Hasta La Gadget!

Those looking forward to the ASUS Padfone 2 have likely been very frustrated by the fact that we haven’t heard too many details about the device. There have been leaks here and there, but for the most part, there hasn’t really been anything too significant. The folks at Bloomberg were luckily enough to briefly go hands-on with the device in an interview with ASUS chief Jerry Shen, and were kind enough to put video of the encounter up on YouTube for the entire world to see.

Of course, the Padfone 2 isn’t the only device previewed in Bloomberg’s video. Also on the display are the ASUS UX51 and U38 touchscreen laptops, along with the ASUS TAICHI, complete with its amazingly cool double-sided screen. As cool as the TAICHI is, however, the Padfone 2 still manages to steal the show.

Aesthetically, there isn’t that much of a difference between the Padfone 2 and its predecessor other than the Padfone 2′s 4.7-inch screen. That screen is capable of displaying 720p resolution, so we’re talking HD with the Padfone 2. It also comes equipped with a whopping 13MP rear-facing camera, which Bloomberg assures us can take some “phenomenal” pictures. It’s hard to tell the quality of the images from watching the video, but it’s pretty easy to imagine how good pictures look when snapped with a 13MP camera.

Bloomberg says that the Padfone 2 can get up to a full day of use from a single charge, and when it’s dead, you can slide it into the back of the companion tablet and charge it from the tablet’s battery. Using the two combined, you should be able to get two to three days of use from a single charge. Sadly, the details stop there, but ASUS will be officially unveiling the Padfone 2 on October 16 – just a few days away. We’ll be getting a lot more details then, and after watching this video, we’re wondering how we’re going to make it another four days.

[via Android Community]

ASUS Padfone 2 makes an appearance in new video is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Friday, folks. The weekend is here once again, and what better way to kick off the festivities than with a Windows 8 purchase? The new OS went up for pre-order today, while a number of other Windows 8-related stories were popping up all over the place. For instance, we found out that the marketing campaign for Windows 8 cost Microsoft a whopping $1.5 billion, and a collection of HP computers were spotted running Windows 8 on the show floor of one Best Buy store in Minnesota.

Dell is getting in early on the Windows 8 action, opening up pre-orders for a handful of new machines today, and we learned that a staggering 6 billion people around the world are now using a mobile phone of some type. A leaked T-Mobile release roadmap gives us an idea of when the carrier expects to receive a bunch of different devices, including the Windows Phone 8X. We received a rather in-depth look at an LG Nexus prototype today, and LG delivered a brand new Optimus G “product movie” that aims to get us familiar with the new handset’s features. Netflix released a Windows 8-compatible version of its app today, just ahead of the launch of the OS.

Google could be headed for an antitrust case from the FTC, and it seems that the Apple Maps controversy hasn’t done much to damage consumer enthusiasm for the iPhone 5. Speaking of the iPhone 5, Apple’s latest mobile offering has managed to overtake the Samsung Galaxy S III in web traffic despite being available for a much shorter amount of time, and Google is getting the Play Store ready for the holiday rush. SoftBank is looking to secure $23 billion to buy a majority stake in Sprint, and industry insiders are claiming that the long-rumored iPad Mini will be revealed on October 23 – just a couple weeks from now.

Star Citizen has already managed to raise an absurd $500,000 in funding, while Borderlands 2 was seen outshining its predecessor in a pretty significant way. We learned that the games industry is still on the decline, and ASUS unveiled a brand new Windows 8 VivoBook today. Amazon is now posting a disclaimer about the Kindle Paperwhite’s backlighting, YouTube is rethinking the way it ranks videos for search results, and Anonymous has cut ties with Wikileaks after the website started restricting access and asking visitors for donations.

Finally tonight, we have an unboxing and hands-on with the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD for you to check out, and Chris Burns tells us why every little piece of Apple news seems to matter so much these days. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, here’s hoping that this weekend is a good one!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 12, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just because ASUS has planned a grand October 23rd event to outline its US Windows 8 lineup doesn’t mean we can’t get an advance peek. Pre-orders have officially kicked off for at least two touchscreen PCs that also give us a very good feeling for the hardware we’ll see at our doors. The dual-screened TAICHI 21 is naturally the star of the show, but it will cost you: a base version of the 11.6-inch hybrid with a 1.7GHz Core i5, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD starts at $1,300, while an uprated model with a 1.9GHz Core i7 and a 256GB SSD will set early adopters back by $1,600. We’d say the VivoBook X202 is more likely to get some purchases sight-unseen at $600 for an entry laptop with an 11.6-inch touchscreen, a 1.8GHz Core i3, 4GB of RAM and a conventional 500GB hard drive. Both of the systems should arrive in tandem with Windows 8’s October 26th launch and compound the traffic jams for couriers and retailers on what could be a very busy day.

[Thanks, Donny]

Update: As Computerworld noticed, Newegg also has a pre-order listing for the VivoTab RT, which costs $599 in its lone 32GB configuration. It ships the same day as its bigger cousins.

Filed under: Laptops, ASUS

ASUS TAICHI 21 and VivoBook X202 go up for US pre-orders, spoil the party a bit early (update: VivoTab RT, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in August, ASUS unveiled its Vivo Tab line of tablets at IFA 2012, which come packing with Windows 8 and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. However, it seems that ASUS thinks the Vivo tablets need a big brother, so it teased the VivoBook laptop today, which also comes with Windows 8 and sports the same style and look as the Vivo Tabs.

According to a product page on the ASUS website, the laptop will officially be called the VivoBook X202, and will sport an Intel Core i3-3217U clocked at 1.8GHz with 4G of RAM. It’ll also have a 500GB hard drive and an 11.6-inch LED HD display with a 1366×768 resolution. It’ll have capacitive touch capabilities and multi-touch functionality as well.

However, it says it’ll only have “Intel GMA HD” graphics according to the product page, which isn’t fantastic, but if it includes GMA graphics that are towards the high end of the spectrum, it should be able to keep up the pace. Battery life also seems rather disappointing, claiming to get up to only 5 hours of life with a 2-cell battery.

Honestly, the VivoBook almost seems like a glorified netbook rather than a full-scale laptop. It reminds us of the company’s 12-inch Eee PC 1201N from a couple years ago, which easily had comparable specs. Either way, the VivoBook X202 is available for pre-order as we speak from Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, and B&H Photo. The laptop can be yours for $599. The listings mention the VivoBook having “Intel HD 4000″ graphics, which technically isn’t the same as Intel’s GMA series like the ASUS product page mentions, so we’ll have to wait until the company’s official announcement on October 23.

UPDATE: ASUS has also posted its TAICHI 21 up for pre-order. It’s an 11.6-inch hybrid machine that comes with a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. It starts at $1,300.

[via EeePC.it]

ASUS unveils VivoBook Windows 8 laptop [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Most event teasers have at least some kind of grandiosity; we’re not under illusions that they have to be modest. At the same time, ASUS may have crossed a humility barrier with a teaser for an October 23rd event launching its upcoming Vivo Tabs and (possibly TAICHI- or Transformer Book-linked) Vivo Books. In the space of 42 seconds, ASUS likens the New York City announcement for its touchscreen Windows 8 devices to the Apollo moon missions, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and having a child — a bit much for slabs of aluminum and glass, we think. There’s not much to see of the systems themselves beyond what we already know, although Notebook Italia has noticed at least one reseller listing a Vivo Book S200 laptop with an 11.6-inch touchscreen, a Core i3, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive for €499 ($647). That price would go a long way towards ASUS’ promise of making touch “available to everyone…” we’re just not convinced it’s as important as Elvis.

Continue reading ASUS teases October 23rd Vivo Book and Vivo Tab event, likens it to world history (video)

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

ASUS teases October 23rd Vivo Book and Vivo Tab event, likens it to world history (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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