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Asus have grabbed the headlines lately, with their Zenfone range of smart phones and Android Wear ZenWatch smart watch, but here we have their Fonepad 8 device that is about to launch in Asia. The Fonepad 8 crosses the divide between tablet and smart phone, not only offering the ability to make calls from the 8-inch device, but also offering Dual-SIM capability.
What else does the Fonepad 8 offer? Well, as previously mentioned, it has an 8-inch display featuring In-Plane-Switching (IPS) technology, and has a 1280 x 800 (WXGA) resolution. Under the hood there’s an Intel Atom Dual-Core processor that is clocked at 1.33GHz and is 64-bit capable. Depending which region you live in, the Fonepad 8 will offer 1- or 2GB of RAM for multitasking purposes and will also be available with either 8- or 16GB of internal storage along with 5GB of Asus WebStorage. Storage can also be augmented by up to 64GB via the included Micro-SD card slot. On the camera side of things, the Fonepad 8 offers a 2MP front-facing sensor for video chat and selfies with a 5MP camera on the rear. While Asus say that the device will produce excellent image quality, remember that a LED flash has not been included. Asus says that the Fonepad 8 has a 15.2 Wh battery that is good for 12 hours of usage and that the device weighs in at 310 grams. Software wise, the Fonepad will be running Android version 4.4 KitKat at launch.
Connectivity wise, the Fonepad 8 offers Dual-SIM (Micro-SIMS) capability, and supports the following bands: HSPA+/WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 and 2G 850/900/1800/1900 with a talk time of around 21 hours on 3G. So you will be able to use the Fonepad 8 to make calls and send texts just like a normal phone.
As is customary nowadays, the Fonepad 8 will be available in a few different colours – Black, White, Gold and Red.The tablet/smart phone device is set to launch in Malaysia and Singapore around October 10 for 649MYR ($198) and 299SGD ($239) respectively. It’s thought that the device will be made available to other regions at some point, although this is just speculation at the moment.
From the hardware involved, you can tell that the Fonepad 8 is a budget device, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Asus are bringing this to market for the people who can’t justify the expense of owning both a smart phone and a tablet. And apart from the occasional embarrassment when receiving a call (unless you are wearing a handsfree device) there’s nothing wrong with using a tablet as your everyday driver. Is the Asus Fonepad 8 what you are looking for in a device? Let us know at our Google Plus page.
