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Asus Padfone – Phone + Tablet Combo Launching in April

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Asus first announced the Padfone way back in May 2011. At that point the smartphone and tablet combination seemed like nothing more than a prototype. In October Asus reiterated that it planned to bring the Padfone to market with Ice Cream Sandwich. Now Asus has announce the device along with a few new accessories and the finalized specs.

In case you’ve forgotten, the Asus Padfone is an Android smartphone that docks into a tablet (the Padfone Station). The tablet won’t work without the phone inserted, but it does give the phone 5 times it’s original battery power.

At Mobile World Congress Asus announced that the Padfone Station will also be able to dock into a keyboard just like the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The keyboard dock essentially turns the phone into an ultraportable laptop and provides 9 times the original phone’s battery.Asus Padfone with Padfone Station

The Padfone will also ship with the Padfone Stylus Headset Stylus, which can act as a capacitive stylus for the Padfone and Padfone Station as well as a headset for calls.

While the docking features are nice, the Padfone also has the specs to make the phone worthwhile as a standalone device. The Padfone will ship with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 dual-core CPU running at 1.5 GHz (the same CPU inside the US version of the HTC One X). The phone sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD display (960×540 resolution) with Gorilla Glass, which already seems like it could have a better resolution.

PadFone Stylus Headset+PadFone+PadFone Station

The phone also packs and 8MP rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, a VGA front-facing camera, and will have options of 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of storage space.

The Padfone Station is a 10.1-inch tablet dock that will have a 1280×800 display, along with a front-facing camera. It will also be able to sue the Padfone’s rear-facing camera.

The Asus Padfone will ship in April with support for HSPA+ networks. An LTE version of the phone will follow later this year.

It’s an intriguing convergence device, making it easy to just carry essentially one device at all times. It would make it much easier to sync data to just one device and have it accessible on both a phone and a tablet. We have an April release window, now we just need to wait on an exact date, pricing, and carrier announcements.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. longlong33

    02/27/2012 at 4:13 pm

     https://lnk.co/ILKGR

  2. sd

    07/11/2012 at 1:08 pm

    The tablet won’t work without the phone inserted…Huh?
    So it’s not possible to be in the phone while your using the tablet, and it’s not possible to use the tablet away from the phone, so it’s really just an add-on tablet-like screen configuration? = very limited market.

    • R. Griffin

      11/26/2012 at 3:11 am

      Phone does work when docked into the tablet.

  3. shivaji

    08/04/2012 at 7:30 am

    super tab please send details

  4. JC

    08/04/2012 at 11:47 pm

    ^^ re.: “So it’s not possible to be in the phone while your using the tablet,” —– Yes, you can be on the phone while using the Tablet. … The speaker & mic on the tablet is even better than the phone.. Just talk….
    Or speak into the stylus like a handset.

    re.: ” it’s not possible to use the tablet away from the phone,” …… believe me, it’s better this way. I’ve got phones, I got Tablets.. They’re a hassle. …. This thing has been more satisfying — it’s One device:
    A Phone that Transforms into a Tablet, and vice versa. …… even while it’s a tablet… it’s still your phone.

    I had to buy one through an importer. Yes, it has a few quirks, but nothing serious.
    So far the only real issue has been the lack of a US Carrier for it… I can still get a prepaid SIM card — phone, texting and email works great.. but for web browsing, the Data speed is only Edge Network level. (sub 3G).
    So you’ve gotta rely on Wi-fi for any high-bandwith activity.

    If T-Mobile or AT&T decide to add it – – we could get a plan with full 4G speeds.

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