ASUS Padfone
The Padfone is an innovation to incorporate different devices into one bundle, the phone acts as the hub for all the apps, files and data. The actual “Padfone” is a cell phone, but the package includes a way to turn the phone into tablet, your tablet into pc and a styles into a phone. The phone alone cost $610 and depending on the package it can cost up to $980.
Hardware
The design is nice but doesn’t feel as good as other smart phones does, its quite slippery in hand. The phone tapers at the back which makes it look quite small, even with the 4.3 inch screen, the Padfone is usable in one hand.
At the front there is a small silver bar at the front along with the front facing camera, below the display there is an Asus logo. There’s a power button at the top and a 3.5 mm headphone jack rest along with it. On the right side two volume buttons are given and on the left a Micro USB and a Micro HDMI ports are available. Around the back you are given a 8 megapixel camera along with a speaker, LED flash and a Padfone logo. The backs removable as the Sim and microSD slots are both underneath it. Sadly there is no designated camera button.
Display
4.3 inch screen is quite a good size, but its all about the preference, the screen is eye catching but with a 960 x 540 resolution it’s not comparable with the latest smart phones displays. The colors are washed out and individual pixels are readable. The viewing angles are good, the screen is responsive but it doesn’t match today’s 720p displays which are today’s norm.
The Station
The Padfone station is what makes the Padfone into a tablet. The 10.1 inch tablet looks good along with the 16:9 aspect ratio it makes the screen appear good. The device weighs 1.6 pounds; its design is very simple and is not that impressive as other tablets. It is also very thick, at 13.5 mm and the body has bumps and ridges.
The Padfone station is totally powered by the phone, there’s a door at the top of the tablet’s back with three ports which lets you connect the Padfone. It take seconds to connect but sometimes it loads a lot. Once the door is closed the tablet comes to life, it has a 1280 x 800 display which is fine but not great. It has a loud speaker along with that it has a gigantic battery, at 6600mAh of power and it also charges the phone once its locked in it.
Accessories and Camera
It adds a full physical keyboard to the device and yet another 6600mAh battery, the keyboard is yet another handy device. Another gadget is the stylus, which looks like one but its also a Bluetooth device, actually it’s a clever multitasking tool except that you look ridiculous holding a pen to your ear.
The camera takes quite good photos, but the colors are washed out and there are not many options to enhance them. Both cameras are not that bad but works well and are still available even they are locked in the station through the holes in the station on front and the back.
Software
It comes with the Android 4.0.3 the Icecream sandwich, the Android runs quickly and smoothly with fewer hiccups ever. You can download the Chrome and the updated version of Gmail making the app usage much better. Android is available for both the Phone and the tablet, the basic interface changes and the experience is not that good. The apps are stretched, screen’s real estate goes unused, and icons are not appealing at all and look terrible.
Performance
The 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon processer is the same one powering superb HTC One X, and performs quite well with Asus. In the phone it works amazingly but on the tablet it lags behind but the apps runs fast and the most extensive games runs amazingly.
The Padfone got the idea spot on but lags the efficiency and the consumers preference as there are enough performance issues.