asus padfone

Which new smartphone will be summer's first big hit?

Summer smartphone season kicks off this month with CTIA in New Orleans, but the big phone makers have already started revealing the touch-screen goodies they hope will become your latest addiction. I sifted through the recently announced devices and a few that we're still expecting to try and picked the ones most likely to be remembered four months from now -- either as a mega-success, or the tech punch line of summer 2012.

We already know of three blockbuster phones that will be available before most schools are out this month -- Verizon's Droid Incredible 4G LTE from HTC is official; a quad-core Samsung Galaxy S III has been unveiled in Europe and already booked its summer trip to the States we hear, and HTC's flagship Android phone is also here in the form of the HTC One X. Those are the three leading contenders for sweet summer phone of the year, but there's always room for surprises and surprising sleepers. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1583: Let Whurley, the evil genius, blow your mind (Podcast)

On today's show, we talk to the guys from Chaotic Moon Studios, the ones building Kinect-controlled skateboards and shopping carts and more. They're moving into mind-controlled devices. No, really. Also, the problem with Google's new privacy policies: Web search! The iPad 3 rumor roundup, how to make the most of Google+, and Windows 8 vs. OS X Mountain Lion.

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RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS (640x360)… Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 87: Updates from Mobile World Congress (Podcast)

Andy Rubin dishes on Android tablets, we examine a bowl of jelly beans, and we discuss the exciting new devices coming out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

ANDROID NEWS:

-Android chief: We must ‘double down’ on tablets, win the market

-Google VP Dishes On Android Tablet and App Strategy

-Android crosses 850,000 activations per day with 450,000 apps in the store, Andy Rubin says

-Andy Rubin speaks out on Google, Motorola acquisition; wants nothing to do with Moto… Read more

Asus Padfone: Turducken of the mobile world (hands-on, video)

BARCELONA, Spain--It may be early days yet, but I'm really liking what I'm seeing so far of the Asus Padfone and Padfone Station. Or, as I like to call it, the turducken of mobile devices.

The Padfone essentially mashes up the concept of the Asus Transformer Prime tablet with its docking station, and the concept of the phone-in-empty-laptop-dock (like the Motorola Atrix 4G and laptop dock) to create a zany triple-play that has you snapping your shiny Padfone into a tablet shell to get a slate, then sliding the phone-powered slate into a docking station for a keyboard (… Read more

Get more from your mobile with the Asus Padfone

BARCELONA, Spain--Asus struck a high note when it introduced the one-of-a-kind Transformer Prime last year, but that device was only the beginning.

Today at Mobile World Congress, Asus finally released its long-awaited Padfone. Though the device first made an appearance last May in a promotional video, sightings of the actual device have been rare. And after skipping an official unveiling at CES last month, speculation mounted that Asus would use Barcelona as the stage instead.

At its most basic level, the Padfone is a candy bar Android smartphone with high-end, though hardly revolutionary, specs. You'll find a 4.3-inch … Read more

Asus Padfone combines smartphone, tablet

In addition to announcing the ultrathin UX and Eee PC X101, Asus showed off a new product called the Padfone at Computex that combines the power of a smartphone with a tablet.

Similar in concept to the laptop dock for the Motorola Atrix 4G, the Padfone consists of a 4.3-inch Android smartphone that can be used alone or docked in a tablet. The latter provides a larger 10.1-inch screen with speakers and acts as an extended battery, but the processing power, Internet connection, and content all come from the smartphone.

Asus didn't offer up many more details about the Padfone, but according to Engadget Mobile, the company dropped some clues to indicate that it would run Ice Cream Sandwich and hopes to ship by Christmas.