Asus P320

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Features

There's not much to shout about when it comes to features. The P320 does not have 3G, so your data connection will go up to only EDGE speeds if your operator supports that. You do get Bluetooth and also Wi-Fi for connecting at hotspots.

For navigation, a SiRF star III chip has been built into the P320. It also has an application called the GPS Catcher which uses downloaded satellite data to help you get a GPS lock more quickly. The bad news is that Asus does not provide GPS navigation software with the P320. This was most probably done to keep the price down, so if you intend to use the P320 for turn-by-turn navigation, you'll have to go out and purchase maps. We did manage to try out the GPS feature using Google Maps and found getting a lock to be very fast when assisted by the GPS Catcher.

Instead of the standard Windows Mobile 6.1 Home screen, Asus has put a custom one on this PDA-phone. This shows a large digital clock with onscreen shortcuts to applications like messaging, calendar and even RSS feeds. Aside from this, the P320 doesn't have much in the area of bundled software. There's a remote calendar which syncs with Google Calendar, some custom software in the Settings page for themes and better memory management, and that's about it.

The camera found on the P320 is a 2-megapixel one with autofocus though there is not LED light for illuminating subjects in low-light conditions.

Performance

The P320 isn't the fastest WM6.1 device out there. In our experience with the special Today screen, we noticed the digital clock displayed the time from the last time we turned it on and only switched to the current, correct time after a few seconds. Switching between tabs was also sluggish in the Settings page. These could possibly be attributed to the slow 200MHz TI processor found in the device. It also has a basic amount of RAM, just 64MB. In comparison, the HTC Touch has 128MB.

What it lacks in speed, the P320 makes up for in battery performance. We managed about three days of use with a single charge. As usual, we will say that this varies between users, but most likely you'll get by a whole day without having to worry about it giving up on you. Asus rates the P320 for 4 hours of talktime. In our use, we had no issues with reception and voices came through clearly every time.

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