 This is David with The Verge and this is the ASUS Pad Phone. It's a product that's been rumored and talked about for more than a year, but now it's actually being launched and if you're in Taiwan you can actually buy one now. We still have no idea when it's coming to the US. It's still kind of a new concept. We've seen something like the Pad Phone with the Motorola Atrix, but basically the idea is that your phone is the hub of everything. All of your data and your apps live on your phone and then you just plug it into these different accessories for different needs. The actual Pad Phone itself is a cell phone and it's styled a lot like some of ASUS' tablets. It has the concentric circle design. It's kind of ridged on the back and it's really light and pretty well made. It's about 4.5 ounces and it's 9.2 millimeters thick, which is almost exactly the same as the iPhone 4S. It feels nice. It's a little slippery to hold, but for the most part is really well put together and well built. It has a 4.3 inch display with 960 by 540 resolution and though we kind of expect better resolutions from high-end phones at this point, it's not a bad one. It washes out colors a little bit and you can definitely see individual pixels, but we've been seeing displays like this for a while and we're pretty much used to them. The Pad Phone also runs a fairly stock version of Android 4.0. There are a couple of little changes like the notification pull down and the keyboard, both of which have been restyled, but for the most part what you're getting is pure ice cream sandwich. The phone's performance is really good too. It's running a dual-core 1.5 gigahertz Snapdragon processor and it's the same one we've seen in phones like the HTC One X and it performs really, really well. Things fast and fluid on the phone even as you move through apps or play intensive games, it just works really well. Reception and call quality were also solid in our tests. We used an AT&T SIM card which worked well, though the phone is definitely not optimized for US carriers yet. It also has solid battery life. You'll definitely get a full day of use out of the phone even with pretty heavy use. Honestly though, the Pad Phone by itself isn't especially interesting. What's really interesting is all the accessories that it comes with. Most importantly there's the Pad Phone Station which turns the Pad Phone from a phone into a tablet. It looks a bit like the Transformer Pad and the Transformer Prime, but it has a door in the back that you open and slide the phone into. The tablet itself is actually totally useless until there's a phone inside. The phone connects via the HDMI, USB and battery ports and as soon as you plug it in it starts to provide all of the tablet software. At that point what you get is basically just a near stock Android 4.0 tablet. It has a 10.1 inch, 1280 by 800 display and literally everything is powered by your phone. That means all your apps, all your settings, everything gets preserved. They're just running in a way that makes more sense on a tablet now. You can even make phone calls in tablet mode or send texts. You'll want a Bluetooth headset for the tablet mode because you'll look kind of ridiculous with it up to your face. And for that there's even this crazy stylus headset hybrid device that comes with the tablet. It looks just like a stylus and it even has the rubber tip on it, but it's also a Bluetooth headset and you just press one button on it and you can take a phone call while holding a pen to your ear. You look crazy but it actually works pretty well. Unfortunately performance in this particular mode isn't great. It takes a while to connect sometimes, you get this spinning white dial that sometimes doesn't ever go away until you disconnect and reconnect it again. And things just tend to slow down a lot. Sometimes it's really seamless like if you're on a phone call and you pull out the phone it just keeps right on working. But other apps like Netflix or Instapaper will kill themselves and make you run them again. The tablet also just gets really heavy when you have the two pieces together. You're at almost two pounds which actually feels like more than it is as you hold it. One huge upside of the Pad Phone Station is the battery is just enormous. It's 6600 milliamp hours and it's almost four times the size of the Pad Phone itself. And it'll actually charge the phone when the two are connected. There's also the Pad Phone Station dock, a 1.5 pound keyboard dock that connects to the Pad Phone Station and the Pad Phone and turns the whole thing into basically a laptop. The Pad Phone is a really really awesome concept. Your phone as the hub for all your data and all your apps and you just add on these modular pieces as you need them. The performance still isn't quite there though. As a tablet the Pad Phone isn't nearly up to par even with some of Asus' other tablets. And some of the features on the phone itself like the display are kind of a turn off as well. But I'm more convinced than ever that this kind of device is the future and Asus is definitely closer to hitting the goal than anyone has before like Motorola with the Atrix. The Pad Phone right now from the crazy stylus to all the different pieces is as much a novelty as it is a useful device but the potential for this really does seem almost unlimited.
 This is David with The Verge and this is the ASUS Pad Phone.
 It's a product that's been rumored and talked about for more than a year, but now it's actually
 being launched and if you're in Taiwan you can actually buy one now.
 We still have no idea when it's coming to the US.
 It's still kind of a new concept.
 We've seen something like the Pad Phone with the Motorola Atrix, but basically the idea
 is that your phone is the hub of everything.
 All of your data and your apps live on your phone and then you just plug it into these
 different accessories for different needs.
 The actual Pad Phone itself is a cell phone and it's styled a lot like some of ASUS' tablets.
 It has the concentric circle design.
 It's kind of ridged on the back and it's really light and pretty well made.
 It's about 4.5 ounces and it's 9.2 millimeters thick, which is almost exactly the same as
 the iPhone 4S.
 It feels nice.
 It's a little slippery to hold, but for the most part is really well put together and
 well built.
 It has a 4.3 inch display with 960 by 540 resolution and though we kind of expect better
 resolutions from high-end phones at this point, it's not a bad one.
 It washes out colors a little bit and you can definitely see individual pixels, but
 we've been seeing displays like this for a while and we're pretty much used to them.
 The Pad Phone also runs a fairly stock version of Android 4.0.
 There are a couple of little changes like the notification pull down and the keyboard,
 both of which have been restyled, but for the most part what you're getting is pure
 ice cream sandwich.
 The phone's performance is really good too.
 It's running a dual-core 1.5 gigahertz Snapdragon processor and it's the same one we've seen
 in phones like the HTC One X and it performs really, really well.
 Things fast and fluid on the phone even as you move through apps or play intensive games,
 it just works really well.
 Reception and call quality were also solid in our tests.
 We used an AT&T SIM card which worked well, though the phone is definitely not optimized
 for US carriers yet.
 It also has solid battery life.
 You'll definitely get a full day of use out of the phone even with pretty heavy use.
 Honestly though, the Pad Phone by itself isn't especially interesting.
 What's really interesting is all the accessories that it comes with.
 Most importantly there's the Pad Phone Station which turns the Pad Phone from a phone into
 a tablet.
 It looks a bit like the Transformer Pad and the Transformer Prime, but it has a door in
 the back that you open and slide the phone into.
 The tablet itself is actually totally useless until there's a phone inside.
 The phone connects via the HDMI, USB and battery ports and as soon as you plug it in it starts
 to provide all of the tablet software.
 At that point what you get is basically just a near stock Android 4.0 tablet.
 It has a 10.1 inch, 1280 by 800 display and literally everything is powered by your phone.
 That means all your apps, all your settings, everything gets preserved.
 They're just running in a way that makes more sense on a tablet now.
 You can even make phone calls in tablet mode or send texts.
 You'll want a Bluetooth headset for the tablet mode because you'll look kind of ridiculous
 with it up to your face.
 And for that there's even this crazy stylus headset hybrid device that comes with the
 tablet.
 It looks just like a stylus and it even has the rubber tip on it, but it's also a Bluetooth
 headset and you just press one button on it and you can take a phone call while holding
 a pen to your ear.
 You look crazy but it actually works pretty well.
 Unfortunately performance in this particular mode isn't great.
 It takes a while to connect sometimes, you get this spinning white dial that sometimes
 doesn't ever go away until you disconnect and reconnect it again.
 And things just tend to slow down a lot.
 Sometimes it's really seamless like if you're on a phone call and you pull out the phone
 it just keeps right on working.
 But other apps like Netflix or Instapaper will kill themselves and make you run them
 again.
 The tablet also just gets really heavy when you have the two pieces together.
 You're at almost two pounds which actually feels like more than it is as you hold it.
 One huge upside of the Pad Phone Station is the battery is just enormous.
 It's 6600 milliamp hours and it's almost four times the size of the Pad Phone itself.
 And it'll actually charge the phone when the two are connected.
 There's also the Pad Phone Station dock, a 1.5 pound keyboard dock that connects to the
 Pad Phone Station and the Pad Phone and turns the whole thing into basically a laptop.
 The Pad Phone is a really really awesome concept.
 Your phone as the hub for all your data and all your apps and you just add on these modular
 pieces as you need them.
 The performance still isn't quite there though.
 As a tablet the Pad Phone isn't nearly up to par even with some of Asus' other tablets.
 And some of the features on the phone itself like the display are kind of a turn off as
 well.
 But I'm more convinced than ever that this kind of device is the future and Asus is definitely
 closer to hitting the goal than anyone has before like Motorola with the Atrix.
 The Pad Phone right now from the crazy stylus to all the different pieces is as much a novelty
 as it is a useful device but the potential for this really does seem almost unlimited.