Review
Asus Padfone
Overview:
One of the biggest trends in technology today is that cellphones, I mean smartphones, excuse me for the use of the ancient term; and tablets are becoming a pair. A lot of people today support only a single brand like Apple, Samsung etc. The thing about this is that, and you most likely have noticed this, people that have an iPhone may also have an iPad or an iPad 2 or that people that have an Android smartphone may also be using an Android tablet.
Smartphones can do things that tablets can in a more compact handle while tablets or “pads” can do things that smartphones can in a bigger and more luxurious screen. This has been a growing trend, I know because my parents are like this; and Asus knows it as well that’s why it made the Asus Padfone.
The Asus Padfone is a combination of a smartphone and a pad in one. To explain further: you have the Asus smartphone and the pad and you can dock the phone into the pad and viola, a hybrid phone and tablet PC. Even if this item is not yet available for the market we are lucky enough to have the specs of the Asus Padfone.
Features:
The Padfone runs on Android version Ice Cream Sandwich, has the standard WiFi, Bluetooth, and sim card features that most smartphones have. The pad is 10.1 inches while the phone is 4.3 inches and the phone easily fits behind the pad thanks to a slot made there that luckily has a cover to prevent the phone from challenging the pavement.
The sad thing is that there isn’t much info on the specifics of the pad and the phone aside from those lucky people that have seen the presentation done by Asus.
The Padfone is told to have a Tegra 2 with 1GHz processor. It also is said to support famous codecs such as DivX etc so that all multimedia formats will run on both the phone and the pad. There is of course a standard 3.5mm jack.
The Padfone also has a 5MP camera with autofocus and a front facing camera added to the mix. The phone has all the standard smart phone necessities such as infinite call log entries, infinite text messages and infinite stored entries; not that anyone has been able to fill up their smartphone to that degree.
The memory is said to be able to hold a 32 GB SD card and that the sound quality of the Padfone is a bit below the average. Given that it may run a 32 GB SD card the problem lies in the internal memory; it is said that there is less internal memory than what people want.
Performance:
The battery is said to be in the same league as the current pads and phones which means more than 10 hours of straight use. The great thing about the Padfone is that you can use the pad to charge the phone when you’re low on battery. It’s not only a tablet it’s also a charger! The problem is when your phone and pad are sharing batteries and you need both to stay alive for a long time.
The price is said to be around $500 for the set and is said to be released either early 2012 or in the 3rd semester of 2012.
So let’s take a look back and compare the Padfone to other pads and phones.
The pad is 10.1 inches and is roughly the same as the Galaxy Tab and the iPad 2. The memory is the same with the Galaxy Tab and the iPad 2 in terms of having enough internal memory (seriously, who is able to fill up 32 GB of files that they always use; people just like to make it seem like their gadgets are full so that it looks cool) but it has an advantage over the iPad 2 for being able to accommodate an external SD card.
Verdict:
The Padfone runs on Ice Cream Sandwich which is pretty powerful so it’s equal to most android devices as well as the iPhone 4. The Padfone has a 5 MP camera and bad audio which puts it below the standard. And both the phone and pad are believed to be able to last as long as the current smartphone and tablets.
Well that’s all the information available since the Padfone isn’t even out yet.
The Asus Padfone shall be given 4.5 stars as of the moment. Since the product is not yet released to the public there is still a chance to fix the minor issues and to increase the power and maybe power up the battery as well. It gets -1 star for the lack of performance but it gets a +.5 star because of the innovative and creative idea that’s making a lot of people drool with excitement.
