ASUS (2357) on Monday announced its next-generation PadFone during a press event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The PadFone Infinity, which is a smartphone that can dock into a tablet, is equipped with a 5-inch 1080p display, a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The device also includes 2GB of RAM, NFC, LTE, up to 64GB of internal storage, a 2,400 mAh battery and Android 4.2.
The Pad portion of the phone, which ASUS calls the Infinity Station, features a 10.1-inch full HD 1,920 x 1,200-pixel display and is capable of increasing the smartphone’s battery life to 40 hours or fully recharging the docked PadFone up to three times.
The PadFone Infinity and Infinity Station will be offered in the U.K. for £799. Like earlier models, the PadFone will not be available in the United States.
ASUS’ press release follows below.
ASUS Announces PadFone™ Infinity
LTE smartphone with 5-inch Full HD display combines with a 10.1-inch tablet dock for seamless mobile flexibilityMobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain (25th February, 2013) – ASUS today announced PadFone™ Infinity, a powerful LTE smartphone with a sleek metallic design and a 5-inch Full HD display that becomes a 10.1-inch tablet when docked to its companion PadFone™ Infinity Station. PadFone™ Infinity features Android 4.2 and groundbreaking mobile performance, thanks to its next-generation Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 quad-core processor and up to 19 hours* of 3G talk time.
“PadFone™ Infinity is the latest evolution of our PadFone™ line,” said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman. “It combines incredible design with an uncompromised user experience derived from our Design Thinking philosophy.”
Premium design with premium performance
With a slender unibody design crafted from aerospace-grade aluminum, ASUS PadFone™ Infinity is both beautiful and durable. The 5-inch screen features a 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution with an extraordinary 441 pixels-per-inch for text so crisp it looks like a printed page and wonderfully detailed high-resolution images. 64GB of storage complements the class-leading Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 1.7GHz quad-core processor for a smooth and responsive premium Android experience, while 100Mbit/s LTE and 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ ensure super-fast web browsing and downloads.
ASUS PadFone™ Infinity features a high-performance 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 5-element lens that captures incredibly detailed images with no shutter lag. A dedicated image signal-processor enhances low-light image quality and enables PadFone™ Infinity to capture up to 100 sequential photos at 8 frames-per-second, while simultaneously recording 1080p Full HD video. PadFone™ Infinity can also output 1080p Full HD video via its micro-USB-compatible MyDP interface.
Share apps and mobile data instantly
The unique two-in-one nature of ASUS PadFone™ removes the tedious need to synchronize data between smartphone and tablet. Data and settings on PadFone™ Infinity are available instantly on PadFone™ Infinity Station upon docking, and running apps are smoothly reformatted to fit the larger display. Mobile data bills are also reduced, since a single data plan can be shared between both devices.
PadFone™ Infinity comes with new and exclusive ASUS apps, including SuperNote 3.1 for note taking, Story for creating stunning photo albums and ASUS Echo for voice control of PadFone™ Infinity. PadFone™ Infinity has up to 19 hours of 3G talk time*, which increases to up to 40 hours when docked into PadFone™ Infinity Station. PadFone™ Infinity Station also has sufficient battery capacity to fully recharge the docked PadFone™ Infinity up to three times.
###*Specifications may vary without prior notice. Options, pricing, performance and availability dependent upon region. For more details about the products mentioned in this press release, please visit http://press.asus.com .
Availability & Pricing – UK
The combined price of the ASUS PadFone™ Infinity and Infinity Station will be around SRP £799 (inc VAT). Exact price and availability will be announced closer to UK launch date.
