Asus Padfone 2 – Tablet / Phone Combined!
The Asus PadFone 2 is an Android™ smartphone that weights just 135g and measures 9mm at its thickest point. Its 4.7”, 1280 x 720 HD Super IPS+ display uses scratch-resistant Corning® Fit Glass and a 2140mAh battery provides up to 16 hours 3G talk-time and 13 hours Wi-Fi web browsing. The PadFone 2 is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and has a storage capacity of up to 64GB. The specifications are great and put it on similar grounds as the upcoming Optimus G and the current Samsung S3 LTE or HTC One X+. The unique feature of the Padfone 2 is that you can dock it with the PadFone 2 Station to become a lightweight, but fully featured, 10.1” tablet. At just 649g, the combined weight of both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station is lighter (just slightly) than the new iPad at 662g.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDj-9QI5J8
Asus has been making great tablets. It started with the Transformer Prime and then later on, they built the excellent Google Nexus 7. With that experience, the PadFone 2 station would likely continue the great Asus tablet legacy. The PadFone 2 is expected to be launched next week in Taiwan. Like its predecessor, the PadFone 2 can be purchased either on its own or together with the PadFone Station. The former ranges from NT$17,990 to NT$21,901 (or about Singapore S$750 to S$916) unsubsidized for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB flavors, while the slate bundle is simply an additional NT$6,000 (about S$250) for each price point — much cheaper than buying the PadFone Station separately for NT$8,990 (S$376). Compared to the original PadFone, the increase in screen size and decrease in the tablet weight are much welcomed. The PadFone 2 will ship with Android 4.0, which is a bit disappointing but a Jelly Bean upgrade is expected from Asus in the future. Lastly, the device features a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.4 BSI sensor from Sony, which supports 1080p at 30fps and there’s a front-facing 1.2MP camera too. The camera sounds great and we are looking forward to see some sample pictures.
The unique smartphone-tablet hybrid is an interesting proposition. As a phone, it can compare to the current Android leaders and as a tablet, the specifications (power, screen size/quality) and weight are also not too shabby. It could be useful for business users who are constantly on the go and can reduce the weight of their travels. The PadFone 2 station with the 5000mA basically provides a bigger screen and battery pack for the PadFone 2. If they had pair this with a keyboard, this would be a great successor to the Transformers line. We are hoping Singtel / Starhub / M1 can match the competitive pricing in Taiwan and if so, we feel that the Asus PadFone 2 would be a viable competitor to the rest of the Android Market.