ASUS Padphone 2

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Psych2l

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
236
The ASUS padphone is officially out and I have to say it looks great. The new mobile tablet docking looks much sleeker than the original design, and it's packing plenty of horsepower. For you specwhores ;)

Android 4.0 (upgradeable to Android 4.1)
4.7 inch 1280 x 720 HD Super IPS+ display

1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip <- First quad-core A15 based Krait phone with Adreno 320!!! :eek:

16/32/64GB internal storage, 2GB of RAM
13 megapixel high-performance camera, 1.2 megapixel front camera
ASUS SonicMaster technology and audio tuning by Waves
42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ and 100Mbit/s LTE
NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0
2140 mAh battery
Weight: 135g

Highlights of the Padfone 2 tablet station include:

10.1 inch 1280×800 display
5000 mAh battery
ASUS SonicMaster technology and audio tuning by Waves
Weight: 649g

There's no news of a US release, but I'm thinking of getting one unlocked for straight talk. Who's with me!

asus-padfone-2-1350320045.jpg
 
This is my dream phone/tab/device. I would absolutely consider getting one unlocked... if I wasn't on Verizon already :(. I still have 15 months left on my contract and if I can't con them into letting me keep my unlimited data (not likely) when it's over, then I'm going to buy my phones outright and go to T-Mobile or ST.

It will be very disappointing if no US carriers at all pick up this ingenious device. What's really sad is if Verizon or AT&T did pick it up, I guarantee that they would charge you extra for the tab device even though it's part of the phone, just like they did with the Moto Lapdock with the Atrix/Bionic. They charged you the tethering fee even though you're not tethering anything, you're still using the phones hardware and OS, just putting it on a larger display with a keyboard :mad:. Now that tethering is free on their shared data plans though, I'd bet that they would charge you the extra $10/month to add the tab to your plan. Shit is ridiculous.
 
Going from a 1280 x 720 4.7" to a 1280 x 800 10.1" screen is kind of "ehh" to me especially since vertical pixels are going to be used for soft-keys. (I think it's 126 pixels, so the resolution you'll see is 1280 x 674, but I'm not sure.) If the "tabdock" is a 1080p, this wouldn't be an issue.

Why not just get a magnifying glass if the resolution are going to be the same? Phone + 5000 mAH battery + magnifying glass should cost way less than this!
 
CHANG3D said:
Going from a 1280 x 720 4.7" to a 1280 x 800 10.1" screen is kind of "ehh" to me especially since vertical pixels are going to be used for soft-keys. (I think it's 126 pixels, so the resolution you'll see is 1280 x 674, but I'm not sure.) If the "tabdock" is a 1080p, this wouldn't be an issue.

Why not just get a magnifying glass if the resolution are going to be the same? Phone + 5000 mAH battery + magnifying glass should cost way less than this!
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Well the tablet is pretty much a glorified dock, what's stopping ASUS from making a HD version down the road? :p

Besides, the main allure of this is not having to pay for two data plans for both your devices, and the lightness of both combined makes it a great portable solution.
 
Psych2l said:
Besides, the main allure of this is not having to pay for two data plans for both your devices, and the lightness of both combined makes it a great portable solution.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure you're already not paying for two data plans on AT&T or Verizon thanks to their data share plans.
 
I'm not sure what AT&T would do with this if they did release it. With the Moto dock, it could tell that you were no longer using the phone itself due to the fact that it used a second OS (not Android) when docked. With this dock, it's not much different than using MHL and an external battery - IE, new screen and battery. I'm sure they'd want some carrier bloatware to help them track it, so they could at charge the $10 "tablet" device fee.

But to be honest, I stopped caring about whether or not a device would come to a local carrier about a year or so ago. I've been on an unlocked SGS2 on AT&T ($10 medianet plan FTW!) for awhile and my next phone will be unlocked/unbranded as well.

This one has me curious, but not sure of my interest in the tablet part. Would depend on cost. I'm not really a fan of tablets in general.
 
Medion said:
I'm not sure what AT&T would do with this if they did release it. With the Moto dock, it could tell that you were no longer using the phone itself due to the fact that it used a second OS (not Android) when docked. With this dock, it's not much different than using MHL and an external battery - IE, new screen and battery. I'm sure they'd want some carrier bloatware to help them track it, so they could at charge the $10 "tablet" device fee.

But to be honest, I stopped caring about whether or not a device would come to a local carrier about a year or so ago. I've been on an unlocked SGS2 on AT&T ($10 medianet plan FTW!) for awhile and my next phone will be unlocked/unbranded as well.

This one has me curious, but not sure of my interest in the tablet part. Would depend on cost. I'm not really a fan of tablets in general.
Click to expand...

Yep, the big four have no idea what to do with this since it invalidates their strategy to charge (or add a surcharge) for separate devices. This type of device will never show up with an American carrier in 1000 years.

Went with an unlocked device on Straight Talk last year and would never go back.
 
This device has me intrigued, especially with the review that Change3d posted earlier:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/25/asus-padfone-2-review/

I have the following concerns with it:

-It's being released shortly after the first one (flagship products usually get a 12-month refresh cycle)
-No keyboard dock like the original
-supposedly releasing with Android 4.0 ICS (EDIT, confirmed, shipping with 4.0.3)
-original Padphone has not been updated beyond 4.0 ICS, which it shipped with
-Almost no community support, no confirmation if the first Padphone was even rooted yet

The lack of Asus support and community support scares me away from this. This is truly a product where you'll only get what it originally comes with.
 
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Medion said:
This device has me intrigued, especially with the review that Change3d posted earlier:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/25/asus-padfone-2-review/

I have the following concerns with it:

-It's being released shortly after the first one (flagship products usually get a 12-month refresh cycle)
-No keyboard dock like the original
-supposedly releasing with Android 4.0 ICS (EDIT, confirmed, shipping with 4.0.3)
-original Padphone has not been updated beyond 4.0 ICS, which it shipped with
-Almost no community support, no confirmation if the first Padphone was even rooted yet

The lack of Asus support and community support scares me away from this. This is truly a product where you'll only get what it originally comes with.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I'll either go with something like this or a full phablet like the Note 2. I do like this padfone A LOT though from these reviews I keep seeing.
 
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