Asus has a good reputation in the Android tablet market, leading the charge on both the first second generation Nexus 7 tablets. Its tablet portfolio is vast, but it the ambitious company also had the rather intriguing bizarre idea of powering a tablet with your smartphone, giving birth to the dfone family.

The latest entry into the phone/tablet hybrid is the dfone X, which is set to launch on AT&T will be available for pre-order on ne 6^th for $199.

I got to spend some time with the dfone X recently, these are my initial impressions.

My, what a pretty screen you have

Mike Homnick

The dfone would be nothing without the brains of the operation: the smartphone. th all the makings of a flagship smartphone, the dfone is a solid option as a stalone device. 

th a 5-inch 1080p HD display that’s nice bright, as well as a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, the performance on the dfone is buttery smooth, from the initial testing, performance isn’t affected when docked into the tablet dock. Rounding out the specs, the dfone rocks a 2,300 mAh battery, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel camera, 2 megapixel front-facing camera. 

The body of the dfone is on the clunky side. It’s a bit too thick wide to be held comfortably, with bezels that are just slightly larger to what we’re used to seeing on a high-end smartphone. Its design is simple to the point, but Asus luckily did some nice things with detail work. A brushed metal strip lines the sides, giving a premium look giving way to the black plastic battery cover. 

Great camera so far

In my short time with the dfone, I’ve managed to take some pretty nice photos with the 13 megapixel camera, though more testing will be needed to get a final verdict. Autofocus was snappy, pictures generally come out pretty crisp.

Asus doesn’t skimp on the features of the dfone’s shooter, you’ll find the stard assortment of camera modes, like Beautification, HDR, Smart remove, w light, Night, l smiles. 

The camera also comes with a nice helping of advanced photo video tweaks for the tinkerers out there. ISO, white balance, exposure value are all present if you want to dive deep into the settings of the camera. 

A serving of simplicity

Asus’ software skin that runs on top of Android 4.4 KitKat is very toned down, making it more approachable than some custom user interfaces. Outside of just a few tweaks to the app drawer home screen panels, Asus has done little to differentiate itself from stock Android.

ll down the notification panel, you’ll also be reminded of something you’ve seen before, but it’s not stock Android. It’s the Samsung Galaxy S5. The flat circle motif is seemingly catching on like a plague, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. 

esto chango, you now have a tablet

Mike Homnick

ke the name suggests, docking the dfone X to its companion tablet device gives you a 9-inch tablet at your disposal anytime you want. That said, the dfone station isn’t just a skeleton has a few nifty features of its own. 

Not only does dfone station have a bumped-up screen resolution of 1920 x 1200, it also sports its own 4,990 mAh battery that will charge the phone’s battery while it’s in place. It also supports wireless charging as an added bonus. 

Unfortunately, there’s nothing elegant about the setup. The weight of the two when connected is definitely on the hefty side. Another annoyance is that the tablet doesn’t sit flush against a surface, leaving it raised off a table, wobbly. 

The dfone X may well be one of the most interesting devices on the market today, but whether or not it really catches on remains to be seen. Stay tuned for the full review after AT&T’s latest hybrid is put through its paces.