Tag Archives: Padfone

TransPhone smartphone / tablet hybrid gets official, doesn’t quite topple ASUS PadFone

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TransPhone yet another smartphonetablet combo

It looks like CMIT's TransPhone smartphone-tablet combo has finally made it to stores after its debut in May of last year. A competitor to the ASUS PadFone, the TransPhone fits inside a 7-inch display dubbed the TransPad, and runs Android 2.3.5. The TransPhone has a 3.5-inch screen, a Snapdragon S1 processor, 512MB RAM and ROM, 512MB internal memory plus a 32GB microSD card, a 5-megapixel camera, and more. As for price, a TransPhone plus TransPad combo is $429.99 while individual TransPads are $140 each and a solo TransPhone is $379. You can even go hog wild and get a Family Pack for $999 or a Business Pack for $4499. Seeing as the ASUS PadFone adds a keyboard to the mix, and that there's a PadFone 2 coming up soon, we have a feeling the TransPhone won't be much of a threat to ASUS.

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TransPhone smartphone / tablet hybrid gets official, doesn't quite topple ASUS PadFone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS

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Visualized 50 shades of Nexus

ASUS is never shy at showing off its creative side. At Taiwan Designers' Week last Sunday, we spotted the company's above art installation dubbed "Palette": a mesmerizing circle of 50 overlapping Nexus 7 back covers, each in its very own shade of color. Interestingly, all of these were actually used in the development process of Google's Nexus 7, which just goes to show the kind of mad dedication ASUS had put into the joint project.

But wait, there's more! To match the event's "Flow" theme this year, ASUS decided to also show off parts of the design process that determined the final appearance of its other hero products -- hence the title "Becoming" for the booth's own theme. For instance, much like what the company's lovely Michelle Hsiao showed us on the Engadget Show, the booth again featured a handful of tablet chassis parts and dummies (mainly of PadFone, Zenbook, Transformer Prime and a 7-inch device) at different stages of their development, complemented by a generous selection of colors and finishes. Only this time the designers used some of them to create gradient wall art that we wouldn't mind having at home. Check them out after the break.

Gallery: 2012 Taiwan Designers' Week: ASUS' "Becoming" booth

Gallery: 2012 Taiwan Designers' Week: Google Nexus 7, ASUS' 7-inch tablets and PadFone

Gallery: 2012 Taiwan Designers' Week: ASUS Transformer Prime and Zenbook

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Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of July 23rd, 2012

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Refresh Roundup week of July 23rd, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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Refresh Roundup: week of July 23rd, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS PadFone gets its first firmware update, minor bugs removed

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ASUS PadFone gets its first firmware update,

We've been regularly poking the "Check Update" button on our PadFone since the release of our epic review, and just as promised, today ASUS has finally delivered the hybrid device's first OTA update. While the release notes have yet to pop up, we can see that the system firmware on our Taiwanese model's been upgraded to IML74K.CHT_PadFone-9.18.8.41_CHT_9.1.15-0, which has eliminated some of the bugs that we had reported to ASUS. For instance, the missing change-keyboard button in ASUS' Chinese handwriting input method has been reinstated, and trace input in ASUS' English keyboard is now working properly. Sadly, the "A" and "L" keys are still easy to miss -- we're accustomed to their larger sensitive areas on the native Android keyboard, so we shall stick to that for the time being.

Also sent along is the camera firmware's update which brings the version number up to f09951, and consequently we're no longer getting an erroneous "no GPS signal" message in the camera app. Last but not least, the PadFone Station's firmware is now at version p40, but we've yet to notice any difference. Until we get the update log, don't be afraid to drop us a note in the comments if you spot anything else new.

Update: We almost forgot to mention that the PadFone's already out in Singapore, and our pals over at Engadget Spanish reported earlier today that it's also heading to tiendas españolas next month. Likewise for Italy, according to Notebook Italia.

ASUS PadFone gets its first firmware update, minor bugs removed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS PadFone, Transformer and Transformer Prime hang out under the sun

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ASUS PadFone vs Transformer vs Transformer Prime fight!

While cooking up our ASUS PadFone review, we decided to bring its Android tablet cousins together for a family portrait, because why not? Sadly, at the time of shooting these photos the Transformer Pad TF300 wasn't yet available in Hong Kong, so the original Transformer TF101 and the Transformer Prime TF201 will do for now. While you enjoy our gallery below, take a close look at how strikingly similar the keyboard docks for the TF101 and the PadFone are. Enjoy!

Update: Regarding readability under the sun (which is a fair question), the PadFone Station was almost just as good as that on the Transformer Prime -- both have an optional outdoor mode that boosts the screen brightness for this purpose, which is why they perform much better than the original Transformer.

Gallery: ASUS PadFone, Transformer and Transformer Prime hang out under the sun

ASUS PadFone, Transformer and Transformer Prime hang out under the sun originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS PadFone review

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It's been a long ride for the PadFone. ASUS' last smartphone was the Android 2.1-powered A10 from two years ago, then five months later the company ended its smartphone partnership with Garmin (though they're still friends). The next thing we knew, the outfit was openly considering Windows Phone, but obviously nothing came to fruition despite its E600 engineering units floating about in the wild. Meanwhile, a bunch of Android Eee Pads started entering the market to get a slice of that hot tablet pie.

Eventually, the PadFone shocked the industry at last year's Computex (remember our brilliant mockup based on the teaser pics?), but ASUS went on to miss its Christmas launch target, allowing it extra time to rejig the phone's software and design. Then CES and MWC went by, with the latter hosting the official launch event to unveil the PadFone's final design and availability date. This time, the new April target was missed by only three weeks, and shortly afterwards we got hold of our retail unit from Taiwan, which is still the only place where you can get hold of the product.

But enough with the story. What we want to know is whether ASUS' courageous and unique project has all the right ingredients to squeeze itself into a market now dominated by the likes of Apple, Samsung and HTC. Most importantly, will the company set a new trend with this two- or three-in-one form factor -- in the same way it did with netbooks -- thus taking the Android ecosystem to the next level? Let's see.

Gallery: ASUS PadFone review

Gallery: ASUS PadFone review (accessories)

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ASUS PadFone review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus PadFone, tablet Station get imported stateside courtesy of Negri Electronics, yours for $860

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Having to fiddle with a separate Android tablet and smartphone and a laptop just won't cut it? You might be eager to get your mitts the ASUS PadFone if that's your sentiment, but folks in the US won't exactly find these at their local Best Buy. Still, despite having no official carrier support or definitive launch plans within the states, you'll now be able to snag the smartphone bundled with its tablet dock if you're willing to hit the gray market. As discovered by Phone Arena, our friends at Negri Electronics are now stocking the international edition of the über-hybrid; $860 gets you one to call your own, but tactile-typists should note that it doesn't include the keyboard dock. To refresh your memory, the fone itself is runs Ice Cream Sandwich atop a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU, and features a 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 16GB of expandable storage, HSPA+ connectivity and a 1,520mAh battery. Additionally, the 10-inch PadFone Station (tablet dock) scores you more screen real estate (naturally) and a nine-fold increase in battery life. Feel free to refresh your knowledge of the device (and its accessories) with our previous hands-on posts, then check out the source link below if you decide to pick one up with your hard-earned dough.

Asus PadFone, tablet Station get imported stateside courtesy of Negri Electronics, yours for $860 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)

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ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go handson video

Back when ASUS formally launched the PadFone, it trotted out a handful of accessories to go with it: a keyboard dock, tablet station and even a stylus that doubles as an earpiece. As it turns out, the outfit had even more goodies up its sleeve: we just spotted a PadFone docking monitor hanging out in the ASUS booth here at Computex. For starters, it is what it sounds like: a 27-inch 24-inch display with a cradle designed specifically to accommodate the PadFone's dimensions. There are also HDMI, VGA, DVI and four USB 3.0 ports in case you want to use it as a standalone monitor.

When you plug in the handset, the display turns into an all-in-one PC, with Ice Cream Sandwich as your desktop OS. Since the 1920 x 1200 screen isn't touch-enabled, you'll have to get used to interacting with Android using only a mouse and keyboard. We'll admit: we would have preferred to just tap the home button instead of click on it, especially when we were ready to switch apps, but nonetheless, Android makes for an intuitive-enough desktop operating system, what with the home screen full of shortcuts. Funnily enough, even, we felt more comfortable using Android in a desktop setting than we did with Google Chrome OS, which was actually designed with PC form factors in mind. Otherwise, we found ourselves craving a little more pixel density, but we did appreciate the matte finish, which offers wide viewing angles despite the fact that this isn't an IPS display.

According to an ASUS rep staffing the event, the Docking Monitor will eventually go on sale in the US, though he couldn't say when or for how much. In the meantime, check out our hands-on photos and quickie demo video.

Gallery: ASUS PadFone Docking Monitor hands-on

Continue reading ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)

ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS shows off its Open Cloud Computing with a dash of sci-fi, teen angst (video)

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ASUS shows off its Open Cloud Computing with a dash of scifi, teen angst video

ASUS has been touting Open Cloud Computing as the glue that unites its new devices at Computex, but it hasn't been very specific as to what that meant. Rather than just give us the dry details, though, ASUS has chosen to sum it all up in a slightly surreal video illustrating how its cloud solves the travails of friends and family. Web storage comes up often for sharing files across the Internet -- apparently, by reaching through clouds -- and is joined by Open Help for sorting out frustrated parents, Open Link for helping woe-is-me teenagers finish high school projects on their Padfones, Vibe for sharing media and Waveface for coordinating a thank you event with everyone. Apart from being a bit trippy, the promo has more than a small dose of science fiction: although we've seen some future product concepts from ASUS before, we're pretty sure there's no holographic watches and virtual assistants on the short-term roadmap. If you can reconcile that with practical reality, you'll be ready for the video after the story jump.

Continue reading ASUS shows off its Open Cloud Computing with a dash of sci-fi, teen angst (video)

ASUS shows off its Open Cloud Computing with a dash of sci-fi, teen angst (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS PadFone gets benchmarked: a mere teaser of what’s to come

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It was only last week that we learned of the varied battery life of ASUS' phone that would be a tablet that would be a laptop. Now, a further trickle of its performance might has passed our way, giving us insight into the real-world chops of its dual-core S4 processor and companion Adreno 225 GPU. The tests, carried out by the fine folks over at Netbooknews, highlight the device's strengths across a swath of the usual benchmarks, putting it just below AT&T's One X variant in Quadrant with a score of 5,057 and Sunspider at 1,917ms. The company's hybrid did, however, manage to eke out a victory against its similarly CPU-equipped smartphone rival in Vellamo, as well as NenaMark 1 and 2, coming in at 2,554 and 60.4fps / 60.5fps, respectively. We'll have our own comprehensive review of the PadFone ready for your eyes in the days to come, but for now, sate your appetites with these various nuggets.

ASUS PadFone gets benchmarked: a mere teaser of what's to come originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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