Guest Monolithix Posted March 11, 2008 Report Share Posted March 11, 2008 [teaser]After the success of last months MoDaCo WinMo Week sponsored device, we're moving onto a new handset, again courtesy of eXpansys, the Asus M530w! This month we've moved from Windows Mobile Professional to the Standard platform, and the M530w is set out in the popular landscape screen/QWERTY keypad arrangement. While the features aren't groundbreaking this device is priced at a pretty bargainous £199.95![/teaser] Specs are as follows:QWERTY hardware keypad2.4" qVGA screen256/64MB ROM/RAMmicroSD expansionTri-band GSM/2100MHz UMTS (no HSDPA!)Bluetooth/Wifi117 x 65 x 13.8 mm135g2MPix camera with flashMy first impressions were a bit underwhelmed, it's not the smallest or prettiest device available at the moment, but I can't help but love the screen/keypad format, coupled with a great keypad and surprisingly capable camera I think this could be another winner for those on a budget! As usual post your questions and comments below! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest idavid Posted March 11, 2008 Report Share Posted March 11, 2008 does this device have any discernible differences (improvements) compared to the year (18 months?) old HTC Excalibur apart from the wifi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monolithix Posted March 11, 2008 Report Share Posted March 11, 2008 3G and 256MB ROM, and a (possibly) better keypad to boot :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MARKUKCOUK Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 are you going to get a SPV next? This device has been out on sale for months. http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index....0w_aries_review date: November 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hohoho, funny guy! P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Metoo Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 (edited) 3G and 256MB ROM, and a (possibly) better keypad to boot :D You forgot to mention the CPU, which is the biggest improvement of all over the OMAP powered Excalibur and P526! Edited March 12, 2008 by Metoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MARKUKCOUK Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hohoho, funny guy! <smacks head /> P no seriously - im confused. what is all this about. the device is old. why are you reviewing it/inviting questions on it, months after release? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monolithix Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 The idea here is to bring a slightly off-the-wall device to people's attention, yes it's not necessarily the newest device but the decent spec means it still holds it's own against newer handsets, especially at it's pricepoint. 64MB RAM is a pain sometimes, but even more recent devices are still shipping with the same, plus as above, the keypad and large ROM capacity make it nice device to use day to day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Montala Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hi, Having recently purchased one of these from Expansys (my first 'smartphone') I was interested in hearing your comments on the 'show', and noticed that one model you mentioned as having a similar specification, and one which I almost bought instead, was the Motorola Q9H. That is, until I realised that it lacks wi-fi, which I consider to be an essential feature for this type of phone. I will also be interested to read your user feedback over the next week or so, and how you feel it performs in 'real life' as it were. Two useful free programs I have found already are Microsoft's Live Search Mobile... a 'must have' in my opinion, and also perhaps their new MSN Direct. It is also my intention to pair my Asus M530H up with a bluetooth receiver, and some route navigation software, just to see how it performs as an emergency sat-nav substitute. The cheapest product I have found so far is Route 66 Mobile 7 for Windows Mobile Smartphones, the GB (& IRL) version of which can be picked up for about £30... and I rather fancy the Emtac Mini-S3 receiver also! Taking the price into consideration, I reckon that this offering from Asus is a 'good buy' for anyone looking for a Windows Mobile smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard... and as an added bonus, it even comes with its own protective case! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Metoo Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 no seriously - im confused. what is all this about. the device is old. why are you reviewing it/inviting questions on it, months after release? It's not beyond the realms of possiblity that eXpansys, as one of their sponsors, have asked Modoco to promote it, like they did with the Atom Life. The introductory text even suggests this is the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Here's my unboxing btw! We'll talk about why we chose the device (or why I chose the device with eXpansys) more in the next podcast so stay tuned but basically, I wanted to do a Smartphone with QWERTY following on from Pocket PC last time round. My first considerations were the HTC S630 Cavalier or Treo 500, but in the end we went for the cheapest (and least discussed previously?) option, the M530W. Of course we discuss everything with eXpansys - they are our sponsors after all - and we're also looking to support them with what they want to promote! :D P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Montala Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Hi Paul, Just watched your interesting 'Unboxing' video.... is there any way of saving it, by the way? I did notice however that there did not appear to be any entries in the 'Auto Configuration' box (on the Internet page). Possibly you didn't actually try to view them, but mine has the option of Vodafone, Vodafone Prepaid, Orange, Orange Prepaid, O2, O2 Prepaid and T-Mobile, which covers most of the UK service providers... with the notable omission of '3', on whose network I was unable to obtain a data connection anyway. As most companies don't seem to have even heard of the Asus M530W, this is another welcome inclusion, and some of them add some other useful short cuts also. Looking forward to your next podcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monolithix Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 My one had no presets in the Auto Configuration either, it was definately empty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Montala Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 My one had no presets in the Auto Configuration either, it was definately empty! That's strange... I wonder if they were added in a later batch, or something, as I certainly didn't add them myself! Mine came from Expansys also, and was despatched on 25th February. Has anyone else checked theirs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 (edited) Hi All, first post here. Ordered a M530w yesterday, hope it will perform well! Still amazed to see so little people picking it up. I guess only a couple of hundred are sold in Europe? I looked on the Asus site tonight for software updates, and this is only thing I could find: m530w firmware Version V4.0.10 for Singapore user only. Source: http://support.asus.com/download/download....amp;model=M530W Anyone tried? update: Paul, will Modaco get an Asus m530w device specific section as well? Maybe that will get some enthousiast going with this phone :D Edited March 25, 2008 by wapz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Mine is running 4.1.10 EU version.... P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Mine is running 4.1.10 EU version.... P Got mine yesterday as well. It is also running v4.1.10_EU1, and it contained Dutch and Belgium profiles for GPRS as well, unlike what some other users experienced here. It even worked for my provider. My phone however seems to have a hardware flaw, it cannot see the status of the battery. It seems to charge, somewhat, but the status never changes. Also when I look for the battery info in CeleTask, it says that all voltages are 0v, so I suspect the phone cannot actually read out the battery status, which also causes other problems. Did anyone see this before? I think I will send it back to get a replacement, because it doesn't work like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Oddness! Have you tried a hard reset? P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) Oddness! Have you tried a hard reset? P Nope! How can I perform one? Update: Just performed the option of factory defaults from the menu - does that count as a hard reset? Edited March 27, 2008 by wapz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Yup! P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) Yup! P Done that, started reinstalling software again, and the battery level seems to be at the same level again. It actually reads in the manual that you should charge it fully before first use, so I'll leave it to charge while shutdown for two hours, and see what battery status it will report. I am using the official charger that came with the phone to do this. If that doesn't fix it, I'll guess RMA would be the best option! Edited March 27, 2008 by wapz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Montala Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) Got mine yesterday as well. It is also running v4.1.10_EU1, and it contained Dutch and Belgium profiles for GPRS as well, unlike what some other users experienced here. It even worked for my provider. It would appear that the profiles are region specific.... possibly loaded when you initialy select your country etc. You are in the Netherlands, are you not, whereas I am in the UK. Still not sure why our two reviewers didn't have any on theirs though. Edit: Just read your last post... certainly a good idea to give it a full charge first I would have thought. That should then give you three 'bars' on the battery level indicator. Edited March 27, 2008 by Montala Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul (MVP) Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Sounds like it's broken, I never charge devices when they first arrive (too impatient) and it makes no difference :D P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Sounds like it's broken, I never charge devices when they first arrive (too impatient) and it makes no difference :( P I was too impatient, and now it actually shows two bars in the battery level measurement to my surprise. However, CeleTask still does not display the power levels properly. Would there be another WM6 app that can display power levels properly, like in voltages, what CeleTask does? Or did any of you guys check the power levels with the default CeleTask 2.2 (from the official website), and tried checking the battery status? Thanks for the quick support guys, much appreciated! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wapz Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 I've just installed the Fizz Monitor 3.2 - and this freeware tool you can get from the URL below. The status now reports 70%, let's see if I can get it fully charged. http://blogs.msdn.com/leonbrag/archive/200...smartphone.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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