ASUS’s new Windows Mobile communicator, the P505, popped quietly up at Cannes this year. It was supposed to launch late Q4 of last year, but got bumped to the still-vague “early this year”—and it’s definitely a 2004 phone.
The P505 looks nice enough. I like the dirt-simple four buttons and five-way joystick for controls, at least as an excuse for more screen real estate. Same for the build, with a flip front ala Sony’s P900 series covering a QVGA screen and 1.3 megapixel camera. But ASUS’s power and connection choices are totally last year. Only 53 MB of available memory? Bluetooth but no Wi-fi support? It’s the phone design white after Labor Day. It’s not awful, but for a phone that isn’t even out yet—a PDA smartphone, no less—I’d hope for more.
Preview: ASUS P505 [InfosyncWorld via Phonemag]
