KEY SPECS - 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 8260A Dual-Core, Memory: 32GB, Screen (phone): 4.3in Super AMOLED 540x960, Screen (station): 10in WXGA 1280X800, Battery:1520mAh(phone), 6600mAh (station).
At first blush the concept seems so elegant - it's a 4.3 in Android phone that slots into a 10.1in screen, thus becoming a full size becoming a tablet. It's a clever attempt to address the so called "gadget bloat" that many users are starting to feel. But how successful is the Asus Padfone?
There are two main components to the Padfone that make it work - the first (and arguably most important) is an Android powered smartphone. This is a 4.3in Super AMOLED screen with 540x960 resolution. The Padfone runs Ice Cream Sandwich, has 32GB of memory and has a ridiculously quick 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU.
Asus has pre-loaded the phone with a number of apps including a proprietary aloud storage application, the full suite of Goggle Apps (G+, Messenger, Maps etc), music and even an eBook library manager.
The second part is the Padfone Station, a dock, for want of a better term, where the phone slots in, transforming itself into a 10.1in tablet (with a WXG 1280x800 screen), with an additional battery inside. The phone mounts in a closed slot in the back, connecting via the micro-USB and mini-HDMI ports on its inside. It should be noted that the lid on this slot felt a little flimsy, especially given that you need to pull it down a little to lever the phone out of the dock - we were constantly worried that we were going to snap it off.
Docking is faciliated by some software from Asus - called dynamic display switching - which will adjust apps for the larger sized screen, theoretically on the fly, allowing for a seamless transition from phone to tablet. The Padfone will even allow you to download tablet-only apps from Google Play and run them only when docked in the Station.
Both the devices are well built, feeling solid (apart from the aforementioned lid) and featuring Aus' "concentric circles" design on the rear. The Padfone comes with sleeve that can double as a stand for the tablet incarnation and even a rather clever stylus. Why so clever? Because the stylus doubles as Bluetooth headset to let you answer your phone when you're in tablet mode. A pen you can answer and speak into is one of those strange concepts that initially a bit compelling and fun, although we're not really sure how long the honeymoon would last. That said, we were extremely impressed with the call quality that stylus provided.
In the terms of processing power, the Padfone impresses. The Snapdragon S4 pumped out a Quadrant score of 5204, which puts it well above most phones (excepting the Samsung Galaxy SIII) and many tablets. HTML load time sat at around 7 seconds and the Sunspider test gave a solid result of 1821ms.
However, there are more than a few issues here as well. First and foremost is the terrible battery life on the phone itself. At 1500mAh the battery just cannot sustain serious use and we found ourselves charging it twice daily. Now, the Station has a 6600mAh battery built in and i works as a charger. This adds, in theory, and incredible amount of battery life. But it presupposes that you will hace the Statin ith you at all times - which, given that it weighs a solid 730g, is a bit of n ask. While we get that the Padfone is a gestalt entity, with the sum being greater than all its parts, we feel that those parts also need to be able to survive on their own.
The dynamic display switching mentioned earlier also failed to work more often than it did. As dedicated users of the Swiftkey 3 app, we were increasingly annoyed that every time we docked and undocked the smartphone, the Padfon would reset to the Asus default Keyboard.
The Padfone itself was also prone to crashing - we had at least one crash while at temping to start the camera function from the lock screen that required us to remove the battery. That was the worst of it, but a number of other crashes proved annoying.
At the moment, the Padfone doesn't feel finished - it's an excellent concept but needs better execution. It still feels like more of a concept device than a retail one. Luckily, Asus are the kings of the second generation. See, for example, the amazing evolution of the Transformer range. The Padfone remains a worthy idea and a welcome change in form factor and we await the arrival of version 2.0. Until then this remains a clever curiosity.
At first blush the concept seems so elegant - it's a 4.3 in Android phone that slots into a 10.1in screen, thus becoming a full size becoming a tablet. It's a clever attempt to address the so called "gadget bloat" that many users are starting to feel. But how successful is the Asus Padfone?
There are two main components to the Padfone that make it work - the first (and arguably most important) is an Android powered smartphone. This is a 4.3in Super AMOLED screen with 540x960 resolution. The Padfone runs Ice Cream Sandwich, has 32GB of memory and has a ridiculously quick 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU.
Asus has pre-loaded the phone with a number of apps including a proprietary aloud storage application, the full suite of Goggle Apps (G+, Messenger, Maps etc), music and even an eBook library manager.
The second part is the Padfone Station, a dock, for want of a better term, where the phone slots in, transforming itself into a 10.1in tablet (with a WXG 1280x800 screen), with an additional battery inside. The phone mounts in a closed slot in the back, connecting via the micro-USB and mini-HDMI ports on its inside. It should be noted that the lid on this slot felt a little flimsy, especially given that you need to pull it down a little to lever the phone out of the dock - we were constantly worried that we were going to snap it off.
Docking is faciliated by some software from Asus - called dynamic display switching - which will adjust apps for the larger sized screen, theoretically on the fly, allowing for a seamless transition from phone to tablet. The Padfone will even allow you to download tablet-only apps from Google Play and run them only when docked in the Station.
Both the devices are well built, feeling solid (apart from the aforementioned lid) and featuring Aus' "concentric circles" design on the rear. The Padfone comes with sleeve that can double as a stand for the tablet incarnation and even a rather clever stylus. Why so clever? Because the stylus doubles as Bluetooth headset to let you answer your phone when you're in tablet mode. A pen you can answer and speak into is one of those strange concepts that initially a bit compelling and fun, although we're not really sure how long the honeymoon would last. That said, we were extremely impressed with the call quality that stylus provided.
In the terms of processing power, the Padfone impresses. The Snapdragon S4 pumped out a Quadrant score of 5204, which puts it well above most phones (excepting the Samsung Galaxy SIII) and many tablets. HTML load time sat at around 7 seconds and the Sunspider test gave a solid result of 1821ms.
However, there are more than a few issues here as well. First and foremost is the terrible battery life on the phone itself. At 1500mAh the battery just cannot sustain serious use and we found ourselves charging it twice daily. Now, the Station has a 6600mAh battery built in and i works as a charger. This adds, in theory, and incredible amount of battery life. But it presupposes that you will hace the Statin ith you at all times - which, given that it weighs a solid 730g, is a bit of n ask. While we get that the Padfone is a gestalt entity, with the sum being greater than all its parts, we feel that those parts also need to be able to survive on their own.
The dynamic display switching mentioned earlier also failed to work more often than it did. As dedicated users of the Swiftkey 3 app, we were increasingly annoyed that every time we docked and undocked the smartphone, the Padfon would reset to the Asus default Keyboard.
The Padfone itself was also prone to crashing - we had at least one crash while at temping to start the camera function from the lock screen that required us to remove the battery. That was the worst of it, but a number of other crashes proved annoying.
At the moment, the Padfone doesn't feel finished - it's an excellent concept but needs better execution. It still feels like more of a concept device than a retail one. Luckily, Asus are the kings of the second generation. See, for example, the amazing evolution of the Transformer range. The Padfone remains a worthy idea and a welcome change in form factor and we await the arrival of version 2.0. Until then this remains a clever curiosity.
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