Now truly is the time of the ‘phablet’, with companies launching giant smartphone-come-tablets more and more often. The latest to get in on the action is Asus, which launched its answer to Samsung’s popular Galaxy Note series in the form of the new Asus FonePad Note.
Yes, they even borrowed the name. Asus’ new device has plenty to lord over Samsung’s current Galaxy Note II however, including a 6-inch Full HD display. Offering a high resolution of 1920 x 1080, Asus’ new device flies high above the Note II in terms of screen quality. The panel used is a Super IPS+ with 450 nits of brightness, so you know it’s going to be very bright, very vivid and easy to see in the sunlight.
Running the latest version of Android – 4.2 Jelly Bean – the FonePad Mate runs off a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor which is dual-core, paired with 2GB of RAM. With this in mind, it should be nippy and plenty capable when it comes to multitasking and the like.
The FonePad Note sports dual stereo speakers on the front – a la HTC One – and a rather sleek white design which we like already. There’s an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.2 megapixel lens up front for video calling. Around the back a stylus slides out of its slot to use with the touchscreen for note taking, drawing and the like, giving the device more of a tablet feel than smartphone.
As you might expect, connectivity options are strong, with the star point being DC-HSPA, providing download speeds of up to 42Mbps on compatible networks such as Three’s Ultrafast system in the UK.
Asus has just managed to pip Samsung to the post in launching a Full HD ‘phablet’, but whether its FonePad Note will rival Samsung’s incoming Galaxy Note III when it does launch later in the year will remain to be seen.
Asus hasn’t yet decided on a price or release date but says the FonePad Note will be available in Black and White before the end of the year.