Asus My Pal A730W

A fully-featured Pocket PC with Wifi

Asus has finally released a Wifi-enabled version of its A730 My Pal Pocket PC. Powered by a 520MHz XScale processor, this latest model has practically every feature you can pack into a PDA except perhaps a mobile phone: VGA screen, camera, 802.11b, Bluetooth, dual expansion slots, a USB host feature and even a replacement battery.

The clear 3.7in screen has a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, which makes it ideal for viewing images you take with the integrated 1.3 megapixel Cmos camera, or watching movie clips.

The camera itself can take photos up to a maximum resolution of 1,280 x 960 pixels and comes with a flash in the form of a bright white LED, although this is really only good for illuminating close objects.

To make the most of the camera, Asus provides a suite of utilities. These include Asus Camcorder, Photo Viewer, Photo Editor and Photo Album.

The A730W boasts 128MB of Ram, double that of its predecessor, with 107MB available to the user, plus 64MB of flash Rom. Both expansion slots are located on the top of the unit; the SD slot supports SDIO, while a Compact Flash slot handles Type I and II cards.

The system is powered by a 1.1mAh battery, which is a little on the small side for a PDA with a fast processor, wireless networking and big colour screen. A larger 1.8mAh battery is available as an option.

Another nice touch is the inclusion of a second 1.1mAh battery, but Asus has missed a trick with this as the spare battery can't be charged from the cradle. You have to swap batteries in and out of the unit to charge them, which is bothersome and a shame.