ASUS officially admitted that it provided better batteries to reviewers of its popular Eee PC 900 than those it shipped to actual customers. According to reports flowing in from Hong Kong, customers who purchased the new UMPCs on launch day complained that ASUS mislead consumers and reviewers. The batteries that were given to reviewers were 5800mAh batteries while consumers were given 4800mAh.

Officials at ASUS told reporters that the standard for the Eee PC 900 is a 4800mAh battery. The company said that it had plans to introduce a higher capacity 5800mAh model at a later date, but accidentally shipped those to reviewers instead.

Company representatives state that due to the confusion, it will consider a exchange program for users who have 4800mAh batteries — currently all of them at the moment. However, ASUS did not indicate to reporters if it will follow through with this program or when it would be available.

This is not the first time that companies have shipped "special edition" equipment to reviewers, which ends up skewing overall impressions of the product from actual models that are for sale.

Found: Gizmodo