Strengths: 1. Slim design2. Large screen with landscape option3. Goog battery life4. Wi-Fi connectivity5. Internal GPS antenna

Weaknesses: 1. qVGA screen with low resolution2. bonus GPS software is weak (Destinator 6)3. few formats for memory cards supported4. plastic back cover5. Wi-Fi connection was not stable on good signal

Summary: I was looking for PDA with GPS capabilities on the market for a long time. I don't need camera or phone features on my PDA since for this I would use my cell phone anyway and camera with better resolution than any embedded one. On the other hand, I wanted not GPS-only device, but PDA with essential features such as multimedia support and simple office capabilities. Asus a696 immediately got my attention ? it has that minimum set of features I was looking for. It is a decent PDA with a good processor power, running smoothly on Windows Mobile 5.0. Windows Mobile OS greatly increases spectrum of software I can use on my PDA, since I?m not limited to the preset software as on most navigation devices. Wi-Fi support is nice when you need to browse for something on the Internet really quickly and you have wireless hotspot available (say at home or at public place). Even thought connection was not always perfect, device was searching for new networks and trying to connect to found once all the time, I was able to surf for while, it was pretty cool. Now, lets looks at most important part of this product ? GPS. To test it I was using Destinator 6 software, which was preinstalled on miniSD card shipped with Asus A696. It is pretty nice to have some GPS navigation software available out of the box, so that you can start using device right away, w/o any hassle related with purchasing, downloading, installing and configuring software on PDA. Destinator 6 was decent, with popular features and rich set of US/Canada maps. It takes a while for GPS to locate satellites, but once they were found, it keeps good connection to them. Internal antenna in A696 works perfect on open space but lacks good penetration for signal in high rising buildings zone, which is probably normal for any GSP device. The battery lifetime was surprisingly long; I was able to play with Asus A696 for a long time (about 3 hours) until default battery charge (about 50 %) drained up. If you need good GPS navigation device with flexibility of PDA, but don?t want to pay extra money for camera you are not going to use or phone you don?t need ? Asus A696 is a good choice for you, it worth every penny.