After deciding on the A730W I shopped around to find the best deal. Unfortunately every dealer in town offered exactly the same so there was no scope of getting a "bargain" .
First Impressions Having done the research and played with the machines in the shops beforehand the hardware side of the A730W presented no surprises.
However the software side was a different matter. Having played around with a WinCE 2.X machine years ago I was quite shocked that the builtin apps doesn't seem to have much improved. Pocket Word is still little more than a glorified text editor, albeit one that allows you to use multiple fonts. Pocket Excel still doesn't do graphs & charts. About the only application that is on par with the Psion/Epoc equivalent is Contacts.
Suffice to say that the builtin apps are so deficient that even basic housekeeping tasks such as PIM summary, task switching, file management are a chore and a PITA. Fortunately a few hours spent trawling the web found some rather good freeware applications which have now found a permanent home on my A730W:
- TaskPlus, allows you to see what tasks/appointments you have instead of just how many - SmallMenu, a simple task switcher and program launcher - Total Commander, a much better file manager
I will compile a more comprehensive list of "best of breed" (IMO) freeware applications later. In the meantime check out the links section.
Asus Goodies Bundled with the PDA are the following: - a soft carry case, not very practical because you have to remove the PDA before you can use it, better than nothing though, use it while you look for something better - Bonus software CD - USB to desktop cable, for syncing with your desktop - USB host cable, allows you to use various USB devices - docking cradle, unfortunately no slot to charge a second battery - AC adaptor - extra battery
Bonus software CD Asus has put together a a fairly useful bundle of software to get you started and for most people there should be at least one item of interest amongst them.
- PaPaGo! 5, a complete map of Taiwan with GPS and routing support - Money Tracer, a personal finance manager - Presentation DX, a Power Point compatible viewer - Aidem Pocket Painter, a surprisingly useable image manipulation/processing/painting package - Aidem Engineering Calculator, fairly average - MapKing 2, a complete map of Hong Kong or Shenzhen or Beijing or Guangzhou or Shanghai (you can only register one map) - Monster Chinese, allows you to display Chinese characters on an English machine - Monster SIP, provides various SIPs for entering Chinese characters - Monster KB, Chinese keyboard driver - Dung Cleaner, a Lode Runner play alike - Guess Color, Gobang, Reversi, various games that I didn't bother with
Most of the above come in 3 languages - Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English. Note that some of them are not on the CD and have to be downloaded from the appropriate website.
Also most require registration which involves entering the (single) activation code (supplied with the CD) at the activation website and in return you get a list of all the registration codes.
My personal experience of the registration system is that it is a PITA, maybe more that later.
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