MWC 2012: ASUS PadFone with smart phone + tablet + keyboard dock

At MWC, ASUS has revealed its ASUS Padfone which has been teased and shown for the longest time. This time around, the Taiwanese maker has enhanced the overall package by offering a 3-in-1 solution: Smart Phone + Tablet + Keyboard dock.

The main focus is the smart phone which is powered by Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM and storage between 16GB-64GB built in. For display, it has a 4.3″ qHD Super AMOLED that supports a resolution of 960×540. The phone has a 8MP f/2.2 camera at the back and a front facing VGA camera for video chat. It weighs 129 grams and is 9.2mm thick. In terms of battery, it is rated at 1,520mAh.

Plugging it into the tablet’s “Fone” dock, it offers a familiar 1280×800 IPS screen and a front facing 1.3MP camera. With the phone docked, the tablet uses the phone’s 8MP camera for imaging. In total, both keyboard + phone weighs 724 grams which is rather heavy for a 10.1″ tablet.

There’s not much details about the keyboard dock but based on the photos, it does look like the keyboard dock used in the original ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. Even the front appearance of the tablet looks like the original Transformer as well.

Another nifty new feature is the stylus which can be picked up and used as a handset. We wonder which one would look more silly, talking to an oversized tablet or a pen? The ASUS PadFone runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and no pricing or availability details have been revealed yet.

So is this Smart Phone + Tablet + Keyboard dock solution practical? Having a Smart Phone docked within a tablet looks clean but it does look cumbersome if you just want to take out your phone and make a call the old fashion way. We’ll see how it goes once it is available here.

Head after the break for promo video and photos of the PadFone.

For more information, head over to ASUS Padfone site.

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