Padfone: A phone that turns into a tablet, that turns into a laptop, with a stylus that turns into a headset

Élyse Betters | Feb 27 2012 - 11:14 am PT

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rrh_EwFaZ7I]

Varied hands-on looks at the Asus PadFone while at Mobile World Congress 2012 are exploding across the Web, but the consensus on the three-in-one combination seems generally positive.

The 4.3-inch device is in its last form and features a texture on the back cover, 3.5mm headphone jack on top, ports and connectors on the left side, and an aesthetic similar to the Transformer Pad. The Verge declared the screen as “bright and fairly snappy.”

According to a press release, the device transforms into a 10.1-inch tablet with five times the battery capacity when placed inside the PadFone Station. The PadFone Station also offers an optional keyboard dock that looks like other Asus docks. It essentially converts the PadFone into an “ultraportable computing device.”

The PadFone’s Stylus Headset employs a pliable rubber ball unlike more firm, plastic-tipped stylus competitors. Many reports indicate the bluetooth stylus is responsive, but it apparently requires more pressure than comparable products. Moreover, Asus’ Jonney Shih announced at MWC 2012 that the stylus doubles as a headset for “picking up calls easily.”

The Asus PadFone’s full spec sheet, hands-on images and video are available below.

The Asus PadFone has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED Flash, VGA front-facing camera, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD at 960-by-540 pixels, Snapdragon S4 with Adreno 225 GPU (dual-core Krait), and a motion sensor, gyro sensor, proximity light sensor, and e-compass. It also features WCDMA 900/2100MHz, EDGE/GPS 850/900/1800/1900MHz, HSPA+ 21/5.76Mbps (42Mbps optional), 1GB LPDDR2 RAM, and 16 to 64GB eMMC NAND. The device even showcases 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a 3.5mm audio jack, microUSB 2.0, 1520mAh Li-ion, and a microSD expansion slot (SDHC/SDXC up to 32GB). It is a 128mm-by-65.4mm-by-9.2mm device weighing 129g.

However, the PadFone gains more specs when docked, such as an 8-megapixel camera (via Padfone rear-facing camera), 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera at 1280-by-800 pixels, 10.1-inch 1280-by-800 display with Capacitive Touch, and two-color LED indicators for battery status and Vibration sensor. It also adds a Phone/GPS, micro USB and micro HDMI, 24.4Whr Battery, and two-in-one audio jack and 40-pin connector. Its size increases to 273mm-by-176.9mm-by-13.65mm with a 724g weight.

There are no more details on the PadFone at this time, such as pricing and availability. We will update when more information becomes available.