ASUS CEO, Jonney Shih, has just shown off the much rumoured Fonepad phablet, on stage at the MWC in Barcelona. We got a hint that this would be appearing at MWC over a fortnight ago thanks to someone in the “upstream supply chain” blabbing to DigiTimes. The headline features of the product are that it’s a 7-inch Android tablet with “metallic design”, it runs on an Intel Atom chip, can make phone calls and will be priced at £179 inc VAT when released in the UK.
If the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 seemed a bit big and silly for making phone calls upon then perhaps the ASUS Fonepad, with only a 7-inch screen, will suit you better. The leaked specs we got previously have turned out to be very accurate but I have compiled a final spec list below using the official info from ASUS:
- Processor: Intel Atom Z2420 Lexington 1.2GHz
- Graphics: Imagination PowerVR SGX540
- Screen: 7-inch 1280x800 IPS touch screen
- RAM: 1GB
- Storage: 16GB (8GB in APAC regions), microSD slot, 5GB lifetime ASUS WebStorage
- Communications: telephony, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS
- Imaging: 3-megapixel rear camera*, 1.2-megapixel front facing camera
- Power: 4,270mAh battery – ASUS says average battery life is 9 hours
- Construction: Grey or gold “metallic design”, 196.6 х 120.1 х 10.4mm, 340g
- Software: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, Google Play compatible
- Priced at £179 inc VAT
The ASUS Fonepad will be available for £179 inc VAT by “late Q2 2013” in the UK, residents in APAC regions will get the Fonepad from March at a price equivalent to US$249. *Jonney Shih indicated in his presentation that the European model would not have any rear camera installed. The APAC version has a rear camera but only 8GB of fixed storage.
The usual concern with an Intel powered mobile device is the battery life, however this latest Lexington Atom combined with 4,270mAh battery seems to provide the new ASUS Fonepad a usable all-day battery life of 9 hours or so.
European and APAC versions differ
