Asus P525

[Guest zen123]

Ok it finally arrived all the way from Australia & not a penny in customs charges to pay. :rolleyes: :( :)

Anyway I'm glad to report that after 3 days of use I like it very much.

Like

Proper numeric keyboard with T9, which I prefer over qwerty

Not too big

MiniSD (instead of MicroSD)

Aesthetic design & good build quality

Bright screen (much brighter than the M3100)

Fast & responsive (faster than the M3100)

Broadcomm bluetooth stack

Great wifi sensitvity

Rock solid stability (so far) never needed to soft reset once yet

Dislike

(Not too big) but would prefer it a bit smaller, especially width wise

White backlight makes keypad difficult to read in some situations

External loudspeaker volume a bit too low, already missed a few calls

No 3G (maybe the next version?)

No built in GPS (again maybe next version?)

Most of the other things are WM5 related so I won't go into them here

The phone I've been using for the past 2 months is an Orange SPV M3100 which has been painful experience. It regularly freezes, randomly decides not to sync, regularly needs to be hard reset after behaving well for a while & wifi performance is weak amongst other things. Maybe I was unlucky & got a duff unit.

The Asus, on the other hand, has been rock solid out of the box. Not once has it froze up on me even after installing all my favorite programs & utilities (the SPV was incompatible with a couple of programs). It's been a real pleasure using it for the past 4 days. The relatively small size coupled with the numeric keypad makes it feel like using a normal (smart) phone. It's not perfect by any means, no 3G being the most significant, but for now its 85% of the way there for me.

Here's a quick side by side comparison of the Orange SPV M3100 & Asus P525

[Guest Ingvarr]

The P525 is a fantastic device!

I finally found the device right for me! :rolleyes:

As I dont use GPRS much, so I dont care for 3G(its just a faster way to blow more money on traffic),- so its not a minus for me. But I appreciate the very affordable price of p525, its nothing comparing to latest HTCs.

Screen is very good. On maximum brightness, its a match for sunny day, on minimum brightness its comfortable to the eyes in the total darkness.

Size is perfect for me. Yes, its larger then a phone, but hey, this is not a phone, its more of PDA. It have 2.8'' standard screen, a lot better for me than these samsungs/gsmarts that have small screens and WM5 PocketPC interface is less usable. P525 is slighty larger then TyTN/Wizard from the face side, but its thinner. And it weights the same 160g.

You should also mention that battery life is fantastic! Its more then 20 hours(!) in reading/mp3 mode - yes, actually longer then ever for HTC OMAP devices. Seems that ASUS implemented the Intel Wireless SpeedStep power-saving technology to the max extend. Did I mention ASUS have 416 MHz XScale (Bulverde), with Wireless MMX? Samsung is nothing comparing to it, I can watch PC movies over WiFi without any conversion at full FPS ;)

MiniSD slot, not this MicroSD crap! I can use my old 2G MiniSD card :(

Proper 2.5mm headset jack, so no probs in connecting third-party headsets.

Also, camera & flash is very good. Having real mechanical adaptive optics helps too, if you'll look at the camera when its focusing, you can actually see the lens moving :) I think p525 is unique in that prospect.

WiFi have really good reception. Though as WiFi goes, it eats battery fast, nothing unusual here. So I think I'll stick with Bluetooth, good that p525 have Bluetooth 2.0 and Broadcomm stack supports every profile imaginable (instead of puny microsoft one).

Btw, loudspeaker is not as weak, its more of badly located - on the back of the device, so most of its power goes straight into table on which device is lying. These measures are very helpful:

- get a cradle

- put the device on the table "face down" (also helps to prevent excessive dust on screen and between keys)

- increase the ring melody volume in any sound editor. I've just got a "windows default" and made it up to the max - now I hear calls from thru entire appartment easely.

So I say: Beware, HTC ;)

Though no doubt HTC will still stay much afloat due to their "everyone needs 3G" marketing buzz :P

Edited October 24, 2006 by Ingvarr

[Guest zen123]

Ingvarr I actually agree with most of what you have said. It is a fantastic device. So far I've had zero problems with it.

Actually I tell a lie there is a issue with the charging behaviour of it. All the generic chargers I have at home & at work have no problems charging all previous htc or other devices I use to own. But plug it into the Asus and nothing, only the supplied charger works with it. Also I have a few cigarette adapter chargers which also don't work which is a pain.

Did you upgrade to new firmware 3.32 wwe & radio 4.5? I have but don't seem to notice anything significant thats changed. I've yet to use a bluetooth headset with it so not sure if I have the bluetooth bug that others seem to be reporting.

[Guest Ingvarr]

Hmm, thats odd that side chargers dont work. I havent tried it myself though.

p525 charges from USB (albeit more slowly), so I suppose everything that charger must do is to provide USB power current. I cant imagine why you can charge from any USB port but cant charge from side-chargers that basicaly USB ports with no data...

I've upgraded to 3.32 & 4.5

After upgrade I've noticed some battery life increase in low-consumption (ie reading) mode, not very big, but its definitely there.

[Guest zen123]

Ingvarr, I think there may be a bug after the firmware update.

Before the update if I chose onscreen keyboard for input (I set it to suggest word after 3 letters) it worked fine.

Now after the update even though I set it up the same it doesn't suggest any words anymore.

Does yours have this problem?

[Guest Ingvarr]

Umm, it never suggested words for me, in old version the same. This is due to T9 input.

You can replace in registry the "t9ime.dll" with "compime.dll", and reboot. Then you will have a word completion, but you will lose T9 I think. I dont think its possible to have T9 and "usual" word completion - but I think you can use third-party software keyboard that does own word completion.

[Guest zen123]

Umm, it never suggested words for me, in old version the same. This is due to T9 input.

You can replace in registry the "t9ime.dll" with "compime.dll", and reboot. Then you will have a word completion, but you will lose T9 I think. I dont think its possible to have T9 and "usual" word completion - but I think you can use third-party software keyboard that does own word completion.

Hmmm I'm 100% sure that the T9 & word completion was working on my phone before the upgrade. But never mind I'm not gonna miss it. T9 works in all the applications on the phone anyway so I'll stick to that. By the way TomTom Nav 5 works flawlessly on the phone.

This thing is just too good if anyone is holding out for a new phone give the Asus some serious thought it really is that good.

Thanks for the comments Ingvarr I'll get back to finally enjoying a trouble free phone.

[Guest cruro02]

Just a question if I may for those of you who have the P525 -

Has anyone tried voice dialing via bluetooth - i.e. bluetooth car kit - press the activate button on the bluetooth car kit - phone "wakes-up" - speak name or number to call - phone dials out...????

The lack of this capability on the Atom has been my major complaint about it - my old i-Mate SP3 could do it - but the Atom can't..

Thanks

[Guest Ingvarr]

I dont have a bluetooth handsfree...

Hovewer it works the way you described with wired headset - when you press action button, Voice Command is activated, and you can do multitude of actions, including (but not limited to) dialing.

[Guest zen123]

I finally paired my iTech Bluetooth clip headset today & voice dialing works flawlessly as does last number redial. The only limitation is the Cyberon Voice Commander software which is a load of crap. You have to put on an American accent for it to understand your commands & even then its inaccuracy is comical.

Another problem is a buzzing sound in the background when the backlight is on. Goes away after the backlight times out though. I ask the people who I spoke to over bluetooth headset if they were hearing me clearly & all said it was fine with no breakups.

[Guest cruro02]

Ingvarr & Zen123 - Thanks for that, I'm getting more and more sold on the P525. I wonder if Bluetooth voice dialing would work with MS Voice Commander rather than Cyberon Voice Commander. I've never had any issues with accent with it - even when MS only had a USA version & wouldn't sell it down here in Australia because they claimed our accents were strange... <_

[Guest jackleung]

Just come across this thread. For people who want to charge P525 w/ non-Asus charger, U have to short the D- and D+ circuit. I already did to my car ciguar USB charger and it works. For more detail, read here (in Chinese)

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=61&t=198424

Ingvarr, are you the one I saw on Xda-developers too?

Edited October 28, 2006 by jackleung

[Guest Ingvarr]

Ingvarr, are you the one I saw on Xda-developers too?

Yes.

[Guest Hookani]

Hello,

I just got a P525 also from Aus (I'm in US) and so far I really like it. The only problem is that my unit doesn't seem to recognize the Tmobile USA GPRS network. Anyone else in the US with a P525 have this problem? I'm using the same settings that worked on my Jam but can't connect. I don't even see the 'G' in the task bar as if the P525 doesn't even know that GPRS is available. Any ideas?

Thanks

Ho'okani

[Guest Ingvarr]

Have you installed the latest ROM upgrade & radio firmware upgrade?

[Guest Hookani]

Yep, everything is current with the ROM and radio.

Thanks,

Ho'okani

[Guest Ingvarr]

Hmm, it looks like it doesnt see the GPRS network for some reason. So I suppose you need to get the "G" icon before any settings can have effect...

Why it doesnt see it, I have no idea - first time I hear about this problem. Maybe your US cell operator have some standard differences in particular in GPRS implementation?

I suggest you try to do a technical inquiry using ASUS tech support site and see if its a known problem, or at least notify them it exists.

[Guest zen123]

I loaded TomTom Navigator 5 onto the asus. It works perfectly fine. I just dragged all the TTn5 files from my old sd card into the minsd of the asus loaded the Nav5.21 application had to 'borrow' the product code from a friend as I run out of activation lives & TomTom won't give me a new one as the Asus is "not a supported device". :rolleyes: :(

Everything works as normal I even got all my old settings & favorites. What make it even better on the Asus is that you you can use the screen taps to navigate around the program AND/OR the keypad (just like smartphone edition). Sometimes it easier that way as I just need to type 665 to exit the exit the program or whatever the keypress it is to get to a particular option. :) ;)

A question I have is regarding the GPS option on the settings page of the Asus. What do I need to input there? I didn't do anything & TTN5 seems works fine. But it would be nice to know if I should enter any settings so that maybe the program works better.

There are 3 tabs -

Programs - the options are GPS program port none-GPD9

Hardware - the options are GPS program port none-GPD9

Acess - the only option is Manage GPS automatically yes or no.

[Guest page]

hi, off subject slightly but i am thinking of getting a p525, my question is: i dont want to use a case to protect my phones because of the size. is the asus p525 screen protected enough with the screen proctectors alone. i just cant imagine putting my ipaq with nothing less than hard protection in my pocket. thank you. andy.

[Guest jackleung]

had to 'borrow' the product code from a friend as I run out of activation lives & TomTom won't give me a new one as the Asus is "not a supported device". :rolleyes: :(

Why not just use a crack then???

What make it even better on the Asus is that you you can use the screen taps to navigate around the program AND/OR the keypad (just like smartphone edition).

Opps, I didn't know TT does it too. I found the keypad works for IG3 also. :)

A question I have is regarding the GPS option on the settings page of the Asus.

That is intended for GPS sharing (e.g. running multiple GPS software at the same time). But somehow it doesn't work for me and I use GPS Gate for that purpose. But if U don't need to run multiple GPS program at the same time, just leave it alone

[Guest Ingvarr]

hi, off subject slightly but i am thinking of getting a p525, my question is: i dont want to use a case to protect my phones because of the size. is the asus p525 screen protected enough with the screen proctectors alone. i just cant imagine putting my ipaq with nothing less than hard protection in my pocket. thank you. andy.

All PocketPC phones (ones with touchscreen) have delicate screens - they have no protective glass above screen, as usual (non-touchscren) smartphones do.

So I wouldnt recommend to put it in same the pocket with the keys for example.

Edited November 2, 2006 by Ingvarr

[Guest zen123]

OK the Asus is a great device. Does everything I need it to & is the most stable PPC phone I've owned to date. But its not all roses.

I'm having a hard time getting extra chargers for it. Although it uses the standard mini usb interface none of my existing chargers work. I have a brace of usb wall adapters at home & at work but none of them will charge the phone. My 3 different cigarette adapters for the car don't either so I can't use the sat nav I've loaded as it drains the battery too quickly. I've ordered a usb charging kit off ebay which claims to be for the Asus so hopefully by this time next week I'll be happy again.

The other problem I'm having is when dragging & dropping files too & from the phone over activesync. Sometimes when I drag a file to the phones memory (or the minisd card) I get an error message in that it either says there's not enough memory or incompatible file. It doesn't happen with all files & not all the time but it does it enough to be a big annoyance.

The only way around this is to revert to usb mass storage mode (great feature that's built into the phone) or take the minisd card out & use a card reader.

[Guest skontald]

OK the Asus is a great device. Does everything I need it to & is the most stable PPC phone I've owned to date. But its not all roses.

I'm having a hard time getting extra chargers for it. Although it uses the standard mini usb interface none of my existing chargers work. I have a brace of usb wall adapters at home & at work but none of them will charge the phone. My 3 different cigarette adapters for the car don't either so I can't use the sat nav I've loaded as it drains the battery too quickly. I've ordered a usb charging kit off ebay which claims to be for the Asus so hopefully by this time next week I'll be happy again.

The other problem I'm having is when dragging & dropping files too & from the phone over activesync. Sometimes when I drag a file to the phones memory (or the minisd card) I get an error message in that it either says there's not enough memory or incompatible file. It doesn't happen with all files & not all the time but it does it enough to be a big annoyance.

The only way around this is to revert to usb mass storage mode (great feature that's built into the phone) or take the minisd card out & use a card reader.

hi everybody, I bought a p525 a few days ago, and here is my first feedback

PLUS

- speed! fantastic, btw is first in every speed contest

- screen, brightness of the screen

- quality of the camera: outstanding!

MINUS

- a bit heavy

- I am italian and there is no italian t9 (I have a french version, with only french and languages), I tried to install it following modaco and others posts but nothing worked out for the moment

- a BIG MINUS: in the phone application, you cannot select a name with the t9 phone keyboard!!!! this is a pity, because this means that you cannot select a contact with one-hand. I am trying now some additional software to do this, like Vito Quick Contact (which allow you to find a name with the number pad but is not quick at all!) and FingerClix (which is working fine but you use the screen to find the name, no number pad!)

here you are, if you have any idea for the installation of other t9 languages, thank you!

srj

Edited November 4, 2006 by skontald

[Guest zen123]

- a BIG MINUS: in the phone application, you cannot select a name with the t9 phone keyboard!!!! this is a pity, because this means that you cannot select a contact with one-hand. I am trying now some additional software to do this, like Vito Quick Contact (which allow you to find a name with the number pad but is not quick at all!) and FingerClix (which is working fine but you use the screen to find the name, no number pad!)

here you are, if you have any idea for the installation of other t9 languages, thank you!

srj

I use the HTC speed dial application. You can download on the xda-developers site. Works a treat.

[Guest Ingvarr]

... or you can use EZDial2 for same effect.