Asus PadFone 2 to Reach India by December: Specs, Price, Availability and More

The Taiwanese tech giant Asus has followed a completely different approach to unveil its new smartphone/tablet hybrid PadFone 2. Unlike other major manufacturers, Asus clearly stated that it will uncover the next generation PadFone on October 16 in Milan and Taipei simultaneously. As promised, Asus unveiled the device in two events on Tuesday itself.

The new PadFone was unveiled by the company sporting a 4.7 inch Super IPS+ capacitive touchscreen display with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, quad core Qualcomm APQ8064 SoC processor, 13MP rear camera with BSI sensor and a 1.2MP front camera for video calling.

Running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, the PadFone is equipped with 2GB RAM and 50GB Asus WebStorage for two years. Though there is no information about a micro SD card slot, the device comes in three variants – 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage.

Further, PadFone 2 is packed with connectivity features like 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC and has a 2,140 mAh Li-ion battery delivering a better battery life.

The unique and feature of the PadFone is that it has a tablet dock dubbed as PadFone Station, which has a 10.1 inch IPS display, 5,000 mAh battery, 514 grams weight and a new 13-pin connector port.

Availability

Also, at the Taipei launch event, ASUS outed some details on worldwide availability for its latest phone-and-tablet combo. The hybrid device will hit the European and Asian markets including Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and U.A.E. only in December.

Price

In Milan, Asus Chariman Jonney Shih claimed that the 32GB and 64GB variants of Asus PadFone 2 will retail for €799 (approx. Rs 55,000) and €899 (approx. Rs 62,000) respectively.

However, considering the price of original PadFone, which was unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2012, in Europe it was priced, starting at €799 (approx. Rs 55,000), however, when it the predecessor got released in India recently, it was priced at Rs 64,999, which was a great difference.

Hence, when it comes to PadFone 2, though its European price tag translates to Rs 55,000, but being bigger and better than its predecessor, the new device could be priced between the range of Rs 64,999 to Rs 70,000 in India.

Well it sounds hefty, but one should note that Asus PadFone 2 boasts surprisingly unique concept and impressive features, which includes the conversion of a smartphone into a tablet accompanying proprietary keyboard dock, which transforms the device into a laptop.

Have a look at the launch event pictures in the below gallery.

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