Dallas – AT&T keeps dribbling out details of its planned Asus PadFone X, announcing a price and preorder date but not an availability date.
The carrier previously announced the specs of the smartphone and tablet package, which consists of a 5-inch FullHD Android 4.4 smartphone that docks into the back of an included tablet-like PadFone Station with 9-inch touchscreen to display and control phone apps that are resized automatically for the larger display.
The PadFone X will be available exclusively on the AT&T network at $199 with a two-year contract, or $22.92 per month with no contract and no down payment on the AT&T Next 18 trade-up program, or $29.80 per month with the AT&T Next 12 trade-up program. Preorders will start on AT&T’s website and in AT&T stores beginning June 6.
As for when consumers will be able to get their hands on the device, a spokesman said, “We don’t have a date for that yet.”
The phone incorporates Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB of onboard storage, and 64GB MicroSD slot. The PadFone Station features a high-capacity 4,990 mAh battery that charges the phone when it is docked to extend phone battery life up to two times longer. The combination also features Power Matters Alliance (PMA) wireless charging.
AT&T also plans to offer the PadFone X Mobile Dock, which is a custom-fit Bluetooth keyboard made of aluminum to turn the PadFone X into a notebook. The keyboard features integrated trouchpad. The Mobile Dock connects to PadFone X via Bluetooth 3.0 and includes a 450mAh battery for up to one month of use between charges.
Previously announced features include LTE-Advanced technologies, including carrier aggregation, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and HD Voice over VoLTE. It also features Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth BT 4.0, assisted GPS and a 2,300 mAh battery.
The phone’s 1,920 by 1,080 FullHD display features 441 ppi, and the Station’s 9-inch display is 1,920 by 1,200 with 252PPI.
The phone’s camera resolutions are 13 megapixels for the back camera and 2 megapixels from the front camera. The station has a 1-megapixel front camera.
