14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, Asus has just released the PadFone Mini phone/tablet combo in Taiwan. Unlike previous devices in the series, the Mini version is aimed at customers looking for budget-friendly Android alternatives.
Although it doesn’t come cheap, the PadFone Mini’s price is considerably lower than other phone/tablet hybrids previously launched on the market.
According to Engdaget, customers in Taiwan can purchase the Asus PadFone Mini for only NT11,990 outright, which is about $405 or €295.
Asus has already confirmed that the PadFone Mini will be launched in other markets as well, including China, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia.
No word on when it will arrive in Europe and North America, but if Asus decides to bring it in these regions, the PadFone Mini won’t probably be available until next year.
Given the fact that Asus PadFone Mini’s specs have already leaked, there’s nothing much we can add, but for those who missed the previous details, here is a quick recap.
The PadFone Mini features a 7-inch tablet that acts as a docking station for a 4.3-inch smartphone. The latter comes equipped with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.
The phone’s 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display supports 960 x 540 pixels resolution, while the 7-inch tablet’s display comes with support for 1280 x 800 pixels resolution.
The smartphone also packs microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 32GB, while the tablet is powered by a high-capacity 2200 mAh Li-Ion battery. The tablet’s large battery adds to the 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery embedded into the PadFone Mini smartphone.
It is also worth mentioning that the smartphone runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and comes with various Asus tweaks, such as the Hi-Light “Owl Mode” and high speed continuous shooting for the camera.
