Asus is at it again with their phone-inside-of-a-tablet line of products called the Padfone. Announced this morning at Mobile World Congress, we have the brand new Padfone Infinity, a phone with a 5″ 1080p display, 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 64GB storage, 13MP camera, LTE, and Android 4.2. But most importantly, it also docks into a tablet shell, just like its brothers and sisters did, to turn your phone into a 10.1″ tablet as an all-in-one type of device. 

The device, to me, doesn’t seem a lot different than the Padfone 2 other than its 1080p display and upgraded processor. It still rocks LTE, docks gently into a shell, and likely will never come near a U.S. carrier.

The Padfone Infinity will go one sale in Taiwan in April, along with some other select countries in Q2. The U.S. is not mentioned at all, and that shouldn’t surprise you. Neither of the previous Padfone devices made their way to our shores, because carriers here like to charge you to connect tablets to their network. They also sure as hell don’t want you to tether for free (which is sort of what docking the device does) to a tablet and gobbling up data.

It’s too bad really, because the concept of the Padfone is brilliant.

ASUS Announces Next-Generation PadFone™ Infinity

LTE smartphone with 5-inch Full HD display combines with a 10.1-inch tablet dock for seamless mobile flexibility

Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain (25th February, 2013) —ASUS today announced PadFone™ Infinity, a powerful LTE smartphone with a sleek metallic design and a 5-inch Full HD display that becomes a 10.1-inch tablet when docked to its companion PadFone™ Infinity Station. PadFone™ Infinity features Android 4.2 and groundbreaking mobile performance, thanks to its next-generation Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 quad-core processor and up to 19 hours of 3G talk time.

“PadFone™ Infinity is the latest evolution of our PadFone™ line,” said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman. “It combines incredible design with an uncompromised user experience derived from our Design Thinking philosophy.”

Premium design with premium performance

With slender unibody design crafted from aerospace-grade aluminum, ASUS PadFone™ Infinity is beautiful and durable. 64GB of storage complements the class-leading Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 1.7GHz quad-core processor for a smooth and responsive premium Android experience, while 100Mbit/s LTE and 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ ensure super-fast web browsing and downloads.

ASUS PadFone™ Infinity features a high-performance 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 five-element lens that captures incredibly detailed images with no shutter lag. A dedicated image signal-processor enhances low-light image quality and enables PadFone™ Infinity to capture up to 100 sequential photos at 8 frames-per-second, while simultaneously recording 1080p Full HD video. PadFone™ Infinity can also output 1080p Full HD video via its Micro-USB-compatible MyDP interface.

Share apps and mobile data instantly

The unique two-in-one nature of ASUS PadFone™ removes the tedious need to synchronize data between smartphone and tablet. Data and settings on PadFone™ Infinity are available instantly on PadFone™ Infinity Station upon docking, and running apps are smoothly reformatted to fit the larger display. Mobile data bills are also reduced, since a single data plan can be shared between both devices.

PadFone™ Infinity comes with new and exclusive ASUS apps, including SuperNote 3.1 for note taking, Story for creating stunning photo albums and ASUS Echo for voice control of PadFone™ Infinity.

ASUS PadFone™ Infinity has up to 19 hours of 3G talk time, increased to up to 40 hours when docked into PadFone™ Infinity Station. PadFone™ Infinity Station also has sufficient battery capacity to fully recharge the docked PadFone™ Infinity up to three times.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

ASUS PadFone™ Infinity will be available in Taiwan from April and selected other countries from early Q2 2013. The combined price of PadFone Infinity 64GB and PadFone Infinity Station is €999 (MSRP). Exact pricing and specifications will vary by market. Please confirm full pricing and availability with your local ASUS representative.

WHERE TO FIND ASUS AT MWC

Location: ASUS MWC Product Showroom
ASUS Business Suite, Hall 2, 2C70,
Fira Gran Via
Av. Joan Carles I, 64 08908
L’Hospitalet de Llobregat,
Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: 25th February, 3pm to 7pm
26th to 27th February, 7.30am to 7pm
28th February, 7.30am to 4pm

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ASUS is a worldwide top-three consumer notebook vendor and maker of the world’s best-selling, most award-winning, motherboards. A leading enterprise in the new digital era, ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today’s digital home and office, with a broad portfolio that includes motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, desktop and all-in-one PCs, notebooks, netbooks, servers, multimedia devices, wireless solutions, networking devices, tablets and smartphones. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, ASUS won 4,168 awards in 2012 and is widely credited with revolutionizing the PC industry with its Eee PC™. ASUS has more than 12,500 employees around the globe with a world-class R&D team of 3,800 engineers. Company revenue for 2011 was approximately US$11.9 billion.

Asus Announces the Padfone Infinity With 5-inch 1080p Display, Snapdragon 600 Processor, LTE, and Docking Fun is a post from: Droid Life

Asus made the Padfone 2 official this morning, a device that they are selling as being “intuitive.” Just as its predecessor, the Padfone 2 is a smartphone that docks inside of a tablet shell to give you both a phone and tablet experience. While docked in the tablet, it’s still capable of making calls and using your wireless plan’s data, so for power users that aren’t interested in paying extra for a tablet data plan, this is the ultimate tech toy. 

On the spec front, the Padfone 2 packs many of the same specs that you’ll find in the LG Optimus G. It sports a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB RAM, a 4.7″ HD Super IPS+ display, LTE, 2140mAh battery, 13MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera, and 16/32/64GB of internal storage. The tablet shell has a 10.1″ (1280×800) display, a 5000mAh battery, and a 1MP front camera.

The device will come in either black or white and will launch in Europe and Asia before the end of December.

The U.S. was not mentioned in the press release, and that should surprise no one. A device like this is anti-U.S. carrier. Allowing you to dock a phone inside a tablet and share its data plan will probably never happen with carriers like AT&T or Verizon, since they are now charging extra to have you add on a tablet to a shared data plan. There is a chance that Sprint or T-Mobile would take a shot, but knowing that they passed on the original Padfone, I’m not holding out hope.

It’s a shame really, because Asus has done a marvelous job with this device. The styling of the phone looks very high-end, the body of the phone and tablet when docked together is ultra-slim, and the weight together has been kept down to under the weight of most stand-alone tablets. Plus, they threw in LTE! Man, do I want one.

Gallery

Videos

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Press Release

Live Life Intuitively with ASUS PadFone™ 2

Quad-core smartphone with incredible battery life and a thinner, lighter PadFone 2 Station deliver the ultimate mobile flexibility.

ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, today announces PadFone™ 2. Building upon the successful PadFone combination of an Android smartphone and dockable tablet for incredible mobile flexibility, PadFone 2 consists of a higher specification quad-core, LTE-equipped smartphone and a completely redesigned tablet.

ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih unveiled PadFone 2 in front of the world’s media at a press conference in Milan, Italy. “Our relentless drive to innovate through our ‘Design Thinking’ philosophy has empowered us to create PadFone 2. It’s beautiful, it’s fast and, best of all, it’s intuitive,” said Mr. Shih.

PadFone 2 is a fully featured 4.7” Android™ smartphone with industry-leading specifications that docks with the unique PadFone 2 Station to become a lightweight, but fully featured, 10.1” tablet. Apps are seamlessly optimized on-the-fly to support both tablet and phone modes, with an instant transition between smartphone and tablet screen sizes.

Enlarge and charge

ASUS’ world-renowned ‘Design Thinking’ philosophy has significantly reduced PadFone 2 Station’s thickness and weight. At just 649g, the combined weight of both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station is now lighter than most tablets on the market, and the dock mechanism has been redesigned to require just one swift step to use. PadFone 2 has also been subtly refined to increase its screen size to 4.7”, while reducing its thickness and weight to just 9mm at its thickest point and 135g, respectively.

Battery life is astounding, too. The higher-capacity PadFone 2 2140mAh battery provides up to 16 hours 3G talk-time and 13 hours Wi-Fi web browsing, while PadFone 2 Station’s 5000mAh battery gives up to 36 hours 3G talk-time. PadFone 2 Station’s internal battery also has enough capacity to recharge the docked PadFone 2 three times over.

Super phone, super performance

A 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM ensures incredible PadFone 2 performance in both smartphone and tablet modes. The new 4.7” 1280 x 720 HD Super IPS+ display uses scratch-resistant Corning® Fit Glass and delivers sharp, detailed images with accurate colors, ultra-wide viewing angles and 550 nits brightness for stunning outdoor visibility.

A new 13-megapixel high-performance camera captures incredibly detailed images with no shutter lag. Burst mode can capture up to 100 shots at a blisteringly quick six shots per second, while simultaneously recording 1080p HD video at 30fps, or 720p HD video at 60fps. Low-light performance is also enhanced by the wide f/2.4 aperture and a dedicated image signal processor. Both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station feature superlative sound quality too, thanks to ASUS SonicMaster technology and audio tuning by Waves, recipient of a Technical GRAMMY Award®.

Easy to share, easy to save

With capacities up to 64GB and 50GB of ASUS WebStorage provided free for two years, PadFone 2 offers endless possibilities for storing data. Data syncing between devices is also a thing of the past, since PadFone 2 storage is used by PadFone 2 Station when the two are connected, while NFC allows users to share webpages, Contacts and user recommendations from Play Store with others. Shared mobile data connectivity between smartphone and tablet also means just one data plan is needed for both devices, while support for up to 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ and 100Mbit/s LTE delivers super-fast web browsing and downloads.

User-friendly enhancements

PadFone 2 also features a new version of the SuperNote app that instantly converts handwritten notes made in multiple languages into editable text. Its Instant Translation tool also translates any word, phrase or sentence in an email, web page or app at a touch, without the need for a third-party translation tool.

Availability

PadFone 2 will be launched before the end of December in Europe (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) and Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and U.A.E). Availability in other countries will be announced at a later date.

Asus Padfone 2 Announced – Quad-core Processor, LTE, Ultra-Light Body, and No U.S. Availability is a post from: Droid Life

The folks over at Bloomberg have posted a video of ASUS’ new Padfone 2, being handled by none other than the company’s CEO, Mr. Jerry Chen. In the design department, ASUS should be awarded medals. Instead of being attached inside of a compartment like previously, it looks like the phone simply sits on the back side (with a slide-in motion) in the direct center of the tablet dock for use of the phone’s camera. It looks very slick.

As for specs, the phone’s display is set at 4.7″ with a resolution of 720p. Chen also mentions a quad-core chip with LTE, which leads us to think that it is powered by the Snapdragon S4 Pro. Much like the previous Padfone, fans here in the U.S. can expect to hardly see the Padfone 2, but that won’t stop some folks from importing the device.

Thoughts on the new look?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: Notebook Italia

Video: ASUS CEO Shows Off the New Padfone 2 is a post from: Droid Life

A picture of what appears to be the backside of a retail box that was posted over at Chinese site mobile01, is being reported as the spec list for the Asus Padfone 2. Now, we know that Asus is going to unveil this device on October 16, but so far, most of the specs remained a mystery. Unless of course, this picture is legit. So what do we have? 

The packaging above is showing LTE and HSPA+, a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2140mAh battery, 4.7″ Super IPS+ HD display, 2GB RAM, 13MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera, and a thickness of 9mm. It sounds a lot like the LG Optimus G, but since it’s a Padfone, it will certainly come with a tablet skeleton for docking. With the Padfone, it’s all about hybrid multi-functionality.

This is the type of device that I wish would make its way to the U.S. Unfortunately, carriers aren’t interested in a phone that docks into a tablet, since they would rather sell you both a tablet and a phone. They also don’t want you sharing a data plan between a tablet and a phone unless you pay extra to have that tablet on your plan. The Padfone in theory is amazing for consumers, and that’s the reason U.S. carriers have shunned it thus far.

So, this thing sounds like a beast in the making. Is anyone interested in importing one, once it launches?

Via:  Mobile01 | Blog of Mobile

Asus Padfone 2 Full Specs Revealed – Quad-core Processor, 4.7-Inch Super IPS+ Display, 13MP Camera and More is a post from: Droid Life

This morning, ASUS has sent out invitations to the press and industry affiliates for them to book their flights over to Taipei, Taiwan and Milan, Italy for the unveiling of the Padfone 2. Unlike some companies, ASUS isn’t trying make this a secret and even has a corner of the device on display in the invitation.

Except for that image above, there are no confirmed specs or even really that many rumored specs to speak of. The only small piece of info out there was a benchmark that showed a Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB of RAM. But, that’s just a benchmark and isn’t much to go on. 

Much like the original Padfone, we can most likely plan on this not making its way to the States due to carriers showing little interest in this hybrid phone/tablet device. Even more unsettling is that I won’t be able to attend since it’s all the way in Taiwan and Italy. Come on, ASUS. Sad face.

Asus Sends Out Invitations for Padfone 2 Unveiling on October 16 is a post from: Droid Life

I’ve never actually touched the device, yet I’m enamored with it. I’m talking about the Asus Padfone. Aside from its ridiculous and silly name, this could be the perfect device. Or at the vary least, the beginning stages or blueprint for the perfect device(s). Not familiar with it? Watch the video below and then come back to us.

Why do I want the Asus Padfone so badly? Well first off, I’ll admit that tablets are just not my thing. I can’t find a place for them in my life even with as many times as I have tried nor do I want to shell out for the next barebones Android slate that will be upstaged in a month. However! If I could have a cheap shell of a tablet that I could simply snap my every day phone into, that’s a win. See, one of the problems with having a tablet and a phone separately, is that you sort of have two different lives. Cloud services have helped this a tad, but for the most part you have photos on one and not the other, some apps here but not there, text messages over there yet not here, and so on. If you could take your phone that has it all though, and simply dock it into a tablet shell, you just solved the problem, didn’t you? 

Second, it has top of the line specs:  1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 4.3″ qHD display, 16/32/64GB of storage, 8MP F2.2 camera, and runs Android 4.0. The battery inside the phone itself is only 1520mAh, but you get another 6600mAh out of the tablet dock which Asus claims will give you up to 66 hours of life. Think about that for a second.

Third, how cool is that pen that allows you to answer calls while in tablet mode? Phone docked and can’t get to it while it rings? If you have their little pen with microphone and speaker, and you can take the call through it.

Lastly (and probably most importantly), let’s not forget that while docked, the tablet would be able to use the data plan that your phone is already attached to, leaving you with a mobile phone and tablet experience on the go. No tethering involved, no separate data package for 4G on the tablet – nope, this is an all in one data machine. Well, assuming carriers don’t try to stop this action in fear that it may take off and continue to ruin their already incredibly low and embarrassing tablet sales numbers.

To me, this really is an amazing creation by Asus, maybe their best yet. They took Ice Cream Sandwich, the first version of Android to connect both phones and tablets, and then showed exactly what that means. As a phone, you get the phone version of Android 4.0. When docked, it automatically flips to the tablet UI version of it. It’s brilliant.

Now, if only we could get Asus to announce some sort of global rollout. We thought April for select countries, but it’s now mid-May and we are without it, even after seeing unboxings within the last week. From what we know, the word “LTE” has never been attached to it, so this may be another device that you can only get Stateside by ordering overseas and importing.

Do you share my enthusiasm for the Padfone? Is it too gimmicky? Is the name an automatic killer?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Even With That Crappy Name, I Want the Asus Padfone is a post from: Droid Life

It seems like we have been hearing about the ASUS Padfone for years now, and it still isn’t out. If you have been waiting for a phone that comes with a stylus that docks into a tablet that turns into a laptop, this video should whet your appetite a bit. The good people over at NetbookNews got their hands on the crazy device and unboxed all of the boxes for you, showing off everything that ASUS has up their sleeve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If Ice Cream Sandwich wasn’t enough on one device, how about all three? The phone, tablet and resulting laptop all run Android 4.0, and pretty smoothly from what the video shows. Remember it does have a Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor in it, clocked at 1.5GHz. The phone’s screen is a 4.3″ Super AMOLED display and the phone has an 8MP camera on the rear that also is the camera the tablet uses.

You have to watch the video to really understand how it all, literally, fits together. It’s an interesting device andASUS may have an audience here, the device(s) are certainly something to talk about if nothing less. Any readers planning on picking this up when it finally hits stores?

Via: Phandroid | NetbookNews

Video: ASUS Padfone Receives an Unboxing, Now This is Boxception is a post from: Droid Life

One of the popular topics to discuss stemming from today’s announcements at the Mobile World Congress, is the launch of the Asus Padfone. A slickly designed device that fits snugly right into a tablet docking station, giving the tab 3G capability and plenty of processing power to browse the web and stream media. The phone itself has a 4.3″Super AMOLED display, runs Ice Cream Sandwich along with the tablet, and sports a speedy 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. 

If a phone that goes inside your tablet which can connect to a keyboard wasn’t enough, the Padfone also features a stylus that doubles as a microphone and speaker. No more fumbling your devices when receiving that important business call. The whole package will become available in April according to Asus, but there is no say on a price. Just for fun, take a wild guess at how much the Padfone will run here in the US. $500? $800? $1000? The better question should be, whatever the price is, would you pay it?

Via: Pocket Lint

Asus Introduces the Padfone, is it Tab-ception, or Phon-ception? is a post from: Droid Life

Not that there was any question over whether or not Asus would unveil the almost forgotten Padfone at Mobile World Congress next week after press releases went out, but this new teaser helps to confirm it further. With a not-so-sneaky slogan of “Divided we stand, together we rock,” it’s painfully obvious that they are talking about the joining of a tablet and a smartphone.

To catch those of you up that haven’t followed the saga of the Padfone – which is an awful name by the way – we’ll run through its history briefly. Originally introduced around last May, the Padfone would be a 4.3″ phone with the ability to dock inside and power a 10.1″ tablet. In theory, it really is the best of both worlds. You would have a phone for you day-to-day tasks and a tablet for those bigger multimedia times. However, after having been introduced, the product seemed to have disappeared for a bit until finally resurfacing in November with word that it would appear MWC. It makes sense that the product would be delayed until Ice Cream Sandwich was released though. How else would Asus have been able to load Gingerbread and Honeycomb all onto one device? Now with Android 4.0, they no longer need to have a device that can dual-boot.

So here we stand just days away. Are you ready for it? Suggestions for a new name?  

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheers Jacob!

Asus Teases the Padfone Before MWC – “Divided We Stand, Together We Rock” is a post from: Droid Life