New Asus Padfone Infinity A86 and Station – The reasons for the two in one

Tablet and smartphones. One Sim to navigate and always call with LTE. The evolution of the Padfone, Asus for the combined par excellence, leaves little uncertainty. The smartphone is excellent. The latest version of The New Asus Padfone is the perfect example of a mature proposal regarding the combination of smartphones and tablets. On the one hand one high-end smartphones on the Android platform ( Jelly Bean 4.2.2 ), full and powerful, the true Padfone, and the other a station that transforms your smartphone into a tablet, smartphone by simply entering in the groove.

Asus has been working over time on this form factor, which now has at least a generation behind (depending on what you want to keep in mind in counting), now the proposal is convincing and especially deserves a careful evaluation, precisely at a time when the uncertainty in the choice of products is a lot, given the varied offer, and the possibilities offered by each platform.

Once we clear away any injury. This is not a product invented yesterday, is instead a proposal now always tested and improved, but it must be understood in order to be chosen. The New Asus Padfone arrived with almost the new year.

It was seen for the first time in 2013. The price close to $950 could discourage. But we must take into account that will solve two problems with one solution and that both modes of use, thanks to the more mature technology than before, are decidedly ergonomic.

In addition, the combined practice also includes an extra battery, that of the Station that alone weighs a little (about 530 grams more than 145 smartphone). Connection and disconnection are fluid and quickly. You will find yourself actually having a tablet and a smartphone, without being disappointed by the performance.

We think that in mobility. The tablet is impractical and cumbersome. It should be extracted. Instead, the smartphone is always ready in your hand or pocket. Once seated in a second instead engages in the Padfone Station and is a tablet for a more comfortable without losing anything on your smartphone.

There is enough power? Yes, the new solution works with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974), a quadcore that makes you forget the Previous 600. And then 2 GB of RAM, a storage of 16 GB expandable base with card outer to engage smartphone. The Station is just only one station, but you can also charge your smartphone without inserted, and then it will then pay energy.

The smartphone comes with a 1,080 × 1,920 IPS display at 480 dpi density. We explain: it’s the best you can imagine, quite difficult to perceive differences of view with respect to any smartphone top of the range; the Station show instead in 1920 × 1200, and in this case, of course, given the diagonal, the density drops to 244 dpi, with a brightness of 400 nits still good. Never say that the view emerges sacrificed.

The first insertion into the body of the smartphone, powered by, you start to appreciate some important things: first of all, it is made available, the software side, PadFone Assistant, asking you how you want to handle the power between the two devices, the frequency of checking e-mail, but also how you want to interact in the case of an incoming call.

You just have to do the exact same gesture that you would pull the smartphone from your pocket, but you can safely leave your Padfone inserted and then work with headset (included in smartphones) and tablets. A Padfone entered the tablet also allows you to easily rotate, thus always will see the image correctly. It is absolutely a problem that the image by turning the smartphone remains vertical.

Another valuable aspect is that both the smartphone, and the Station are carefully from the point of view of materials and finishes. The smartphone is shown with the back of brushed aluminum, and is very elegant. The finish of the station, opaque, polycarbonate, does not retain fingerprints, and slide the coupling is taken care of and docile, with the aluminum profile. Only known a little sore, on a balance more than satisfactory, is given by the fact that the tablet for the conformation of the back does not rest perfectly on the floor.

As regards the software, Asus has not updated yet Padfone to KitKat, was a gift appreciated; Android version 4.2.2 has been customized with ad hoc measures. Most important: holding down the Home button, the display will appear in a sort of circular disc shortcut to some of the most useful applications.

With Polaris Office suite as an alternative to Microsoft, the software is preloaded necessary to enhance the camera 13 megapixels (effective even when shooting at night thanks to technology pixelmaster), the Asus cloud storage solution (with the usual selection of free space with Asus WebStorage) and FM receiver. With AppLock – Hide you can seal and make invisible certain applications. Finally, the support is integrated Miracast.

Very rich collection of Widgets. Above all, we love the fluidity of the experience of Padfone touch, not so obvious when handling a smartphone with Android. Sore point, again and again, is the mail client that fails to adapt perfectly to the screen all the emails, forcing the horizontal scrolling. We repeat that this is always a limit compared to iOS and Windows Phone.

As for the keyboard, we were very satisfied by the solutions that leave Asus also available numbers and symbols quickly (5 lines, with space bar moved to the left), provides tools for changing the language directly from the spacebar, and insertion of the case with a slight drag up the tiny, we note that the handwriting is only possible with the appropriate tools like Bamboo, or your fingers, but not with the common pens.

Considering then the smartphone alone, there is a mode of input that satisfies us. Obviously better with the tablet. The professionals in the company who use Outlook, and the Exchange server keep in mind that you can be sync everything, including Task, but not the notes. We use them, and we feel the lack. This is just perfect iOS, because even on Windows Phone if they are forgotten. Good camera performance, improved audio.

The New Padfone – Judgment.

The New Asus Padfone neatly solves the problem of connectivity tablets and smartphones everywhere (it is expected to support LTE) without having to request new Sim (one is enough), and the price of a top of the range smartphone, a smartphone offers high performance and a Station for use as a tablet, practically without perceiving differences in performance. Certainly, it is a very personal device. You cannot think of a single-family use with a smartphone.

The price a little lower than $950 seems therefore balanced, for those who need the tablet and phone and chose this as combined. Even considering the build quality, with the smartphone with unibody aluminum shell. Good customizations Asus, excellent engineering with the tablet. Excellent battery, precisely given that you can always have a reserve that of the tablet.

The smartphone allows her to seamlessly and with good margin to complete the day’s work, thanks to the saving mode, which does not affect the overall use. Display and touch screen smartphone are a pleasure to use. The Padfone Station is not only weak in terms of audio. If there is one area on which to work even when it is in our opinion the station, because the smartphone is extremely convincing. We say that the solution is already very mature.