» Asus MyPal A639 GPS PDA with Bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi Review

Top features to consider with the ASUS MyPal A639 PDA, apart from being GPS enabled, are the combination of a large 1Gb onboard memory capacity with multimedia capabilities and flexible, advanced connectivity in the form of WiFi and Bluetooth.

The front face of the ASUS MyPal A639 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 A639 GPS Capabilities

The ASUS MyPal A639 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 A639 has a swivel design patch antenna which can be folded out and twisted to remain parallel to the sky for optimum signal quality. The ASUS MyPal A696 PDA is the only unit to have an inbuilt GPS receiver antenna.

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 A639 Connectivity

• WLAN 802.11b+g - 802.11b+g standards supported enabling high-speed wireless networking for operation of email applications and Internet access. The Wi-Fi Manager utility can be used to scan for hotspots and connect to them.
• Bluetooth v2.0 - offering fast and convenient point-to-point wireless data transfers up to two to three times over conventional Bluetooth with a huge range of digital peripherals (phones, printers, etc)

ASUS A639 Multimedia Capabilities

The ASUS A639’s 1GB Flash and miniSD expansion combined provide ample space for GPS maps and digital multimedia contents such as videos, MP3 music and photos. The A639 runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC) operating system which comes with Windows Media Player Mobile which is designed to be used with Pocket PCs and Smartphones and works seamlessly with the PC based Windows Media Player.

Windows Media Player Mobile supports file formats including Windows Media Audio (WMA), Windows Media Video (WMV), and MP3. You can even take your favorite TV programs with you by recording them on your PC and synchronizing with your ASUS A639 which will automatically convert them to a suitable video format for playback.

A nice feature of Windows Media Player Mobile is the ability to share personal slide or video presentations which have been produced with Photo Story or Movie Maker on your PC.
ASUS´s Remote Presenter, allows the mobile warrior to link and control presentations on a computer or projector via Bluetooth.

Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC) provides the MyPal A639 with applications such as Office Mobile (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile), calculator, calendar and contacts synchronization.

Asus MyPal A639 Latest 416MHZ Intel Xscale Processor, Latest Windows Mobile 5.0 (pocket Pc), 3.5

Competing GPS Enabled PDAs

Another ASUS PDA without the 1Gb of in-built memory, Bluetooth or WiFi is the MyPal 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.

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ASUS MyPal A639 Specification

Technorati Tags: ASUS MyPal A639 PDA, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, SiRF Star III, Destinator, Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, Pocket PC