The successor to one of the most versatile devices in the Android family has already undergone a professional photo shoot and what’s more, it was given to Bloomberg journalist Anant Dwivedi who was able to test the device out on video ahead of its October 16th launch.
The press shots come from a consistent source of leaked mobile imagery, Twitter handle @evleaks. The photos of the Padfone 2 show that the device itself remains relatively unchanged from the design of its predecessor, with a large display atop the capacitive back, home and applications buttons. The most significant change comes with the way in which the new Padfone docks into the Padfone station.
Formerly the handset would slide into the back of the tablet portion of the device in a landscape orientation and would then be concealed by a protective cover. The new Padfone does away with a mechanism such as this and instead, it slots down in a portrait orientation without the addition of a cover at all.
According to Dwivedi, the tablet feels significantly lighter than that of the predecessor, likely down to new material choices, a slimmer design and smaller or thinner, more efficient batteries. On the hardware front, the Padfone 2 is said to utilise a large 4.7-inch HD (presumably 720p) display and on the back sits a 13-megapixel camera which produces shots described as ‘phenomenal’ with regards to the level of detail. Battery life is expected to last a full day, however the ability to charge the phone off the Padfone station’s powerpack means that life could theoretically be extended up to two, possibly even three days.
The Asus Padfone 2 in its finished form is expected to be unveiled official tomorrow, despite the fact that Asus themselves don’t seem to be all that bothered about keeping it under wraps until then. We’ll bring you more tomorrow once the device is out in the open.
15 October 2012
The Padfone might not have had the impact on the market that Asus were hoping for, but that hasn’t stopped them developing the Padfone 2, now approved by the Global Certification Forum and set to be announced later this month.
We most recently saw a finished Padfone back at Mobile World Congress in February and despite the Padfone, Padfone Station and Keyboard dock all being ready to ship soon after, the company have since struggled to push the product as a desirable device to carriers in its various configurations.
Little is known about the Padfone 2, although it will almost certainly come with the same adaptive accessories as its predecessor: a Padfone Station which renders the phone a fully functioning Android tablet and a laptop dock for Asus Transformer-style hardware keyboard usability. Internally the Padfone 2 is expected to utilise a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, not dissimilar from the one set to debut in the LG Optimus G and which has already out-benchmarked the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, whilst graphics are said to be left to an Adreno 320 GPU and it’ll likely arrive running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out-the-box.
The GCF’s approval confirms that the Asus Padfone 2 will support LTE in the parts of Europe, Latin America and Asia, whilst American LTE compatibility is yet to be confirmed. As stated by UnwiredView.com, the Asus Padfone 2 should see announcement on October 16th, so we don’t have long to discover all there is to know about one of the more unusual smartphones of 2012.
8 October 2012
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