ASUS' new PadFone Infinity unveiled with Snapdragon 800, microSD slot and design tweaks

Just as promised, today ASUS has made its new PadFone Infinity official in Taipei, and there are definitely no surprises in the specs. The main update here is obviously the 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC, along with the addition of a microSD slot plus a secondary microphone for noise cancellation. Unsurprisingly, the internal storage options have been lowered to 16GB and 32GB, which is understandable with that new storage expansion capability.

One very subtle change that we missed in the leaks is the new diamond cut on the metallic backside, which gives the phone a more premium and solid look than the original version. To accompany that, the new PadFone Infinity comes in two new color options: "Titanium Black" and "Platinum White."

The software has also been given a gentle facelift, courtesy of a more consistent design language throughout the system -- from the simplified icons to the UI of some of the built-in Android apps. Since this is based on Android 4.2 instead of 4.1 out of the box, we should also see some performance boost as well. The good news for existing users is that the original PadFone Infinity will also receive this update, but there's no time frame for the roll-out just yet.

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One thing that ASUS is putting a big emphasis on this time is the camera. While it's the same old 13-megapixel f/2.0 imager, the revamped app has gained a feature called PixelMaster, which combines multiple pixels to form a smaller but sharper and cleaner 3-megapixel image. From the sounds of it, this is similar to Nokia's PureView oversampling implementation, as seen on the 41-megapixel Lumia 1020. The sample images that CEO Jerry Shen showed on the stage looked pretty impressive, so we look forward to trying this ourselves. Other noteworthy update here is a "turbo mode" burst of up to 35fps, but the resolution is capped at 3 megapixels at this speed.

Everything else remains unchanged on paper, including the 5-inch 1080p Super IPS panel, two-megapixel front imager, 2,400mAh battery and SonicMaster audio technology. It's also worth noting that if you already have the existing PadFone Infinity kit, then you can keep the tablet dock and use it with the new PadFone Infinity. Oh, and if you're in a region that supports LTE 800/1800/2600 (that's you, UK!) then you'll get to use this speedy 4G radio as well.

The new PadFone Infinity alone will cost NT$18,990 or about US$ 640 off-contract, and the tablet dock is priced at NT$7,000 or about US$240. Feel free to check out the detailed comparison spec table below, and stay tuned for our upcoming hands-on.

Update: Our in-depth hands-on is now live!