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Screen quality on the A716 is actually very
good. It's brighter than the 4150 and the colours are purer
but it suffers slightly from a general lack of contrast.
The 4150's problem with a yellow tint when viewed at an
angle is more of a blue tint on the A716 but it's much less
pronounced and there's a much wider angle of view where
you get satisfactory colour reproduction.
Performance in daylight without any backlight
is better from the 4150 which surprised me slightly, though
they're quite closely matched still. It surprised me because
looking closely at the A716 with the backlight on there's
a very slight shimmer which I attributed to a slightly more
reflective screen. It seems this isn't the case though.
Overall I prefer the screen on the A716, and
although I've heard rumors that they're actually both the
same screen, I find that just about impossible to believe
regardless of how similar they are in quality terms.
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MyPal
A716 (Left) +++ HP 4150 (Right)
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The
photographs don't really get the point across but you can
probably see the 4150's better contrast in the shot below.
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MyPal
A716 (Left) +++ HP 4150 (Right)
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Although
we've seen most of the A716 in our comparison photos, let's
a have a slightly closer look at a few of its physical features.
I
spoke earlier of the slightly odd way the battery attaches.
It's fitted with a sliding action which means it's held
quite solidly in place. This is important as the battery
itself forms the rear of the device also.
To
lock and unlock the battery you need to slide a small latch
using the tip of the stylus. If the latch isn't in the lock
position you simply can't fire up the device.
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Battery
Latch
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With
the batter removed you can see the power contacts and the
back-up battery switch also operates as a factory reset.
I'm not sure what sits under the small round warranty sticker
but a fair guess would be that it's a screw to match the
one on the other side used to dismantle the device.
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MyPal
A716 Battery Removed
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Being
such a large device ASUS were able to fit in a supremely
robust 1500mAh battery which is significantly bigger than
the 4150's 1000mAh unit and it means the A716 has about
as much stamina as you'll see from a PocketPC at this moment
in time. The 19 hour claims from ASUS are certainly a best-case
scenario a day's regular use for me left it nowhere near
panting for a top-up. For heavy users, ASUS also offer a
monster 3000mAh battery that should keep you going longer
than you'd ever need to.
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1500mAh
Battery
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The
buttons I think are aluminium but it's quite hard to tell.
They are machined with concentric circles to aid grip while
the direction pad relies on a matt surface texture instead.
The Direction pad is extremely easy to move which may be
a boon for gaming but there's no tangible feedback that
any of the microswitches has been activated. The 4150's
D-pad gives a very definite "click" feeling which
is great for feedback but less useful for games.
The
buttons are quite light to press but they have a good action
which should again please mobile gamers.
The
speaker off to the left gives good sound quality, as PocketPC's
go, though I personally prefer the sound from the 4150 on
balance.
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MyPal
A716 Buttons and D-Pad
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If
you were wondering where the status LEDs are, they're tucked
away behind that long, plastic diffuser strip at the top.
There are only two LEDs in there, a green one that lights
steady if the device is cradled and its battery is fully
charged and blinks while the battery is charging, and a
blue one that lights steady when either Bluetooth or WiFi
are enabled. It would have been nice if either Bluetooth
or WiFi could have caused the blue LED to blink so you could
tell at a glance which was active.
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Power
and Wireless Status LEDs (Simulated)
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That
external antenna unscrews by the way if you're close enough
to your base station to tolerate the reduction in signal
that brings.
The
stylus is your standard, aluminium with plastic tip type
affair and like most of the others it's uncomfortably thin
for my fat fingers even though it's a touch thicker than
the 4150's. The tip is elongated to operate the battery
latch and reset switch.
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The
Stylus
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Although
it seems quite blunt-nosed it worked very well, though on
several occasions I felt the touch screen lacked sensitivity
around the edges. I can't blame the stylus though as the
same lack of response was also noticed using the 4150's
slightly sharper stylus on the A716 screen too. I certainly
feel the 4150 has the better screen sensitivity of the two
and found myself quite often getting frustrated at having
to often select things a second time after it failed to
register the first time.
Cradle:::...
The
supplied cradle is one of the better ones in my opinion,
though there's nowhere on it to simultaneously charge a
spare battery. The cradle guides the device very nicely
onto its data/power connector (unlike the 4150' cradle)
and offers a lot of support (mechanical support that is)
when it's there.
A
sliding support block (arrowed below) allows the same cradle
to be used even when the high capacity 3000mAh battery is
fitted.
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Adjustable
Cradle
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The
cradle is nicely weighted and has long, rubber strips on
the underside to keep it in place. Weighted or not though,
you won't be lifting the device from its cradle with one
hand, you still need to hold the cradle with one hand then
un-couple the device with the other.
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Cradle
Underside
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 The
non-standard USB connector is my biggest complaint here.
The power feed isn't incorporated into the data connector
so I see no valid reason for ASUS to have used anything
other than a standard USB socket. This more than any other
part of A716's design both disappointed and angered me and
will make replacing the cable unnecessarily difficult and
probably expensive too.
Protective
Case:::...
The
case is a fairly standard ballistic nylon job which houses
the device horizontally and offers reasonable protection
from scratches and light knocks. The headphone socket can
be accessed with the device in the case which is nice to
see.
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A716
Case
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The
case closes using a pair of strong magnets which hold the
flap very securely, far more securely than you might imagine.
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Magnetic
Case Flap
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And
at the back of the case is a belt clip that I doubt I'd
ever trust completely. I think that a proper belt LOOP,
while more hassle to use, would have been a far safer
idea.
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Case
Belt Clip
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