Smartphone AND Tablet: The Unique Padfone 2

Up until last year, the world smartphone or tablet users are given 2 major choices: own a smartphone and/or a tablet. Asus broke those dilemma and gave us Asus Padfone. It was okay at the market, but I woouldn't categorize it as successful however it did open a great freedom of option for users to have a smartphone that can also function as a tablet at the same time.

Asus Padfone 2 has just been released and I took a big chance in buying it as a replacement of my beloved Samsung Galaxy Note N7000.  Interestingly, my main reason to purchase Asus Padfone 2 is because 3 main reasons:

1. Despite the drawback of not having replaceable battery, it combines 2 battery a 2,140 MAh and a 5,000 MAh.
2. Despite of lacking external memory expansion, it does come in 64 GB which means more than satisfactory at current needs, at least for the next 2 years.
3. It's a 4.7" phone and a 10" tablet at the same time, the dual personality that it's competitors are lacking.

Of course coming from SGNote, there are certain concerns that Asus Padfone 2 doesn't have like:

1. SMemo and SNote
2. SPen Stylus

Anyway, let's go deeper into the review, if you will, on the Asus Padfone 2.

Hardware:

- 1.5GHz quad-core processor is powerful enough for today's multi tasking 

- phone unit is thin enough with circular pattern back for easy 

- the rim of the phone unit is made of aluminum and felt easily scratched 

- tablet felt sturdy but also a bit weak construction-wise 

- excellent IPS screen, bright and clear, despite of only 1280x720 resolution 

- built in speaker  are excellent and loud, tablet is several notch louder with bigger speaker. The location of the speakers are easily covered when put on the table

Bloatware:

- only a little, webstorage, app locker, etc. The most useful feature is the floating windows apps that can be accessed from the bottom of the screen, but only has limited list of 

- power management is impressive although not the most thorough, mainly focus on power sharing and turning off network access for most apps during screen off. 

Headfi:

- for headphones users, I think Asus has put a good sound processor for enjoyment. It reproduce flatter frequency, bass are tight and clear, wonderful details for sound separation, no apparent sibilance. It is recommended to buy or download good music player to paring up the potential. 

Signal:

As usual like any other Android, standard sensitivity. 

Making calls:

Voice are clear and loud enough. It doesn't have move reduction so bear in mind when you are in busy place. My recommendation is to get a Plantronics or Jawbone bluetooth unit for comfort (check my review on some of them in this blog) 

Notable problems:

- tablet will always be 

- Beware the tablet screen is not very protected from wear and tear. It is easily cracked on 

- if you damaged either unit, it will be expensive to service it. 

- no accessories for protection, however a Samsung size tablet case will work. 

Those are my deeper review. My final recommendation is that this Asus Padfone 2 is designed for work and play and the same time, but it is not for children. 

Ultimate Ears 700 : The Ultimate HiFi Experience with Mid-Range Pricing aka Cheap HiFi

Alright, I have reviewed the one I called poor-man's HiFi earphone.  I recently has the privilege to own a air of Ultimate Ears 700 (UE700). Man, this earphone, although not the best of the best, is brilliant.  I think UE has given us the superb earphone that usually will cost us US$ 300 or more at only fractions of the price at US$ 130 - 150.

The Unit :

Build like tiny single driver but once you touch it, you will know that they ain't cheap.

Cable is more than suitable for years of use, plus it doesn't make a lot annoying noise when you wear it.

At first, you need to get use to the color coding, red ring for right ear and black ring for left. It has letters in awkward places for the designation that I failed to find them the first week I wore them.

The speaker driver holes are covered in tiny mess built into the body to protect the drivers from dirt or ear wax, so that is a good choice but cleaning the mess requires soft materials and delicate touch.

Also it comes with a hard box to transport it around with layer of rubber material in inner compartment. Excellent choice, but UE should rethink the locking mechanism since it easily opened accidentally in bags. I need to tighten the box with a rubber band to make sure that it won't be opened accidentally.

The Wear :

Find the most suitable ear plugs for yourself first among 3 sizes of silicon and 2 pairs (different sizes of course) of memory foam like material. These options are very wise and user oriented. Even Shure only gave 1 pair of such foam.

The sealing of the outside noise is quite effective, though not as effective as Shure or others.

And the most important is you can wear it for hours without discomfort, no more explanation needed. Of course you need to find the right fitting of silicons/foams first.

It is also plugging nicely tight without discomfort so you can dance lightly, no professional dancing please, or jogs and it won't come off.

The Sound :

Let see if I can describe the UE700 and its sound to you coz it is a challenge for me. This is a warm earphone.  I hope I didn't disappoint.

The first thing I noticed is the details of the sound that the drivers produce. I knew UE700 is a pair of high end HiFi unit, enough to WOW HeadFi contributors.

The Low End is deep enough, though not as deep deep as others in 2x pricing range of UE700. The impact however is excellent to my taste. It has strong impact without damaging your eardrums. The bass has a natural tone characteristic to make listening to music uplifting in the style that the musician intended. It is suitable for nearly all type of music that requires bass impact, but to me it is more enjoyable for Rock, Techno, and Pop (note I don't listen to Jazz). The bass extension is very controllable that you can hear the drummers hitting the skins with their sticks.

Mid End is satisfactory, even when compared to my trusted "poor man's HiFi" Superlux HF381. It plays truer to the voice of singers,  though some female singers lost some of its character and leaning towards sharper tonality. However, raspy and male voices are a joy to listen to.

High End is pronounced smoothly. You can immediately hears cymbals extension and high pitch sound in smooth characteristic, meaning that they don't overdo it. But when you listen to classical music, you immediately can detect that high high end is somewhat missing. I think my Ultra some HFI450 is superior in this frequency range.

Sound separation that usually produced by tuning mid and high end is expertly tuned. You can hear low basses strings playing,  which usually lost in translation. That means bullseye on details.

Sound Staging is excellent for a small, itsy bitsy units. Not as pronounced as Sennheiser MX760 or Ultra some HFI450. However, you can tell where the players located during recording of live performances.

Overall, this UE700 is the earphone that you will wear and dancing foolishly to the music without realizing you are acting like a lunatic because it produces tons of fun sounds in your ears. I did, unfortunately.

So there, UE 700. At US$130-150, it's not cheap, but the cheapest in its class. I call it the cheap HiFi. Try it first, buy it if this is what you are looking for. Coz I find this units are very friendly to the small music players since it is easy to drive.

Is this my new Android Super Phone?

Still considering Sony Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Asus Padfone 2.

Each has its own advantages.

Anyone can help me?

In Memoriam: My Samsung Galaxy Note

Well, sadly, all good things must come to an end.  This 2013, I have a new job, I have new perspective in life. Now, apparently the changes must come to my mistress, or second wife, if you will: Samsung Galaxy Note.

On March 30th, 2013, I noticed my Samsung Galaxy Note is suffering problems when charging. Later that night, I brought GNote to the ICU at Samsung Service Center. And yesterday, the 31st March 2013, the ICU stated that the cost of repairing was high, so I had to make a hurtful decision to end GNote suffering.  Rest in Peace my dear friend.  Gnote has been accompanying my daily life since October 2011.

My GNote will be placed in its original Premiere big black box that I got when I first bought it, along with its peripherals.

So, the mysamsunggalaxynotejournal.blogspot.com is at an end.  All new articles can be found in this blog page instead.

Farewell.

Anton