ETEN X500 side-by-side with ASUS P535

The ASUS P535 and the glofiish ETEN X500 are two similar devices that are about to be released very soon (Eten X500 is available) and they are expected to be very successful among pocket pc users. Both devices belong to the ‘family’ of pocket pc phones with a built-in GPS receiver. Other devices in this category are the HP IPAQ hw6900 series, the HTC P3300 (Artemis), the MIO A701, the upcoming Gigabyte gsmart i-300, the BenQ P51, the ETEN G500+ and the O2 XDA Orbit (Artemis).

What make the ETEN X500 and the ASUS P535 stand out are their stylish design and the very good specifications they have in terms of hardware, connectivity and functionality. To start with neither of them has a QWERTY keyboard on board (some may consider this a disadvantage), and they both have a very slim and compact design. This compact design and the very good set of connectivity options is what make these devices ‘better’ and more functional than the others. Both devices run Windows Mobile 5.0 pocket pc phone edition.

Differences and similarities of ETEN X500 and ASUS P535

Design:
The ASUS P535 measures 58 x 105 x 18 mm and the ETEN X500 59.5 x 113 x 16 mm. ETEN claims that this is the thinnest pocket pc device in the market today, and indeed it is. The dimensions as you can see are almost identical; the differences are only a matter of millimeters. In terms of weight the ASUS P535 is 140g and the ETEN X500 is 146g, not much difference there either.

Their physical design is also very similar; both devices have a 2.8 in touch screen with the call buttons and navigation pad positioned under the display. Their 2.0 mega-pixel camera is positioned in the back. On the side they have the volume and dedicated camera buttons and the stylus holder.

Hardware:
In terms of hardware specifications this is where we spot the first real difference of ETEN X500 and ASUS P535. The ASUS P535 runs a 32 bit Intel XScale PXA270 processor at 520MHz while the ETEN X500 runs a 32 bit Samsung S3C2442 processor at 400 MHZ. The 520MZH Intel XScale processor of ASUS P535 is one of the fastest processors in the market for pocket pc phone devices. It is expected that the Intel will perform better than the Samsung especially in cases where you need processor power (e.g. GPS Applications, games etc). This does not mean that the performance of the ETEN X500 will be bad. What we compare here is the specifications of those devices and the ASUS P535 having a faster processor than the ETEN X500 is expected to perform better.

Memory and Expansion:
Moving on to memory the ASUS P535 again has better specifications. In particular the ASUS P535 will have 256MB ROM and 64MB RAM while the ETEN X500 will have 128MB ROM and 64 MB RAM. The expansion slot of the ASUS P535 will be a miniSD while the ETEN X500 will have a microSD.

Connectivity:
Besides the processor and memory other differences that can be spotted from the specifications are the fact that ASUS P535 is a tri-band GSM phone (GSM 900MHz, GSM 1800MHz, GSM 1900MHz ) while the ETEN X500 is Quad-Band (GSM 850MHz, GSM 900MHz, GSM 1800MHz, GSM 1900MHz). Neither of them supports 3G but the ETEN supports CSD, GPRS, EDGE while the ASUS P535 only CSD, GPRS.

For other connectivity options they both have support for Bluetooth 2.0 and built-in Wi-Fi (b/g). The ASUS P535 has also infrared. Their GPS Receiver is the same, SiRF Star III protocol (20 channels).

We have no doubt that both of these devices will be very successful and popular once they are released. The ASUS P535 seems to be more ‘powerful’ from the specifications alone but there are also other factors that may influence someone to decide between the two. One has to consider the price, software that comes with the phone and what items and accessories will be included in the box. Full review of both devices will be available from mypocketpcmobile.com once they are released. We just have to wait and see these pocket pc phones with built in GPS in action.

• Click here for the ETEN X500 Details Page
• Click here for the ASUS P535 Details Page and Pictire Gallery

 Features Comparison of ASUS P535 and ETEN X500