ASUS PadFone: The Smartphone That Can Do Much More

 The always innovative Taiwanese tablet maker ASUS has revealed its latest attraction: the PadFone. This won't be just a smartphone, but a tablet and a netbook as well.

 The heart of the device is the smartphone. When released, the PadFone will contain a Qualcomm S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor and Adreno 225 GPU, and will sport a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with a 960 x 540 resolution. Most important, however, is that the PadFone will run Android 4.0 at its release.

Other features are going to include an 8MP rear-facing camera (which will also act as the rear-facing camera when attached to the tablet dock), a WVGA front-facing camera, HDMI output, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, HSPA+, and Wi-Fi capabilities.

Users of the PadFone can take the handset and attach it to the tablet dock that has a 10.1-inch diplay with a resolution of 1280 x 800. The unit will have an optional keyboard, converting it into a netbook. The PadFone Stylus Headset will act as both a stylus and a phone receiver.

ASUS has yet to reveal the actual price of the device, but rumors swirling around may have the PadFone close to the expensive side. The company did reveal, however, that this innovative phone/tablet/netbook is expected to launch sometime in April.