Asus didn’t do all that well with its original Padfone – a platform that attempted to combine a smartphone with a tablet sleeve.
The primary issue? The initial smartphone just wasn’t up to par with competing high-end devices when it launched.
Yesterday we talked briefly about Asus and its second try with the Padfone 2. Of course, we didn’t have all the (official) specs then, but today we know all the details.
Frankly, the Padfone 2 sounds much more like a high-end smartphone than its predecessor, as it boasts 720p resolution with a 4.7-inch Super IPS+ touchscreen (700 nits of brightness). The device is powered by a Qualcomm S4 Pro APQ8064 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz and paired with sufficient RAM – 2 GB – to support multitasking along with memory hungry apps.
The Padfone 2 is said to resemble the original device with a tapered design, but the new version lacks a removable back panel. Meaning, there is no user access to the 2140 mAh internal rechargeable battery and there isn’t a micro SD card slot for memory expansion. Nevertheless, the phone does feature a rather impressive camera with a 13-megapixel (rear) unit via a Sony CCD, along with a microSIM card slot.
The tablet dock has been significantly overhauled from the previous version and is said to be a dramatic improvement over that original device. The phone now simply slides into the sleeve rather than having a complicated compartment that reminded us of a cassette deck.
That dock sleeve is loaded with a 10.1-inch screen supporting a resolution of 1280 x 800, along with its own 5000 mAh battery.
As expected, the Padfone 2 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is slated to launch in December throughout Europe and Asia – with availability for other countries TBA. Unfortunately, we are also still waiting for Asus to offer up an official price tag for the device.
