X-bit labs

Origami Project from Asus: Asus R2H Tablet PC Review (page 2)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 08/15/2007 | 10:03 AM ]

Package and Accessories

The UMPC is shipped in two boxes, rather unusually for the manufacturer. One box contains an optical drive. The R2H is in the other box together with a folding container with accessories. The package looks lush and attractive as becomes exclusive equipment. The names of the manufacturer and product series and a picture of the R2H itself are printed on the sides of the box. Yet it’s not quite clear why they didn’t make the package larger to pack the DVD-burner into it as well.

The ASUS Green label in the corner of one box side means that the notebook complies with the RoHS directive, being manufactured without such hazardous substances as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium or polybrominated flame retardants.

The UMPC comes dressed in a special fabric pouch that protects the device from damage and scratches during transportation. There is no belt or handle, but none is necessary due to the low weight and small size of the device (234x135x28mm and 0.87kg with the stock battery).

There are a lot of accessories included, partially because devices that you normally find integrated into the notebook are external in the UMPC. So, besides the R2H and the pouch, we found the following: a 3430mAh battery, a tiny power adapter with a LED indicator, a folding keyboard with a mini-USB connector and variable-length adapter, an external optical drive with an adapter (powered from a USB port), an EasySyns device with a USB interface to connect two notebooks (with a pouch to carry it), documentation (“Quick Installation Guide”, a 2-year warranty certificate, a list of authorized service centers worldwide, and a user manual), a small USB mouse with ASUS logo, an ASUS cable brace, two telescopic styluses, a mini-USB → USB adapter, a PortBar → D-Sub adapter, a napkin to clean the LCD panel, and a set of discs that included:

• System Recovery DVD No.2030 V 1.0
• Driver and Utility Disc version 1.0 (No.1991)
• Nero 7.5.13.0
• ASUS-InfoPen version 1.4
• ASUS RUS OCR PACK version 2.0

The DVD drive and the keyboard are accessories here rather than integrated parts of the UMPC. The included keyboard is foldable and connects to the R2H by means of a cord with a mini-USB plug. When folded, the keyboard is fixed with a slider lock. There are rubber feet on its exterior the keyboard stands on when open.

Before you begin to type on it, move the slider between the keyboard’s halves into the Lock position to prevent it from folding up accidentally.

This keyboard has 64 black and 4 silvery keys one of which doesn’t perform any function at all. The spacebar is split into two halves by the crease and you have to get used to that. The keys are reduced in size due to the keyboard format. The cursor movement buttons are united into a 4-position joystick in the bottom right. The bottom left corner is occupied by a Control rather than Fn, which is going to be convenient for people who are used to Control-involving shortcuts. The numpad is not available. One button, located over the blank key to the left of the spacebar, performs two Windows-related functions. When pressed, it performs the function of a Windows Logo key. When pressed together with Fn, it performs the Context Menu function. The functional keys are smaller than others. Print Screen, Pause, PgUp/Home, PgDn/End are painted silver and make up a column on the right. Home and End are accessible via Fn. Insert and Delete can be found in the bottom right corner of the keyboard. The letters are painted white, the functional keys are painted blue (you should press them in combination with Fn to access their additional functions).

You have to spend some time getting used to this keyboard due to its small size. It is just too easy to miss the necessary button on it.

The ASUS R2H comes with an external black DVD-burner (ASUS USB/1394 SLIM DVD±R/RW SDRW-0806T-D). There are an activity indicator, eject button and emergency eject hole on the body of the drive.

The drive is connected to and powered from USB and FireWire interfaces. It has the following speed formula:

Reading

• CD-ROM – 24x
• CD-R – 24x
• CD-RW – 24x
• DVD-ROM – 8x
• DVD-ROM (double-layer) – 6x
• DVD-R – 8x
• DVD+R – 8x
• DVD-R DL (double-layer) – 4x
• DVD+R DL (double-layer) – 4x
• DVD-RW – 6x
• DVD+RW – 6x
• DVD-RAM – 2x

Writing:

• CD-R – 24x
• CD-RW – 24x
• DVD-R – 8x
• DVD+R – 8x
• DVD+RW – 8x
• DVD-RW – 6x
• DVD-R DL (double-layer) – 2x
• DVD+R DL (double-layer) – 2.4x