Asus prepares for Padfone pre-orders
Asus has confirmed that it will begin taking pre-orders for its hybrid Padfone device on 6 April in Taiwan ahead of a launch in the UK later in the year.
The phone-powered laptop-pad bundle will be available to pre-order with or without the docking station from Friday, with its release following on 20 April, a spokesman confirmed to ZDNet UK on Thursday.
On its own, the handset will cost 17,990TWD (£385). The phone, 'Station' dock and Bluetooth stylus option costs 24,980TWD and opting for the full package, which adds a keyboard into the mix, will cost 28,901TWD.
The device uses the Snapdragon S4 dual core 1.5GHz processor and runs the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. The Padfone has a 4.3-inch Corning Gorilla Glass display with a 960-by-540 pixel qHD resolution. The Station has a 10.1-inch Gorilla Glass display with a 1280-by-800 pixel WXGA resolution.
The Padfone will definitely be making an appearance in the UK and US, the company spokesman confirmed, but he could not give specific dates or pricing details.
"We're still talking [to retailers and operators]. We want to do this right," he said. "The Padfone will be coming to the UK."
It was first unveiled as a concept prototype in June 2011 before being officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February 2012.
Photos: Aloysius Low/CNET Asia