Mitac Mio A501

By John Chan
May 14, 2007

The name Sirf Star III will look familiar to those looking through the specifications of the Mio A501. That's hardly surprising as this GPS chip has been found in many devices before this one. But generally, those other devices are larger in size, and arguably, this Mitac PDA-phone is one of the smallest ever to contain the Sift Star III GPS chipset.

Design
The A501 is encased in gray and silver plastic. The gunmetal gray shade is found around the display and back, while the sides bear a silver color. At just 147g, it is extremely lightweight, in fact, roughly the same weight as the Dopod D810 and O2 Atom Life.

Measuring 95.7 x 59.6 x 20.7mm, this PDA-phone is a very compact device. The 2.7-inch display is not very large, but is sufficiently bright enough for most situations--we were able to use it comfortably at about half its maximum brightness.

	The awkward left placement of the joystick may trouble some users.

One of the most unusual things about the A501 is its placement of a clickable navigation stick on the left side. This is meant to be used with the left thumb. While we felt vertical movements on the joystick is easy enough, it's moving it laterally that felt unnatural. Though the navigator worked fine when holding the handheld in the left hand and the stylus on the right, there were times when we held it in the right hand just for checking a message--which renders the navigator useless. While we applaud Mitac's attempt to make the device more user-friendly when held in the left hand, having a regular directional pad below the display plus a scroll wheel on the left side might have been a better solution.

Many shortcut keys are located beneath the display, which would have otherwise contained a directional pad. The largest button has the Mio logo on it, and brings users to the MioMenu application, which lays out program icons in a grid format, much like what you see on most modern mobile phones. Two other shortcuts are for the GPS functions and there's a Home key for returning to the Today screen. What's missing though is an OK key to exit applications and confirm settings, so users will have to tap on the X (usually found at the top right hand corner of the screen) in applications to get out of them.

On the right of the A501 are the volume control keys, SD/MMC card slot, mini-USB jack and a reset button. The fact that this small PDA-phone has a slot for full-sized SD cards is a big plus, and also adds the option to use SDIO cards for expansion.

The Mio's metal stylus is extendable and comfortable to use because it is not too thin, and has a good solid feel.

Features
As we have experience previously with the Dopod U1000, the Sirf Star III GPS chip in the A501 performed brilliantly. Getting a lock took less than a minute, and we were pleased with its accuracy. We found it worked with the MapKing software to give good driving instructions. To improve its chances of getting proper satellite locks, the A501 also comes with assisted GPS, which downloads data about the locations of positioning satellites from a server using GPRS.

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