Asus’ new FonePad, which was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will be available in Europe by the end of the second quarter. In the meantime, Russians will be among the first ones to try it out if they opt to pour out 10,590 rubles (about 265 EUR) for the unlocked, SIM-free device. That’s much more than what the Taiwanese company said the phone will cost (219 EUR) though kinda expected — for some reason most phones and tablets cost more in Russia than in other countries.
Anyway, I find the FonePad an everything but desirable device. It’s basically a 7-inch tablet with built-in cellular radio, microphone and speaker that practically makes it a phone. A big one, we might add.
It’s also under-specced, relying on Intel’s Atom processor rather than some more powerful quad-core CPU. Honestly, I’m not sure anyone with a decent salary would ever consider grabbing one of these. Except perhaps as a second device for their kid…
[Via: Unwired View]