Asus fortifies smartphone bid with the P560

Strengthening its bid to become a major player in the smartphone and Pocket PC industry, Asus recently released its newest offering -– the Asus P560. Aside from the P320 (small Windows Mobile 6.1 handset), M536 (QWERTY Pocket PC) and the drool-worthy Lamborghini ZX1 Smartphone, the Asus P560 is another touchscreen-enabled smartphone packing a whole gamut of tech-savvy features.

Measuring a slim 4.58 x 2.53 x 0.53-inches and weighing only 4.25-ounces (battery included), the elegant P560 provides support for both tri-band WCDMA networks and quad-band GSM.  The smartphone is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.1 OS and features Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, USB 2.0, music player, video player, Java and Internet and email capabilities.

The Main features of the Asus P560 include:

• 2.8-inch TFT LCD touch screen with 320×240 pixels resolution (QVGA)
• Quadband GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G dualband and HSDPA with 3.6 Mbps
• TI Omap 2430 at 450 MHz Processor
• 256 MB ROM/128 MB RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• 3.2-megapixel camera on the back
• 0.3-megapixel camera in front
• microSD Port
• 1150 mAh battery
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• A-GPS compatible SiRF Star III receiver
• iGO 6 navigation software with maps from Tele Atlas

The Asus P560 is expected to be available on June for around €500 (around $775 US). A GPS navigation kit with mounts, car charger, and the iGO 6 navigation software with regional European maps preloaded on a 512MB memory card will also ship with the device.