Live from ASUS’ In Search of Incredible event at CES 2014
3PM ET is the time to set your alarm for ASUS’ time in the CES spotlight. The Taiwanese electronics giant is set to reveal several products, including the dual-OS laptop/tablet combo the company teased late last month. We’ll be bringing you the action live from Caesars Palace in Sin City, so tune in right here for everything ASUS at CES 2014.
Hello! Glad you could make it.
I’m here at the lovely Caesar’s Palace with my colleague Joseph Volpe on photos, and Edgar Alvarez here to help with all the hands-on action.
We’re sitting third row, in seats marked “reserved” (aren’t we fancy?).
Some sort of pulsating muzak playing in the background. To get us in the mood, and all that.
Looks like we’re in good company here in the reserved section. Nearby we have Bonnie Cha with Re/code.net, Mark Spoonauer and Avram Piltch with Laptop Mag, Dan Ackerman with CNET and Mr. Anandtech himself, Anand Shimpi.
We’ve been told to silence our phones, so looks like the show’s about to start. Stay tuned!
Hi guys, Edgar here. Dana’s having some WiFi issues so I’m taking over for a bit.
ASUS’ Chairman Jonney Shih is now on stage, talking Transformer Books and the reincarnation of PCs.
Particularly, he’s talking about the Transformer Book Trio. And here comes a video!
Now he’s revealing the ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300
Oh hey, we’ve written a little thing about the Duet. Read it here: http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/asus-transformer-book-duet/
It’s an Android laptop. A Windows laptop. An Android tablet. A Windows tablet. Yup!
“It only takes four seconds to go from Windows to Android and vice versa”
The Duet has what ASUS is calling “Instant Switch Technology.”
It’s $599, folks!
(Oh good, I was wondering when Jonney Shih would start with the yelling.)
Now we welcome Renee James, Intel President, onto the stage.
Renee is now talking about the partnership between Intel and ASUS. Hugs all around.
I’m still a little confused by ASUS’ decision to launch something so similar to the Trio, but with a different name.
Jonney’s now revealed an ROG Swift gaming monitor.
27-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 display, 120+Hz refresh rate and starts at $799
Lots of applause at that monitor price, by the way.
Also, who claps at press conferences?
Lookie here, there’s another video playing. This one is showing off PadFones and features like PanoSphere.
And now… Zenfone 4, Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 6!
The Zenfone 4 has a 5-megapixel camera and starts at $99. Yes, $99.
Between this and the new PadFone on AT&T, it’s nice to see so many ASUS phones coming to the US.
Also, nice to see one that’s just a phone, not a transforming device. Sometimes we just want a phone, ya know?
Now, onto the Zenfone 5. It has a feature dubbed GloveTouch (for those of you who are always around cold weather), an 8-megapixel camera and starts at $149.
Also, Jonney’s starting to yell again.
Meanwhile, the Zenfone 6 can handle pen input, thanks to PenTouch, has a 13-megapixel shooter with low-light mode. This one costs $199. Not bad.
(Watching Edgar watch Jonney Shih shout every other word. It’s like he’s never been to an ASUS press event before. Oh wait, he hasn’t.)
And here comes the Padfone mini, a 4-inch phone that can fuse into a 7-inch tablet.
The Padfone mini will go on sale for $249.
Intel’s push into mobile here feels a bit belated, but gotta hand it to them for making some noise about it when they finally caught up.
Jonney Shih just unveiled ZenUI.
ZenUI is said to simplify and “create easy access to all the things that matter.” There are also color themes.
There’s a lot of bright colors in ZenUI, folks.
Can an Android skin ever really be “powered by simplicity”? Or am I just overselling stock Android’s ease of use?
That said, it looks kinda nice.
The ZenUI Camera has a ton of different modes, with a big emphasis on low-light shooting.
The phone is there “to remind you of all the things you said you’d be doing later. A lot of things.”
Other features: Clear Zoom (for extreme detail) and Time Rewind (for when you missed a moment)
ZenUI also has something called Open Cloud and Open Messaging — the latter lets you communicate with your friends, as you may have guessed.
I have to say, I like the way this looks.
Jonney is now talking PadFone. And now Jeff Bradley from AT&T is here.
But you know where this is going: http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/asus-padfone-x/
Yup, like Dana said, the ASUS PadFone X is coming to AT&T.
“We are really excited to bring PadFone X to the US,” says Jeff.
Jonney: “We are excited to work with AT&T.”
Aw, and now they’re taking a picture together. Selfie time, anyone?
Hands-on time!
That is all, folks. Thank you for tuning in. You can find us on twitter at @jrvolpe, @danawollman and @abcdedgar
Filed under: ASUS
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