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Asus a730 Review by Matt Keys - Page 3

Gamepad

For many of our readers, a PocketPC's gamepad is one of the most important features of a device. And because of that I always give the gamepad its own section of the review. Asus has a history of good gamepad's on their PocketPC's. The best of which (in my opinion) was the Asus a620, with its joystick like directional pad and easy to push buttons. In my mind the a620's gamepad is the standard that I hold future devices to, until something better comes along at least.

Unfortunately the a730 is not going to replace the a620 as the new standard to hold future gamepad's to. The buttons on the a730 are very much like the 1945 and 4150 PocketPC's from HP. which means a small gamepad placed pretty far down on the device. By not keeping any room below the buttons, Asus was able to make the a730 shorter than the a620, but it does make it harder to hold in some situations. However I did find that for two handed controls (with one hand on the directional pad, and another pressing buttons) the a730 does fare pretty well. You would use this style of control in most emulators and many PocketPC games.

The buttons themselves are a good size and easy to press. They have a small "click" feeling when pressed, but not to stiff. The directional pad also has this same "click" feeling. There is a button in the center of the dpad which can be useful in certain games and applications. I did not find that it got in the way when playing directional pad dependant games such as PDAMill's Flux Challenge. In fact, after playing 10+ levels I had no finger cramps and the device was still comfortable to hold. Overall I would rank the a730's dpad and buttons above the HP 4155 and 1945. I would not put it at the same level as the a620 or a716 dpad though, the directional pad on those PDA's are more of a joystick type which makes movement very easy.

Hardware

Like most of you, when I first saw the a730 posted up online I was floored, finally an attractive device from Asus. This is by far the best looking PocketPC I have ever owned. Everything from the screen to the buttons and even the back of the unit looks great. I am not sure that I can properly express how much I love the aesthetics of this PocketPC. But I am sure that if you share my opinion, the pictures will speak for themselves.

One interesting thing about the a730 is that the stylus is stored in the bottom of the unit, opposed to the top. At first I didn’t like this, but the more I used it, the more I decided it was for the best. I believe the decision came down to either putting the infrared port on the side/bottom, and the stylus at the top, or vice versa. This decision had to be made because with the CF card, SD card and headphone jack all at the top; there simply is not room for both the infrared and the stylus at the top. I have used PocketPC’s in the past where the infrared port was on the side or the bottom and it was always very cumbersome to use, especially as a remote. For this reason, I am glad the stylus is not kept on the top of the unit. It fits in quite snug and I cannot foresee it ever falling out by itself.

Top: Power and Record | Bottom: Battery Door Lock

As I mentioned earlier in the review, the a730 comes with a second stylus, and I found it to be quite handy. Since the a730 keeps the stylus in the bottom, when you set the unit into its cradle, it is not accessible. So thinking ahead, Asus put a stylus holder on the right side of the cradle. Now if you have a better memory than I do, then maybe you will take the stylus out and holster it every time you sync. But I doubt it, so this is a great spot for your second stylus. That way you can be sure that you will have a stylus available when you are docked at your desk (without undocking and removing it), and you won’t have to worry about forgetting the stylus in the cradle when you take your a730 with you.

The a730 does come with a removable battery, but it is hidden away much differently than I have seen other PocketPC's do it in the past. Opposed to just having a battery door, Asus designed the unit so the entire back slides off, exposing the battery, speaker and some other internals. I can't seem to find any negatives with this approach; one benefit however, is that it gives the back of the unit a very clean look.

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