Asus unveils new Fonepad 7 with dual speakers and voice calling

At its press conference at IFA, Asus unveiled a new version of its Fonepad tablet. Dubbed the Fonepad 7, it is essentially a refreshed version of the earlier tablet. If the name didn’t give it away already, it has a 7-inch display. What sets this one apart from the earlier Fonepads is the dual-speaker setup, which supposedly delivers a better audio experience.

It is powered by an Intel Atom Z2560 chip clocked at 1.6 GHz. Along with this, it has 1GB of RAM. On the front is a 1.2-megapixel camera, and the back has a 5-megapixel shooter with the capability for a 100-shot burst mode and 1080p video recording.

On the connectivity front, the tablet is equipped with the capability to make voice calls with a SIM card. Along with this, it has Wi-Fi, 3G and HSPA+ with download speeds of up to 42 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5.76 Mbps. It also has Bluetooth.

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The Fonepad 7 has an improved speaker system (image credit: Engadget)

Keeping it alive is a 3,950 mAh battery which is rated for 28 hours of 3G talk time, 35 days of standby time and up to 10 hours of video playback.

Out of the box, it runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Asus’ own special skin on top, which has extra features such as the Floating App functionality which allows up to six apps to be simultaneously opened on the same screen.

The Fonepad 7 will be available in three variants, depending on the memory capacity of your choice: 8GB, 16GB and 32GB. It also has a microSD card slot in case you need more storage space. As an extra, users will also get 5GB of Asus WebStorage for free along with the WebStorage Office suite. Nothing about the pricing or launch date has been revealed so far.