Google Smartly copied or I would say followed Nokia this time with Wireless Charging in Nexus 4. Nexus—Google’s hardware line for Android devices—gets rid of the hassle. Just sign in with your Google Account and everything is there ready to go, whatever device you’re using: photos, emails, contacts, bookmarks, even your entertainment on Google Play. Today, we’re excited to announce three great new Nexus devices … in small, medium and large. And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of Jelly Bean—which includes the latest version of Google Now and other great new features.
Nexus 4 with Google Now and Photo Sphere Nexus 4 is our latest smartphone, developed together with LG. It has a quad-core processor which means it's super fast, a crisp 4.7" (320 ppi) display that's perfect for looking at photos and watching YouTube, and with wireless charging you just set the phone down on a charging surface to power it up, no wires needed. While Nexus 4 is incredibly powerful under the hood, it also features the latest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2—the simplest and smartest version of Android yet. Starting with the camera, we've reinvented the photo experience with Photo Sphere, which lets you capture images that are literally larger than life. Snap shots up, down and in every direction to create stunning 360-degree immersive experiences that you can share on Google+ with friends and family—or you can add your Photo Sphere to Google Maps for the world to see. Android 4.2 brings other great goodies like Gesture Typing, which lets you glide your finger over the letters you want to type on the keyboard—it makes typing fast, fun and a whole lot simpler. Android 4.2 also adds support for wireless display so you can wirelessly watch movies, YouTube videos and play games right on your Miracast-compatible HDTV.
Learn more about all of the new features of Android 4.2, Jelly Bean, here.
Google Now—even more useful We designed Google Now to make life simpler by giving you the right information at just the right time in easy to read cards, before you even ask. And the feedback has been awesome. So today we’re adding more cards that we hope you’ll find useful. Flight information, restaurant reservations, hotel confirmations and shipping details—how often have you found yourself wading through your email to get this information at the last moment? So next time you book a table for dinner, you’ll get a reminder with all the details without ever having to lift a finger. You’ll also get cards for nearby attractions, interesting photo spots, movies times at nearby theaters or concerts by your favorite artists. Nexus 7: Thin, light and now even more portable Nexus 7 brings you the best of Google–YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Maps–and all the great content from Google Play in a slim, portable package that fits perfectly in your hand. To give you more room for all that great content you can now get Nexus 7 with 16GB ($199) or 32GB ($249) of storage. But we also wanted to make this highly portable tablet even more mobile. So we added HSPA+ mobile data. Nexus 7 is now also available with 32GB and HSPA+ mobile ($299), which can operate on more than 200 GSM providers worldwide, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. Nexus 10: Powerful and shareable Nexus 10 is the ultimate tablet for watching movies or reading magazines. We wanted to build a premium entertainment device, so we partnered with Samsung to do just that. Nexus 10 is the highest resolution tablet on the planet with a 10.055" display at 2560-by-1600 (300ppi), that's over 4 million pixels right in your hands. It comes with a powerful battery that will get you up to nine hours of video playback and more than 500 hours of standby time. With a set of front-facing stereo speakers, you can watch movies right from your Nexus 10 and they simply sound awesome. But what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it's the first truly shareable tablet. With Android 4.2, you can add multiple users and switch between them instantly right from the lockscreen. We believe that everyone should have quick and easy access to their own stuff -- email, apps, bookmarks, and more. That way, everyone can have their own home screens, their own music, and even their own high scores. Google Play: More entertainment, more countries We’ve recently added a ton of great new entertainment to Google Play, such as movies and TV shows from Twentieth Century Fox. Earlier this year we expanded our service beyond movie rentals and now you can purchase movies and build a library of your favorites in Google Play. Today we’re bringing movie purchasing to more countries - Canada, the U.K., France, Spain and Australia. We’re also excited to announce two new partnerships. We’re now working with Time, Inc. to bring you even more magazines like InStyle, PEOPLE, TIME and others. And we’ve partnered with Warner Music Group who will be adding their full music catalog with new songs coming each day. We’re now working with all of the major record labels globally, and all the major U.S. magazine publishers, as well as many independent labels, artists and publishers. On November 13, we're bringing music on Google Play to Europe. Those of you in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs—for free—from your existing collection to the cloud for streaming to your Android devices or web browser. We’re also launching our new matching feature to streamline the process of uploading your personal music to Google Play. We’ll scan your music collection and any song we match against the Google Play catalog will be automatically added to your online library without needing to upload it, saving you time. This will be available in Europe at launch on November 13 and is coming to the U.S. soon after. This will all be for free—free storage of your music, free matching, free syncing across your devices and free listening. Great value We’ve always focused on building great devices at great value. And we think today’s devices offer the very best that money can buy. Here are more details on when and where you can pick up your next Nexus device:
Nexus 4: 8GB for $299; 16GB for $349; available unlocked and without a contract on 11/13 on the Google Play store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. The 16GB version will also be available through T-Mobile for $199, with a 2-year contract (check here for more details).
Nexus 7: 16GB for $199 and 32GB for $249; available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, and also through our retail partners Gamestop, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and Walmart.
Nexus 7 with 32GB and mobile data: $299 and unlocked, on sale 11/13 in the Google Play store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada.
Nexus 10: 16GB for $399; 32GB for $499; available on 11/13 in the Google Play Store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan.You'll also be able to purchase the 32GB version in more than 2,000 Walmart stores in the U.S.
A Nexus device is much more than simply a phone or tablet. It’s your connection to the best of Google—all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go with no hassle. Now you have three new Nexus devices, a new improved version of Jelly Bean and more entertainment than ever before—all available on Google Play. The playground is open.
SEATTLE: US shoppers woke up with mild Surface fever on Friday, lining up in moderate numbers to buy Microsoft's groundbreaking tablet computer designed to challenge Apple's iPad.
The global debut of the Windows 8 operating system was greeted with pockets of enthusiasm, but not the mania reserved for some previous Apple launches.
Microsoft is positioning the slick new computing device, which runs a limited version of Windows and Office with a thin, click-on keyboard cover, as a perfect combination of PC and tablet that is good for work as well as entertainment.
"I like the flexibility of having the keyboard and the touch capability," said Mike Gipe, 50, who works in sales for bank Barclays, and was planning to buy a Surface tablet at Microsoft's pop-up store in Times Square in New York.
"It's the combination of having the consumer stuff and the work stuff," he said, looking forward to using Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations on the new device.
The Times Square store was the first to sell the Surface -- Microsoft's first ever own-brand computer -- and other Windows 8 devices late on Thursday and will be open through the holiday shopping season. On Friday morning it was crowded with a mix of tourists and local office workers, but the cash tills were not jammed.
"With the other tablets you're a consumer. With this you can have input," said Peter Townsend, on vacation in New York from Australia with his wife, who bought a Surface tablet because he liked the keyboard.
Mark Pauluch, 28, who works for a New York private equity firm, said he would like a Surface because he does not want to take a laptop on a plane, but was disappointed when the sales representative told him the wifi-only Surface would not work with Cisco VPN networking.
"I can't use this to replace my work laptop unless it supports VPN," he said.
Midwest, west coast
Elsewhere in the United States, there was solid but not overwhelming interest for the Surface.
"It's a good tablet. I am not a huge i-anything fan, I like Windows," said Matt Shanahan, a software developer who drove four hours to the tiny Michigan Avenue pop-up store in Chicago from Grand Rapids, Michigan to buy a Surface. "My friend and I are software developers and this gives us an opportunity to develop new apps," he said.
In a pop-up store at the San Francisco Centre mall about 50 people lined up to buy the new Surface.
"On an iPad you have to use half the screen for a keyboard, or buy an accessory. I love that the Surface is so integrated, that you can type and use Word and all my other programmes," said Malte von Sehested, a textbook creator who bought a Surface.
"With the Surface you get a steeper learning curve -- I had to get someone to show me how to side-swipe, swipe out to get the menus for instance," he said. "It may take a week, before it all becomes natural. That could be a problem for Microsoft. My old dad, he would get hit by that steeper learning curve."
Analysts patient
Wall Street and tech industry experts failed to show great enthusiasm for Windows 8, but were prepared to give Microsoft time to succeed.
"Microsoft did not come out with Windows 8 thinking it will be an overnight success," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "But there's hope that this could be the silver bullet of growth (for Microsoft) as well as giving the PC industry some optimism that there's better days ahead."
The next six to 12 months is a "crucial period" for Microsoft to get traction with consumers, added Ives.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester, said consumers may be best served waiting for tablets running the full Windows 8 Pro and Intel chips, which are due out early next year.
"Windows 8 has a lot of great features, but RT has a long way to go," she said, citing a lack of apps and poor video performance on the Surface.
"It's not really a PC. RT is too restricted. Some people will be happier with the full Windows 8," she said.
Microsoft shares were up 33 cents at $28.21 on Nasdaq on Friday. Apple shares were down slightly after disappointing earnings on Thursday.
NEW YORK: Can't decide if you want a PC or tablet? Now you won't have to. With the release of Windows 8, computer makers are doing their best to blur the boundaries with an array of devices that mash keyboards and touchscreens together in different ways.
Some of these configurations are new, while others have appeared and disappeared on the market since at least 2002, when Microsoftreleased Windows XPTablet PC Edition.
Microsoft says it has certified 1,000 devices for use with Windows 8 and its sibling operating system, Windows RT. The two systems look the same, but under the hood, they're quite different.
Windows RT runs only on machines with the type of lower-energy, phone-style chips used iniPad and Kindle tablets. That makes for cheap, thin and light devices with very long battery lives - more than 10 hours. But those devices won't run any programs written for other versions of Windows. In fact, they can run only applications downloaded directly from Microsoft's online store, in a setup borrowed from Apple and its iPhone.
The ability of Windows RT devices to connect to peripherals such as scanners and printers is also limited.
Here's a selection of the devices that went on sale or will hit stores over the next few months:
Convertibles These are the Transformers of the bunch. They run Intel chips and may look like staid laptops at first glance, but one way or another, they convert into tablets.
Toshiba U925t: To convert this laptop into a tablet, push the 12.5-inch screen back, then slide it over the keyboard with the display facing out. Available now for $1,150.
Sony Vaio Duo 11: Similar to the Toshiba but smaller, the folding mechanism on this model leaves no room for adjusting the angle of the screen. There's no room for a touchpad, either. Instead, there's a touch-sensitive "nub" in the middle of the keyboard that lets you guide the cursor. The 11.6-inch screen also works with a stylus. Available now starting at $1,100.
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge Twist: Like all ThinkPads, the Edge Twist is a business-focused machine. This one incorporates a mechanism that's been in use in Tablet computers for at least a decade: The 12.5-inch screen connects to the base with a swiveling hinge. Flip the screen around, then fold it over the keyboard to turn it into a tablet. Available now starting at $849.
Dell XPS 12: The 12.5-inch screen on this laptop is hinged inside its frame. It can be flipped around so the screen faces away from you, then folded over the keyboard for tablet mode. Sound original? Dell has actually tried this design before, for a 2010 laptop. Starts at $1,200, with an estimated ship date of Nov. 15.
Lenovo Yoga 11: This 11.6-inch screen goes back - way back. You can push it so far back that it's flat with the underside of the laptop. Now you have a tablet with a screen on one side and a keyboard on the other. Luckily, the keyboard turns off when you fold the screen back, so you can hold the device. Unlike most convertibles, which run on standard Intel chips, this one uses Windows RT and a processor from Nvidia. Available in December for $799.
Windows 8 tablets These slates run Intel chips and regular Windows software. Computer makers are hoping they'll find a home among businesses that need employees to access their work applications while commuting or traveling, but they're also hoping to entice consumers.
Microsoft Surface: Yes, Microsoft is diving into the hardware business, making its own tablets and competing with its customers, the computer makers. The Surface will have a screen that measures 10.6 inches diagonally, slightly larger than the iPad's. Optional covers double as thin keyboards - with no real buttons, just printed "touch zones." Available now starting at $499. Keyboard cover is $100 extra with base model, included with $699 model. A full-fledged, non-RT version will come later at a price that hasn't been disclosed.
Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T: This tablet, with an 11.6-inch screen, looks much like a small laptop when docked into a keyboard base. The combination also folds up just like a laptop. Available now for $650. The keyboard costs another $100 and contains an additional battery to extend the workday.
Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx: Similar to the Samsung model, the Lynx goes on sale in December for $599. The keyboard will cost another $149.
Hewlett-Packard ElitePad 900: A 10-inch tablet aimed squarely at business users, the ElitePad is paired with "Smart Jackets" that extend its capabilities with extra battery life, a keyboard, a stylus or memory-card slots. Available in January at an as-yet undisclosed price.
Hewlett-Packard Envy X2: The consumer equivalent of the ElitePad is slightly larger, with an 11.6-inch screen, but weighs the same: 1.5 pounds. A keyboard dock with an extra battery doubles the weight and turns it into a small laptop. Launches this holiday season. HP hasn't said what it will cost.
Windows RT tablets: Though they lack the ability to run standard Windows programs, these light tablets include a version of the Office software suite for free.
Asus VivoTab RT: This tablet looks very much like the Asus Transformer line, which runs Google Inc.'s Android software. The 10.1-inch tablet docks into a keyboard, which also extends the battery life to about 15 hours. The tablet costs $449 and the dock $149. Available now.
Dell XPS 10: Another 10.1-inch tablet that docks into a keyboard. Starts at $499 and goes on sale some time later this year.
Really odd products Windows 8 has prompted some manufacturers to think well outside the box.
Sony Tap 20: This is an "all-in-one PC" - a desktop computer with a built-in 20-inch diagonal screen. The difference here is that the Tap 20 has a built-in battery, so it can be lugged around as an enormous tablet computer. It's four times the size of the iPad screen. Place it face up on a table and have the family gather around. It can keep track of up to 10 fingers touching the screen at once. The Tap 20 will go on sale Wednesday starting at $880.
Asus Taichi: This laptop has 11.6-inch screens on both sides of the lid. When open, one screen faces the keyboard and the other faces away. That's convenient for presentations, Asus says. When closed, the outward-facing screen becomes a tablet screen. Taichi will go on sale in November starting at $1,299.
Apple iPhone 5, which will be launched in India on November 2, will be priced at Rs 45,500 for the entry-level 16GB model. The 32 and 64GB models will be sold at 52,500 and 59,500 respectively.
The prices have been shared by Redington, one of the two distribution partners of Apple in India, in the country and are in line with the unconfirmed price range that TOI had earlier reported.
Redington and Ingram have also confirmedTOI's Friday report that Apple is set to launch the iPhone 5, its latest smartphone, in India on November 2, 2012. Apple has joined hands with Redington and Ingram Micro to distribute its flagship device in the country.
This is a departure from Apple's earlier strategy of partnering with telecom operators like Airteland Aircel to retail the phone in India. Redington and Ingram Micro already distribute iPad and iPods in the country.
Considering that the device will not be tied to a few telecom operators only, most telcos in India have readied their stocks of nano-sim cards which can be used only in iPhone 5.
As reported by TOI on Thursday, besides online site Infibeam, another online retailer Saholic has begun taking pre-orders for the 16GB variant of iPhone 5 at Rs 45,500. Infibeam had started taking advance bookings at Rs 5,000, while the remaining amount will be collected at the time of launch.
Apple is yet to launch the unlocked version of iPhone 5 in the US, its home country, and only sells the device with carrier partners like AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.
It's only been half a year since the peculiar PadFone made its much-delayed entry into select markets, and earlier this week, ASUS' launch of its second-gen phone-in-tablet brings us back to this old question: are we better off with just one mobile screen instead of two? Ask any ordinary manufacturer and the answer is likely the latter, because who doesn't want to sell more products? Similarly, carriers would likely back such manufacturers for the sake of selling more data plans, even if they admire ASUS' efforts (and they could already be selling ASUS tablets in the first place). Some folks also argue that if you have to carry the tablet module with you anyway, you might as well have two separate devices for better multitasking.
It seems like there's a huge mountain to climb here, but on the flip side, ASUS' innovative differentiation does have some advantages. You only need one data plan (and no tethering required) for both form factors, you get to keep the same data in one place instead of having to duplicate them and you can pretty much instantly switch between a small screen and a large screen for the same content. Not to mention that there's also the added functionality of charging up the phone while it's sitting inside the tablet. Alas, the original PadFone and PadFone Station didn't quite hit the spot: the combined weight and bulk made it tough to justify the phone-in-tablet idea, which is why we said it's all about the PadFone 2 in our review. Let's see if ASUS has done it right this time 'round.
Let's start off with the main specs. The PadFone 2 is powered by Qualcomm's latest and greatest Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064, a 28nm, 1.5GHz quad-core SoC based on the Krait architecture (which outperforms Cortex-A9 in many ways). This makes ASUS the second manufacturer to offer APQ8064 on a phone, right after LG with its Optimus G, which we reviewed recently; and it's to be followed by theXiaomi Phone 2 in China and the HTC J Butterfly in Japan. The graphics are driven by the almightyAdreno 320, and like many recent flagship phones, there's 2GB of RAM stacked on top to keep the gears well-oiled. As for the cameras, what used to be an f/2.2, 8-megapixel main camera is now boosted to a 13-megapixel Sony BSI sensor plus f/2.4, five-element optics. Meanwhile the front-facing imager has gone from 0.3 megapixels to 1.2 megapixels. As usual, we shall take a look at camera performance later on.
Buyers do get a generous 50GB of free ASUS WebStorage service for two years.
In Taiwan, the new PadFone is offered in flavors of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, whereas in Europe it'll only have 32GB and 64GB options. Unlike its predecessor, however, there's sadly no microSD expansion. Users craving for more storage space will have to get their fix via USB OTG or the cloud. Buyers do get a generous 50GB of free ASUS WebStorage service for two years, which is no doubt to help push the ASUS Open Cloud Computing initiative, but more on that in the software part of this review.
Cellular connectivity comes from Qualcomm's MDM9215m radio which supports GSM/EDGE/UMTS/DC-HSPA+/LTE -- compatibility of which will depend on the specific regional variant: worldwide, North America (two versions), Japan, Australia and China. This particular review is based on the worldwide model which supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100 and LTE 800/1800/2600. However, since there's no LTE network in Taiwan (ironically), we could only use 3G for the majority of the time during our review -- we did sneak back to Hong Kong very briefly and managed to hook the phone onto the LTE networks there. We were happy with performance on both ends of phone calls, even in noisy environments thanks to the ambient noise reduction technology. Other radios include the usual 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, FM radio, GPS and GLONASS.
From afar, the PadFone 2 could be easily be mistaken for its predecessor that sported the same design language. But put the two together and you'll easily spot the larger, sharper and brighter 4.7-inch, 720p, 500-nit Super IPS+ LCD. We should point out that the new display is so bright that even on the dimmest setting, it still blinded us when we were in total darkness. You know, bedtime browsing. Hopefully this isn't a fixed setting so that ASUS can tweak it. Our One X (AT&T) has a similarly impressive viewing angle and gapless display feature, though the PadFone 2 appears to have a more accurate white balance -- the former's culprit being its warmer artificial tone. Some may miss the overly vibrant colors on the original Padfone's Super AMOLED, but in general, LCD's still king when it comes to accuracy, pixel density and outdoor performance.
When switched off, the front side of the phone is dominated by the black screen plus a tapered, glossy plastic lip along the bottom, only to be interrupted by the little shiny silver earpiece near the top. But when switched on, you'll see the three capacitive soft keys light up between the screen and the logo at the bottom. We prefer these to the old virtual keys for the sake of screen real estate, and better yet, you can set the keys' backlight duration to two seconds, 10 seconds or forever.
All of these are surrounded by a rigid aluminum frame that's garnished with a few buttons like before. This time, the power button's been shifted from the top side to the right, just above the volume rocker, which was two separate buttons on the first PadFone. And the spot where the power button used to be -- next to the 3.5mm headphone jack -- is now occupied by a seemingly trending pin-push type micro-SIM tray (a triangular paper clip is included), which is a big change from the old mini-SIM slot underneath the removable battery on the original PadFone.
You'll never get fingerprints on the back of the phone, and the texture feels good, too.
Also changed on the frame are the micro-HDMI port, micro-USB port and contact points for the external antenna (inside the PadFone Station). These are now combined into one 13-pin MHL socket customized by ASUS and located at the bottom of the phone, thus leaving the left of the aluminum frame squeaky clean. The PadFone 2 does come with a 13-pin connector USB cable. Fortunately, you can still use the regular 5-pin MHL plug or micro-USB plug for power and data, but the latter can be a bit loose, and the former won't be able to handle video -- you'll need to get an optional MHL-to-HDMI adapter from ASUS. We doubt this would be too much of a problem for most users, anyway.
Moving on to the backside of the phone, apart from the darker shade of gray, the polycarbonate back cover is very much the same as before. It features an etched ripple pattern surrounding the 13-megapixel camera, thus simulating the cool visual effect of circular-brushed metal as seen on the Zenbooks and the aluminum Transformer Pads. This also means you'll never get fingerprints on the back of the phone, and the texture feels good, too.
The lack of microSD slot is certainly a disappointment.
ASUS admits that the PadFone 2's back cover isn't designed to be removed on a regular basis, in order to minimize the amount of dust and fluff getting in as well as to protect the delicate NFC antenna -- a feature that was missing on the original PadFone. We found it much harder to rip off the new cover, but once it's out of the way, you can see the 3.8V, 2,140mAh lithium polymer cell (instead of the old 3.7V, 1,520mAh lithium ion cell) which is sealed by a big label that screams "Please DON'T remove the battery." Sadly, there's no microSD slot to be seen. So in this case, the removable cover is solely for the convenience of maintenance. We're fine with the semi-fixed battery given that we can use either the tablet or a USB battery pack to juice up the phone, but the lack of a microSD slot is certainly a disappointment, especially for those who have already splashed out on 32GB or even 64GB cards. We'd like to think that adding microSD expansion back in would not have had a huge impact on the phone's thickness.
Last but not least, there's the loudspeaker on the back which is about twice as large as the one on the first PadFone, so as you'd expect, it gets a lot louder. ASUS also claims that this is 40 percent larger than what the other leading smartphones use. With great power comes great responsibility, so the engineers at ASUS' Golden Ear Team have added in a few lines of code to minimize distortion and mechanical interference under high amplitude -- this is apparent when you blast out music at maximum volume (especially with Music Mode enabled in the AudioWizard app, but more on that later). Naturally, this small speaker still lacks in bass, but there's always the bigger one on the PadFone Station.
Hardware: tablet
With the PadFone 2 inserted, the combo is still lighter than the new iPad alone.
You might have already seen us raving about the new PadFone Station in our earlier hands-on, but let's recap: this module is essentially a 10.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 external IPS LCD display for the PadFone 2, but at the same time it also serves as a 3.8V, 5,000mAh (19Wh) battery pack. That's slightly smaller than the 24.4Wh battery in the first PadFone Station, but remember, the PadFone 2 itself now has a bigger battery. Together they add up to about 27Wh, which isn't too far off from the old 30Wh combination. Besides, what's more important is the weight reduction that ASUS has managed to achieve for the slimmer PadFone Station: from a hefty 724g down to just 514g. That's a 30 percent reduction! In other words, with the 135g PadFone 2 inserted, the combo is still lighter than the new iPad alone (652g). By contrast, the original PadFone and its PadFone Station together weighed more than the first iPad, which made it very difficult for ASUS to sell its "N+1" concept.
The smaller battery, the removal of the battery LED indicator and the new 13-pin MHL connector at the bottom (but, for some reason, upside-down compared to PadFone 2's) certainly helped achieve the lighter weight. Still, we've been told that the engineers also looked at every component to see how they could shave off a tiny bit of body fat wherever possible. The biggest contributors to the weight reduction are probably the obscure Corning Fit Glass (on both the phone and the tablet), the magnesium-aluminum alloy frame and the cover-less docking method. Interestingly, ASUS has been working on the new docking mechanism for a year and a half, which confirms our theory that at some point the two PadFones were developed alongside each other. We recall that back when we interviewed Michelle Hsiao from ASUS Design Center, there were PadFone Station mockups that featured straightforward slide-in docking methods, but Hsiao said at the time they didn't have a way to ensure secure docking for the exposed phone, hence the bulkier solution in the end.
So how does the new docking mechanism work? Well, there's the new 13-pin MHL connector, of course (so the old PadFone obviously won't fit), but that alone wouldn't be enough to keep the phone tucked securely inside the bay. And by secure we mean strong enough to withstand powerful shakes. This is where the cunning part comes in: instead of throwing in a typical slide-lock mechanism, ASUS has devised a system that pushes four toothed, rubber pads -- of the same material used by bicycle brake pads -- against the two long sides of the phone when inserted. You should feel a light click once the phone hits the bottom of the bay, and it usually takes about one second -- instead of two on the original PadFone Station -- for the tablet interface to load up.
The phone managed to stay inside the bay while this author was shaking the upside-down tablet as hard as he could.
As you'll see in our walkthrough video, the phone managed to stay inside the bay while this author was shaking the upside-down tablet as hard as he could (please don't try this at home). And then it gets more intriguing when you realize how easy it is to insert and remove the phone -- it's as if the locking mechanism only comes to life when you shake the device. We'd rip the tablet open to find out what kind of black magic this is, but until we get hold of our own retail unit, ASUS' patent-pending secret is safe. However, at some point later we tried the shake test again and the phone did eventually slip out, and we think it's something to do with the dust or some sort of powder that managed to get onto the rubber pads, so be careful.
There's not much else visible on the new PadFone Station apart from the 1-megapixel webcam at the usual location, as well as the power button and the volume rocker around the top-left corner -- neither of which have been prone to accidental clicks for us. If we have to be nitpicky, our only gripe is that the phone isn't flush with most of the tablet's backside, meaning when placed flat on the table, the slate may wobble if you tap on either side too hard -- we're thinking of scenarios like typing or playing certain games. Hopefully the dedicated PadFone 2 Station sleeve will solve this problem. While using it, we were able to hold the new PadFone Station up for much longer thanks to the combination of rounded edges, soft-touch texture and, most importantly, lighter weight; but when walking around, we do prefer to grip the slate by the top side, with the top of the phone in our palm. We just need to remember to clean the lens every time before using the camera.
What's left to talk about here is the slate's mono loudspeaker, which is apparently 32 percent larger than what other tablet makers use. To our surprise, even with the tighter space inside the new PadFone Station, the speaker still manages to output loud music with surprisingly adequate warmth and crisp treble for its size, but you do need to use the AudioWizard app (enabled by default) to achieve this performance. For those seeking something closer to audiophilic quality, there's always the good old wired headphones (and AudioWizard is disabled when headphones are plugged in). Even the bundled stereo headset sounds way better than what most other phones get -- it's identical to the one that came with the original PadFone, but that does also mean the microphone is still way too far from the user's mouth, so we always end up having to hold the mic up to talk. It's rather odd that ASUS is still using this cable arrangement.
Hopefully ASUS will eventually admit defeat and come up with a matching hinged keyboard dock.
So, what about a keyboard battery dock? Despite reports that "confirmed" a dedicated keyboard dock is in the works, ASUS burst our bubbles by telling us that this is simply not true. We are worried -- sure, you can always just get a Bluetooth keyboard or even plug in a USB keyboard via an OTG dongle, but that's not quite as glamorous as being able to fold everything into a netbook form factor -- which we could with the original PadFone, despite the total weight of 1.49kg. Hopefully ASUS will eventually admit defeat and come up with a matching hinged keyboard dock, because that would add so much more emphasis on using Android for productivity.
Some people were expecting to see a PadFone Infinity, in the sense that the 10.1-inch tablet module would come with a 1080p panel. We asked ASUS whether it would consider releasing such an update any time soon, but the response was that while it's possible to output 1080p from either the phone or the tablet, the manufacturer intentionally chose to keep similar resolutions across the two displays for the sake of easier app and video rescaling, thus saving processing power and battery life. In other words, the time's not right; or maybe ASUS is just putting on a poker face.
Software
Much like the original PadFone, its successor delivers a near-vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich experience that's slick in both phone and tablet modes; and we're certain that the same will apply to the upcoming Jelly Bean update. The only interface customization you'll find here are the thumbnail overview of up to seven home screens (pinch anywhere on any home screen to toggle), as well as the "Pad Only" tab in the app drawer, the handy ASUS Quick Setting panel in the notification tray, and "ASUS customized setting" in system settings. For those who don't know, the "Pad Only" area simply houses apps that are tagged as pad-only by users -- you can do so by tapping and holding an app icon in the drawer, followed by dragging it to the "Add Pad-only Tag" button in the top-right corner.
The ASUS Quick Setting Panel hasn't really changed much since the latest update on the original PadFone. Situated above the main native notification panel, the extra panel has a screen brightness slider sandwiched between the outdoor mode button and automatic brightness button. Above those is a sliding row of quick toggles (albeit in a slightly different order than last time): WiFi, Mobile Data, Smart Saving, Instant Dictionary (which is new), WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth, GPS, Vibrate and Auto-rotate Screen. One small request for ASUS' developers: it'd be nice if users could rearrange these toggles, as we can with Xiaomi's MIUI as well as LG's UI 3.0 (on Optimus G, Optimus LTE II and others). The next row up in the panel contains three buttons that take you to the advanced menus for WiFi, AudioWizard and system settings. Strangely, in tablet mode said WiFi button is replaced by a dual-battery indicator, but it shouldn't be too hard to add the former back into that row for the sake of consistency.
We still don't understand why the original Android notification panel can't be as intuitive as ASUS' implementation. Google's version requires one more tap to toggle the secondary panel for the common settings, including screen brightness, WiFi, auto screen rotation toggle and airplane mode. On the other hand, ASUS knows how to do it right: give users instant access to all the main settings after just one tap. Google could learn a thing or two from its Taiwanese buddy.
After multiple mentions, now might be a good opportunity for us to properly introduce AudioWizard: it's essentially an audio-tuning app developed in collaboration with Waves, an award-winning audio DSP solutions company. Think of it as what Beats Electronics is to HTC, albeit with less branding power. There are five presets here: music mode, movie mode, recording mode, gaming mode and speech mode. Oh, and there's an "off" button which apparently saves a little bit of power. While the app works in both phone mode and tablet mode (but disabled when headphones are inserted), we've been told that it's tuned specifically for the PadFone Station's loudspeaker, but nonetheless, the improvement is apparent: audio is both louder and livelier with added warmth. Needless to say, this enhancement can only go so far, so don't expect the PadFone Station to replace your high-end speakers any time soon.
SuperNote on PadFone 2 is now at version 3.0 and supports multilingual handwriting recognition.
Like its previous Android products, ASUS has thrown in its usual bundle of apps: App Backup, App Locker, File Manager, Mirror, MyDesktop (powered by Splashtop Remote), MyLibrary, MyNet (DLNA), Polaris Office 4.0, SuperNote, Watch Calendar and WebStorage. It's worth noting that SuperNote on PadFone 2 is now at version 3.0 and supports multilingual handwriting recognition (which worked well for us), WebStorage cloud syncing and PDF export. And while we're at it, ASUS' WebStorage also offers instant photo uploads, Microsoft Office Web Appsintegration (so you can edit Office documents online using the official interface) and file collaboration. It's sort of ASUS' own take on Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive. As for widgets, you get the same old battery indicator, task manager and PadFone Station Assistant (for setting the charging mode and how incoming calls are handled), along with both the old version and a new version of the ASUS weather widget. If you prefer the previous weather widget then fret not, it's still available on the list.
Naturally, there are some new apps on the PadFone 2: ASUS Studio, Instant Dictionary and MyBitCast. ASUS Studio is simply a beefed-up version of Gallery, as it lets you view photos and videos by folders, time, location (on top of Google Maps) or album tags, not to mention the magazine-like layout as well. It also comes with the identical set of basic editing tools like cropping, auto-fix, effects and levels. As this is the default viewer for the camera app, users will familiarize very quickly. Our only feedback for ASUS here is that the locations of some of the photos were a bit off (for instance, this author was never on the north bank in the above map), which is weird considering the sky was clear at the time, plus there weren't many tall buildings. If this is merely a software issue, it'll definitely be fixed.
The Instant Dictionary is even more exciting: toggling it in the ASUS Quick Setting panel will bring up a small round button that snaps to either the left or right side of the screen. Once you click it, you can then swipe your finger across any text area to look up definition or translation, and you can choose your desired target language in the app's settings. It even does offline single-word translation between Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. While popular apps like Flipboard, Pulse and Zinio are supported, there are also many that got left out -- not even Chrome and Twitter as of the 9.8.8.32 firmware -- so the button didn't always show up. Another issue is that a lot of times, we'd miss one character or accidentally highlight a nearby punctuation mark, which makes the translation a tad slower as it needs to talk to the server. We're certain that it's only a matter of time before ASUS issues a fix through an OTA update.
Finally, MyBitCast is similar to SuperNote but with more emphasis on audio notes, photos and videos. Strangely, users will need to have a WebStorage account in order to use this simple app, whereas SuperNote works as a standalone app just fine. But either way, you get the idea, and this seems like a potentially useful tool for the likes of students and journalists. For those interested, we compared the sound recording performance between the original PadFone, its successor and the HTC One X at a low rooftop in Taipei City:
ASUS PadFone 2:
ASUS PadFone:
HTC One X (AT&T):
From what we can hear, the One X has excellent noise suppression, but that also became a double-edged sword as we moved to about two meters away from the phone -- the aggressive suppression started to interfere with our voice and therefore made it hard to interpret the distant speech. The original PadFone sounded the most natural, but this meant that much noise was also captured throughout. Luckily, the PadFone 2's voice recording performance is somewhere in between the two aforementioned devices: some noise is suppressed, and what's left is clean enough for speech interpretation. It goes without saying that your results may vary depending on the environment and your audio source.
Obviously, all of these apps work in both phone mode and tablet mode. If you're familiar with the original PadFone then you would have already come across Dynamic Display, a name coined by ASUS that describes the technology behind the transition between the two interface modes. We've already mentioned that said transition has been sped up from two seconds to just one, but better yet, ASUS claims it's also done some work to ensure that the UK's top 100 apps work correctly with Dynamic Display.
We still love showing off how a video clip continues to play after the Dynamic Display switch.
Still, for some weird reason, only a portion of the bundled apps have Dynamic Display switch enabled by default, so users will need to go into "ASUS customized setting" in system settings to choose more apps. Even Google's Gmail, Play Store and Play Music apps need to be enabled manually, so we have a feeling this is more of a policy issue rather than a technical issue -- Play Store and Play Music certainly worked fine for us over Dynamic Display, just not Gmail. Likewise, we still love showing off how a video clip continues to play after the switch, though due to the lack of DivX certification, native video playback is limited to MPEG4/H.264/H.263/WMV at 1080p. That said, there are other apps that can handle some AVI and MKV files -- we use MX Player most of the time, and it's almost fully compatible with the Dynamic Display switch.
In terms of performance optimization, ASUS has kept the three levels of settings but presents them in a different manner. By default, the Smart Saving mode is enabled on the PadFone 2, which has a set of predefined conditions for certain scenarios. For example, cellular data connection is cut when the phone is sleeping and the screen brightness is fixed to 60 percent while reading books, watching videos and listening to music. You can also see the full list and edit each scenario in system settings. Obviously, the mileage varies depending on your usage behavior, but the options are there should you require them. As for the performance freaks, you can enable Ultimate mode which is right at the bottom of the "ASUS customized setting" menu, but we didn't notice any performance gain during our benchmark tests. This means much like the original PadFone, the CPU can already go full throttle when needed even under "Normal" mode, whereas under Ultimate mode the phone would stay at top performance most of the time.
We were fairly impressed by the 8-megapixel camera on the first PadFone, but compared to the competition, it fell behind in speed and nighttime performance. This is no longer the case with the PadFone 2's beastly 13-megapixel, f/2.4 imager. Thanks to the Sony BSI sensor and its dedicated image processor, not only can the camera handle zero shutter lag, but it can also shoot up to 100 continuous shots at 6 fps in full 13-megapixel resolution -- easily beating the HTC One X (eight megapixels, up to 99 shots at 4 fps) and the Samsung Galaxy S III (eight megapixels, capped at 20 shots at 3.3 fps). While there's no dedicated camera button, you can use the volume keys to take stills, but neither offer the proper two-stage click for pre-focussing.
It's rare to see smartphones that can record 60 fps and beyond.
In addition to the new and hilarious "silly face" video effects, the PadFone 2 also lets you take full-resolution still images while recording video, but this function is disabled if you switch to one of these impressive high-speed video recording modes: 1080p at up to 30 fps, 720p at up to 60 fps, and 480p at up to 90 fps. We say "up to" because the frame rate does drop in dark environments, so do bear that in mind if you want to take full advantage of the speedy video recorder. Still, it's rare to see smartphones that can record 60 fps and beyond. And by the way, the saved clips do play back at their captured frame rate instead of in slow motion -- you can see how slick it is in the following 720p sample video clip at 56.26 fps:
The still images also lived up to our expectations. We managed to capture many vivid shots under the clear blue sky in Taipei and the HDR mode made some of them even more stunning, especially the photo above. Nighttime performance is much better than before, but as with many cameras, patience is required for proper focus and steady shots. You can certainly fiddle with the ISO (50 to 800) as well as exposure compensation to achieve cleaner shots at night, or you can try the various scene modes offered by the beefed-up camera app. A handful of filter effects have also been added which may please Instagram addicts, and ladies can try the new beautification mode that smoothens skin, blushes cheeks, enlarges eyes and slims faces. This author had a go with the beautification mode and it's safe to say that it doesn't work as well on men. To get a taste of the PadFone 2's still camera performance in other areas, check out our gallery below.
For the sake of comparison we had an HTC One X (AT&T) with us, and it's easy to see that the newer camera sensor on the PadFone 2 delivers less noise and more detail, especially when compared at 100-percent crop level. That said, the PadFone 2 (with camera firmware version 50121) seems to have a slight bias towards blue under a clear blue sky when in auto mode, and this is more apparent in the second set of comparison shots below. At night, the One X beat both generations of PadFones in terms of white balance accuracy and detail, though since the PadFone 2 has a higher resolution, it can get away with its higher noise compression. ASUS has assured us that it'll constantly be fine-tuning the device's performance both before and after it enters the market, so chances are these camera issues will be solved soon.
Performance and battery life
Simply put, the PadFone 2 is one of the slickest phones we've ever had the pleasure to fiddle with.
Simply put, the PadFone 2 is one of the slickest phones we've ever had the pleasure to fiddle with. The near-vanilla Android experience is further enhanced by the short touchscreen response time of 65ms, which is apparently faster than that of the One X and the Galaxy S III. At least we know from first-hand experience that this is more responsive than the original PadFone, especially while typing with the new virtual keyboard by ASUS. Needless to say, when it comes to raw processing power, the APQ8064 mobile SoC easily beats most, if not all, competitors, and we can certainly feel that while playing heavy-duty 3D games and dealing with HD video clips. Interestingly, the benchmark numbers indicate that ASUS has done a slightly better job than LG at optimizing its device for the Snapdragon S4 Pro platform, thus placing the PadFone 2 at the top of our smartphone benchmark chart.
PadFone 2
PadFone
Quadrant Advanced
7,703
5,354
Vellamo 1
2,520
2,521
Vellamo 2 HTML5
2,018
1,800
AnTuTu
15,489
7,042
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)
1,291.9
1,559
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 Offscreen (fps)
31
13
CF-Bench
18,237
9,571
Battery life
7:30 (HSPA, phone) / 9:28 (tablet*)
6:15 (phone) / 9:56 (tablet*) / 17:30 (laptop)
SunSpider: lower scores are better
*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.
PadFone 2
Optimus G (all models)
Galaxy Note II
Global HTC One X
Quadrant Advanced
7,703
7,628
6,819
4,906
Vellamo 1
2,520
2,143
2,482
1,617
Vellamo 2 HTML5
2,018
1,710
1,831
1,364
AnTuTu
15,489
11,284
13,539
11,030
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)
1,291.9
1,283
1,023
1,773
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 Offscreen (fps)
31
31
17
7.5
CF-Bench
18,237
14,398
15,267
13,233
Battery life
7:30 (HSPA, phone) / 9:28 (tablet*)
8:43
10:45
6:00
SunSpider: lower scores are better
*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.
As for battery life, the PadFone 2's own 8.13Wh battery lasted for seven and a half hours in our standard video loop test over 3G (there's no LTE in Taipei for us to try), but don't be fooled by the Optimus G's seemingly better battery life: the former's display has a 550-nit brightness level, while the latter maxes out at 470 nits. Taking these into account and assuming there are no other significant variables, these two APQ8064 devices should otherwise have very similar overall power consumption.
Device
Battery Life
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
12:01
Apple iPad 2
10:26
Acer Iconia Tab A510
10:23
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime
10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock)
ASUS PadFone
9:56(HSPA, tablet dock*)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
9:55
Apple iPad (2012)
9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE)
Apple iPad
9:33
ASUS PadFone 2
9:28 (HSPA, tablet dock*)
ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700
9:25 / 14:43 (keyboard dock)
Toshiba Excite 10
9:24
Motorola Xoom 2
8:57
HP TouchPad
8:33
Sony Xperia Tablet S
8:31
ASUS Transformer Pad TF300
8:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock)
Acer Iconia Tab A700
8:22
Acer Iconia Tab A200
8:16
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
8:09
Lenovo IdeaTab S2110
8:07 / 15:11 (keyboard dock)
Amazon Kindle Fire
7:42
*This includes the duration of phone-only mode, as the PadFone Station no longer functions after its battery has depleted.
When combined with the new PadFone Station, our quad-core PadFone 2 managed around nine and a half hours of continuous video playback plus background sync over 3G, though the last 1.5 hours was in phone mode as the slate no longer functioned after it ran out of battery power -- it was the same with the first-gen PadFone Station. The result came close to what we got with the original dual-core PadFone in tablet mode -- which is a testament to the Krait cores' efficient asynchronous operation -- as well as the WiFi-only Transformer Pad Infinity TF700. Obviously, you'd get a lot more play time out of the phone itself if you choose "Phone Preferred Mode" or "Power Pack Mode" under the charging settings in the PadFone Station Assistant tool. The default "Intelligent Mode" simply tries to balance the charge between the phone and the slate, as the tablet requires battery power to function, so this mode gives you the most play time on the tablet.
Finally, we decided to keep an eye on the recharge times. The PadFone 2 alone takes about two hours to fully charge up, whereas when docked, the intelligent charging feature fills up the phone first in just over three hours, followed by the tablet's own battery about two hours later, making it a total of five hours. However, the PadFone Station can also be charged up without the phone docked inside, but due to the removal of the old LED indicator, you'll need to insert the phone to see the battery status.
Wrap-up
At a time when smartphones are becoming more and more similar, ASUS continues to inject real innovation and excitement into the market. The first Transformer Pad wasn't an instant hit, but what followed has helped ASUS establish a strong presence in the tablet market. We think the same will happen with the PadFone series. Merely half a year after the first attempt, its successor arrived right on time with all the best ingredients: a powerful and efficient quad-core processor, a powerful graphics engine, a large mobile display, best-in-class camera performance, LTE and a super-slick user experience. And that's just the phone alone!
More Info
As the main selling point of the whole PadFone concept, the much lighter PadFone Station will finally help ASUS make its point: the PadFone's tablet experience is no longer hindered by any extra weight (and it's even lighter than some similarly-sized tablets now), yet you still get the benefit of instantly porting everything between the two screen sizes whenever you want. What's missing this time round, though, is the element of productivity: it really needs a dedicated hinged keyboard to make a strong statement, and there's nothing more attractive than being able to comfortably type out documents with a physical keyboard while viewing them on the larger touchscreen, and then review them on the smaller screen instantly while on the move. Sure, there's the whole cloud hype that even ASUS is part of these days, but you may not have internet connectivity all the time (especially for frequent travellers), meaning there's always a delay of some sort between saving a document on one device and then viewing it on another. So iron out the bugs, throw in a dedicated keyboard dock (preferably with a built-in SD card reader) and ASUS will have the ultimate killer package.
