Asus Launches P552w

Asus has launched a new WinMob handset called the P552w PDA phone. The P552w, running on Window's Mobile 6.1 Professional, is Asus' competition to the likes of the HTC Touch Diamond and other touch screen mobiles that feature snazzy touch screen technology in a 3D form on the display. This handset features Glide (Gester technology) which uses the handset’s touch-responsive user interface to make navigating and performing tasks on the mobile more intuitive and interactive, by scrolling and flipping pages etc. with the touch of your finger. This all seems so familiar.

Some of the widget-like applications are called - Multi-Home, Anytime Launcher, EziPhoto, and EziMusic. The 3.5G (HSDPA) enabled P552w comes equipped with a 624MHz processor and sports GPS and Google integration and a 624MHz CPU. It offers TV streaming, Bluetooth, WLAN, USB and other connectivity standards. Google Maps is also an included feature.

The P552w's navigation also includes a feature known as Asus SMS Location Link. With this exclusive feature, users at two different locations can locate each other easily by sending each other SMS messages. Clicking on the URLs, which are automatically embedded in the sent messages will link the phones up to Google Maps, which will then provide the users with directions on how to get to each other’s positions. The ASUS P552w also features a Google Search Bar on the Today screen that makes it easier to perform online queries.

EziPhoto enables users to flip through their photo collection with their fingertips, akin to how they would with a real album which is nothing we haven’t already seen in various other forms. It also has a Calendar option which organizes and displays the thumbnails of photos users have taken according to the dates in which they were snapped.

EziMusic offers an interactive interface for users to play and manage their music. The P552w also houses applications that enable easy access to web content like RSS newsfeeds, YouTube movies and photos on Flickr.

The HTC Touch may have some serious competition here considering the P552w has a similar styled 3D-ish interface and a host of media features including a 2MP camera. Maybe the pricing (undisclosed) will be a deciding factor; or you can wait for a Tech2 review to allow us to make a calculated decision for you.