Jump to content



About The Author
Jeff McIntire
Jeff McIntire is an avid Android enthusiast whose first exposure to the world of Android, rooting, and customizing came in 2010 through the Samsung Captivate. Later that same year, he was introduced to the Verizon community through the Fascinate, which carried him from Eclair all the way to Ice Cream Sandwich. Having tried various ROMs, kernels and themes based on TouchWiz, he took the plunge into AOSP in May 2011 and never looked back. He now happily taps away at his Galaxy Nexus, always looking out for the latest and greatest, and helping others along the way.

Asus announces the Padfone 2, joins the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro party

Asus recently joined the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro party, announcing its successor to the rather unique Padfone tablet-smartphone combo. Just as the original Padfone was one of the first devices to feature the dual-core Snapdragon S4, the Padfone 2 is one of the first to sport the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro (preceded on the guest list only by the Mi-Two and the LG Optimus G and joined by the HTC J Butterfly). What other party favors does this newest guest bring to the global party?

The phone packs all the goodness one would expect from a top-shelf, late 2012 phone, including the following specs:
  • Chipset/Memory:
    • CPU: 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
    • GPU: Adreno 320
    • 2 GB RAM
  • Operating System: Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (Jelly Bean upgrade expected soon)
  • Storage: available in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB versions (no MicroSD expansion)
  • Display: 4.7-inch IPS+ LCD display with 1280x720 resolution (312 pixels per inch, slightly lower than the iPhone 5's 326 ppi)
  • Camera:
    • Rear-facing 13 MP camera with an LED flash, auto-focus, burst mode, digital zoom, and panorama capability
    • Video recording: 1080p at 30 frames per second, 720p at 60 fps
    • Front-facing 1.2 MP camera
  • Connectivity/Radios:
    • GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz (AT&T compatible in the U.S.)
    • UMTS: 900, 2100 MHz
    • LTE: 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2600 MHz
    • Bluetooth 4.0
    • 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi
    • Proprietary USB 2.0 connector
    • Other: GPS, NFC, DLNA
  • Battery: 2140 mAh
The tablet station adds the following specs:
  • 10.1-inch 1280x800 display
  • 5000 mAh battery
The Padfone 2 is currently available in Asus' native Taiwan market for about $616 for the 16 GB variant, $684 for the 32 GB variant and $750 for the 64 GB variant. The tablet station costs about $307 by itself, or about $210 when bundled with the phone. Availability in the rest of Asia and Europe is expected by the end of December. No release dates for North America or elsewhere have been announced yet.

The build quality and design of the Padfone 2 can be seen in the pictures below (full galleries can be found at PhoneArena and The Verge):

1. phone front view.jpg 2. phone front view oblique.jpg 3. tablet front view.jpg

1. phone front view 2. phone front view (oblique) 3. tablet front view

4. phone back view.jpg 5. phone back view oblique.jpg 6. tablet back view.jpg 7. tablet back view fully docked.jpg

4. phone back view 5. phone back view (oblique) 6. tablet back view 7. tablet back view (phone fully docked)


Asus has released the following promotional videos showing off the new device combo:





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.
Milan, Italy (October 16, 2012) - ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, today announces the 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 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 Design Thinking has empowered us to create PadFone 2. It’s beautiful, it’s fast, it’s seamless 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. 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, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden) and Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, U.A.E). Availability in other countries will be announced at a later date.
- Official Press Release by Asus
Sources [The Verge], [PhoneArena]

blog comments powered by Disqus