Asus Padfone 2 Unboxing and Initial Review: This Thing is a Beast!

Unboxing and Initial Review: Asus Padfone 2

To be totally honest we weren’t too excited about the Asus Padfone 2. However after using it for well over a week now we can say without a doubt that this is one of the best Android machines in the market today. First, let’s go over what’s under the hood. The Padfone 2 runs on a quad-core processor, Adreno 320 graphics, 2GB RAM, and Android Jelly Bean! Those are top-line specifications and it shows during the benchmark test results (you’ll see it later down in the post).

Next there’s the Padfone 2 Station. You can slide in the Asus Padfone 2 into it and you can have an awesome tablet experience while being connected to the radios and storage of your smartphone. It might sound weird but believe us when we say that it works!

Anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves! Let’s quickly go over all the specs, jump into the unboxing, and then our initial review. 😀

Asus Padfone 2 Spec Sheet

1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (quad-core)
Adreno 320 Graphics
2GB RAM
16GB/32GB/64GB Internal Storage Options
4.7-inch Super IPS+ LCD capacitive touchscreen, 1280×720, 312 pixels per inch
10.1-inch IPS display, 1280×800 resolution (tablet aka Padfone station)
13.0-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash
Records video 1080p@30fps
1.2-megapixel front-facing camera
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade should be available OTA though)
Phone Battery: 2140mAh
Tab Battery: 5000mAh

Cool eh? Read on.

Unboxing Video

As you saw in the video above, the Asus Padfone 2 has two components: the Padfone 2 (smartphone) and the Padfone 2 Station. The Padfone 2, as a smartphone, is brutally fast and powerful. It can easily go against the Galaxy S3, Nexus 4, and Note 2. What makes it more versatile though is the Padfone 2 Station. You can slide it in and then you immediately have a 10-inch tablet that uses the SIM of your phone for data/SMS and storage for apps/media.

Before we get into the Padfone Station in detail, let’s take a look at the smartphone. How fast is it? Is it really that great? Well, numbers don’t like folks. Here’s the Antutu Benchmark results.

As you can see, the Asus Padfone 2 smoked all the other top devices. This shows in the actual experience. Transitions and animations are buttery smooth. Gaming is simply a joy (especially with graphics intensive titles) and you can actually play around with a lot of live wall papers and not worry about the phone bogging down, hehe.

Wahoooo! Temple Run 2 works beautifully on the Asus Padfone 2

Padfone Station for watching videos, web browsing, and more!

Next up with have the Padfone 2 Station. Think of this as a dock which transforms your phone into a tablet. Here’s how it works:

How was the experience with the Padfone 2 as a tablet? So far we’re pretty happy with it! It’s great for watching videos (we do that a lot here thanks to an app which lets us get a lot of videos directly on the tablet *wink* hehe) and web browsing. It’s also back-up battery since apparently it charges the smartphone if you dock it.

Over-all First Impression: Amazeballs Product

As far as initial impressions go we’re completely blown away. This device is an engineering marvel and I find it sad that it’s not getting the hype and praise it deserves.

The Asus Padfone 2 is available via Widget City locally for Php35,990. Definitely pricey but it truly is one of the very best tech you can buy today.