Tag: Asus

ASUS Brings its Hybrid Device PadFone Mini for Rs. 15,999

ASUS has won a lot of hearts in India with its Zenphone series. The low cost – high specs approach has helped the company to make grounds for itself in the saturated market of India. The Taiwan-based company has now brought its innovative PadFone mini to India.

The PadFone mini is a hybrid device which runs on ASUS’s ZenUI, which is based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It comes with two modules, a 4-inch smartphone, which is fully functional in itself and the time you dock the smartphone in the 7-inch display and voila, you have a tablet!

The processing bits of the 4-inch PadFone are handled by a dual-core 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor along with 1 GB of RAM. The internal storage on the device stands at 8 GB and can be expanded up to 64 GB. ASUS also offers 5 GB free lifetime cloud storage on ASUS WebStorage.

PadFone mini comes in multiple color options.

The 4-inch smartphone has a resolution of 800x480p. The 7-inch tablet, on the other hand, has a resolution of 1280x800p, which would make it a good multimedia device. The PadFone mini gets its juice from a 2100mAh battery, which seems rather ill-equipped for a tablet. The phone has a battery of 1200 mAh that might give a satisfactory performance on the 4-inch display.

The company claims that it will be updating to Android KitKat 4.4 soon. This might be an alternative to people who go for phablets instead of tablets. The pocket-sized phone coupled with a 7-inch display makes this a multi-functional device. There is no alternative to this device so it won’t face a lot of competition. At an affordable price of Rs. 15,999, the device will find a good number of takers whether it’s some tech connoisseur or ordinary folks looking to try something new.

November 25, 2014
Asus Plans to Unveil 2nd Gen ZenFone Smartphones at CES 2015

Asus, Taiwanese smartphone maker, has revealed its plan for the next quarter. Asus CEO Jerry Shen on Thursday said that the company plans to introduce the successors to the popular ZenFone 2 series of smartphones next year at CES 2015.

Shen also said that the company is going in to business with another chip maker to swell their shipments next year. He stressed that the new chip maker will help the company produce affordable devices which can be priced as low as NTD 4,990 which is Rs. 10,000 approximately.

Currently, Asus uses chipsets from Intel for its devices starting from the price tag Rs. 5,999 for the ZenFone 4 in India. However, Shen did not reveal the name of the chip maker. The company is planning to bring second generation of ZenFone series with two of the biggest Chinese carriers – China Mobile Ltd and China Telecom Corp, along with various other models designed for global market.

“All of the new phones scheduled for release at the annual trade show will be powered by Intel Corp. chips and will support 4G LTE connectivity. LTE-enabled phones will account for about 30 percent-40 percent of Asustek’s total smartphone shipments in 2015,” Shen said in an interview.

He also added that 4G-LTE handsets powered by Intel chipsets will start at the price of NTD 9,990 (Rs. 20,000 approximately). This is quite high comparing to the current offerings by Asus in India.

The Taiwanese handset maker estimates that it will ship 8 million smartphones by the end of this year and 16 million next year. It intends to double its shipments with availability of its ZenFone series to about 6 new markets, currently the company is present in 14. Shen said that the company will now focus on China and Japan.

November 15, 2014
IFA 2014 : Asus Officially Unveiled its First Android Wear Wearable, The ZenWatch

Asus has been teasing its smartwatch for quite a while, and now it’s finally here. The super sleek ZenWatch runs Android Wear OS and features a version of the ASUS ZenUI developed specifically for the ZenWatch.

Powered with Android Wear, the new ZenWatch will be priced around $250, while the international pricing is yet to be announced. It’s the first Android Wear smartwatch with a customised UI. It is compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 or above.

The ZenWatch features a gold-colored middle layer and stainless steel top and bottom, with a brushed surface around the face. It has a 1.63-inch 320×320 AMOLED display with a slight curve to its surface, and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, as well as 512MB or RAM and Bluetooth 4.0.

They’ve provided a heart rate sensor on the bottom, and it uses standard user-replaceable 22mm watchbands. IP55 water and dust-proofing helps it tolerate accidental splashes, and it has a 9-axis sensor for tracking activity and movement.

Asus has also included a number of gesture controls and pre-loaded features, which makes it stand out amongst other Android Wear devices. These features give you options to unlock your phone or tablet by tapping the face of the ZenWatch, auto-opening a function you set with a double-tap, covering the watch to mute and phone finding, remote camera operation and slide deck control apps. However, for these feature to work you are required to install a separate, Asus-created watch manager app in addition to Android Wear on your companion device to work.

The Asus ZenWatch comes in a a soft touch stitched-leather strap and quick-release clasp. The display is curved to give off a 2.5D effect.

September 3, 2014
ASUS Launches The ZenFone Series and The Fonepad 7 in India

Taiwanese-American multinational ASUS has just opened its mobile innings in India with a major release. All of the company’s releases are powered by an Intel Atom processor. The Zenfones as they are called run on the Android based ZenUI.

The company released three phones namely the Zenfone 4,5 and 6 with the number corresponding to the screen sizes of the phones. All phones come with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Lets check them out.

ASUS Zenfone 4

The phone has a 4 inch display. It weighs at a miniscule 115 grams. The processor on this offering is a 1.2GHz Intel® Atom™ Z2520 with 1 GB RAM . As it’s a youth oriented device the phone is available in multiple colors like Charcoal Black, Pearl White, Cherry Red, Sky Blue, and Solar Yellow. A 1600 mAh battery powers the phone. The phone has a 5 megapixel (MP) camera in the back and a 0.3 MP front camera. The phone is priced at Rs. 5999.

ASUS Zenfone 5

This phone comes with a 1280x720p HD screen. The thickness of the phone stands at 5.5, so this one truly takes on the Gionee S5.5. The phone runs on the Intel Atom Dual-Core Z2560 1.6GHz processor along with a 2GB RAM. The phone is powered by a 2110 mAh battery. With ASUS PenTouch and GloveTouch technologies users can operate the phone with any stylus or even a gloved hand. The phone has a 8 MP back camera with Image stabilization and has a wide aperture of f/2.0. The Zenfone 5 comes in Champagne Gold, Pearl White, Cherry Red, and Charcoal Black. The phone is priced at Rs. 9,999.

ASUS Zenfone 6

This is a 6 inch behemoth with 1280x720p HD screen. It too comes with ASUS PenTouch and GloveTouch technologies. The phone is powered by powerful Intel Atom Z2580 2.0GHz processor with 2GB RAM. It holds 16 GB’s of internal storage. ASUS promise that with its SonicMaster audio technology with virtual surround sound via headphones, users will have a truly immersive entertainment experience on the big screen. The phone comes in Champagne Gold, Pearl White, Cherry Red, and Charcoal Black color options. The shooters on the Zenfone 6 are a 13MP shooter on the back with a 2 megapixel selfie shooter in the front. A massive 3300 mAh battery will definitely do justice to the screen. The phone is priced at Rs. 16,999.

ASUS Fonepad 7:

The tablet comes with an Intel Clover Trail Plus Z2520 1.2GHz Dual Core processor with 1GB of RAM. The screen is a 7 inch 1024×600 display. The internal storage is a dismal 4GB but is expandable to 64 GB. It comes with a 2 MP camera on the back with 0.3 MP camera in the front. It gets its juice from a 3950 mAh battery. The tablet can be used to make calls with its dual sim capabilities.

All phones are currently running on the Android Jellybean 4.3, but they all will be upgraded to Kitkat. They all use Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading Technology for faster performance and smooth operation of the phones.

ASUS has definitely got some good products for the Indian markets. We have to wait for them to come to our hands to know if they are as good as they appear on paper.

July 9, 2014
The Asus Transformer Book V is a Laptop, Tablet and a Phone

New technology and innovations are flooding in everyday. With the ever growing laptop and smartphone market, companies are trying to woe buyer by introducing crazy ideas and innovation in their products. Asus Transformer Book V is an outcome of this rat-race. Asus announced that they are working on this new piece of hardware which can be used as a tablet, laptop and a phone.

The 3-in-1 device with dual operating system support means it offers five different modes. These include an Android smartphone, an Android tablet, a Windows tablet, a laptop running Android and a Windows 8.1 laptop.

A 12.5 inch laptop/ tablet screen run on Windows 8.1 is powered by Intel Broadwell Chip. The tablet can be used independently as an Android device, when combined with a keyboard dock it turns into an Android laptop and with a mere switch of a key it will turn into a powerful Windows laptop.

With a tap on the screen,the user can switch between Windows 8.1 tablet and an Android 4.4 Kitkat tablet, but only when the phone is docked. The tablet alone has built-in storage of up to 128GB. The un-docked phone of the Asus Transformer Book V runs Android 4.4 Kitkat, and Asus claims it is the world’s first 5in LTE smartphone powered by a quad-core Intel Atom processor. The phone is also powered by a impressive 2,500mAh battery that provides up to 10 hours of web browsing time.

Asus is known for its amalgamation of several form-factors in the same device. Earlier they have promoted this hybrid structure through their FonePad, PadFone and Transformer Book. We may not see this amazing hardware soon. Unless it is powered by an Intel Broadwell chip and launches at the same time as the processor, they it may hit the market this autumn. Asus did not give any pricing or availability details for the Transformer Book.

The company is attempting to create the perfect device for multi-taskers. The Transformer Book V is aimed to bring in greater flexibility for users so that they can easily switch between work and entertainment.

June 2, 2014