New at CES: the ASUS PadFone Mini

The range of PadFone/FonePad from ASUS has been something of a small revolution in terms of having the adaptive device on the go.  The current PadFone 2 uses a 4.7” phone that slots into a 10.1” tablet to provide a larger working surface for media consumption and extra battery, whereas the PadFone Infinity has a 5” HD phone with a 10” full HD tablet.  ASUS is announcing today the PadFone mini, striking cues from other ‘mini’ branded products in the market – this is a 4 inch smartphone that slots into a 7 inch tablet.

The 4” smartphone is powered by the Intel Atom Z2560 (dual core with hyperthreading) at 1.6 GHz and 8 GB of internal storage, with a microSD slot on hand for another 64 GB.  Initially it will ship with Android 4.3, but this will be updated to KitKat/4.4 in due course – ASUS will also apply its own ZenUI on top of Android.  The battery is a non-removable 1170 mAH polymer battery, powering an 800x480 IPS+ screen – the tablet segment will give another 2100 mAH battery life while powering a 1280x800 screen.

Other specifications include dual micro-SIM capability, 1GB LPDDR2, support up to DC-HSPA+, a Sony BSI 8MP f/2.0 main camera with a 2MP front camera, 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.0 and a weight of 116g.  The tablet section will add an additional 260g, and both units will be available in a choice of colors.

New at CES: the ASUS ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6

Also in the spirit of attaching numbers relating to the size of the product, ASUS is going for a more mid-range market with the ZenFone series in their new 4 inch, 5 inch and 6 inch formats.

All the models will be running Intel Atom processors, have IPS panels, microSD card slots, Android 4.3 and one of the marketed features of this lineup is ASUS’ ZenUI to increase the user experience.  This features the Omlet Chat client for messaging and improved stock Android apps such as email.

No word on release date or pricing as of yet.

ASUS ZenFone Range
  ZenFone 4 ZenFone 5 ZenFone 6
CPU Intel Atom Z2520
1.2 GHz 2C/4T
Intel Atom Z2580
2.0 GHz 2C/4T
Intel Atom Z2580
2.0 GHz 2C/4T
Screen Size 4" TFT 5" IPS 6" IPS
Resolution 800x480 1280x720 1280x720
Android 4.3 4.3 4.3
Android 4.4 Soon Soon Soon
DC-HSPA+ Yes Yes Yes
LTE / 4G No No No
DRAM 1GB LPDDR2 1GB LPDDR2 1GB LPDDR2
Rear Camera 5MP 8MP 13MP
Front Camera 0.3 MP 2MP 2MP
Battery 1170 mAh 2050 mAh 3230 mAh
MicroSD Yes Yes Yes
Dimensions 124.4x61.4x11.2-6.3 mm 148.2x72.8x10.3-5.5mm 166.9x84.3x9.9-5.5 mm
Weight 115g 144g 200g

 

Transformer Book Duet TD300 and VivoTab Note 8
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  • chizow - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link

    Damnit, I'm going to have to pay $800 to upgrade to this display, aren't I? Which means I will probably need to upgrade my GPUs too as 2GB VRAM won't be enough. Any word on 3D Vision support?
  • Lolimaster - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link

    So you want to pay $800 for a sh*tty tn panel? Freesync is free and supported in basically all monitors or with a minor firmware update.

    1440p, 120Hz, """"1ms"""", thats impossible for VA/IPS, fastest IPS is the eizo foris @3ms.

    http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/CES-2014-AS...

    Stop being ripped with g-sync fantasy, now you pay near pro lvl monitor prices for horrible picture quality. LOL
  • afa7336 - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    First off, can you show me your data where this specific panel is "sh*tty"? I don't mean in general, I want hard data on this monitor since thats what we are talking about.

    Freesync is in its infancy and we have NO way of knowing when or if it will come out. You want to know how young Freesync is, take a look at how they did the testing. They used those tablet things to demonstrate it. If it was near prime time, they'd have monitors running it. Second, there is NO list out for what monitors will and won't support it, claiming its just a "minor firmware update" is false. First the monitor would have to support it. Then the manufactor would have to update the firmware, then push it out. Again, we aren't even close to that stage as there is no demos on actual monitors yet. Laptops/Tablets and the like normally have this tech built in because it saves battery life. The other thing to keep in mind is we know G-Sync is on the market right now, AMD is in a race so to speak, now that they unveiled this. If they wait even 6 months, its too late, they've kinda shot themselves in the foot.

    Yes, its a TN Panel. If you tune a TN panel like I have, you can get it darn close to an IPS panel. Is it the same, no. IPS is better, but this is a compromise until the manufactures can come up with a 120hz IPS panel. To date there is no true 120hz IPS panel. And $800 is about right actually when you think about what you are getting all told. You nor I may think it is steep or not, but it is about right for the marketplace.
  • chizow - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    What's funny is you refer to G-Sync in fantasy in a news bit about....a monitor launching soon with G-Sync.

    And in exchange, you offer a free solution that has no backing from any actual panel makers, isn't in every panel contrary to what you have claimed, and is just now being pushed by an IHV (AMD) that has a long history of overpromising and underdelivering.

    Sorry, but if you haven't figured it out by now, some people are willing to pay more for ACTUAL products and features available and usable TODAY. Not for some words, promises and slidedecks for sometime in the distant future. What were you saying about fantasy again?
  • perpetualdark - Monday, January 13, 2014 - link

    First off, Free-Sync is ONLY possible with laptops right now, and even then only certain models that have the ability to adjust monitor frequency on the fly. It is a laptop technology that is designed to reduce power consumption when nothing is changing on the screen. It also comes with increased lag.

    Second, the only technology that can produce 1ms total latency AND 120hz AND zero screen tearing AND be within the budget of even an enthusiast gamer is TN, so you are stuck with either a fantasy idea that won't come to light for several years, or to get the best possible "GAMING" monitor available in a few months.

    Third, you even stated yourself that 1440p, 120hz, and 1ms are impossible with IPS.. so why are you complaining? If you really don't want TN, even a very high quality one, then don't buy it, but don't expect to find anything even remotely close to a better GAMING monitor than this.

    Fourth, even if you could reduce lag to 2 or 3 ms on an IPS, and still use frequency synching, you would be limited to 60hz, which means 60fps.. What kind of enthusiast gamer wants to limit their games to 60 fps?

    The bottom line is, if you are OK with 60hz and don't have a problem paying a monster premium for an eizo screen that has 3ms latency, then this is NOT the monitor for you.

    One more thing, if you read up on G-sync, you will see that on top of G-sync, all the monitors with G-sync will have the new version of LightBoost as an option. Unfortunately it won't work WITH G-Sync, but if you run into a game that G-sync doesn't work on, you could enable LightBoost and reduce motion blur to the point where your game is enhanced tremendously already. You run the risk of screen tearing again, but it is a pretty good tradeoff when you don't have another option.

    I for one would buy this today if it were out, and I might very well buy it in a few months when it releases. I am still using my first gen 24" dell ultrasharp from about 10 years ago, and it suits me very well for gaming. Sure, the color isn't anything like my IPS's at work, but then I am not doing photo editing at home, I game. If I want better color and more of an experience at the cost of response time and blurriness, I will game on the 100" in my theater..
  • chizow - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link

    TD300 looks awesome too, wish they had some cheaper offerings with Bay-Trail, but it looks like it will be a fine Surface Pro alternative.
  • mobutu - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    You can very easily tell this monitor has a TN panel because of the 1ms response time, no ips/pls can do that atm.
    So yeah, TN is a shitty panel no matter how you look at it, and the bigger the TN screen is the lower the quality of panel is.
    800$ for TN? rip-off
  • Kronvict - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Not all TN’s are made the same: the premium panel used in the PG278Q is of very high quality. IPS panels (and their derivatives like PVA/MVA etc) are not suitable for a multitude of reasons: 1) the response rate is simply not fast enough to react to the active change in refresh rate and 2) They cannot reliably achieve >60Hz without significantly affecting the quality of the image. IGZO technology (and LTPS – low temperature polysilicon – likewise) – yields 100′s of times faster electron mobility versus standard amorphous silicon panels – and thus can provide a response rate comparable to TN (up to 60Hz currently), but, however desirable this technology is, it is still currently cost prohibitively for many PC gaming enthusiasts in 2014, which is why ROG has used a better price:performance, high quality TN panel.
  • mobutu - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    high quality and TN cannot take part in the same sentence. Because inherently TN tech is bad so no matter how much "high quality" you make it it'll still be bad.
    TN will ALWAYS have that horrendous shift when you're off-center. And guess what, the larger the TN screen is the more off-center the user will be.
    So that's ultra bad.
    Asking 800$ for that is plain rude. But probably there'll be enough fools to take the bad pill.
  • Kronvict - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    IPS is a lot better than TN in pretty much every aspect. IPS has much better color accuracy and color depth, and much better viewing angles. Most 1440p monitors employ the use of IPS technology.
    TN panels have a faster response time-which allows them to refresh faster and react to your input faster. That being said, the quality of TN panels does vary and a select few are actually not bad. We will have to see what reviewers think. I currenly own a Dell 1440p IPS but this monitor is something that i have been waiting for so i will definitely be taking the "bad" pill as you call it regardless if its a TN panel or not.

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