Aug 11, 2011 06:50 GMT  ·  By

Unveiled back in May, Asus' Padfone tablet-smartphone combo is expected to be available on the market some time in Q4 2011 or in early 2012.

Asus stated initially that the tablet will be delivered with Honeycomb on board, while the smartphone will run Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

However, uncertain about the future of its mobile business, the company decided to ship the Padfone with the next-generation Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system.

We chose the ICS because of its better integration across different platforms,” said Alex Sun, corporate vice president and general manager of Asustek's personal mobile devices.

It is unclear if Ice Cream Sandwich will be installed on both devices, but the 10.1-inch tablet has been confirmed to run Google's next iteration of Android.

Even though the initial announcement mentioned that the Padfone, introduced earlier this year at Computex, may go on sale in the first quarter of 2012, it looks like Asus may introduce the device by the end of the year.

Although these are great news for Asus, it appears that the company is determined not to launch any new phones by the end of the year due to a shift in strategy for its smartphone lineup.

Asus also revealed plans to launch a second-generation Padfone device next year. According to the company, the Padfone 2 will support long-term evolution (LTE) wireless broadband technology and three-dimensional (3D) graphics.

Those who are not familiar with the Padfone, the device was ingeniously designed by Asus' engineers and allows users to display pictures or videos on a 10.1-inch tablet from a 4.3-inch smartphone.

In addition, the phone's battery life can be extended when the two are combined, thus increasing the smartphone's autonomy.

The device's hardware configuration is still undecided and the same goes for the pricing options, but Asus said that it will unveil them in due time.