Zayo Asus A600 PocketPC review 5-28-03
Quick Info about my Reviews:
I'm pretty much a hardware guru, and can tell the difference
between 60khz and 80 khz refresh rate of a CRT monitor using my naked eye.
I have an attention for details when it comes to my gears. As much
as I would like to, I do not get paid for doing my reviews nor get any perks from any
company so my reviews are honest and straight forward. Since I'm spending
my own time doing this, I don't proof read for grammatical mistakes or
sloppiness only check for info accuracy. I'm sure whoever read this is
interested in the hardware anyway. Do not get offended as I like to
slap in sexual and politically incorrect jokes here and there
Intro:
This is the 4th pocketPC I've used but my first actual
PocketPC review. I've had a Compaq Aero 1550 for about 1.5 years, Casio
EM500 2 months, and Viewsonic V35 for 2 weeks before I "traded" it in for my
Zayo A600. The device goes by two name Zayo A600 and Asus A600 depending
on what country you buy it from.
Purchase:
Then unit (basic package without the CF jacket) sold for
around $500+ when it first came out. Now it's currently listed for around
$279-$299 (MobilePlanet $279,
www.Newegg.com $299). I got it off newegg.com for $299 like a month
ago. And thanks to a kind chap (huangzhinong) at the Zayo A600 forums at
www.brighthand.com I was informed of a
$50 rebate good until 6-30-03, thus dropping the price down to $250. For
some reason the places that sell the unit don't mention about the rebate or
offer any links for the rebate forms but here's the link to the forms:
http://www.zayotech.com/special_offer.htm.
Device Impression: The Good
My first "current" generation PPC was the V35 and I had
it for 2 weeks until I found out that the A600 is the same price and have much
better hardware so I traded it in for the A600. I've never actually use
the IPAQ 1910 (asside from playing with it a few minutes in CompUSA) much to
compare it to. But I would say the A600, V35 and 1910 are in the same
consumer target area based on pricing and small size factor. (For the
record I personally think all the ipaq's design looks gay)
When I first opened the A600 box (which is pretty small) and unpacked the contents I liked it right away. There are some nicky picky that I didn't like about the V35 that was address right away by the A600.
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| Contents are: Cradle, PPC, case, AC adaptor, CD, manuals | Case is foamy and the PPC pretty much fit fully into it |
You can't tell from the picture but the cradle is feels sturdy and more well built. The one that came with the V35 is light and "feels" kinda cheap, and the Ipaq 1910 doesn't come with a cradle :P. Another cool thing about the A600 cradle is on the front where it has the "ZAyo" logo it lights up a cool blue when the PPC is in and it's syncing with the PC. The AC adaptor cable and USB cable both connect to the back of the cradle. On a plus note the USB cable is a standard type so it's if it goes bad u can replace it cheaply instead of being ripped by having to get a proprietary cable. (as you can tell from my other reviews I'm a fan of standardized cables).
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| The front "Zayo" symbol lights up in blue when synced | Standard USB cable type to connect. |
One "down" side about the cradle, it kinda holds the PPC in pretty tight. every single PDA I've use, Palm,PPC have a cradle that you can easily drop in and take out easily with one hand. with the A600 you have to actually use one hand to hold down the cradle and the other hand to pull out the PPC. The way the buttons is place and with the plastic casing on the cradle, I sometimes end up pushing the power, rocker, or record button when I grip the PPC to pull it out.
There's also other little nicky picky that I like about the A600 over the V35 and 1910. The A600 have a sturdy slot door on the SD slot that closes when there's no card in it. The V35 make you put a plastic blank in the slot when it's empty, not sure if the 1910 have a plastic blank or slot door. The A600 headphone jack is on the top of the device so it slips into the case fully when you're listening to mp3. The V35 have the jack on the side. so when u have the headphone on it won't fit into the case. as for the 1910 it uses a mini headphone plug instead of a standard size headphone plug size. I hate non standard sizing of things, but at least they give you an adaptor.
Speaking of cases, the one for the A600 fits the device fully and it's foamy padded as to ad a layer of cushion (remind me of the Casio EM500 case). The V35 case is thinner and doesn't seem as high quality plus no cushion padding. Let not forget to mention that the Ipaq 1910 doesn't come with a case..:P
Comparing to the V35 the A600 is alittle bit slender but longer. The V35 is shorter but a little bit wider. The V35 is very noticeablely lighter than the A600. This being the A600 have a aluminum metal casing. The metal casing of the A600 seems more "solid/well built" and less of a "cheap plastic" feel than the V35. Not that the V35 actually feels "cheap" just something about metal casing vs. plastic.
You can't really tell from the above picture but the 4
application buttons light up cool blue when you press any of the buttons or dpad.
I think it's cool and bad at the same time. It do look cool to have the
button light up when you press the button once in a while doing PIM but when
you're playing games and hitting the button alot it's annoying and logic says
extra light drain more battery (by how much.. I don't know but still drains).
As far as I know there's no way to disable the lights.
The "holes" on the D-pad is actually where the speaker is,
personally I feel the moron that made the decision to place the speaker there
should get smacked on the head. I don't know the science behind it but
when you have your thumb over the speakers, the sound doesn't really get
muffled. Other PPC when uhave your hand over the speaker it gets muffled
but the A600 lose like 25% in volume and sound seems to still come out of the
device ok around the buttons. ohh. speaker volume is about the
same as the other two PPC
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| adaptor with prongs folded up | Prongs folded in and next to card |
I like the AC adaptor outlet, it's pretty small and the metal prongs can fold in for easier packing it away.
The IR port is a plus it support FIR and CIR. Fast IR, up to 4 meg transferrate. CIR consumer IR (I think), similiar to what is used on your TV, VCR remote control. The IR beam is strong and travels far, great as a unversal remote. I can't tell you how far the beam can travel for remote control but I heard it's pretty good. My TVRemote program keep crapping out on me when I try to issue commands... it also craps out on my V35 also $#%$#%#$#@$ I want my money back.
Since I already got it on my digicam here's some more pictures of the device
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| Stylys, IR, SD slot, Headphone | Power,Rocker,Record, Reset | Cradle slot, AC plug |
Device Impression: The Bad
There's also another problem with the metal casing of the
A600 other than added weight. The A600 casing is feels very smooth and
makes the device slippery. The casing is also "soft metal".
Not sure if the 1910 have metal or plastic but that and the V35 casing is
"dent resistant". I didn't drop my V35 before but the plastic don't
tend to dent but rather bounce on light impact. Anyway I dropped my
A600 twice. once from 4 feet onto carpet and it bounced alittle and hit
the side of the table leg. The other time it fell 1.5 feet into my
concrete driveway as I was getting up from my car (but it was in it's case).
upon both impact it left scars on the casing, here's how it looks like:
hehe, kinda annoying to see a permanent dent on u ppc
uh oh, better get Macco?
I got no complaints specifically about the battery life of the A600. (I do have complaints about battery life of PPC in general and it's pitifully short power life when playing emulators) The battery on the A600 and V35 is not user replaceable (The A600 battery life is better than the V35 and 1910). I really like the fact that the Ipaq 1910 can still cram a replaceable battery in it's small package. This is a problem if you're going to be away somewhere when you don't have access to an outlet.
Like the 1910, the A600 have no SDIO capability. so you're screwed if u want to use anything other than storage cards. To compensate for that, there's an optional CF/battery sled type addon for the A600. That way you can use any CF devices u want. but down side is extra bulk.
This might not be important to some people but the user community for the A600 is alot smaller than the i1910 and V35. If you goto internet forums and pda sites you really don't see much mention or forums for the A600. And if you take a look on Ebay you don't see as much accessories for sale the A600. (no way is my ass going to be violated by buying accessories from the device maker and paying rip off prices). When I had the V35 I was able to get a USB charger/sync cable and AA battery charge pack pretty cheap. (less than $15 for both, not including shipping). As I check right now the only accessory I see for the A600 is a case and it's not even specifically for the A600
The out of all three PPC, the A600 have the
lowest quality screen (not that it's bad, just not as good). The V35 and
1910's screen is better lit and more "vibrant". Black is blacker and white is
whiter on the V35/1910 and the screen is all evenly lit. the A600 has only a
"Bottom" lit screen. so if u look carefully the bottom screen is brighter than
the top portion. and also if u look at the A600 screen from titled top angle u
can actually see the florlescent light. The viewing angle of the A600 is
not as good.
Not to totally trash on the A600's screen, it do have some
merits. it's WAY better outdoors than the other two PPC. In sunlight
u can see the display easily. Also when the backlight is off you can
still see the screen ok, unlike the v35/1910 where it's almost impossible to see
with blacklight off. Some guy posted that he had the backlight off
and at 100mhz and was able to get 10+ hours of reading ebooks outdoors in the
sun. So it's a trade off, lower quality indoor display but superior
outdoor display.
Here's some screen sample (sorry but I don't have a V35 or Ipaq 1910 to compare directly)
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| Screen with flash | Display at darkness | Another screen sample |
Those pictures are with both device at maximum brightness. The other machine is an Intermec 6651 HandheldPC with a TFT screen
Specs Comparison
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Performance and usability:
What won me over to the A600 instead of the V35 or 1910 is the increased memory and cpu power. I'm a numbers guy I like having more memory and horsepower at the same price. It kinda piss me off when a device have 64 megs of ram and you can't fully use the memory. In the case of the V35 and 1910 you only get like around 36-40 megs of usable memory, but with the A600 you get your full 64 megs. I'm already pissed off that with PPC you already have to section half of your ram for running programs (unlike the Palm platform where 16 megs is actually 16megs of storage, none of that splitting/sharing with running programs crap)
As for cpu speed. I can't vouch for the 1910 cause I never use it fully but the sound of only 200mhz scares me (btw. I don't want to go into the overclocking issue). The V35 has 300mhz and the time I had it it performs pretty good with PocketNester, MorphGear and PocketMVP with video playing with full frame rates. At full 400mhz speed on the A600 it is faster than the V35 but it's not really noticeable other than in games/emulators. To tell ya the truth I keep my A600 at "standard" speed (200mhz) to save battery. I like the fact that it's capable of 400mhz horse power when I need it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Then A600 include a built in setting to run the cpu at (Turbo =400mhz, Standard=200mhz, Powersaving= 100mhz, and Auto). 400mhz is really snappy. at 200mhz it's ok (you do notice alot of difference btween 400 & 200mhz). A at 100mhz it runs slow and annoying when you wanna work, but it's good for ebook reading to save power. and 100mhz is just good enough to playback mp3. so if u plan to play mp3s you can use 100mhz and turn of the backlight and it should make u battery last alot longer.
When at 400mhz, I get full framerate (60fps) running Morphgear and PocketNester with full quality sound. At "standard". at 200mhz I get around 23-30fps. Finally at 100mhz I get 9-15fps. "standard" mode is a good compromise between speed and battery life. For PIM and other standard program I guess 200mhz is ok.
There's also an option call APE (advance performance enhancement, it enables writeback chace) option that u can check off along with the speed setting. It prompts that it improves device performance but at the cost of stability. but as far as I hear, nobody ever have any complaint about it actually making their system unstable, including me. I don't know if it have any additional draw on battery, but I was told it have none. APE only affect video related performance. I can't really vouch for movies as I use mainly Emulators for testing but I get an additional 10%-15% fps increase with an APE turned on (wait.. that didn't sound right... I mean with APE enabled)
As for the XA250 series processor with APE enabled the A600 is supposely one of the fastest device around in terms of video performance.
I'm a somewhat of a gamer myself and this unit is EXCELLENT for gaming. Dpad is responsive and diagnols are easy to press. Multiple button press is good and no button delay. Though the button doesn't have much tactical feedback as other PPC it's ok and very useable. My overall best gamming button has to be the ones in the EM500. 400mhz with APE on are zippy on games and controls is good.
Software and utilities:
The A600 comes with the full version of PocketPC 2002 unlike the 1910 that have a stripped down version. But other than that there's really not much program that it comes with. The CD I think comes with MS Reader, Windows Media Player 8.5, and Pocket Streets. Not sure why it comes with Reader and WMP sine it's already in ROM. Pocket Streets is useful but just about every PPC I bought comes with it as extra software. There's also a System Backup utility in ROM but again it's pretty much standard these days I think.
One thing I like is the "Asus Setting" utility under settings. It comes with some pretty cool features:
- Lets you manually adjust the gain on the mic or let it
adjust it automatically
- ability to not have your applications wake up the device
when pressed (sure beat assigning it to "none" and setting it back manually)
- Run mode (easy way to set speed on the device...
as mentioned above with the speed and APE)
- 256 levels of backlight level display (tho I question
the usefulness of actually having 256 levels. And it causes problems with
some programs that allow you to shut off the display, some don't work)
There's also a hidden "Hardware Diagnostic" mode also that runs test on the hardware. But doing so makes a hardreset and u lose data. still pretty useful.
Other than that, it's the rest of the PPC software suite and it runs pretty much like other PPC.
The Good:
- Small size and Light
- 400mhz
- full 64 megs of ram useable
- Good bang for bux ratio
- Includes a durable cradle and case.
- overall speedy performance and "APE" feature
- great for gamming
The Bad:
- Screen not as bright as other PPC. (but at least it's more easily viewable
outdoors)
- Battery is not user replaceable
- explansion slot for storage only no SDIO
- "Soft metal" issue
- not as much "community support"
The Verdict:
I highly recommend this device if the non removable
battery and SDIO issue does not bother you. It's a terrific deal for the
dollar. At the same price or cheaper than the the V35 and IPAQ 1910, you
get much more features (more usable ram, faster CPU).
I normally give # rating to my reviews but for this case I won't be doing it so because a lot of the stuff I mention are subjective and based on the user's preference. To give a # rating based on my preference won't be "fair". The best way to judge is read the review fully and examine what your specific needs are and make your decision based on the information given.
comments, questions, threats, ridicules? geniv@geniv.com
