Asus drops to a 6 inch with next Fonepad, sticks with Intel

The question of how big a phone should really be is a constant thing when you’re talking about the fabled phablet, but Asus seems to be getting closer to a hand size, with the new Fonepad being announced at Computex.

While we finish up our time with the first Fonepad hitting Australian stores shortly (seriously, review coming shortly!), Asus is already showing off the sequel, calling it the Fonepad Note.

Compared with the model Australians will be able to get their hands on in the next few weeks, the Fonepad Note will drop from a more tablet-based 7 inch screen size to a slightly more mobile friendly (we said slightly) 6 inch screen, which even features a higher resolution, jumping to the Full HD goodness that is 1920×1080.

As it’s both phone and tablet, except the display to use one of those In-Plane Switching (IPS) displays, viewable from practically any angle, while the protection will be some form of scratch-protected glass with an anti-fingerprint coating.

Inside, the Asus is sticking with Intel, and going with a new Atom processor, the 1.6GHz Z2560. Memory has been increased to 2GB, the sweet spot for Android, and storage will be set to either 16 or 32GB, with expansion available via a microSD slot.

Android 4.2 “Jelly Bean” will be here too, as will an 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.2 megapixel front, though the former of these does appear to lack a flash.

And there’s even a stylus included, which looks to really push that whole “note” moniker this model has been given.

Pricing is, unsurprisingly, not yet known, and neither is an Australian release date, though if the first Fonepad does well, we might see this by the end of the year. Maybe.

The Fonepad Note wasn’t the only tablet announcement Asus made at Computex, though, with a new 7 inch model that Asus says will represent “an incredible value.”

Featuring a quad-core processor, the Asus MeMO Pad HD 7 has a complicated name, but a thoroughly uncomplicated design and specification list.

It all looks to be pretty standard fare for the handheld slate, with the HD friendly 1280×800 display, 1.2 megapixel front camera, 10 point touch, IPS display technology, and multiple colours, this could be the 7 inch budget tablet Asus uses to take on the competition.

We’re anticipating a budget price of between $100 and $200 locally, though we’ll let you know when we no more, if Asus plans to bring it to Australia.