[Update: Australian availability in late Q1 2013] ASUS PadFone 2 officially announced, a worthy successor

Editor’s Update: We reached out to ASUS for Australian availability. It will be available at the end of Q1 2013, which is quite a while later than the end of 2012 for other countries. Hopefully it is taken up by carriers and not just outright retailers. Here’s what ASUS had to say - 

the product will not be available in Australia until late Q1 in 2013 at this stage, will inform when any new update.

The second of the phone-tablet category has been announced by ASUS, packing juicier specs and a thinner tablet design.

The ASUS PadFone 2 features a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor compared to its predecessor which was dual-core, as well as doubling the RAM to 2GB. The display has been enhanced to a 4.7″ Super IPS+ screen and the battery boosted to 2140 mAh within the PadFone 2 (phone component), while slimmed down to 5000 mAh for the tablet.

The docking tablet has been revamped for a better fit, too. The PadFone 2 now slides down vertically and contains a new connector, supporting micro USB 2.0 and MHL.

On the firmware front, the PadFone 2 will ship with Android 4.0.4 (ICS), with Jelly Bean soon to follow up. With ASUS’ reputation for timely updates, I wouldn’t worry too much.

The guys over at Android Police have the full press release from Italy.

The PadFone 2 will be released at the end of this year in Europe and Asia. There have been no announcements for availability in Australia, but here’s the specs:

• 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor
• 2GB RAM
• Android 4.0.4 (ICS)
• Phone display – 4.7″ Super IPS+ (1280×720)
• Tablet display – 10.1″ IPS display (1280×800)
• 13MP camera
• 2140 mAh / 5000 mAh battery
• LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0