With the Padfone you get a powerful smartphone which slots into a 10.1in, 1280x800-screened tablet, which itself hooks up to a keyboard dock to create a netbook. All three devices use the phone’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich brain and the OS manages the different components. changing battery drain and tinkering with layout depending on how you’re using it.
If you’ve used the Asus Transformer, you’ll recognise the Padfone Station keyboard dock. With the phone and tablet all slotted In, it’ll be weightier than your average netbook, and screen-heavy too. But you do get hassle-free tethering- and you can’t dig a phone out of a MacBook Air.
The brains of the operation reside within the phone, which is a very respectable bit of kit in its own right. A 4.3in Super AMOLED qHD screen, dual-core 1,5GHz processor and 8MP camera that also serves up 1080p footage make this an Android you’d be pleased to hold against your face.
The phone has a dinky 0.3MP front- facing camera for video calling, but the tablet upgrades that to a much better 1.3MP. Normal photography on the tablet uses an elegant solution: the phone’s 8MP snapper pokes through a little window on the rear, and can be controlled from the big screen.
If you’ve used the Asus Transformer, you’ll recognise the Padfone Station keyboard dock. With the phone and tablet all slotted In, it’ll be weightier than your average netbook, and screen-heavy too. But you do get hassle-free tethering- and you can’t dig a phone out of a MacBook Air.
Batteries in each component of the system mean the Padfone has significant staying power. The juice is meted out hierarchically - the phone gets the most, then the tablet, then the keyboard. That way you’ll lose functionality as slowly as possible.
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| TECH SPECS Display 4.3in Super AMOLED (phone), 10.1in 1280x800TFT (tablet) OS Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Camera 8MP rear, 0.3MP front (Tablet 1.3MP front) Connectivity 3.5mm, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, MicroUSB, MicroSO (phone) MicroUSB, MicroHOMI (tablet) |
The phone has a dinky 0.3MP front- facing camera for video calling, but the tablet upgrades that to a much better 1.3MP. Normal photography on the tablet uses an elegant solution: the phone’s 8MP snapper pokes through a little window on the rear, and can be controlled from the big screen.