Review of ASUS PadFone Infinity and PadFone Infinity Station

Introduction

ASUS is said to be refreshing their current Padfone Infinity with a faster and newer processor, we thought that it would make sense for us to take a second look at this 3 month old flagship smartphone. ASUS has just launched the hot pink and gold versions of the Padfone Infinity for our market as well. This review has not come late. Here’s what we feel of the Padfone Infinity and its Infinity Station.

Similar to previous generations, Padfone is a smartphone device which can be expanded into a larger screen by docking into a tablet screen station. There are some improvements which we’ve found in the new device and were thrilled to introduce to you, specifically its high pixel density display. ASUS was early in adopting the technology when they released the Padfone Infinity back in June with Full-HD display resolution. Other manufacturers have only recently started to roll them out into the market.

Specifications

Design

ASUS has adopted a rather unique design to the front of the PadFone Infinity. Instead of segregation the screen section with the non-screen section, they decided to overlay a whole piece of scratch resistant Corning glass and used a similar black to colour the non display areas. This gives the whole outlook of the PadFone front to look polished and sturdy. At the bottom, we can see three touch sensitive buttons which we thought were a better choice as compared to physical buttons as they will not fail and become unresponsive after long term use.

The volume buttons, power button and speakers are placed on the right side of the screen. Although we have no issue with the buttons, the speakers are placed in a awkward position as they do not direct sound to the user. Instead, the sounds are sent outwards to the right.

On the left side, there is a nano-SIM slot for the PadFone Infinity. In order to include more hardware into the unit, ASUS has adopted the use of nano-SIM instead of the more common micro-SIM. This also means that you will have to cut your SIM card even smaller into the nanoSIM form factor in order for this phone to work with your network.

A standard 3.5mm headphone jack is found at the top and a microUSB port is found at the bottom. The ports are placed there for a reason. It will be almost unusable for audio ports to be placed at the sides as they will take up more width space and prevent users from putting their headphones in their pockets when listening to music. Also, placing the microUSB port at the button ensures compatibility with smartphone covers in the market. For example, book cover styled covers can be closed when the phone is charging. It would not have been possible if the port was placed on the left/right side.

The most sexy part of the device is perhaps its back. It has a brushed aluminum finish, giving it a similar feel on a ASUS Zenbook Ultrabook computer. Even though it is brushed metal, it still remains smooth. It leaves the back of the device fingerprint proof and probably is the sexiest smartphone on the market with the use of such material and finishing. Other than the Titanium Gray version which is shown in the photo, it is also available in Hot Pink and Champagne Gold.

The Screen

Docking Station

The phone’s design goes well together with the PadFone station when placed together. The PadFone Infinity Station is designed specifically to match the colour of the PadFone Infinity. That is also why the PadFone Infinity Station is also available in different colours that suits the colours of the PadFone Infinity.

Camera Test 

 We’ve put the PadFone Infinity to simple tests by carrying out sample test shots. The photos taken for comparison sake are from a Samsung Galaxy S II.

Close up, low light scenario – PadFone Infinity

Close up, low light scenario – Galaxy S II

Night Scene – PadFone Infinity

Night Scene – Galaxy S II

Performance Test

The PadFone Infinity which utilizes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor performed very well in hardware performance tests. On AnTuTu benchmark, it scored a high 26402 points, making it faster than smartphones from the same market segment. As shown in the ranking page above, it is in fact faster than a standard HTC One device, Samsung Galaxy S4, Note2 as well as Sony’s Xperia Z smartphone. We are also expecting the PadFone Infinity to be refreshed with a faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor later in the year which will result in higher scores, possibly crossing above the 30000 mark.

Such score is better than a Sony Xperia ZL smartphone as shown in the comparison charts above. However, do note that despite the differences in score, all these smartphones are rated with 5 stars for performance. This means that graphics intensive games will be able to be played smoothly on the PadFone Infinity.

Conclusion

Availability

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