ASUS Announces PadFone 2, North America Has to Wait in Line

ASUS announced the successor to the PadFone, the aptly named PadFone 2, at an event in Milan. The 4.7-inch (1280x720 HD) phone--which is close to being a phablet by itself--docks in the PadFone 2 Station to become a 10.1-inch tablet.

The PadFone 2 sports a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip, an impressive 2GB of RAM, and a 13MP camera that features 100-shot burst mode and 1080p or 720p HD (30fps or 60fps, respectively). There’s up to 64GB of storage on board, which is paired with two years of free 50GB ASUS WebStorage. Storage capacity between the PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station is shared, and the devices will also share a data plan.



ASUS is also proud of the audio quality of the PadFone 2 devices, which is provided by ASUS SonicMaster and Waves technology.

The PadFone’s battery purports to last up to 16 hours on 3G talk time (and 13 hours browsing WiFi), while the station boasts up to 36 hours of juice while you chit chat over 3G. Another plus is that the PadFone 2 Station’s battery can fully recharge the phone’s battery up to three times on a single full charge.


ASUS is also proud of the audio quality of the PadFone 2 devices, which is provided by ASUS SonicMaster and Waves technology.

The PadFone’s battery purports to last up to 16 hours on 3G talk time (and 13 hours browsing WiFi), while the station boasts up to 36 hours of juice while you chit chat over 3G. Another plus is that the PadFone 2 Station’s battery can fully recharge the phone’s battery up to three times on a single full charge.



    

The European setting for the announcement was fitting, because the device will be available in at least the following countries (by the end of 2012) before it lands in North America: Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.A.E.

If you were hoping for a PadFone 2 for Christmas, tough luck for now; but hey, maybe your birthday this spring will be a different story.