15 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

Asus have officially unveiled their M930 Smartphone / Communicator style hybrid.

Not expect to ship until March at the earliest (after it's official unveiling at CEBIT), the M930 features:

- Windows Mobile 6 Standard
- TI TI2431 processor at 450MHz
- 3G + HSDPA
- QVGA 2" Screen (external) + 2.6" WQVGA screen (internal) - 400x240
- Internal QWERTY, external 12 key keypad
- 256MB ROM
- 64MB RAM
- WiFi / Bluetooth 2.0
- 2.0 Megapixel Autofocus Camera
- microSD expansion
- 158g
- 113mm x 54mm x 18.7mm

Not bad specs i'm sure you'll agree, and a very innovative form factor that provides an interesting alternative to the more commong sliding keyboard (a-la-HTC Vox). I think the device looks quite nice, and could offer the best of both worlds. It of course shares a lot of it's specs and design with the Nokia E90.

What do you think of the M930?

P

[Source and pics courtesy of our friends at Mobinaute (en Francais)]

[nickcornaglia]

screen looks TINY!

[nickcornaglia]

oh....dint notice initially it was internal/external screens.

[Monolithix]

Yeah but still, a decent external screen would have been nice.  It'll be interesting to see what Smartphone looks like on a widescreen display though!

[RiCoCheT]

XDA Graphite with a keyboard...

Found more pics on the qwerty Click here!

Edited by RiCoCheT, 16 January 2008 - 07:37 PM.

[spacerace]

I was so about to love this device until i saw the additional photos of the inside... the form factor of the Nokia 9300 has been my favorite for a long time and I would love a WM equivalent, but the inside screen is about the same as the outside not full width, which just doesn't make any sense...

[xorangefirex]

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the screen on the outside with the 12 key format that opens to a larger screen with a full qwerty keyboard, but they are all so mediocre (save the E90) and similar. This is a phone that we have all seen over and over again, even though it will be one of the first with WM 6 it still doesn't really live up the standards created by other phones with a slightly different style.

[Tao Yue]

spacerace, on Jan 16 2008, 20:23, said:

I was so about to love this device until i saw the additional photos of the inside... the form factor of the Nokia 9300 has been my favorite for a long time and I would love a WM equivalent, but the inside screen is about the same as the outside not full width, which just doesn't make any sense...

Windows Mobile 6 does not support the widescreen aspect ratio.    See http://blogs.msdn.co...-revisited.aspx for list of supported resolutions.  Asus cannot put in a full-width widescreen display without OS support.  The ironic thing about all this is that Windows CE had half-height VGA (640x240) ten years ago.

There have been cases where changes in the OS have been driven by hardware (e.g. screen rotation in WM5 came out of the HTC reference device).  But Asus probably was unwilling to wait for the OS.

[NRGZ28]

Monolithix, on Jan 16 2008, 18:24, said:

Yeah but still, a decent external screen would have been nice.  It'll be interesting to see what Smartphone looks like on a widescreen display though!

Look at the HTC S620! LOL

[Monolithix]

I meant *wide* wide-screen   And we've seen it in the pic's linked above, it looks silly!  Asus could have a least put a half decent set of stereo speakers either side!

[mstephenson]

Was really beginning to like this device until I noticed the small exterior screen. While I like having the option of the full qwerty keyboard inside, I find I rarely use it on my S710. This doesn't bother me really but if I were to do it with this device, i'd pretty much constantly be using the smaller screen, unless I open up the phone when I don't really need to, just to look at the bigger screen. Spec wise it looks like a really good piece of kit, something i'd definitely have a long look at if it wasn't for the problem mentioned above. Shame, but for those who regularly use the full keybaord then this device looks amazing

[Menneisyys]

Tao Yue, on Jan 17 2008, 04:39, said:

Windows Mobile 6 does not support the widescreen aspect ratio.    See http://blogs.msdn.co...-revisited.aspx for list of supported resolutions.  Asus cannot put in a full-width widescreen display without OS support.  The ironic thing about all this is that Windows CE had half-height VGA (640x240) ten years ago.

There have been cases where changes in the OS have been driven by hardware (e.g. screen rotation in WM5 came out of the HTC reference device).  But Asus probably was unwilling to wait for the OS.

Not Nokia-wise as in the E90 (800*352), but 800*480 (WVGA) IS supported. With that (and with the Pro OS - that is, a touchscreen), this device would be a killer.

CUrrently, IMHO, this phone REALLY sucks. I just don't see the point in getting it.

[Menneisyys]

mstephenson, on Jan 17 2008, 14:08, said:

Was really beginning to like this device until I noticed the small exterior screen. While I like having the option of the full qwerty keyboard inside, I find I rarely use it on my S710. This doesn't bother me really but if I were to do it with this device, i'd pretty much constantly be using the smaller screen, unless I open up the phone when I don't really need to, just to look at the bigger screen. Spec wise it looks like a really good piece of kit, something i'd definitely have a long look at if it wasn't for the problem mentioned above. Shame, but for those who regularly use the full keybaord then this device looks amazing

It's IMHO better to get an external ThinkOutside keyboard - this ASUS phone is, IMHO, a joke.

[Boinng]

I agree with the comments re touchscreen - a device like this with Smartphone outside and Pocket PC inside would be fantastic, and a real innovation.  Anything less than that just seems a waste of form factor.  I'd say the same about the E90 too - it should have a full-blown touchscreen OS inside, not just S60 stretched to fit.

[Jackie55]

I like M930 Smartphone.

[Parthaa Bosu]

Jackie55, on Oct 12 2008, 11:54, said:

I like M930 Smartphone.

Apart from all other, the paint quality is really poor. My asus m930 is just 6 months old, and it changing colour like the chameleon!