Asus P320 Home

End of a great Run ...

2010-11-29T22:58:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

I haven't been updating this page in some time, am writing to you all to let you know that I have sold my Asus P320 and move onto an Android phone LG Optimus One.

It was quite an amazing two years with this phone and am sure many of you will also slowly move on to others. Till then I will still moderate comments on the blog to prevent spam from getting added.

Cheers !!

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23549

2010-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Manas Girdhar has been really busy churning out the latest ROMs for the Asus P320. There has been frenzied activity with various builds adding new feature and fixing the bugs that arise out of the newer builds.

The current version of ROM for Asus P320 is Windows Mobile 6.5.5 Build 23549. Couple of files from the older build have been used but Manas assures us that the kernel used in the build is the 23549 one only.

Based on the feedback received it seems reasonably stable. I however have yet to upgrade to the latest build, probably will do it sometime over the weekend. I have been on the 23085 build for the last couple of months and beside the late ringing of the phone has been phenomenal. The details of that build is available here

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23085

Some of the users have mentioned that the new ROM solves the issues that require the Ks20.exe patch as well as the late ringing problem. I will update on this post with my personal experience.

The device is to said to boot up with

Free Ram:23 Mb
Free Device Storage:23 Mb

I will also added screen shots over the weekend for a better look and feel. If any of you people do try it out before I do, do post your comments here.

The link of the ROM is here

http://www.mediafire.com/?vtqe4ozqiwd

The Link of the original posting about this ROM is here

http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/wm-655-build-23549-fixed-and-office-build-added-t94.htm

If you do flash this, it on your own risk, however here are a couple of useful pages for everyone who decides to flash the Asus P320 with a Windows 6.5 ROM

In case of missed call problems with this build. Have posted solution for same here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-missed-call-problem-windows-mobile.html

UPDATE: I have added a separate blog on enabling the weather plugin for Windows Mobile 6.5 located here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html

UPDATE: Incase of any IMEI problems have posted a solution of the same here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

UPDATE: Incase of bluetooth not able to receive files, a solution of the same is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html

The main article on the phone is located here. You might pick up some useful info if you are an owner ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Bluetooth Problem WM 6.5

2009-12-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

Since upgrading to Windows Mobile 6.5 I along with others have not been able to receive files via bluetooth. This has been true for the 23016 / 23085 versions of WM 6.5 that have been release for this device at the below locations

WM6.5 build 23016

WM 6.5 build 23085

However recently I came across a post that mentioned how to fix this problem courtesy Hdubli. It requires to make he following registry change.

If you don't know how to do this, I would recommend you go to the following post and download the registry editor

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/02/mobile-registry-editor-for-asus.html

Once you have the registry editor, carry out an active sync with your device and run the registry editor. You should be able to see the following screen.

Navigate to the following key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> Software --> Microsoft --> Obex

Right click the screen and say new String Value

Enter the Value Name protocols and Value Data as bth,irda

Say ok, and you need to restart your device, bluetooth should now be working !

Hope this helps, do drop me a comment, would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar :)

The main article on this phone is located here ..

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Reset Options Hard Reset / Soft Reset

2009-12-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

Some people have requested this information so I thought a post on it may help

A. Soft reset

Poke the hole at the bottom of the device with the stylus.

OR

Remove the battery, put it back and start it, do this only if the poke doesn't work.

B. Hard reset

Resetting your phone will remove all data from memory and restore the phone back to the factory default settings.

1. Tap Start > Settings > System tab > Default Settings.
2. Key in "1234" to confirm that you want to restore default settings and press OK.
3. Tap OK.
The phone will restart automatically after it is reset.

OR

Press Right Soft Key and tap Reset ( poke the bottom with the stylus) at the same time

C. Flash Reset
Use this option when you need to flash the phone with the new version

Press the Volume down button and hold while tapping reset ( poke the bottom with the stylus)

The main article on this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 IMEI fix

2009-12-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

For the unfortunate few of us who have managed to screw up our phones while flashing to Windows 6.5 by losing the IMEI information of the phone there is now a solution.

Kalpeshmist over at Asus p320 Winmo forum has found a way to restore the Asus P320 with the original IMEI number.

I have mirrored the files that are hosted there. The instructions are in the readme that is part of the download itself.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2z3dynzmnn1/P320 IMEI Fixer.zip

Once you get the updated GSM.BIN you should flash it along with your FLASH.BIN for it to work. Many people have responded postively saying it works, needless to say your doing on your own risk.

The link to the thread is available here
http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/fix-p320-imei-fixer-t69.htm

The main article on this phone is located here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Details on using Windows 6.5 on this phone is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

Asus P320 WM 6.5 Weather plugin

2009-12-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

If you have upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5 , details given here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

you probably would want to have the cool weather plugin that is available for this version as seen below.

On sliding right it give further daywize details as well

In order to get this to work you need to first download the required install files. I have kept the name of the file the same to give due credit to the creators without which this would not be possible.

The file is located here

It is Showaco-Titanium-Weather-QVGA-by-Mnemonique-v3e-M2D-Icons.cab

http://www.mediafire.com/file/w2izdnimmmz/Showaco-Titanium-Weather-QVGA-by-Mnemonique-v3e-M2D-Icons.cab

Now once you have the file you need to follow the installation procedure carefully.

1. Make sure you turn off the Windows default as part of the home screen. To do this you need to navigate to Start --> Settings --> Home

2. It will load up with the Appearance Tab, Move to the Items tab, its located on the right of appearance

3. Make sure you uncheck the Windows default

4. Now install the cab file you have downloaded earlier, make sure that you install on the device and not on the SD Card

5. It may ask for a restart, complete the restart.

6. Now go back to Start --> Settings --> Home and enable the Windows Default that you disabled in step 3

7. You should now see the weather plugin on your main screen, just below the time. Navigate there and select setup

8. You should see the following options. Make sure you select Option 3, Forecast Options/Setup

9. In the sub menu that now pops up , you need to select Option 1 to enter your location, what the use otherwise :)

10. Almost there, now you need to just enter the required code in the below screen and your done !!

Oh wait , you don't know what the code is for your city, that could be quite a pain :) Have a look at the codes available in the file below hopefully it should contain your city information. The zip file contains a text file with all the cities

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mnuzomzm2od/Weather Location Database.zip

11. Now just run option 1 in the setup screen and you should have the latest weather on your phone !

Hope that was helpful, do drop me a comment if it was ! If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

The main article for this device is located here, it would be pretty useful if you are an owner !

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus Missed Call Problem Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-11-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

If you are one people who flashed to Windows Mobile 6.5 but have a problem that your missed calls are not getting recorded properly. Often it will show a much older call that you have missed instead of the latest one.

I have faced these issues across various builds of Windows Mobile 6.5 such as 23004 / 23016 / 23085 to the extent I often went back to the stock version of 6.1 because I couldn't afford to not know who had called me.

I would like to credit Rayraven from the Winmo forum for helping me resolve this. By adding a patch file to the windows startup this solves the issue. The file is called ks20.exe as it would built for that phone where users faced the same problem.

The original file is posted on Xda, I have however mirrored it here for ease of use. The program on running will consume little bit of system resources and will only be visible in the task manager process view as seen below.

The file is located here

http://www.mediafire.com/?cz7bevlgf7qxu6s

Put it in the following location

My Device --> Windows --> Startup

The article about flashing to windows mobile 6.5 is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

The main page about this blog is available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23085

2009-11-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Been some time since builds were available for this device, however the good news is that a new build 23085 is now available for this device.

UPDATE: New build of 23549 is now available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2010/04/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

Credit goes out to DmBob who has taken the pain to put this together for the vast majority of us who required the WWE version.

Most the the earlier release were only in RUS. Please thank him for his hard work on the build and also to include WWE for all future builds.

Am posting the screenshots that he has put up along with a couple of mine. I have flashed and am running this ROM for more the last week. As always all ROMs are provided without any guarantee. Your doing this at you OWN RISK.

Having said that, here you go ....

The new working link to the ROM is here (update 12 April 2010)

http://hotfile.com/dl/37459481/53703c3/ASUS_P320_BUILD_23085_CHOME_WWE.rar.html

The link to the post is here ....
http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/build-23085-chome-wwe-t71.htm

Do update on your experience

UPDATE: I have faced missed call problems with this build. Have posted solution for same here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-missed-call-problem-windows-mobile.html

UPDATE: I have added a separate blog on enabling the weather plugin for Windows Mobile 6.5 located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html

UPDATE: Incase of any IMEI problems have posted a solution of the same here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

UPDATE: Incase of bluetooth not able to receive files, a solution of the same is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html

The main article on the phone is located here. You might pick up some useful info if you are an owner ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do drop me a comment, would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

Asus P320 Web Camera

2009-07-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

It is possible to use your windows Mobile as a Web camera. This would work even if you have upgraded your OS version to Windows Mobile 6.5

There are multiple applications out there and you could do a google search for the same. The one I am talking about is called Ateksoft WebCamera Plus, you could get a trial download here

http://www.ateksoft.com/download.html

It installs a component your computer that lets you view the capture of your mobile camera on your screen. It would need you to be connected to your mobile with activesync running.

There is also a component that gets installed on your device, you could choose to install either on device or on the storage card. You should run the Web Camera Plus application that has just got installed.

It would open up an application that you could see below

It will show whatever the camera is currently pointing ...

The menu options are simple enough, have taken a shot of that as well. You just need to click on start and your good to go. Make sure the PC software is also running.

Hope this is helpful, the main article on this mobile is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do drop me a comment if you have found this helpful, you could also check out the ads if your feeling generous :)

Asus P320 Windows Mobile WM 6.5

2009-05-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Have been busy the last couple of weeks, but I have been able to try out some of the amazing work of "hdubli" over at xda who has cooked a ROM for the P320 with Windows Mobile 6.5

First things first, this is not supported by Asus and there is a possibility that it won't agree with your hardware so this is on OWN RISK.

Update !! Manas Girdhar been kind enough to share one of the latest builds 23549. Please check out the details here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2010/04/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

Update !! DMBob has been kind enough to share one of the latest builds 23085. Please check out the details here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

I have flashed the ROM released on 21st April released from xda here

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3542813

Its very stable and it looks fantastic as you can see over here

The Today screen has been totally revamped much more finger friendly, it is currently on the time option. There is a weather plugin that can be added as can be seen below to point to your city for the latest weather.

Windows Media player has been integrated into the today screen showing you the latest song player and navigation can be done directly from the today plugin itself

Moving within the option can be done using the direction arrows or by flicking your finger across the screen up or down

The calender is also present and brings up the latest appoints once synced with your outlook, later appointments can be viewed by scrolling your finger across the screen horizontally.

The start menu is completely changed to the honeycomb structure that can be seen below, much more finger friendly

There also now exist a softlock for the screen, might not be as cool as the iphone but is quite function in its purpose incase you don't want to use the asus hard lock on the side.

Another nice thing about the change I would like to mention is the change in the menu, have posted one screenshot of the new menu that is again quite finger friendly as it is much larger.

Do let me know what you feel about the same, would love to hear it from you. If your feeling generous do check out the ads :)

UPDATE: Have added a separate blog on the weather plugin for windows mobile 6.5 located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html

UPDATE: A newer version of Windows Mobile 6.5 , build 23085 for this device is now available , details are available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

UPDATE: In case of problem with receiving files in bluetooth, there is a fix for this now available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html

The main article on this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Important update, couple of users are facing issues on losing their IMEI number which is critical for running the device. Would recommend having a full backup using Resco if you do decide to go ahead with this ......

There is however a fix incase you have lost your IMEI number, have a look here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

Asus P320 firmware upgrade

2009-04-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to upgrade my phone to the latest Firmware P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE

So I figured I it would be helpful to explain how it is done. The first step is to go the the asus site and download the latest firmware for the phone.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx

Select Mobile phones ---> P Series ---> P320 ---> Windows Mobile

In the firmware make sure you download the latest file for your country.

eg. ASUS PDA Phone firmware P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE only for India, Malaysia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Lithuania user of English language version

Backup all your files / data / contacts because everything gets wiped clean.

Upgrade procedure:
1. After downloading P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE.ZIP, please unzip it

2. Please directly copy folder “2577” into the root directory of your micorSD card. Please insert microSD card into P320 after the copy

3. Keep the battery in charge during upgrade procedure

4. Please follow the steps on the phone to upgrade

5. Press and hold Volume Down key (on left side, shown below) and poke reset button (on bottom side), the system will boot up. Then release reset button and continue to hold Volume Down key until the screen shows writing percentage

6. The system will start installation automatically

7. It will re-start when system installation is completed

8. System will start upgrading after touch panel calibration and date/time setting

You should know be on the latest firmware ! Do drop me a line if this worked for you. If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

The main article is located http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Mobile Registry Editor for Asus

2009-02-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

As you begin to play around more with your phone, you realize being a windows device there is not too much you can change without being able to open the registry and make some tweaks here and here.

In one of my earlier posts I had talked about using Total Commander as a a registry editor but it still is quite difficult to navigate in the small screen and make changes using your stylus. Wouldn't it be great to be able to make all these changes from a computer with a a key board ?

Well that just what this program does , its called Mobile Registry Editor v1.1 from Breaksoft. Unfortunately I could not find the original site as the page was down however I was able to find an alternative download here

http://www.mediafire.com/?xyn0znz0tmd

The way the application works is that it connect to the registry on your mobile phone once you have connected it to your computer via activesync. You just need to run the MobileRegistryEditor.exe on your computer.

It will pop up the following screen on your computer. You should be able to navigate the entire registry just as you would with regedit on your windows machine. Have just browsed the registry using my mouse ....

In case you want to make can changes you could either just double click on an existing entry and make a change

In case you need to add an entry , it can be done by using the right click on the location you are required to make the addition in

Hope you have found this useful, do drop me a line would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous do click on an ad :)

The main article on this mobile is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 File / Communication Manager

2009-02-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

Windows Mobile 6.1 does have its own file manager but its quite limited in its capability. There is the really neat application that I use called Total Commander. The main screen of the application looks like this ....

Just like the windows file manager you can browse all your directories including the storage card by just clicking on each of the items. You can do the standard stuff like copy a file, renaming it, moving a file, creation /deletion of directories and file as seen below

Additionally for viewing there are various options to see the files and folder via a tree mode / large icons etc for your easy navigation. This can be brought up by selecting the show button at the bottom of the screen as shown below.

Now onwards to the really cool part of the application :)

It has an built in text editor, that allows you to type and create files a shown below.

It has the capability to browse zip files, they show up as a small cube, on selection you could extract it to your required directories.

It also has the three following plugins for

ftp / LAN / Registry editor, to activate this select plugins in the root directory as shown below

It will show the following options

On selecting ftp, you will get the following screen pop up which requires the details for setting up an ftp connection as shown below

It also has a functional registry editor that can be used for minor changes for the registry, the navigation is similar to that of the file manager as seen below

The best part is that the application is free and is available here ....

http://www.ghisler.com/pocketpc.htm

Hope you find this useful, do drop me a comment would love to hear from you, if your your feeling generous do click on an ad :)

The main article about this phone is available here ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Tweaks : Mail on SD card

2009-02-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

There has been some discussions on the main blog in the comments section about moving the emails from the phone into the storage card. While nothing conclusive has come out from that after checking it is very much possible to shift not just the attachments but the email message as well to the SD card.

I have picked this up from another site, I have tried it and it works well. The only reason I am republishing it is that the method to do this in Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6.1 is different and in a lot of site where this information is available this has not been clarified.The method available below is what needs to be done for the Asus P320 which is on WM 6.1. Credit goes to the original poster (JeffC from pdaphonehome.org).

You first need to get hold of a registry editor to carry out all this. I recommend Total Commander, ( I will blog about this application separately). You have to create a folder (call it "Mail") on the SD card. Then, create a sub-folder under "Mail" named "Attachments".

Once you've done that, go into Outlook and then to "Options". Navigate to the "Storage" tab and place a checkmark in "When available, use the storage card to store attachments".

Now it's time to go to the Registry. There are 2 entries to make, both found in

"HKLM\System\Inbox\Settings"

First, set the Mail diverter:
HKLM\System\Inbox\Settings\PropertyPath = "\Storage Card\Mail"
(assuming there is no "PropertyPath name, create it. For the string, enter your SD path as shown (do not use quotes). Don't forget the space between "Storage" and "Card".

Next, create the Attachments diverter:
HKLM\System\Inbox\Settings\AttachPath = "\Storage Card\Mail\Attachments"
(you will probably see an existing string, which you should delete and replace with the correct path (again, no quotes). If AttachPath does not already exist, create it. Don't forget the space between "Storage" and "Card".

Exit from your Registry Editor.

Finally, soft reset the device. All should work now. Hope you find this helpful, the main article is linked here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you find this useful do drop me a comment would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous do click an ad :)

Asus P320 Remote Control

2009-01-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

MyMobiler is this nice application that I have been using to bring you all the content especially screenshots of my phone to all you users out there.

It is currently freeware and is located at the following location

http://www.mymobiler.com/

Once installed you can connect to your computer once an activesync connection has been established. Hence it will work either through the wired connection or even the wireless bluetooth connection.

The key features that is allows are

- Mimic touching the device physically by clicking on your mouse
- Mimic motion on the device by holding your mouse button down and moving
- Type text to the phone that is typed on the key board. (very useful to send sms)

- Allows saving the screen as a jpg image, (all pics on my blog are taken using this)
- Allows for saving of videos
- Paste data into the phone
- Rotate the phone into landscape mode

The main article for this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do let me know if found this useful, if your feeling generous you could click on an ad :)

Asus P320 Music Player

2009-01-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a cool interface but basic music player then S2P is the player for your Asus P320. It has a complete touch interface.

It plays wav, mp3, wmv files. Regarding all the other formats I haven't tried but I believe that most of us out there have our music in the mp3 format. At the bottom is the volume control that can be dragged left or right. The other buttons on the bottom are for the next and previous song.

The back arrow on the top left brings you to the complete song list that can be seen below.

If you run your finger down the screen you can move to the album browser as you can see below two screen shots

Unfortunately the album browsing is really really resource intensive and slows down like crazy. This is like the one time I really wished that the phone had a faster processor on board.

If you press on the top right of the screen as shows below you will be taken to the mini album browser

You can make a selection and get back to the main screen. Ofcourse if you want the album art to come up on the screen while playing the music you need to tag all your music with the respective album art. This mean you need to store the music of each artist in their respective folder and keep the album art image in the same folder with the name folder.jpg

The software is currently free and is located at the following location. you could check and download the latest version.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=417511

The main article for this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you find this useful do drop me a line, would love to hear from you. If your feeling generous you could click on an ad :)

Asus P320 Antivirus

2008-12-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

There have been some requests for a good antivirus for this device. I Mean a large number of us out there using this phone have a windows based PC and know that it is suicide to work without an antivirus program to secure us.

Now before we get to the antivirus programs out there there is this fundamental question that needs to brought up. Do we actually need an antivirus for our mobile devices ? The truth is that I am honestly not very sure.

I have come across articles that clearly define the need for the same and others that totally debunk. As a user out there what I believe I can do for you is help point you to couple of these discussion / writeup and let you take a call for yourselves.

As for me my personal view is to give this a pass as for now. I believe with safe behaviour I could do without the burden of having to spend money to lull myself into a sense of security as well live with the fact that my device will slow down considerably with the AV continuously running in the background.

For now, I believe making sure that my Bluetooth is currently not on when not required. Not accepting incoming files from people I don't know and not installing application from sites / places I do not trust is something I can very much live with. Please note moving forward in time with the popularity of the Windows Mobile platform gaining in the mobile market this could possible become a necessity tomorrow. If I do decide to move there I will definately update this page.

Regarding the list of softwares out there

1. Airscanner
2. Trend Micro Mobile Security
3. F-Secure Mobile Security
4. Bullguard Antivirus
5. Symantec AntiVirus
6. kaspersky mobile security
7. Mcafee (as part of Total Protection or McAfee Internet Security Suite)

There is this interesting article by Tyson Greer that you could read here

On the other side of the debate there are two discussions I had come across on a forum debating the need for the antivirus for Windows mobile that can be found here and here

Hope this helps, do drop me a line , would love to hear from you. The main article on the phone is avaiable here http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you feeling generous do click on an ad :)

Asus Applications - Home, PointUI

2008-12-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hi, its been quite some time and I haven't had a chance to update this blog. Want to take you all through this wonderful application that I can't manage without and I personally believe its a must have !

Its called Home, made by a company called PointUI. It sits on top of Windows Mobile and allows you to control your device quite a bit without having to take out your stylus for every little task. It is a Today screen replacement plus application launcher and it looks like this .....

What I really like about this application are the following

1. very light, takes only 3MB during runtime.
2. Its not at all very CPU intensive because the ASUS doesn't have the best processor on board.
3. It extremely simple to use.
4. Very easy installation, can be easily stopped at anytime.
5. It uses the entire screen, which is important when your devices is a little smaller.
6. It seemlessly moves between its own shell and the actual windows programs once opened.
7. Works with the buttons available for navigation.
8. Believe it or not, its free !!!

The screen can be shifted by flicking right or left to move to your calendar items / pending tasks / Weather as can bee seen in the screen shots below.

It has a soft lock/ screen option located on the top left , that once activated looks like this ...

The next icon the top of the signal strength take you to the following Wireless Manager screen.

The next icon on the screen takes you to the screen where you can change your ring type to vibration / silent or your ring volume.

The battery icon on the top take you to this screen

The last icon on the top takes you to the configuration page where you would end up reaching by programs ---> Settings

To move between menu you need to flick across the screen

Navigation in any screen is by flicking up down on your screen as show below ...

That complete what are the option on the top of the screen, on the bottom you have Recent Calls / Email / SMS / Recent programs as the large icons with the Contact list and program below them, the Contact list looks like this ...

Navigation here as well is by flicking your finger up / down.

The last screen I am posting is of the program files to be used to launch applications.

What I really like about this application are the following

1. very light, takes only 3MB during runtime.
2. Its not at all very CPU intensive because the ASUS doesn't have the best processor on board.
3. It extremely simple to use.
4. Very easy installation, can be easily stopped at anytime.
5. It uses the entire screen, which is important when your devices is a little smaller.
6. It seemlessly moves between its own shell and the actual windows programs once opened.
7. Works with the buttons available for navigation.
8. Believe it or not, its free !!!

It can be found here http://www.pointui.com

The best experience for this product would be to try it, images can never truly represent the user experience.

The rest of the articles on this phone can be found here

http://p320.blogspot.com

Hope you found this article useful, do drop me a comment would love to heard from you. If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal

Asus P320 Document Capabilities

2008-11-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

There have been couple of questions / requests about the document capabilities of this mobile and I thought I'd share with you people out there with what is possible and what is not.

In brief , Office Mobile is bundled along with this device which has support for the following extensions files

document .doc
excel .xls
text .txt
powerpoint .ppt (viewer only)

Pdf does not have any built in support but it is possible to view such files.

First on what is already available

Start --> Programs --> Office Mobile

You should see the following icons to load the individual programs

On loading Excel Mobile, you will be able to open any xls file as show below

Keep in mind that it has very basic capability and it allows for entering information into cells and few calculations. Don't expect to do much though I haven't tried too much myself.

On loading Word Mobile , you will be able to open any doc / txt as show below

Its a good option to take notes especially if you turn on transcriber to translate your handwriting. You can save you files as well.

On loading Powerpoint , you will be able to open any ppt /pps as show below.

The major difference between powerpoint and the other applications is that you CANNOT create a ppt or even edit one, I could only get to be able to view the ppt. It automatically rotated the screen to the landscape for a better view. On finishing it rotates back to the normal view.

For pdf files, there is no in built support but there is an application called pocketxpdf located here

http://pocketxpdf.sourceforge.net

It has a 1MB size and can be installed on the storage card as well. On installation you should find the icon at

Start --> Programs --> PocketXpdf

On selecting open you will get the list of pdf files that can be opened

On opening the required file ...

It allows for basic functionality such as zoom, rotating, find etc

Hope you find this helpful, the main article is linked here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you find this useful do drop me a comment would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal

Asus P320 GPRS / Internet Access

2008-11-25T00:17:00.000-08:00

In order to enable GPRS access on this mobile you need to first get the same activated from your provider. Once this has been done you could do the following steps to activate it on you Asus P320 if the settings do not automatically update via sms.

Go to Start --> Settings ---> Connections Tab ---> Connections

Select Add new connection

Enter any name for the connection and in the choice of Select a Modem please ensure you select Cellular Line (GPRS). Click Next.

In the next screen, enter "airtelgprs.com" in the Access point name, if you have another provider you need to put the relevant access point name here. Click on Next.

No need to update anything on this screen. Click Finish.

A new connection will be created. You need to restart your phone to make this operational. Do check out any program such as internet explorer to see if it is working after the restart.

Now the second part is to use this connection to access the internet from your PC / laptop. The way to do this is described below. Remember this mobile is Windows 6.1 hence there is no longer any support for Bluetooth Modem. The only way to access the internet is to create a working GRPS connection as described above and then use internet sharing.

To do this you also need to have installed activesync on you pc and successfully paired your device with you computer.

Now you need to go to Start --> Programs --> Internet Sharing

There will be two options, one called Bluetooth PAN, the other called USB. Network Connection should be what you have setup earlier or whatever you are using to access the internet currently from your phone.

Select PC Connection as USB and press connect. It will automatically create a Local Area Connection which can be seen network connection. You internet should be accessible now from your PC !!

If you need to do this via bluetooth select Bluetooth PAN and press connect.

Now in your Bluetooth connection select Network Access Point, it will now create a bluetooth Network between the device and your PC / laptop and you should be able to Use the internet.

The main article on the Asus P320 is found here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do drop me a comment would love to hear from you. If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

Asus P320 Review Information

2008-11-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know that there are hundreds of pages that would appear while googling this phone. A large bunch of them just give statistics about the dimensions / hardware / OS. Some of them even wrong unfortunately.

The objective of this blog is to put together all the stuff I have grasped being an owner of the Asus P320 all the other users / potential users out there who are planning to pick this phone up. What all can you do with this phone, and more importantly how to do it.

A lot of what you would read here would be available on the comments section of gsmarena but I hope this would be a lot easier for a user to access the information rather than scouring the 30 plus pages that already exist.

have tried to make each part a bit detailed so do skip to parts you feel are relevant to you ..

Specifications

The best place for these details would be the Gsmarena page for the phone. This would be available here

http://www.gsmarena.com/asus_p320-2347.php

The important points not mentioned on the above page according to me are the following

1. It doesn't have support for 3G, not to relevant to people in India as 3G is still not available to the subscribers and will definitely take some time.

2. It doesn't have a 3.5 mm audio jack or a 2.5 mm audio jack. The audio jack for this phone is co located with the mini usb charging slot so you could do only one if you haven't purchased a splitter that allows you to plug in both.

3. The external card works upto 8 GB without any issues, haven't heard of any people trying with 16GB but no reason why it should not work. Please also remember that Kingmax ( not Kingston) cards have capability issues with this phone as reported by some users, so probably a good idea to avoid.

4. There is no FM radio on this model.

GPS

Yes this found supports it, questions have been asked about it too many times. The phone is equiped with a Sirf Star III chipset that supports GPS.

You do not need anything external for the GPS to work.
You do not need to plug in anything.
You do not need to pay anything to use GPS.

You do however need to have a clear view to the sky for it to pick up the satellites. So its unlikely for it to work from inside a building.
It takes sometime ( upto 10 minutes) to lock onto the satellites so please give it some time.

Maps / Navigation Software

Most importantly you need a program that will use your hardware to plot your location on a map. Yes its the most important part and its missing on the device. There are various options such as Nav4All, Mapmyindia, Googlemaps. Some of them have the maps as part of the install, the other download them on the fly depending on where you are using GPRS / EDGE / Wifi.

Google maps is free but you need to have internet access else it won't work. The others need to be bought.

Also note, the GPS Catcher that comes with the phone is an application that only downloads the locations of the satellites, this helps the above mentioned programs to find the satellites faster. It is NOT a program to view your location etc.

Connectivity

The Asus P320 supports GPRS and EDGE where ever available. Please remember that usage of data in these two methods are typically NOT free. There will be a charge by your serive provider to use / download information using these capability.
Typically if you subscribe to the service, you provider would send across an sms that would auto configure the settings and you should be good to go for either internet explorer / Google Maps etc

Wifi supports both b/g. So if you have a wireless router you could switch on the wifi on the Asus P320 surf without having to pay your provider for GPRS access. All application that require an internet connection work seemlessly in both environments with the Wifi typically working much faster due to faster speed of your internet connection.
The Wifi supports connections to secure wireless networks as well, you will need your security key to connect. Once connected , it locally caches the network key so you do not need to reenter the key everytime you want to connect the network.

Activesync via the USB connector, The normal wired active sync creates a small 2 system LAN with your device acting as a DHCP service assigning a 192.168.2.1 for the handheld and a 192.168.2.2 for the computer. This can be checked in the networks page, it will be a LAN type of connection. Ideally it should not take more than 10 seconds for this to happen. You will be able to sync only to the PC that you have connected too. Activesync 4.5 ( the version bundled) no longer supports capability to sync across a network due to security issues. This issue is for Windows mobile in general and not limited to this particular model :)

Bluetooth works with for sending / receiving files. For receiving you need to make the following setting change to accept incoming beam as shown in the figure below.

You can also carry out active sync via bluetooth. To carry this out open ActiveSync, from the Menu option select Connect Via Bluetooth. If an existing connection to your computer does not exist. It will ask you to establish a new connection. Once you now pair your device you should be able to carry out Active Sync via bluetooth.

Couple of problems I have faced that have caused this not to work. The incoming port for Activesync could cause problems preventing the incoming connection if pairing has not happened properly. In this case make sure that the Secure connection for Activesync has been set to Not required. You can reach this screen by right clicking the bluetooth icon in the task bar and selecting Advanced configuration. Check the image below

Being a Windows device , you could also use application like Total Commander to enable LAN access as well as FTP, will detail this out separately later on.

Firmware Versions

The mobile initially shipped with the following Firmware
ROM 4.8.0_0612_WWE

The next release was
ROM 4.10.0_0718_WWE

The Current available firmware upgrade is
ROM 4.13.0_WWE which is available from the Asus website here

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

I would recommend upgrading to the latest firmware, I am currently on the 4.10 version I have seen better battery performance, higher stability in the overall usage. Others users have also stated similar benefits. Please remember when you upgrade the ROM you will lose all of the following

1. Contact Information
2. Application Settings
3. Messages
4. Installed Applications
5. Other data stored in the ROM

The install instructions would be available in the download, please follow them carefully.

Input Options

The device comes with the following options for inputting as do all other Windows Mobile Phones

1. Block Recognizer
2. Keyboard
3. Letter Recognizer
4. Transcriber

The expectation is to use the stylus for all these forms of inputs. There are additional third party keyboards that could be downloaded and installed as well, with some mimicking the iphone input.

I use one called Phonepad, it simulates the T9 that I am so used too , and also allows me to type messages without the need of the stylus.

This is available here for download

http://www.venukb.com/downloads/phonepad_atom_wwe.cab

Battery

I have added this section based on the feedback that this is a cause of concern for everyone using this phone. I do understand as even I felt the battery life is really sad but with proper settings you can get upto two days of use with this phone for normal usage. Will detail out the steps in terms of settings to help you achieve this sort of capability.

First you need to make changes to your Back light Setting. This can be reached by
Start ---> Settings ---> System Tab ---> Backlight

Make sure that you make a similar selection to turn off backlight if device is not used for 1 -2 minutes.

This setting for the external power tab is not important but would definitely help charge you phone faster plus save your screen as well.

Next you need to make changes to your brightness setting. This can be found in the below location.

Start ---> Settings ---> System Tab ---> Brightness

Make sure you reduce the Brightness to a level you are comfortable using. The lower you go the better the battery will last. For external power it does not matter much.

Finally you need to make changes to the power setting. This can be found in the following location.

Start ---> Settings ---> System Tab ---> Power ---> Advanced Tab

Its is extremely important to ensure that this is done otherwise the battery gets drained really soon. You need to check the box to Turn off device if not used for 2-3 minutes. Please remember that this does not mean your phone is completely switched off, you can still receive calls. As soon as a call / message is received it powers back on.

Service

What good is a phone without proper support for the same, I unfortunately did run into some problem with my phone which the Asus service center in Bangalore quickly sorted it out. The contact details of the Bangalore service center is here

http://piglings.blogspot.com/2008/10/asus-mobile-phone-service-centre.html

Please note its different from whats available in the Asus site as they have not updated the contact details for this particular center. For the remaining centers the details are available here though am not sure if there are all still valid.

http://in.asus.com/aboutasus.aspx?show=3

If you do find this useful do drop me a line. Also incase you want me to add something to the blog. I will be adding in useful application on a subsequent blog.

Firmware Upgrade

Have added in details of how to upgrade your phone as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/04/asus-p320-firmware-upgrade.html

Reset Options

Have added in details of how to reset your phone as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-reset-options.html

Windows Mobile 6.5 Upgrade

Have added in details of how to upgrade your phone with various builds as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/05/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65.html

IMEI Problems

Have added in details of how to solve any IMEI issue as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

Internet Access

Have added in details of how to connect to the internet as a separate blog here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-gprs-internet-access.html

Antivirus

Have added in details of options / Requirement of Anti Virus as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/12/asus-p320-antivirus.html

Tweaks : Mail on SD card

Have added in details of moving mails and attachments to the SD card as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/02/asus-p320-tweaks-mail-on-sd-card.html

Web Camera Capability

Have added in details of using this device as a web camera as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/07/asus-p320-web-camera.html

Document Capability

Have added in details of what document capabilities exist on this mobile for xls / doc / txt / ppt /pdf files as a separate blog here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-document-capabilities.html

The applications I plan to review for this phone are the following

1. Pointui

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/12/asus-applications-home-pointui.html

2. S2P

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/01/asus-p320-music-player.html

3. My Mobiler

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/01/asus-p320-remote-control.html

4. Total Commander

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/02/asus-p320-file-communication-manager.html

5. Registry Editor

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/02/mobile-registry-editor-for-asus.html

6. Bluetooth Remote

Coming Soon ....

so do bookmark / follow this blog and come back sometime. Also do spread the word of this site to other users out there ! If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar :)