As a pioneer of 2-in-1 mobile devices, ASUS offers with the PadFone S the portability of the smartphone and the larger screen of a tablet by selling both at the price of one device.
Two colours are available for the ASUS PadFone S – Dark Ruby (shown above) and Pure White. Photo: ASUS Singapore.
The PadFone S was launched in Singapore on 14 October, 2014 together with 11 other new mobile and computing products.
The PadFone S is a 5-inch Android smartphone that comes with a PadFone S Station.
The PadFone S I reviewed was the Pure White version. Normal retail price: S$449.
You can use the PadFone S on its own like any smartphone or you can slot it into the back of the PadFone S Station and use the combination as an 8.9-inch tablet, leveraging the larger backlit Super IPS display of the Station.
PadFone S Promotions
The PadFone S retails for S$449 normally but until 2 November, you can purchase it at S$399 and receive a 1-year Screen Replacement Warranty free.
There is also a Facebook contest by ASUS Singapore with a PadFone S up for grabs.
Simply Like, Post, Tag and Share by 4 November.
You can’t use the PadFone S Station on its own though, because it is simply a dumb display with no computer processors within.
Actually, the Station has more – it also includes a 4990mAh Li-Polymer (non-removable) battery to provide the larger energy demands of powering a larger display.
The larger battery can also be used to charge the PadFone S to extend its battery life from 22 hours talk-time (3G) to 64 hours.
The combined PadFone S in the Station felt a little bit hefty though, at a combined weight of 664g.
PadFone S – the smartphone on its own
The PadFone S is a 5-inch full HD LTE smartphone that runs on the latest Android 4.4 KitKat wtih ASUS ZenUI. It uses a Micro SIM card.
How hardy is the PadFone S?
According to ASUS, the PadFone S is protected against accidental water spills, rain showers and spraying water according to IPX2 specifications.
This means it can withstand falling water to an equivalent of 3mm rainfall per minute when tilted at an angle up to 15° from its normal position.
In addition, PadFone S was drop-tested to ensure it can withstand the bumps that come with everyday use.
PadFone S was subjected to 54 different drop tests onto a steel surface from heights up to 1.5 meters.
Impact resistance was tested on all sides of the device at three different heights – 1.0m, 1.25m and 1.5m to simulate likely scenarios where you might drop your phone.
It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core CPU (2.3GHz) with 2GB mDDR3 RAM.
The phone ships with a non-removable 2300mAh Li-Polymer battery and has 16GB eMMC storage, with microSD card support up to 64GB (and free ASUS WebStorage of 5GB for life).
The 5-inch LED Backlight IPS display has 1920 x 1080 pixels at a resolution of 441 ppi (pixels per inch) and brightness of 400nits, supported by Adreno 330 graphics.
I found the display clear and sharp and usable even under bright sunlight.
Physically, the phone on its own feels light at 150g and measures 143.93 x 72.46 x 9.98mm.
Design-wise, the phone has a soft-touch back cover, and I like the brushed metal frame that goes around the phone.
There are two colours available – Dark Ruby and Pure White.
Audio-wise, the PadFone S comes with dual front speakers.
Photo taken indoors by the window with the PadFone S, handheld. Focus was quick and details were sharp. Impressive camera.
For imaging, there is a 2-megapixel f/2.0 front camera and 13-megapixel f/2.0 PixelMaster camera with LED flash.
I was impressed with the low-light performance of the PadFone S rear camera.
ASUS boasts that the PixelMaster technology increases the camera’s sensitivity by 400 percent and doubles the colour contrast, while reducing overall image noise.
I found that it could take pictures at lower light than other comparable smartphones.
PadFone S – when docked into its Station
The 8.9-inch LED backlit Super IPS display offers 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA at 16:10 ratio) pixels at 255ppi and a brightness of 390 nits.
Accessories
A number of accessories are available for the PadFone S:
- PadFone S Side Flip Cover
- PadFone S Station TriCover
- PadFone S Wireless Charger
The Station has a front 1-megapixel front camera and uses the rear camera of the PadFone S when docked.
The Station has its own Micro USB 2.0 host and stereo dual front-facing speakers with ASUS SonicMaster technology but uses the 3.5mm audio jack on the PadFone S.
In both the smartphone and docked configurations, you use the same data plan using LTE technology that supports up to 150Mb/sec downstream and 50Mb/sec upstream.
Docking/Undocking
I found the docking/undocking of the PadFone S into the Station easy and straightforward.
Simply slot the phone into the slot behind the Station and press lightly to click – the Station display comes to life and displays whatever was on the phone before docking.
This is where the PadFone S plugs into the Station. It’s designed to withstand repeated long term docking/undocking without succumbing to wear and tear.
Apps will instantaneously auto-adjust to take advantage of the larger display on the Station.
For undocking, simply pull out the phone from the slot and it’s ready to use as a normal smartphone.
The entire docking/undocking is seamless, so you can switch between the two configurations even in the middle of playing a game without having to pause or quit the app in between (provided the game is not a time-sensitive one).
ASUS ZenUI
The ZenUI overlays on the Android 4 KitKat the user interface that ASUS believes help users better use the phone.
Two personal organiser apps at the heart of ASUS ZenUI offer to help PadFone S users stay ahead of the power curve in their daily lives.
ASUS Open Cloud technology integrates your internet-connected home computers and your public cloud storage on ASUS WebStorage, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive.
I found it made it easy to access files, music, pictures and videos from my public or private clouds from different cloud providers and seamlessly play, watch or edit files in the native Music, Gallery and File Manager apps.
New ASUS notebooks, All-in-Ones and PCs will come with ASUS HomeCloud preinstalled so that their hard drives can also become a personal cloud with support for Wake On LAN (provided it’s supported in the hardware).
“What’s Next” manages your schedule, automatically displaying countdowns and reminders for your next appointment, displays canceled events, priority reminders for VIP contacts’ missed calls and birthdays, as well as getting to grips with your daily routine to make better use of your time.
Similar in functionality to Google Now, What’s Next reminds you about the next important task or event and identifies items that need a special reminder.
What’s Next is available through a standalone app, your notifications bar, a widget that you can place on your home and lock screens, giving you immediate access to everything that matters to you.
I found that it saved me from having to periodically check my schedule app, or memorise the next few tasks/events that are coming up.
The ASUS PadFone S, fresh out of the box.
“Do It Later” is a note-clipper app to help you capture things that crop up during the course of the day – so you can address them later – be it a text message, an article from social, a major developing news story, or a call that you just can’t pick up at the moment.
Simply add these tasks into Do It Later, where all of your tasks will be clearly listed in cards so you can quickly see what’s on your to do list.
The ASUS PadFone S just before being docked into its Station.
You can click each item to go to the corresponding app and you no longer need to worry about being overwhelmed with information when you’re busy.
It enables you to focus and interfaces with What’s Next so that the little things don’t get forgotten in the daily bustle.
Tags: accessories, Android, Android 4, Apps, Asus, KitKat, PadFone, PadFone S, phablets, prices, promotions, reviews, Singapore, smartphones, tablets, ZenUI