Review: ASUS R2H UMPC Review (Pics + Specs)

[MilestonePC]

Introduction:
This R2H is the first ASUS UMPC, which means Ultra Mobile PC. It is a very sleek looking UMPC which is powered by a Celeron M.
The R2H has competitors like the Sony VAIO UX180P and Samsung Q1. The R2H is reasonably priced at $999 USD/$1149 Canadian. Let’s see what the R2H has in store for us.





Specifications:
Intel® ULV Celeron® M Processor 900MHz
Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition
Chipset Intel® 910GML
Main Memory On board 256MB DDR 533MHz +1 x SODIMM 512 MB
Display 7″ active matrix TFT(800×480)
ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology
Video Graphics & Memory Intel® GMA 900
Hard Drive 1.8 60 GB
Card Reader SD card slot push / pull type
Fax /Modem/ LAN/WLAN On board 10/100 LAN
Integrated 802.11b/g
Built-in Bluetooth™ V2.0+EDR
LED Status Indicator Power on/Suspend
LED off (Battery Full) /LED on (Charging)/Low(LED sparkle)
Bluetooth
Interface 1 x R2H Port Bar connector for external hub(S/PDIF, VGA, DC-in, 3 USB, LAN) / VGA function support via VGA Cable
2x USB 2.0A ports
1 x mini-USB2.0A port
1 x Microphone
1 x Headphone
1 x AV (Audio + Video) out
1 x RJ45 (LAN port)
Shortcuts Thumb Sticker
Page Up & Down Button
Functional Setting Button
4 Way Directional Button
WLAN/ Bluetooth Switch button
Log-in(SAS) Key
Audio Built-in 1 mono speaker and 1 microphone
Battery Pack & Life Polymer battery 6860mAh, 48W/hr
AC Adapter Output: 12V DC, 3A, 36W
9.3" x 5.2" x 1.1"
~1Kg/ 2Lbs (with extended battery)
Fingerprint Reader

Initial Impression:
The R2H come in a nice cubed shaped box, once you open it you will see two boxes, one for the R2H and one for the accessories.
The sleeve in which the R2H is protected is very sleek, even the Velcro won't scratch, it is a unique design.
At a first glance of the R2H, the 7" screen is jaw dropping gorgeous when compared to other UMPC with smaller screens.
The entire look of the R2H is very sleek, and ASUS has chosen the gun metal grey colour, just like the W3J and R1F.





Screen:
The screen is matte and 7 inches in size, it is bright and there are 16 brightness levels. On the highest brightness level the screen is good, I even feel comfortable using the screen at 8/16 brightness.


The horizontal viewing angles are roughly 105 degrees both ways and the vertical viewing angles are roughly 105 degrees up and down.





There is no visible light leakage when the black screen saver came on, also the contrast seems good, the blacks are black and the whites are white.

There are 3 screen resolutions, 800x480, 800x600 and 1024x600, I find that the highest resolution to be the best since you can fit as much as possible into the screen and still be able to read the text. I have tried all resolutions and they are all nice to read and use on, but I prefer the highest resolution.

In my opinion, there seems to be some sort of pixilation or slight screen sparkling, the screen doesn't look like my LCD or CRT, however the colours are fine.

The screen itself is very nicely protected by the entire chassis, the bezel around it is strong, and there is no flexing on the screen no matter how hard you press with the stylus, which shows the quality of ASUS products.

Buttons and Joystick:
Right when you hold the R2H in your hands you can see and feel that the buttons are recessed, so that you don't accidentally press them. I like this because this further enhances the sleek look of the R2H.

Looking to the left of the screen, you have the finger print reader, left mouse click, right mouse click, D-Pad, a menu button which brings the user to a variety of features, and a speaker.



Above the screen there is the 1.3 mega pixel camera and a mic.
To the right of the screen there's a joystick which is very fun, up and down buttons, screen options.
To the bottom right corner there are 5 LEDs, first one is power, battery, PC activity, wireless and Bluetooth.

The joystick is very easy to maneuver. It is very precise and if you tap it with your finger, which will resemble a left click.

UMPC Usage and performance:
The first time using the pen it feels a little off, for example the mouse seems to be above my pen by 1cm, after a while the pen and mouse become synchronized nicely.

The pen has a silo located on the back left corner, in which the pen fits nicely into it, not scratching the pen like the R1F. The pen has some nice weight to it, and it also retracts to be come smaller if needed.

When you select areas in which you can type, for example the URL bar for Internet Explorer, you can bring out a keyboard on to the screen. The keyboard has all the keys you need and you can even press them with your finger, but this is not advised. The pen does a decent job of keeping up with my typing. For example you need to take the pen and press "www.google.com" and as you press the letters appear. However, I felt this to be very slow in terms of efficiency and in terms of processor.

On a good note, when browsing internet articles, you can use the up and down keys on the right hand side to scroll up and down.

Loading programs, applications and even movies on the hard drive take some time to load. I wish it was a faster and had a better CPU in there.

Start up also takes some time because of the numerous amount of programs installed, some of them are useless and will be removed or replaced by better programs that use less resources.

The hard drive is a 1.8" 60GB @4200rpm and I transferred 1.5GB from an external hard drive to the UMPC hard drive and it took 2 minutes, this is very slow.

Overall this UMPC can only do the very basic and light work, however this does require a lot of CPU usage in order to do very basic tasks.

Sound System:
I was watching a movie called The Omen and the sound was very low even though Windows media player is at maxed and the volume setting is at maxed. No bass, but the treble seems ok for low volume speaker.

The sound in the headphones are great, the treble and bass are really good, no static problems or anything.

Also there's only one speaker, and it run in mono, at this price I would like to have two speakers running in stereo.
To access the volume on the UMPC you press the button below the arrow keys, and there are 16 levels for volume.

Build Quality:
The build quality is excellent, no flexing anywhere no matter how much pressure you put. The screen also does not ripple when you apply reasonable or a little excessive pressure. The entire UMPC feel very solid all around, everything is held perfectly in place.



Heat and Noise:
In terms of heat the entire UMPC is warm, it feels comfortable in my hands and on my lap, and the heat is not bothersome.
There is about a two inch vent located above the screen, and the heat that comes out of it is just warm. It doesn't matter whether you’re doing light or heavy related tasks; the air coming out of the vent is just warm, but not hot.

Furthermore, there is just a faint "whir" sound that comes out of the UMPC which is not bothersome at all; you will not hear this in many areas while using it. You may hear the "whir" sound when you’re in a library setting but others around you will not be able to hear it since you do have to be close to hear it.

Input and Outputs:

Top side

AV Out, USB 2.0, Hold Key, Heat Exhaust, SD Card Reader, Wireless and Bluetooth, SAS Key (Login), Power Button

Right Side

Power Input, Mic in, Headphone Jack, USB 2.0, Expansion Port, LAN Port

Left Side

Micro USB

Bottom

Release Battery, Unlock Battery

Dimension and weight:
The ASUS R2H has a 7" LCD in which it weighs roughly ~2 pounds which I find just good enough to carry and use in one hand.



The size of the R2H is 9.3" x 5.2" x 1.1", these are great dimensions for carrying and could possible fit in some women's purses. I would feel very comfortable having this in a sleeve like the one ASUS provides and then putting it into my backpack for school.





Wireless and Bluetooth:
The wireless connection worked flawlessly. There is an integrated 802.11b/g in the ASUS R2H. Once the UMPC was booted, I only had to make 3 clicks and type a password to get online and surf the internet.
The connection strength showed 5 full bars and speeds were great.

Bluetooth connectivity is easy; the Bluetooth manager is very easy to operate and connected to my RAZR V3i easily.

Fingerprint Reader and 1.3m Camera:
The fingerprint reader works nicely, but it takes time to get used to it and how to swipe you finger, do it slowly and etc.
The program work nicely too you can put passwords by using your fingerprint. However, if you touch the fingerprint reader by accident it prompts you with a message and this is very annoying time to time.

The camera is a nice feature in which you can do video conferencing, but the quality is not great at all, don't expect to use this for professional work. The images have different resolutions for the picture, 640x400 and 1280x960 are the 2 highest.

Battery:
I am using the polymer battery 6860mAh, which fits nicely into the back of the UMPC



Brightness out of 16
Power setting - Max battery life
16/16 = 3.15 hours
8/16 = 3.20 hours

Power setting - High Performance
16/16 = 2.35 hours
8/16 = 2.56 hours

Overall I think the battery life if just satisfactory, not impressed with it, especially since there's not much performance.

Software and Miscellaneous:
When you get the UMPC and turn it on, in the system tray there a vast amount of programs running, like Norton, the Bluetooth Manager, Dial keys, ASUS Multiframe, ASUS Live update and others which are pretty much normal.

There are CD's that come in the box and they are just ASUS CDs for the needed features. Also there is a Recovery Disk.

The extras that ASUS included are a mini USB mouse, a stand for the R2H, a micro fiber cloth to clean the screen, and the sleeve that the R2H comes in.
The cables it comes with it are, a mini USB to USB cable, Expansion Port to VGA out cable, and an ASUS USB Netlink cable with CD for drivers.





I think this is good that ASUS provides these extras and accessories, this helps the R2H become more versatile.

Benchmarks:
Super Pi 2M was calculated in 5 minutes and 18 seconds, yes this is extremely slow when compared to Core 2 Duo laptops, which can do roughly 1 minute and 20 seconds or so.

PCMark05 was an agonizing 17 minute wait, while the R2H achieved 658 marks.

HD Tune
While doing the test the hard drive temp was 47 degrees Celsius, which in my opinion is a little warm.

Transfer Rate
Min = 2.4 MB/sec
Max = 22.5 MB/sec
AVG = 18.3 MB/sec

Access Time = 20.8ms
Burst Rate = 58 MB/sec
CPU Usage = 18.4%

Pros:
LCD <- Nice big 7" LCD screen
Sleek <- The design is very sleek and good looking
Quality <- Very good quality, no flex or rippling
Buttons <- I like the recessed buttons and their functionality
Pen & Silo <- There's a silo in which the stylus goes into for portability
Audio Jack <- This jack works nicely
Ports & Layout <- A nice variety of ports and their layout
Freebies <- I like the mouse, sleeve, micro fiber cloth, stand and the extra cables
Bluetooth <- My phone connected perfectly to the R2H
GPS <- Great feature, usable in a car when driving
Fingerprint Reader <- Great feature for added security for such a portable device
Light <- It only weighs 2 pounds

Average:
LCD <- The viewing angles are ok
Heat <- The entire UMPC is warm
Noise <- Something this small and weak should be silent no matter what

Cons:
LCD <- Some pixilation and screen sparkles
Speakers <- Very low volume and sound quality
Pen <- The synchronization is a little weird
Performance <- This performs horribly compared to today's technology
Heat <- Some may find this too warm when comparing to other UMPC
1.3m Camera <- The quality is not so good
Battery life <- Some would find this to be quite low, averaging around 3 hours



Conclusions:
Overall this UMPC has good looks, has a big screen and exceptional quality. This UMPC is more designed for people who want to do light tasks and sit on a bed and read some articles. It can do some browsing, menial tasks, but don't expect much out of this. I recommend this to journalists, light writers, laid back people who want to be connected to the internet everywhere including laying back on a couch or a bed. I would also suggest users to get the optional keyboard for the R2H for easier use.
Thanks,

This review is completed by Akhil Parujanwala at www.MilestonePC.com in the new Markham showroom, come and visit to see the vast amount of laptops on display, pictures below.

[LDSDME1]

I just recieved my ASUS R2H and already I'm ready to toss it out the window. It runs the Windows XP Tablet PC. No Vista for me thank you. I am not a computer techie/geek and don't know the first thing about computers other than turn them on, point and click, or drag & drop. I've read the numerous reviews for the ASUS R2H but no one ever mentions the software/bloatware to remove by name to make the performance of the R2H better. My question is...What software/programs can I safely remove to give my R2H better enhanced performance? What programs/software should I add? Please help - LS

[MilestonePC]

You can remove, Norton and replace it with AVG Free, remove Asus Live Update and instead look on the Asus Support website for updated drivers if need be.

Other than that it has a Celeron M, meaning it will be slow, if you have a look at the benchmark section, it is just the way it is.