Television is gaining the center stage in this year’s CES with different forms and sizes. What was once a huge box which used to show things in motion is now transformed into something that we have seen in the sci-fi movies. ASUS, on the other hand, has unveiled an array of products that did manage to fascinate us all.
As Jonney Shihh, ASUS’s Chairman, took the stage, he mentioned how pleased he was to find the ASUS Transformer Book T100 to be the best selling laptop in Amazon during November 2013. For Jonny, it is the reincarnation of the Eee PC. Back in June, Asus unveiled the Transformer Book Trio in Computex which managed to act both as a laptop and had the ability to boot from Android to Windows 8. Sadly for Jonny, this product did not land in the US. By hearing his speech, it was evident that he was going to announce an updated product. Have a look at the list below of the 7 products unveiled by Asus in CES 2014.
1) ASUS Transformer Book Duet
The ASUS Transformer Duet TD300 is the updated version of the previous Trio. It is a laptop/tablet hybird which has the ability do dual boot between Android 4.1 Jellybean and Windows 8.1. According to the Chairman, it is a Android Laptop, Windows laptop, Android tablet and a Windows tablet, thus termed it as the ‘world’s only 4-in-1 device’. The laptop/tablet hybrid features a 13.3-inch multitouch display with 1920 x 1080 in resolution. It’s powered by Intel Core i7 processor (quad-core), 4GB RAM and has two different storage schemes. The laptop dock has a 1TB of storage whereas the tablet itself packs a whopping 128GB. The hybrid has various ports, one HDMI port, one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and a microSD slot for storage expansion.
The best part of the ASUS Transformer Book Duet is the dual-boot between Windows and Android. Just by pressing a button, the device would easily switch between the two OS which would take roughly 4 seconds.
Although the device can be a charming one, it runs on the late Android version. If Asus could pack in the latest Android 4.4 Kitkat, the device would cause a storm! The Transformer Book Duet carries an affordable price tag of $599.
2) ROG SWIFT PG278Q
Apart from smartphones, tablets and hybrids, this time Asus announced a different product mainly for the gamers, a gaming monitor. The ROG Swift is the world’s first and the fastest G-Xync WQHD 27-inch monitor with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a fast 120+ Hz refresh rate, ASUS Gameplus and Nvidia G-SYNC technologies, 1 ms response time and a full range ergonomic adjustments that has been crafted to deliver the best gaming experience.
This great gaming monitor carries a $799 price tag
3) Zenfone 4
Back to smartphones. ASUS is not unveiling one but three different smartphones this year. First up, the ZenFone 4. With a 4-inch TFT display (800 x 480 resolution) the ZenFone is the smallest of all the three smartphones. Starting at only $99, there’s not much you can expect from this device. The phone runs on Android 4.3 and is powered by Intel’s Atom Z2530 1.2 GHz processor. On the back, you would find a 5MP camera with a 0.3 MP camera at front. For more storage, there’s a microSD slot available too.
4) ZenFone 5
Powered by a 2.0 GHz Intel Atom Z2580, the ZenFone 5 doesn’t differ much from the ZenFone 4 except the screen size, camera and the battery. The ZenFone 5, as the name suggests, comes with a 5-inch IPS display, 8MP camera at the rear, 2MP at front and has a 2050 mAh battery.
Price – $159
5) ZenFone 6
Same case here too. With a 6-inch IPS display, the phone is powered by the same processor as the ZenFone 5, has a 13MP camera at the back and a 2MP at front. Since it’s the big brother of the three, the device has a 3230 mAh battery. The ZenFone 6 comes with PenTouch which will let the users use the device with a pen or a pencil .
Price – $199
The Zenfone family runs on Android 4.3 now and will get an upgrade soon to the latest Android 4.4 Kitkat version. One of the main features of this lineup is ASUS’s ZenUI that is made for increasing the user experience.
6) Padfone Mini
We all know what a Padfone is by now. Although there are still confusions regarding it on how the device actually works. In short, you slide in a phone into the tablet dock and it transforms into a tablet. The tablet dock itself would not work. ASUS has unveiled the mini version of the original PadFone, the PadFone Mini. At $249 you get a 4-inch phone that would be needed to dock into the 7-inch tablet to make the tablet work. The phone seems to be an inferior device as it features a 800 x 480 display whereas the tablet has a 1280 x 800 screen. The PadFone mini is powered by a 1.GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor and features the new ZenUI which, according to ASUS, will improve the user experience in their products. At the back of the Padfone you would find a 8MP camera and the device, tablet+mobile, has a big 3270mAh battery. So, if you’re looking forward to having a similar tablet and smartphone, the Padfone Mini could be a good choice. Just using the smartphone and keeping the tablet dock away would be a great loss. Instead, it’s better to look for other devices.
7) VivoTab Note 8
ASUS has unveiled a new Windows 8.1 tablet that has a 8-inch display and includes a Wacom capability where the pen/stylus sits inside a holder attached to the tablet. This tablet is mainly targeted to students ( serious ones) or those who love to write notes as the tablet features Microsoft’s OneNote to get the work done. The tablet isn’t a high end one as it comes with an Intel Atom Z3740 Bay Trail processor, 2GB RAM and has a 64GB of storage with microSD slot. Nothing spectacular in this tablet!
The tablet carries a $299 price tag and falls under our list of Windows 8.1 Tablets under $400.
