The smartphone will reach 19 countries by the end of 2012

Oct 16, 2012 11:58 GMT  ·  By

Today, ASUS made official the successor of its PadFone phone-in-tablet combo, a greatly enhanced smartphone that will arrive on shelves in at least 19 countries before the end of this year.

Announced for Taiwan for the next week, the new device, called PadFone 2, is set to hit the market in various other countries in Asia and Europe as well in the coming months.

ASUS has confirmed that it will be released in Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and U.A.E in 2012, and that more countries will see in soon.

The handset will offer a far better experience than its predecessor, courtesy of its larger, 4.7-inch HD touchscreen display that can deliver 550 nits of brightness, and its powerful 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor.

The phone also sports a 13-megapixel camera with support for full HD video recording, as well as a front camera for video chatting, and the full set of connectivity capabilities and sensor options.

The new smartphone runs under Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, though it might not be too long before the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS upgrade arrives on it as well.

The PadFone Slate has also been improved, now featuring a thinner design, a smaller battery and weighing less than before, although its screen size remained unchanged.

ASUS chose to adopt a unibody construction for the PadFone 2, which enabled it to launch a lighter, yet more powerful product.

Those who would like to learn more on what the new PadFone has to offer to its users should have a look at the promo videos that ASUS made available with the device.

There of them have already emerged online, presenting different aspects of the PadFone 2, including features, hardware specifications and the like. Take a peek at the upcoming device to make an idea of what it has to offer and let us know in the comment section below if you are planning the purchase of this device.