Asus P320

The Asus P320 is the latest Windows Mobile offering by Asus. It is one of the most stylish smartphones ever made by Asus. It is very light weight at just 105 gms. The Asus P320 is amongst the cheapest Windows Mobile smartphones and does miss out on a lot of features. It has slightly better hardware specs compared to other smart phones in the same range. But it still is a good buy considering its price. In this short review, we check out whether it is worth its salt or not.

Asus P320 Specifications:

• Dimensions: 99 x 55 x 13 mm
• Weight: 105 gms
• Display: 240 x 320 px, 2.6“ TFT, 65K Colors
• Camera: 2 MP (1600 x 1200 px) Cam with AF
• Chipset: TI OMAP 850 (201MHz) processor
• Memory: 64 MB RAM, 128 MB ROM
• Connectivity: GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, WLAN 802.11 b/g, USB v2.0
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: Built in GPS Receiver
• OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Battery: Li-ion 1100 mAh
• Price (Approx): $299

Design:

The Asus P320 is a very stylish and sleek phone. It is one of the lightest Windows Mobile powered smartphones at 105 gms. The build quality is good with rounded edges and glossy colors and the phone feels compact at 99 x 55 x 13 mm. It has a normal candybar form factor. It is available in three colors - black, white and pink. To add to it, it has a whole lot of features packed in that small body. The design is beautiful with buttons added aesthetically and cleanly to such a small form factor without any cramming. It has the Call, End, Windows, Ok and two Menu buttons and a 5 way thumb control pad on the front face along with the screen. It also has a lock-unlock slider on the right side, which is a novelty when it comes to Windows mobile phones. There is also a Micro SD slot on the left, to add additional memory. The display is good with decent brightness levels. The tiny dimensions do prove to be a bit of a problem though. It is slightly difficult to work on such a small screen on Windows Mobile as Windows Mobile displays are generally jam packed with information, the scroll bars, the buttons, the menus all appear a bit small for comfort.

OS Features:

The Asus P320 features the latest version of Microsoft Windows Mobile : Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. It is a bit underpowered to run it though. It has just a sluggish 201 MHZ TI OMAP processor and a measly 64 MB RAM. It isn’t very good at multitasking either but can manage about 2 apps easily. With it, comes the huge Windows Mobile Application library which give it enough power and makes it smart enough to live up to its name. It comes with Microsoft’s Mobile Office suite and can view, edit and save all type of office documents. The P320 comes with the new Asus Launcher and it own new customized Today screen with missed calls, messages alerts, email alerts, calendar appointments, to do lists, weather information and a large clock. One other disadvantage of the Asus P320 is the lack of a QWERTY keypad which is understandable considering its slim form factor.

Multimedia:

The Asus P320 is basically an Office phone, but performs the multimedia playback part rather well too. IT has a good 2.6″ screen supporting resolutions of 240 * 320 px and 65k colors. Video playback is good and the audio quality is decent. You can play a whole load of formats using 3rd party players. It also has a 2 MP camera with autofocus and captures images at resolutions of 1600 x 1200 px. It doesnt have flash though. The picture quality is decent, one wouldn’t expect more from a 2 MP cam. It doesn’t have a FM radio receiver.

Connectivity:

It features lots of connectivity options like GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, USB 2.0, but misses out on 3G and Infrared. the absence of 3G is one of the biggest drawback in this phone considering it is the standard for high speed data transfer all over the world now. It does have a GPS receiver but again doesn’t support A-GPS which is a drawback. The GPS receiver is decent and has a small lock in period.

It has a powerful little 1100 mAh Li Ion battery which provides about 4-5 hrs of talktime and a standby time of about 200 hrs. It lasts about 1.5 days with normal usage.

Pros:

• Small size
• Stylish Design
• Good Build quality
• Inexpensive

Cons:

• Low RAM, Processor
• Bad Camera
• No 3G
• No FM radio
• No A-GPS

Conclusion:

The Asus P320 is a stylish new phone and is packed with many features However it also does miss out on some important ones like 3G, A-GPS and FM radio. It also is plagued by performance problems due to its low processor speed and low RAM. Nevertheless, considering its price, it is a good deal for many who are looking for a decent smartphone with sleek looks and a small footprint and with regular Office goodies, applications, games and good multimedia capabilities.

Rating: 3.3/5.