Asus R600 - razor of the ents

Another navigational device has arrived. Let’s enlarge our vocabulary a bit. If we thought until now, that the usual navi is a PNA, than now we can learn that Asus produces PNDs (Personal Navigation Device). We can find three of this on their homepage: the R300, the R600 and the R700. The subject of this review is the middle one, which was announced in august, 2007, but unfortunately it got to us only now. Asus is not renowned for its PNDs, but primarily for its notebooks and PDA devices. Of course they produce lots of other stuff besides these, from mobile phones to LCD monitors, servers, or I could also mention sound cards and motherboards too. If I say: Asus, then usually such associations pop in to one’s mind like the manufacturer of beautiful, high-quality products.

The company does a lot to maintain this image, so the brand is a quite powerful one. There were a few devices in our editorial office from the Taiwanese manufacturer and they performed quite well by now. So it won’t be a surprise if I say that the R600 fits the description, I got really attached to it while it was at me.

The company, by the way, meant it seriously that they will separate navis from PDAs, because on one hand they have a different name and on the other hand we are definitely talking about devices designed for a specific use, so we don’t have the feeling of keeping mule in our hands (now that’s a morbid comparison). The R600 is meant for the car’s windshield, it can’t and does not want to be anything more than that, but it serves all its functions professionally, so it is not just one of the many thousand doubtful quality pieces, but it is a product of unquestionable quality – and thus has an excellent price-value ratio.

In the box of the R600 we can find a wall charger, a car charger, a passive holder and some papers besides the device itself. The passive holder is of the rigid type equipped with a joint that can be attached to the windshield at multiple points, thus it is rock-solid and fits practically all kinds of windshields; let that be a Ferrari or a Neoplan with a panorama window. The cable of the car charger is elastic, but I found it a bit short. The gadget can be “fed” through miniUSB, so charging can be no problem in any situation and in case we lose the data cable, we can simply use the cord from our digital camera.

R600 is not small. But it is large. The rounded corners won’t help this, this stuff is still huge. Of course this is no problem, but we won’t be taking it with us in our pocket for sightseeing in Rome. No problem, we have a backpack at home anyway, packed with salami sandwiches, paprika, cheese and lemonade, there’s enough room near these for it. The size made possible of including a huge display, in practice this is a 4.3" size, 480x272 pixels resolution, 65 thousand colors (Windows doesn’t know any more anyway) TFT. The real hit is the light sensor above the display, which adjusts luminosity according to external light conditions, thus helping iGO’s day/night colors. Of all this I have experienced only that the information shown on-screen was always clearly visible. On the right side of the display is a button resembling a house, this always takes us to the main menu; under this there is a joystick with 5 directions. With these we got through most of the operating buttons. On top of the device the power button is placed, while on the bottom of it we can find the reset hole; on the left side the speaker is located, which is capable of a powerful volume at good sound quality, the price of this is that the device has an asymmetrical layout. The left side of the device is much thicker; I think the speaker needs some considerable space. The first thing that came into my mind when observing this, was an electric razor, but considering its size, this must be a shaver for a huge being. Ents have an advantage!

In the top right corner the card reader found its place, this handles SD and MMC cards up to 4 GB capacity. The package includes a 1 GB SanDisk, but it is not specified that this includes the map, so if there’s a chance don’t start copying our music on it. Under the card reader there is a standard 3.5 mm headset connector and under that the miniUSB port is placed. There is no stylus and we should perform the calibration with hand, as we will access all functions with our fingers – the system will be a real partner in this. There is an antenna connector on the back, along with the main power switch; this completely turns off the R600.

The heart of the R600 is an S3C2443 Samsung processor, which is ticking at 400 MHz. This is a relatively new CPU; it kept running the machine with a very good efficiency. The operating system is Windows CE Net 5.0 Core, this might be familiar from lots of other navis; there were no particular problems with it. There is a 20 channel SirfStar III receiver working in the navi, it provides a suitable reception quickly and precisely – it didn’t lose connection even in downtown, between tall buildings. Regarding the most important function there is an iGO clone running on the R600 and the customization is a real success, I didn’t find any serious anomalies but one: the navigation voice volume reset itself to 100% every time I turned on the navi, so there is no need to greet the neighbor with a loud "Good morning!", turning on the device does the job.

The menu draws nice big icons and "buttons" everywhere, so handling won’t give a hard time for anyone, not even for those with sausage-fingers. General speed is perfect and there can be no complaints for display precision either. The R600 is not capable of only navigation, but it can also function as a Bluetooth speaker; for this we first have to pair our phone with the Asus, after that they automatically connect with each other upon turning them on. Voice quality was suitable, I didn’t experience echoes, or negative side effects of noise reduction at the other end of the “line”, sound was not stuttering at all. Of course a built-in car kit provides slightly better quality, but its fixed place and higher cost doesn’t necessarily worth it if there is a simpler solution.

Above all these, the R600 is capable of displaying pictures, playing back music and videos, but due to the constraints of the internal memory (64 MB) it is advised to store these materials on a memory card. On the card included in the package there is about 70 MB of free space, so it is advisable to obtain another card for multimedia and to change the cards when needed.

The capacity of the R600’s built-in battery is 2200 mAh, unfortunately this can be changed only in a service. It can be fully charged in about 2 hours and it promises 6 hours of continuous operation with one charge. My measuring did not support this, but during the test period the Lithium-Ion battery could not reach the number of charges necessary for full capacity, so it is possible that it can truly operate for the time specified.

The general quality of assembly is worthy of the name Asus: it is perfect. No creaks can be heard, not even when heavily using the device, this is certainly quality merchandise.

As a final word I can say that for about 300 €, with a complete Europe map, at such a quality and features it should be "Highly recommended", the only reason it gets only the "Recommended" award is, that in 2008 other manufacturers were able to pack the same features in a smaller, more graceful case, the R600 is slightly larger than comfortable. If they keep following the same path, nothing saves the next model from the best award; this too has fallen behind it only with a little bit.