By ASUS has taken to their home turf of Taipei to announce the next big boy phone in their long-running line of products. It’s the ASUS Padfone Infinity, and this has enough horsepower to make any spec junkie happy. Highlighted by the inclusion of a Snapdragon 800 processor, this spec sheet would is not for the feint at heart. Let’s take a quick look:
- 5-inch 1080p HD Super IPS display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB or 32GB of internal storage with microSD
- 13 megapixel rear camera
- 2 megapixel front camera
- NFC
- Bluetooth 4.0
- WiFi N
- 2,400mAh battery
The camera deserves a bit of recognition here, with ASUS introducing a technology called PixelMaster that will use multiple pixels from the 13 megapixel camera sensor to create a 3 megapixel image that is quite sharp and clear.
PixelMaster also helps ASUS achieve better lowlight performance than the HTC One, Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5, apparently. We’ll hold our breath until we see some samples for ourselves, but they do make it sound quite promising.
Coming in “Titanium Black” or “Platinum White,” the Padfone Infinity will run Android 4.2.2 out of the box, and with the track record ASUS has built we should expect to get even more updates down the line. Sitting on top is a new and improved user interface that ASUS has created, with an emphasis on making the experience more uniform no matter where you are in the OS.
Of course, this being a Padfone means it can be docked into the back of ASUS’ gutless tablets. This essentially makes your phone the driving power behind a full-fledged tablet experience. What’s better is that you won’t even need the new version of the Padfone tablet dock if you already have one, as the Padfone Infinity will fit inside the old one just fine. Not bad for a reported $640 (add $240 for the tablet dock). Anyone interested?
[via Engadget]
If this comes to America I will be hardpressed not to sell my Note 2 and Nexus 10 to pick up this bad boy (And the dock/tablet). Will have to see what the Nexus 10 (2013) has to offer as well.
As good a concept as the padphone is, it’s not for the average consumer I think. I personally wouldn’t ever buy one and I’m not really surprised that it’s not too popular, as far as I’m aware anyway.
Do people buy this at all? I don’t dig the idea of not being able to use my phone why it’s inside the tab.
You use a pen/stylus to answer calls while it’s in the tablet without having to undock.
I love this idea, but i feel like I am waiting for a tablet with more RAM. I have a Note2 right now and I have actually started to reach the RAM limits on it.
really? I haven’t really felt that my Note 2 has been pushed to the limit.
Looks prosising, my only problem is that by the time this is on the market (here in Canada), the phone specs will be dated. The concept is great though.
I really like this concept. I really only need a smart phone, but on occasion I would like a tablet size screen. I think this would be perfect for me.
Battery seems quite weak. Maybe because it’s meant to be used in a tablet which will also have its own battery?
seems about the same size as the nexus 5 battery… hopefully they know something about the snapdragon 800 that we dont
Looking at the frequencies on gsmarena.com, it doesn’t work on any LTE networks in the US, though it does seem to be compatible with AT&T HSPA and T-Mobile HSPA in refarmed locations.
USA?
So this is like a Droid Maxx with higher resolution, a better camera, but less battery life… I’ve already got an iPad, so I think I’ll stick with the Maxx.
About the only thing this has in common with the Droid Maxx is the button layout.
To correct, this is like a Droid Maxx with higher resolution, a better camera, about twice as fast of a graphics card, two more CPU cores, can be plugged into a tablet housing so everything you do is unified, and less battery life (unless you plug it into said tablet housing).
Not sure if that matters.
AND it has a microSD slot and more/worse bloatware and UI changes. Spec-wise, this is still what I was hoping the Droid Maxx would be.
Man, I would give anything to see a 3rd gen refresh with the keyboard dock brought back from the original Padrone, a 5.3″ish screen with virtual buttons, and a battery in the vicinity of 2600-3000mAh. That would be the *perfect* smartphone!
2400mah is a joke.I cant even play games for atleast 2 hours on this.
Yet I play games for 4 hours + on my less energy efficient snapdragon powered Nexus one with a 1400mah battery.
I am talking about full hd gaming. Non removable battery is the biggest reason even good hardware equipped phones fail
Yep, pretty slick device, now will it make it to the US?
Hi Engadget, I currently own the original Padfone Infinity. Do you know if it will also be upgraded to the new Padfone Infinity’s software?
Great move bringing back the microSD slot. If this were on Sprint, I’d consider it over the Note 3 for sure.
YES I’M INTERESTED!! Now when is this coming to the USA?
Where can I get one?
Why did they get rid of soft nav keys
Really nice tablet.
http://www.techgreet.com/asus-padfone-infinity-with-snapdragon-800-processor/