Through a very magical entrance performed by the one and only Marco Tempest. Asus Chairman Jonney Shih launched two new devices today at MWC, the Asus Padfone Infinity and the Asus Fonepad. Don’t get these two mixed up because they are very much two different devices, that combine the tablet and phone in two very interesting ways.
The Padfone Infinity.
The first device that Asus announced at their event was the Padfone Infinity, the phone has an aluminium unibody frame with a brushed metal finish. It houses a 5″ 1080 x 1920 Full HD Super IPS+ display with a anti-fingerprint coating. The phone houses a 13MP auto-focus rear camera with a LED flash and a 2MP front camera, both of which will be capable of 1080p video recording. The phone is powered by a 1.7 GHz Quad Core Snapdragon 600 CPU with 2GB of RAM and it will have support for 3G and 4G mobile data. Even Paul Jacobs the CEO of Qualcomm dropped by to talk about the close partnership between ASUS and Qualcomm in developing the Padfone Infinity.
These specifications are similar to what we have seen with a number of other phones launched at MWC this year. The phone has 64GB of Internal Storage but no external storage capability. Battery Life on the padfone is pretty impressive for its non-removable 2400mAh battery, where the user can expect to receive up to 19 hours of talk time or 410 hours of 3G standby time. The tablet dock adds a few more features to the padfone such as its 10.1″ 1920 x 1200 Full HD Super IPS+ display, another 13MP rear camera, a 1MP front camera and a 5000mAh built in battery to extend the life of the padfone by up to 300 percent, increasing talk time up to 57 hours and 3G standby time to 1200 hours. The Padfone Infinity will launch with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which is currently the latest version of Android.
The Padfone Infinity will be available from April and will be sold in Europe for the price of €999, ($1287 AUD) although there was no mention whether it would be coming to the Australian market later this year.
The Fonepad.
The other device that Asus launched this evening was the Fonepad. This tablet sized phone does what the name suggests, no need to carry a phone and a tablet anymore, this does both. The tablet has a streamlined metallic finish and the Micro SIM and Micro SD cards are hidden under the top section of the tablet. The tablet has a 7″ 1280 x 800 HD IPS display, 3MP rear camera and a 1.2MP front camera, your choice of 8GB or 16GB of internal storage and expandable memory up to 32GB via microSD.
The Fonepad will come in two colours, titanium grey and champagne gold. The non-removable 4270mAh battery gives the user up to 31 hours of talk time and up to 10 hours of 720p video playback. The tablet is powered by a 1.2 GHz Dual Core Intel Atom Z2420 to reduce the power consumption of the tablet. The Fonepad will launch with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and hopefully it will be updated to Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) not too long after launch.
The Asus Fonepad will be available from March and will be sold at the price of $249 USD, ($241 AUD) although same as the Padfone there was no mention whether it will be coming to the Australian market later this year.
Tell us in the comments: Would you get the Padfone Infinity or the Fonepad if they came to the Australian market?
If the Fonepad had similar specs to the Padfone I would be all over that thing. I like the idea of a 7″ phone and have no fear of looking goofy.
I think a lot of people will use it with a Bluetooth earpiece.
Bluetooth earpieces look pretty terrible, although I don’t think holding a 7″ tablet to your face would be ideal either. I’d probably give it a shot though. I hate carrying more than one device.
I’ll skip it…
I tend to like my phone to fit in my pocket!
The only way this will be a success in Australia is if they do away with the PF2 and bring this to carriers before June. Otherwise it’ll become just as outdated as everything else.
We’ll keep an eye on these two. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t launch in Australia by June.
the person name is Jonney Shih! the chairman of ASUS. not Jerry Shen
You mean the presenter… and Updated…
I think the padfone ifinity has a snapdragon quad core 600 processor, not the S4 pro.
Yeah it is… updated