The ASUS MyPal A636N is a GPS enabled PDA which comes with the bundled car kit. The 3.5 inch touchscreen can be orientated horizontally or vertically on the dashboard. The A636N has a pedestrian mode so once you’ve parked the car you can take it along for those final directions to your destination. This unit is not the thinnest of the ASUS GPS enabled PDA range as it has a fold out swivel patch antenna which is used to improve GPS satellite reception.

The front face of the ASUS MyPal A636N has a 3.5″ TFT LCD with 65k Full-Colors, 16-bit Display and QVGA (240X320) resolution touch panel positioned above a horizontal row of three circles containing a speaker, five-way navigation control and a cluster of four application launch buttons. The screen is the same size as many dedicated car GPS units and is anti-glare for improved visibility when dash mounted for car navigation.

ASUS MyPal A636N GPS Capabilities

The ASUS MyPal A636N has a SiRF Star III chipset receiver which has the advantages of: faster fix times (acquiring its location), higher signal locking and tracking sensitivity and low power requirements. They are good characteristics for a GPS device which will most probably be used often on battery power and in built-up areas with low or intermittent GPS signal strengths.
The GPS navigation software used is Destinator which has the following features:

• Easy access to millions of pre-loaded points of interest like restaurants and hotels
• Address retrieval from History, Favorites, POIs or Microsoft Outlook contacts
• Route (re)calculation
• Large touch screen menu buttons and full-size keyboard address input
• High quality 2D/3D maps with display of street names
• Enabled for access to real time information like traffic, weather, and more
• Day and night views with turn-by turn voice and visual guidance
• Voice guidance in 20 languages
• Maps by NAVTEQ or TeleAtlas

ASUS MyPal A636N PDA Capabilities

The A636N runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC) operating system. Having Bluetooth version 2.0 means it has enhanced data rate speeds with a huge range of digital peripherals (phones, printers, etc) up to two to three times over conventional Bluetooth. Wireless capability - Wi-Fi (802.11 b+g) - enables the user to operate email application, access the Internet and connect to wireless networks. The Wi-Fi Manager utility can be used to scan for hotspots and connect to them.

ASUS Remote Presenter, allows the mobile warrior to link and control presentations on a computer or projector via Bluetooth. For data security, all data are stored in Flash memory so that it is not lost in the case of a complete draining of battery power. The A636N also has a screen lock function to prevent accidental activation and reduce power consumption.

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 provides the platform for multimedia playback including both video and audio formats (.WMV, .WMA, .MP3..etc) and Pocket PC compatible game playing.

User Reviews and Price Comparisons

Asus MyPal A636N Mobile 5.0 OS GPS (6.0 Version), 802.11b/g, Bluetooth

Competing GPS Enabled PDAs

ASUS have an almost identical specification GPS enabled PDA, the Asus MyPal A696, which has a premium stainless steel casing with an embedded antenna rather than the patch antenna of the A636N.

Competing GPS enabled PDA that would be worth considering also are the Mio P550 GPS PDA and HP iPAQ hw6515a Pocket PC. If phone capability is required in addition to PDA functionality, there is the ASUS P526 PDA Phone otherwise there is the higher specification Asus MyPal A696.

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ASUS MyPal A636N Specification

Technorati Tags: ASUS MyPal A636N, GPS enabled PDA, 3.5 inch touchscreen, pedestrian mode, SiRF Star III chipset receiver, Destinator, Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC), Bluetooth version 2.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 b+g), Remote Presenter