Reviews
Asus
MyPal A716
Large and in charge ö the big MyPal excels in connectivity
and battery life
The
way things are going a lot of people probably think ăPocket PCä
is some sort of synonym for Hewlett Packard's iPAQs. However,
contrary to common belief, there are other companies that sell
Pocket PCs, like Toshiba and Dell. And then some that few US customers
have ever heard of, like Asus whose primary business is making
notebooks and PC motherboards. Asus is not new to the Pocket PC
business, having been the OEM for some of NEC's and Casio's handhelds.
In fact, those familiar with Casio's Japan-only E3000 will notice
a remarkable family resemblance to the Asus MyPal A716 shown here.
Now that we have established that the folks at Asus have plenty
of experience, what's special about the MyPal A716 and why would
you want one?
Pick one up
and there's half your answer. Unlike the latest crop of tiny little
iPAQs, Sonys and Palms, the MyPal is pretty large and substantial.
Relatively speaking, that is. Only a few years ago we would have
gone bonkers over a PDA measuring just 5 x 3.25 x 0.6 inches and
weighing just over seven ounces. Today that's big. Really big.
Even bigger than the Toshiba E800 with its panoramic 4-inch 640
x 480 display. However, there are some good reasons for MyPal's
luscious proportions. First of all, this is a machine that gives
you both a SD Card slot and a Compact Flash card slot. And not
just any Compact Flash slot, but a full Type II. You just don't
find that much anymore these days. Second, the MyPal comes with
both Bluetooth and 802.11b. So there's no need for costly add-ons
and both card slots are available for storage and other expansion
cards. Finally, the MyPal has a hefty snap-on Li-Ion battery.
3.7 volts/1,500mAH. All this explains the size and weight of this
full-function Pocket PC.
What it doesn't
explain is why a device this size has the same tiny transflective
3.5-inch display common to all recent micro-mini Pocket PCs. Even
Asus must have realized that as the MyPal's designers surrounded
the little display with a stylized pseudo bezel so as to not make
it look too forlorn. We realize that 3.5 inch displays are the
standard these days (only the top of the line iPAQs use the larger
3.8 inchers), but with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition's hi-res
support, why not go the extra mile and pop in a larger display?
In
all fairness to Asus, screen size (and yellowish tint) is really
about the only thing we don't like about the MyPal A716. everything
else is par and above. There's the speedy 400MHz Intel PXA255
that provides very good performance, 802.11b WiFi, Bluetooth,
and 64MB of RAM of which about 56 are available to users. We like
the nicely styled matte-silver body. The large size means there
is enough real estate to make the various controls large enough
and place them in just the right places. And everything is clearly
marked with standard icons.
As you can
see from the above picture, the MyPal's dock (included) is compact
enough to accompany you on trips. It also has extra space to accommodate
the MyPal's optional snap-on extended battery pack. That one has
a full 3,000 mAh for long, long battery life. A little secret
here: the extended-life battery is hardly necessary as even the
standard battery gives the A716 way above-average battery life,
just about twice as long as the iPAQ 4150 in our lab. The power
brick is fairly small and the cables are satisfyingly long. Six
foot power cord, five foot wire from the brick to the device.
We appreciate that. The MyPal also comes with an interesting case.
Unlike most, this one is a landscape design meant to be clipped
onto your belt. That's just as well as the MyPal is a bit large
for most pockets. On the software side you get all the standard
Windows Mobile fare. Asus also throws in some nice utilities,
such as an excellent WiFi control panel that provides a lot of
information and options. At US$499 list, the Asus MyPal A716 is
an attractive alternative to the higher-end iPAQs. If you want
built-in wireless connectivity, superior battery life, and dual
expansion slots, the MyPal is hard to beat.
÷Kirk Linsky
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