pocket Internet Explorer JPEG load (KB/sec) |
88.5 |
98.6 |
|
File Explorer large folder list (files/sec) |
330 |
331 |
|
Compress 1 MB file using ZIP (KB/sec) |
149 |
139 |
|
Decompress 1024x768 JPEG file (KB/sec) |
251 |
243 |
|
Arkaball frames per second (frames/sec) |
121 |
130 |
|
CPU test: Whetstones MFLOPS (Mop/sec) |
0.33 |
0.34 |
|
CPU test: Whetstones MOPS (Mop/sec) |
26 |
26.1 |
|
CPU test: Whetstones MWIPS (Mop/sec) |
2.31 |
2.3 |
|
Memory test: copy 1 MB using memcpy (MB/sec) |
44 |
47.9 |
|
ActiveSync: upload 1 MB file (KB/sec) |
329 |
317 |
|
ActiveSync: download 1 MB file (KB/sec) |
557 |
531 |
The communicator has also been tested for video reproduction ability. TCPMP player was used for this. Two movies were played with 320õ240 and 640õ480 resolution. As the standard, we took the rate of 120% that is video playing with no jerking.
| |
Asus P526 |
HTC P3300 |
|
Âèäåî ðîëèê 320õ240 |
120.96% |
146.67% |
|
Âèäåî ðîëèê 640õ480 |
51.08% |
51.65% |
As you see the device cope with video playing though it takes all its resources.
The memory characteristics are usual for a device of this class 64 MB ROM è 128 MB RAM. A microSD card will help to enlarge the memory.
The rechargeable battery from the packaging arrangement is 1300 mAH. That is quite good for a device of such low power. Asus can work about 3 days under standard workload (calls, books reading). We made some detailed measurements. The results are:
Reading with highlight set to 50% - 22 hours 14minutes
MP3 playing with the screen turn off – 13 hours 34 minutes
The maximum loading (all the adapter modules are on, a video is playing) – 5 hours 26 minutes
Multimedia
The loudspeaker is quite good to produce the sound of proper volume. The speaker for calls is quite loud so we had to set the highest volume only in russian metro.
Vibro is not quite strong. You’ll fill it if the device is in your pocket, but you’ll surely miss the call if P256 is in your bag. Asus P526 settings contain the «Profiles» to create some volume presets for different situations without installing additional software. Both speakers have 6 volume positions.
2 Mp camera of Asus P526 provides maximum photo resolution of 1600õ1200. Unlike Asus P525, the novelty has no auto focus, no flash. There’s also no macro mode any more. That doesn’t affect the photos quality, though.
The maximum video record resolution is 176õ144 because the processor of such a low power will not cope with making videos of higher resolution. Formats are 3GP and MPEG4. The camera activates on holding the “activate camera” button for 3 seconds.
The reels are not of high quality. The picture won’t stop jerking never getting any smooth.
Asus P526 connectivity
GSM module works in 800/900/1800/1900 ÌÃö, supporting GPRS/EDGE. An interesting thing: the 525th was blamed by many for not having EDGE support, but the 526th showed even more paradoxical lack: it has no WiFi. We may say Asus took a middle ground between Glofiish and HTC in question of the technical progress usage in devices, for which the Glofiish answer is “to be” that often damages their devices reliability, and HTC, on the opposite, slows down the development, but gets no problem wit the devices’ quality.
The Asus P526 «phone» software interface differs considerably from its analogs. They refused to use virtual numeric buttons naturally imparting their functions to the real numeric keyboard. It frees big useful part of the screen to fill it with the contact list.
Another thing is Asus 526 acquired Asus Launcher shell as in usual mobile phones. Menu items can be represented by icons as well as by list which is easier to navigate with the scroll wheel that offers only two directions to move (unlike the 4 directions of the joystick).
Bluetooth-module is of 2.0 version, supports A2DP i.e. works with wireless stereo headsets. We faced no problems with usual wire mono and stereo headsets. Stack by Microsoft.
Here is where we face the main difference between two Asus keyboard-bearing communicators. The 526th has GPS chip. The navigation is done by the SirfStar III that is so popular among the mobile devices and navigators manufacturers. The «cold» start of the module took about 20 minutes, which is quite normal, while the «hot» one sometimes took more than 3 minutes. The latter could be caused by bad weather on the test day. The time of the “cold” start can be decreased with the GPS Catcher software that downloads data about satellites via the Internet.
There’s no navigation software in package. The good thing is you don’t have to pay additional money for a little add that could possibly displease you. We tested the GPS chip with the TomTom Navigator 6 software. The device functioned with no problems during the test.
Pre-installed Asus P526 software
Asus Launcher is worth mentioning again. You shouldn’t underestimate it: since P256 has no joystick, navigating is not easy. This software offers something more convenient – a list of menu items, easy to navigate with the wheel. A pleasant surprise – we can choose the menu items for list. Spend some time to adjusting it and you won’t waste time always going the usual “Start - Programs” way.
Another useful phone ability of Asus P256 is creating “black lists” preventing from getting unwanted calls.
Another plus is you don’t have to waste time on GPRS adjustments because all the data for three Moscow providers are already there.
A small pictogram at the bottom of the screen launches the «Asus Assistant», that provides info on memory, charge level, highlight brightness and indicates whether device is connected to computer.
Now to the above mentioned “Switch” button. Press it to launch the software with the same name. What we get is a small window with some icons of quick-launch (the list of programs may be edited). It’s quite convenient to use.
This Asus communicator you can also use as card-reader. Settings contain an item turning on this mode of communicator recognition by computer.
The price and the market disposition.
Asus P526 should be compared to his “elder brother” Asus P525 because they’re both keyboard (though it’s numeric keyboard we mean here, not “qwerty” one). Another device to compare with our subject is HTC P3300 Artemis that has almost the same dimensions and technical characteristics (except WiFi). The point here is their price. 15.000 rubles (about 450-500$) that Asus asks for the 526 seem the fair price for a communicator with GPS and numeric keyboard. Such price is quite good, at least for the day these strings are being written… HTC P3300 Artemis is much higher (about 18.000 rub, 550-600$). It possesses the TrackWheel though, an interesting control module, and provides WiFi. 525th on its turn will cost you 12.500 ðóáëåé including the joystick it possesses, the CPU that is powerful than the 526th one and WiFi module. The only clear minus is that you surely need an outer GPS module if you want to use the 525th to navigate in a city.
We don’t think this device will be very popular among the experienced users who know what convenient menu navigation means, but those who do not demand much will possibly think of it as of a good navigational device to choose.
All in all, Asus P526 is quite a disputable model. With such useful things like the hardware keyboard and the GPS-chip it lacks widely used WiFi and has no useful control block. It may be critical for somebody. Some may find it normal. It’s for you to decide whether you liked it or not, we just stop here with some “pro et contra”.
Pluses: small dimensions and weight, ergonomic keyboard, scroll wheel, long autonomic work, GPS and EDGE support.
Minuses: NO joystick, WiFi is not supported, the CPU is slow and the soft-buttons ergonomics is poor.
Author’s IMHO
I remember that many were expecting this device to appear in stores. So were the hopes justified? At least not for me. It appeared quite problematic to use communicator without a four-positional joystick or a navigational button. Navigational software gets especially affected by this. Sometimes you have to turn a map through an exact angle. This is not an easy thing to do with that small touch display of the device. Especially if you have to do it in your car. Games, quite naturally, will add problems – so we can’t recommend it to students, though they are sure to be pleased to use this keyboard to type messages in ICQ. Let’s try to summarize the above said and characterize Asus p526 qualities in one word…I only managed with “disputable”.
Author: Rn21 |
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