The P526 is an affordable PDA phone that goes head-to-head with Sony Ericsson P1i and Nokia E61i. The headset’s design is very similar to its high-end sibling, the P526. The P526 is well proportioned, and feels more comfortable to hold than Nokia’s E61i.

The P526 is also comes bundled with the necessary applications- Mobile Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. PIM functions include a meeting Time Planner, Remote Presenter, Voice commander, business card recognition and Java support. The phone also includes GPS, but the corresponding software needs to be installed separately.

The P526 doesn’t have a joystick, and completely relies on the touch screen for navigation, which isn’t very intuitive. The soft menu buttons and two dedicated buttons are in the form of a small thin strip, and are difficult to operate. The keypad is well spaced, and offers good tactile feedback.

The ASUS P526 has good signal reception, and we had no problem with dropped calls or static. Voice clarity was good, and two days on 45 minutes of talk, GPRS usage and tinkering around with GPS.