The ASUS Padfone 2 was officially launched today in Taipei, the photos were leaked over the weekend but all the details on the smartphone turned tablet are now officially out of the bag.

The Padfone 2 has very impressive hardware specifications that make it a competitive high end smartphone. This 720p 4.7 inch LG Super IPS+ panel with maximum brightness of 700nits has a top of the line quad core Qualcomm S4 Pro APQ8064 running at 1.5GHz with a whopping 2GB of RAM to provide a snappy multitasking experience.

Style wise it has the same tapered look as the original Padfone but a little sleeker but the big change is that the back is not removable so the battery will remain sealed but it is 2140mAH.  This also means that it does not have a micro SD card slot for expansion. The rear facing shooter is an impressive 13 megapixel Sony CCD.  The Padfone 2 has a fairly typical weight of 135g and measures 137.9 x 68.9 x 9mm.  At the top of the device you’ll find a 3.5mm jack and a microSIM slot.

The dock has received a major overhaul with looks amazing and it a dramatic improvement over the original. Unlike the previous design which had a cassette-like compartment, now the phone simply slides into a sleeve with no extra hassle. This cuts down on the weight and it’s only 649g.

The 10.1″ display has a 16:10 aspect ratio with a screen resolution of 1280×800, the tablet also houses a battery of 5000mAH.

We should see this handset released end of December with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. If you’re wondering where you can pick it up, in Europe Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden and Asia Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, U.A.E. Availability in other countries will be announced at a later date.

Here is the press release if you’re interested in learning as much as you possibly can:

Live Life Intuitively with ASUS PadFone™ 2

Quad-core smartphone with incredible battery life and a thinner, lighter
PadFone 2 Station deliver the ultimate mobile flexibility.

Milan, Italy (October 16, 2012) — ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, today announces the PadFone™ 2. Building upon the successful PadFone combination of an Android smartphone and dockable tablet for incredible mobile flexibility, PadFone 2 consists of a higher-specification quad-core smartphone and a completely redesigned tablet.

ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih unveiled PadFone 2 in front of the world’s media at a press conference in Milan, Italy. “Our relentless drive to innovate through Design Thinking has empowered us to create PadFone 2. It’s beautiful, it’s fast, it’s seamless and, best of all, it’s intuitive,” said Mr. Shih.

PadFone 2 is a fully featured 4.7” Android™ smartphone with industry-leading specifications that docks with the unique PadFone 2 Station to become a lightweight, but fully featured, 10.1” tablet. Apps are seamlessly optimized on-the-fly to support both tablet and phone modes, with an instant transition between smartphone and tablet screen sizes.

Enlarge and Charge

ASUS’ world-renowned Design Thinking philosophy has significantly reduced PadFone 2 Station’s thickness and weight. At just 649g, the combined weight of both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station is now lighter than most tablets on the market, and the dock mechanism has been redesigned to require just one swift step to use. PadFone 2 has also been subtly refined to increase its screen size to 4.7”, while reducing its thickness and weight to just 9mm at its thickest point and 135g, respectively.

Battery life is astounding, too. The higher-capacity PadFone 2 2140mAh battery provides up to 16 hours 3G talk-time and 13 hours Wi-Fi web browsing, while PadFone 2 Station’s 5000mAh battery gives up to 36 hours 3G talk-time. PadFone 2 Station’s internal battery also has enough capacity to recharge the docked PadFone 2 three times over.

Super Phone, Super Performance

A 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM ensures incredible PadFone 2 performance in both smartphone and tablet modes. The new 4.7” 1280 x 720 HD Super IPS+ display uses scratch-resistant Corning® Fit Glass and delivers sharp, detailed images with accurate colors, ultra-wide viewing angles and 550 nits brightness for stunning outdoor visibility.

A new 13-megapixel high-performance camera captures incredibly detailed images with no shutter lag. Burst mode can capture up to 100 shots at a blisteringly quick six shots per second, while simultaneously recording 1080p HD video at 30fps, or 720p HD video at 60fps. Low-light performance is also enhanced by the wide f/2.4 aperture and a dedicated image signal processor. Both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station feature superlative sound quality too, thanks to ASUS SonicMaster technology and audio tuning by Waves, recipient of a Technical GRAMMY Award®.

Easy to Share, Easy to Save

With capacities up to 64GB and 50GB of ASUS WebStorage provided free for two years, PadFone 2 offers endless possibilities for storing data. Data syncing between devices is also a thing of the past, since PadFone 2 storage is used by PadFone 2 Station when the two are connected. Shared mobile data connectivity between smartphone and tablet also means just one data plan is needed for both devices, while support for up to 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ and 100Mbit/s LTE delivers super-fast web browsing and downloads.

User-friendly enhancements

PadFone 2 also features a new version of the SuperNote app that instantly converts handwritten notes made in multiple languages into editable text. Its Instant Translation tool also translates any word, phrase or sentence in an email, web page or app at a touch, without the need for a third-party translation tool.

Availability

PadFone 2 will be launched before the end of December in Europe (Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden) and Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, U.A.E). Availability in other countries will be announced at a later date.

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PADFONE 2 SPECIFICATIONS
Networks	WCDMA 900/2100MHz

EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz

LTE 800/1800/2600MHz

HSPA+ (DL: 21Mbit/s, 42Mbit/s (optional) / UL: 5.76Mbit/s)

LTE (DL: 100Mbit/s / UL: 50Mbit/s)Operating systemAndroid 4.0 ICS (upgradeable to Jelly Bean)ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon S4 (8064 + 9215m) quad-core Cortex A15 class (1.5GHz) with Adreno 320 graphicsStorage / memory16GB / 32GB / 64GB eMMC Flash / 2GB LPDDR2 RAMColor Black / White Connectivity802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 & NFC (mobile payment function is optional and by request only)

3.5mm audio jack, Micro SIM

ASUS 13-pin dock connector (supports Micro-USB 2.0 & Mobile High-Definition Link for HDMI connection)GPS A-GPS & GLONASSDisplay4.7“ (1280 x 720) / 312ppi

Super IPS+ (550 nits)

Scratch-resistant Corning® Fit Glass with HCLR Film (anti-fingerprint coating)Main camera13MP BSI Sensor Sony Camera, f/2.4 Aperture,

five-element lens, auto focus with LED flash Front camera1.2MP OtherG-sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, gyro sensor, e-compass Battery2140mAh Li-Polymer (non-removable)Talk timeUp to 16 hours with 3GStandby timeUp to 352 hours with 3G BrowserHTTP / Google browser / YouTube browser / Facebook / Google+ MessagingSMS / MMS / email / IM VideoVideo Playback: MPEG4/H.264/H.263/WMV @ HD 1080p

Video Recording: MPEG4/H.263 @ HD 1080p / 60fps @ 720p

H.264 Video Decode @ 720p / Video Encode @1080pH.264 / Ogg / Theora / MPEG4 / WMV / 3GPPictureJPEG / PNG / GIF / BMP AudioMP3 / WMA / 3GP / AAC / AAC+ Dimension137.9 x 69 x 9mm Weight135g

 

PADFONE 2 STATION SPECIFICATIONS

Color	Black / White
Display	10.1“ (1280 x 800, WXGA), 149ppi

IPS with capacitive multi-touch

Scratch-resistant Corning® Fit Glass with HCLR Film (anti-fingerprint coating)Camera1MP front camera

13MP via PadFone 2 rear cameraBattery19Wh (5000mAh)Connectivity3.5mm audio jack via PadFone 2

ASUS 13-pin dock connector (Micro-USB 2.0 Host)External phone antennaWi-Fi & BT, GSM, WCDMA, & LTE receiver diversityAudioHigh-quality speaker with ASUS SonicMaster technology

All specifications are subject to change without notice and may differ from country to country. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors. Content and product availability varies by country and coverage areas, and is subject to change. Brand and product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.

About ASUS

ASUS, the world’s top 3 consumer notebook vendor and the maker of the world’s best-selling and most award winning motherboards, is a leading enterprise in the new digital era. ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today’s digital home, office and person, with a broad portfolio that includes motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, desktops, Eee Box and all-in-one PCs, notebooks, netbooks, tablet devices, servers, multimedia and wireless solutions, networking devices, and mobile phones. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, ASUS won 3,886 awards in 2011, and is widely credited with revolutionizing the PC industry with the Eee PC™. With a global staff of more than 11,000 and a world-class R&D team of 3,100 engineers, the company’s revenue for 2011 was around US$11.9 billion.

Picture Credits: Chinese VR-Zone

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