ASUS PADFONE LIVE VIDEO

Check the exclusive behind the scene footage of ASUS Padfone and people centric design concepts such as seamless data transfer, expandable screen size, 1 SIM card for two devices and more

ASUS targets Christmas for Padfone launch, hints at Ice Cream Sandwich (hands-on)

 

We just got to spend some quality time with ASUS' newly unveiled Padfone and you can see the smartphone that doubles up as a tablet on video after the break. It's still a mere mockup for now, but ASUS has big plans for it -- plans that coalesce around the Christmas period and the very latest version of Android at that time. ASUS' Benson Lin was careful not to openly admit the company intends to ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, but he did point out that you can't launch a smartphone with Honeycomb as the OS. We were encouraged to draw our own conclusions.More after the break...

This is the ASUS PadFone

Wow, so our theory and mockup turned out to be pretty much spot on: indeed, the oddly named ASUS PadFone does tuck itself into a shielded docking bay on the back of its companion tablet, and the latter's hinged cover appears to pop up upon releasing the latch. You can also just about make out the two ports inside, which are likely to be micro-USB and HDMI for driving the larger display, and we wouldn't be surprised if this involves an extra battery as well. Now, what we really like to know is which version of Android will be shipped (if ever) with this split-personality phone -- our money's on Ice Cream Sandwich, given that this flavor will happily cater both phone and tablet form factors later this year. That said, given the uniqueness of this product, ASUS could still get away with launching it as a Gingerbread tablet.More pics after the break...

ASUS PadFone shown off in proper brightness ahead of launch? (Update: new mockup)

We've already seen a glimpse of ASUS' "pad or phone" duo -- likely to be named PadFone -- hanging out in their latest teaser pic, and now thanks to the folks over at Notebook Italia, we can finally gaze at their much brighter, non-silhouette form. Despite the awkward cropping, the leaked product shot above echoes the same shape and set of Android soft keys as seen previously. Upon closer inspection, though, we believe that the newly-shown silver bar is just the phone's volume rocker, rather than a potential docking port. So how do the two physically bond together, if at all? Until tomorrow's launch event, your guess is just as good as ours.Update and more after the break...

ASUS 'PadFone' to be the final name of the phone-docking tablet?

PadFone. Well, as silly as it sounds, the name sure speaks for itself. Unearthed by our friends over at Pocketnow, this USPTO trademark document was filed by ASUS merely four days ago. Such timing suggests that this could very well be the final name of the company's eccentric "pad or phone" combo, which is to be unveiled at Computex next week. As expected, no specifics are detailed in this application, but it does mention "electronic pens for computer touch screens" -- possibly hinting that the PadFone will be compatible with N-Trig's DuoSense or similar stylus technology.Update & pics after the break...