ASUS rebrands its tablets 'Transformer Pads,' announces the high-end Infinity Series with either Tegra 3 or Snapdragon's S4 chip FEBRUARY 27, 2012 BY DANA WOLLMAN : ENGADGET
Yes, another one. Less than four months
after announcing the original T201
Transformer Prime and slightly modified
TF700T, ASUS is adding uno más to the
collection. And don't be fooled by the
name: though the company is rebranding
its tablet line "Transformer Pads," the
newly announced Infinity Series looks a
lot like a product we've already seen.
Essentially, it's the TF700T with a dual-
core Qualcomm MSM 8960 Snapdragon
S4 CPU and an optional LTE radio. Now,
before you gasp that ASUS has ditched
NVIDIA, hear this: there will still be a
Tegra 3 option, but that's just the WiFi-
only version; the 3G / 4G versions will
pack the S4 chip.
Additionally, there will be a lower-end
16GB option (the TF700T was only
available in 32GB and 64GB flavors).
Otherwise, the specs are the same,
including a quad-core Tegra 3 SoC, dual
8MP / 2MP cameras, 1GB of RAM, HDMI
and a 10.1-inch, 1920 x 1200, Super IPS+
Gorilla Glass display. This time around, it
has Gorilla Glass 2, but that's a mild spec
bump indeed.
Unlike the original Prime, which shipped
with Honeycomb but updated to Ice
Cream Sandwich shortly after going on
sale, the Infinity Pad will run Android 4.0
out of the box. It also comes with 8GB of
free lifetime ASUS WebStorage and is
rated for 10 hours of battery life (16 with
that signature keyboard dock, sold
separately). No word yet on pricing or
availability. In any case, though, we
wouldn't be surprised if ASUS gave birth
to another tablet between now and then.