What counts as a “phablet” anymore?

It all started so simply; we’d seen smartphone after smartphone arrive with displays in the three or four-inch ranges, and larger tablets were clearly a different breed of device entirely. But then that middle ground, previously a no-phone’s-land, started to see some activity. Maybe the first model to really get people talking about this form factor was the 5.5-inch first Galaxy Note, but since then we’ve seen dozens more arrive. Those haven’t all been like the Note, which might be best described as a large phone, but have also come as

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ASUS Fonepad With Spec Bump Announced

We have reviewed the ASUS Fonepad recently, as it was unveiled at MWC this year, but apparently an ASUS Fonepad with a spec bump has been announced. The initial version, also the one we reviewed, packs a 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2420 processor alongside 16GB of internal storage. The new, improved flavor, is now powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 processor and brings 32GB of internal storage to the table (expandable, as before, via the microSD card under the back cover). It will be available in Taiwan for ...

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ASUS Fonepad Update Brings Performance Improvements, Other Enhancements

The manufacturer is pushing out an ASUS Fonepad update, after just last week we published our full review of the slate with a physical earpiece up top. The main improvement of this OTA, probably the one the Fonepad will benefit more from, is the “system performance fine-tuning” ASUS has listed as part of the refresh. Aside from that you’ll find some carrier-specific APN changes — which will probably not ...

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ASUS Fonepad Review

The Fonepad is a first effort from ASUS, and a decent one at that, though often frowned upon. It’s not the only tablet on the market that is equipped with a physical earpiece, but it is part of a select few products from companies that try to address a specific, though not overly popular, need of the market. If you do a lot of on-the-go work on your tablet you surely know the feeling of carrying around another device: a phone. Whether that’s for tethering or, most of the time, calls, it really depends on your particular needs. While you can easily overcome the phone-tablet ...

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ASUS Fonepad vs Apple iPad mini (Video)

We’ve already compared the ASUS Fonepad to its almost twin, the no-earpiece Google Nexus 7, and today we’re taking a close look at the same tablet, this time, against Apple’s latest and greatest small-sized iPad. The iPad mini is a tablet many have thought would never see the light of day, not from Apple. Still, it’s here for quite some time now and it brings the premium build to the sub-ten-inch form factor. Specs are modest though, from the low-resolution screen to the A5 ...

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ASUS Fonepad vs Google Nexus 7 (Video)

If you have to have an earpiece on your tablet and finally leave your phone at home while you’re out then the ASUS Fonepad is definitely the one to choose between the two. However, if the lack of an earpiece is not a deal-breaker for you then take a look at the video below where we inspect the Google Nexus 7 and the ASUS Fonepad, side-by-side, in our usual comparison. The Nexus 7 is soon going to turn one year old and a follow up is just around the corner, or it should be, judging by the usual Google release cycle and common sense. However, the ASUS-made Google tablet is still a ...

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Waterproof Galaxy S 4 Active, Snapdragon 800 Up Next, ASUS Fonepad Unboxing & More – Pocketnow Daily

Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the ASUS Fonepad and our coverage of the device. Then we go through Windows Phone and some revealing stats from a recent poll in the United States. Google is next as we cover the news regarding the Play Store’s new app update policies. We later talk about Qualcomm’s plans to begin deploying the Snapdragon 800 processor and what this means for the mobile industry. We end today’s show talking about Samsung’s plans to bring us the Galaxy S 4 Active, a ruggedized version of their new flagship. All this and more after ...

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ASUS Fonepad Unboxing (Video)

ASUS was teasing the Fonepad in its videos prior to MWC and, at the show, the company introduced a concept which I have personally been waiting for for a long time. You either love it or hate it, there’s no middle road there, really. It’s a tablet that has an earpiece so that it can double as a phone. Surely, other tablets have phone functionality too but you are limited to either using the speakerphone or some fancy bluetooth accessory which might or might not be included. This is not the case with the Fonepad; just bring it up to your ear, talk, and don’t mind all the ...

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Didn’t Make It To MWC 2013? Here’s Everything You Missed (Video)

Mobile World Congress 2013 was, as promised, a boatload of fun and a bucket of hot tech-geek action. While we didn’t see everything we wanted to, we were treated to an avalanche of smartphones and tablets running everything from Android to Windows Phone to Sailfish to FirefoxOS. We got a gander at some really impressive form factors too, at sizes ranging from the conventional to the fantastic. If you were off the internet for the duration of last week, or if you simply couldn’t deal with ...

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Mobile World Congress 2013 Recap

Technically, the Mobile World Congress may finish-up tomorrow, but with all the big smartphone and tablet events over, we’re calling it a wrap. We’ve had a great time the past several days bringing you news of all the new hardware and software companies came to the event to promote, and as we now begin to recuperate and get back to business as usual, we wanted to take a look back on MWC 2013 and everything it brought us. The week leading up to the MWC was filled with rumors, as we should expect, and while some played out, others ...

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The Pocketnow Weekly Podcast, Episode 033: The Great MWC Wrap-Up

We think it’s pretty fair to say that MWC 2013 was one part IFA and one part CES: a few stark disappointments peppered among some really amazing stuff. We’ve seen technology this week ranging from the incredible to the absurd – from the third iteration of ASUS’s wild Padfone concept to the improbable debut of a Kyocera Echo lookalike. The big guys have come out to play, too, but they’re a little shy this time around: neither Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 nor Nokia’s midrange Lumias blew the roof off the joint. Even a few has-beens came out to confuse ...

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ASUS FonePad vs. Google Nexus 7 (Video)

ASUS is the manufacturer behind the Nexus 7 we like so much, and now that the company has a new seven-incher of its own on the way, the just-announced Fonepad, we simply had to see how the two tablets compare. While the materials used may differ, the two tablets certainly share similar looks, though some details, like button placement, get swapped around. The big difference between the two is the Fonepad’s inclusion of an earpiece, letting you use the tablet as an (oversized) ...

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Would You Ever Make a Phone Call on an 8-inch Tablet?

Once considered a niche device that held no true purpose, the tablet has beat all odds to become a thriving, mainstream product. It has come to be a choice item in many people’s mobile arsenal, a common household item for many. For me, the tablet has become a staple in my workflow. Such is the case for many of the people I know – colleagues, friends, family and strangers. I can’t go to the local coffee shop without seeing at least a couple people plop their iPad on the table. And just about all hours of the day, I have my iPad mini propped up, waiting to notify me of any ...

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ASUS Fonepad Tablet Arrives Next Month

Following ASUS’s announcement of the new Padfone Infinity at its Mobile World Congress event, the company switched gears to the other new mobile device we’ve been expecting from it, the Fonepad tablet. Like the Galaxy Note 8.0, it’s a mid-sized tablet that doubles as a phone itself. The Fonepad will be available in gray and gold, supports microSD storage, and like we heard rumored, runs an Intel Atom SoC. It’s got a seven-inch 1280 x 800 LCD and comes ...

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New ASUS MWC Teaser References Tablet’s Voice Call Abilities

A couple days back we saw the first MWC teaser video from ASUS, touting the company’s “metallic miracle” that would be coming soon. Based on the picture we recently saw of a metal-bodied ASUS Fonepad, that seemed to be what the video was referencing. Now ASUS has a new MWC teaser out, and it once again looks to be Fonepad-focused. Just like the last one, it’s set in Barcelona, this time featuring a statue of Christopher Columbus. ...

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