Samsung have once again outdone themselves, this time with the Galaxy Note II. The 5.5-inch phablet is now ticking in 3 million pockets worldwide, just 37 days after the September launch.
"The rapid Galaxy Note 2 sales have a meaning of not just creating a new category of smartphone, but also of popularizing the category." – says Samsung.
While the number is not as impressive Galaxy S III and far from Apple’s iPhone 5 sales, it’s still a milestone for the company and for any device in this class. The first Galaxy Note managed to sell just 2 million units four months after its premiere (way more than the initial expectations), so the Note II is a sound success indeed.
The original Padfone was one of those ideas that seemed good in theory, but fell short once you got your hands on it. Rather than give up on the concept, Asus has returned to the drawing board to announce the Padfone 2 at an exclusive event in Taipei today.
Sporting a massive 4.7-inch 720p HD screen on the phone, the Padfone is loaded with top shelf components, from the quad-core Qualcomm processor, to the 2GB of RAM on board, to the 13MP camera.
The camera itself is capable of shooting 30fps 1080p video, 60fps 720p video or up to 100 continuous still shots at full resolution. The front facing 1.2MP camera isn't quite as highly specced, but should be good enough for a Skype call.
Gone is the docking bay door of the original Padfone
LTE support and NFC functionality are also crammed in there with a 2,140mAh fixed battery. The unit announced offered support for the 900/2100MHz WCDMA frequencies and the 800/1800/2600MHz LTE frequencies, although there is discussion of variants for international markets.
The phone/tablet combo will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, although Asus has promised an upgrade to Jelly Bean sooner rather than later.
You can't have a phablet without a tablet
The biggest change between the original Padfone and its successor is the design. Gone is the docking bay cover, replaced by a slide-in slot for the phone.
The tablet itself has the same 10.1-inch screen, but with a slightly smaller battery than its predecessor, which cuts 200 grams off the combined phablet weight of the original, down to 649grams from 854 grams.
Available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, the Padfone 2 is hitting Taiwan next week, and will be available with or without the tablet station.
Pricing starts at NT$17,990 (about $US620/£383/AUD$599) for the 16GB phone only, and ranges up to $NT 21,901 ($US749/£466/AUD$729) for the 64GB version. The tablet dock can be purchased by itself for NT$8990 ($US310/£191/AUD$299), or bundled with the phone for NT$6000 ($US210/£127/AUD$199)
We hope to have our hands on the device shortly, so stay tuned for our impressions of this highly-specced device.
Having just released its 5-inch Optimus Vu phablet globally, LG is hard working on its successor, as a specs leak reveals. The LG Optimus Vu II is a direct answer to Samsung's Galaxy Note II, though its specs sheet is hardly as impressive.
The LG Optimus Vu II will reportedly be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor and have 2GB of RAM. According to the leak, it'll be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the same 5-inch, 1024 x 768 pixel screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
The battery of the second generation Optimus Vu is slightly bumped and will be 2150mAh instead of 2080mAh. Other than that, the rest of the specifications seem to be left untouched. There's no information on the availability and pricing.
However, we've already seen the new universal remote app LG is readying, so the Optimus Vu II will surely have more surprises up its sleeve.
HTC may announce the new One X 5 phablet this week
With new phones like the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 seemingly being unveiled every week this month, it should come as no surprise HTC may be planning a big reveal (or two) of their own.
HTC already has an event scheduled for Sept. 19, though it's anyone's guess what the company may be showing off.
However, newly discovered press photos may have prematurely revealed at least one of the to-be-announced devices HTC is planning to show off.
Dubbed the One X 5, the new phone could be construed as more of a phablet considering it's believed to come with a 5-inch screen.
One X to get super-sized?
There's little else known about this mystery phone at the moment, including whether or not it will be part of HTC's planned event.
It's rumored the One X 5 will use a Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, and that it may use a full 1080p display, but exact specifications have yet to be discovered.
HTC's One X 5 could arrive just in time to compete with Samsung's Galaxy Note 2, or even LG's recently revealed Intuition.
Coupled with the purported existence of the HTC One X+, a slightly revamped One X, and what could be a the Vertex tablet, HTC appears poised to make a large statement this week.
We'll just have to wait until Wednesday to see how many of these rumored devices are actually unveiled.
The LG Intuition has been off in rumor land for some time, but that’s no more - it was officially unveiled today by Verizon. The phablet looks exactly like its international sibling but has a few extra tricks in its bag of features.
The LG Intuition features a 5-inch IPS XGA 650-nit bright display and runs on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. There is still no info on the chipset, but we hope for a dual-core Krait with Adreno 225 GPU instead of the Korean Optimus Vu’s dual-core Scorpion and Andreno 220 GPU duo. By the way we've already met with the latter and you may check our encounter with it right here.
The Intuition comes with 1GB RAM, 32 gigs of internal storage, an 8 megapixel snapper, Wi-Fi, LTE connectivity and Bluetooth 3.0. The Android version ticking inside is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich skinned with LG’s latest UI.
Verizon will released the LG Intuition on September 6 and it will cost $200 with a 2-year contract. If you made a purchase between Sept. 6 and Sept.10 you’ll also get the LG Tone Stereo Bluetooth headset for free.
Also announced by Verizon is the Samsung Galaxy Stellar - an LTE-enabled mid-ranger for first-time smartphone users. It uses the same two homescreen modes we already saw in the Jelly Bean ROM for the Galaxy S III.
The Galaxy Stellar utilizes a 4-inch WVGA capacitive display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor (no info on the model yet), a 3.2 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE connectivity.
Samsung Galaxy Stellar for Verizon
Verizon will launch the Galaxy Stellar on September 6 as well, and will go free with a mandatory 2-year contract.
