Asus Mobile: News

In case you weren't aware, ASUS has a little bit of thing for bamboo, and its passionate displays of affection were unapologetic at CeBIT this year in Germany. The company was showing off a number product concepts on the show, as seen above, and while little info was given on specs or releases, they certainly seem to be a sign of things to come. We're actually a bit more excited about that Essentio 5110 bamboo desktop than the various laptops, but, as demonstrated by the EcoBook, ASUS is probably going to be pushing this mostly in a laptop direction.

Here's one you may not have heard before: a manufacturer decides to stick a VGA touchscreen in some handset model not because it wants VGA resolution, but just because it got a killer deal on them. That's the rumor being floated on a handful of sites and forums about ASUS' monster P750 Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, with some sharp-eyed contributors noticing that each logical pixel on their devices' screens are actually comprised of -- count 'em -- four physical pixels. Indeed, a quick glance of the spec sheet for the alleged part number used reveals a "VGA/QVGA dual viewing mode," so the story seems to check out, and folks are apparently already hard at work enabling full 640 x 480 resolution on their beloved devices. Good luck, everyone!

Yep, pretty much everything we'd heard about the upcoming M930 from ASUS has turned out to be the real deal, making the brick-like device nearly a dead ringer for Nokia's E90 communicator with Windows Mobile doing the dirty work in place of S60. The exterior nets you a traditional QVGA display and numeric keypad, while unfolding the beast yields a slightly larger 400 x 240 display along with a full QWERTY board. Internal storage clocks in at 256MB with 64MB of RAM, there's a 2 megapixel autofocus cam around back, and you get the usual microSD expansion, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Oddly, the whole package runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard -- not Professional -- so you can just put away any hopes and dreams of touching the display with a stylus. Look for a public reveal at CeBIT in March, so retail availability isn't expected before that.

It's not nearly as interesting as the mighty M930, but ASUS is prepping another Windows Mobile model that'll appeal to a decidedly different segment of the market. The device, codenamed "Galaxy Mini" and clearly intended to do battle with the HTC Touch, looks to be just about as diminutive as you can realistically expect a WinMo 6.1 Professional device to be -- though the tradeoff is that 3G data doesn't make the cut (you'll have to rely on WiFi for that) and the TI OMAP core mopes along at a molasses-like 200MHz. Other goodies should include GPS, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera, and a selection of colors when it launches for somewhere between 300 and 400 (about $445 to $593) later this year.

While poking around the ASUS booth this morning we had a chance to witness the world premier unveiling of the ZX1 Lamborghini. We even took a few shots before it went under the glass. However, the real treat is the UI based on a Windows Mobile 6.1 core running special ASUS tweaks. It's "just like the iPhone" according to our friendly ASUS guide. The device is expected to fetch an unsubsidized €1,000 ($1,500) price tag when this 3G world-phone launches in Europe this May. Maybe you'll think it's worth it when we get back to you in a few with a video of the GUI albeit sans all that Lamborghini theme nonsense.

Alongside decidedly flashier announcements, ASUS has also chosen CeBIT to debut its diminutive, modestly-specced P320, a Windows Mobile 6 Professional piece sans 3G that we first spied last month. It's not going to turn any heads, but hey, that's what the ZX1's all about; the P320 is really here to get down in the trenches, get dirty, and get some work done, all while making sure it doesn't dwarf the hand it's in. We'd prefer, oh, any other color besides flesh tone, but thanks to a positively miniature 99 x 55 x 13.35mm outline, 2 megapixel camera, and WiFi, we might just be willing to overlook it. What's more, there's no mention of GPS on the spec sheet, but we're going to venture a guess the necessary circuitry is on board thanks to a side button conveniently labeled -- you guessed it -- "GPS." Check more pictures after the break, or just hold out for a release whenever ASUS gets around to it. Your call.