Although the ASUS PadFone has been in the public domain for some time and excited many people when it was first revealed, the wait for its release still goes on. We recently told how the long-awaited launch might be further delayed because of a shortage of Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chips but while we wait we can at least give you some news about the battery life of the device.

If you haven’t yet heard of the ASUS PadFone it’s a pretty innovative hybrid package with a smartphone that can be slotted neatly into a screen to create a tablet and then used with a laptop dock to give the best of everything. The surrounding hype of the PadFone even had people saying it could mean the demise of the notebook although that remains to be seen of course.

Although we know most of the features and specs of the ASUS PadFone one thing that wasn’t known and is something that concerns many consumers regards the battery life and now Engadget has managed to obtain some details on this. Earlier today Engadget spotted a promotional video for the ASUS PadFone revealing some battery life figures that seemed almost too good to believe. Indeed it turned out that the figures were for talktime on 2G and the video was subsequently pulled, presumably for re-editing.

However after communication from Engadget, Asus politely replied and passed on accurate details for the PadFone’s battery life when it finally hits the shelves. When the screen is set at approximately half-brightness (137 nits), phone mode will give you around 2.6 hours, tablet mode 10.7 hours and laptop mode 17 hours of continuous WiFi browsing. For 3G browsing those figures are 2.1 hours, 8.9 hours and 14.1 hours respectively. The PadFone Station (tablet) pumps the battery by around 5 times and the PadFone Station Dock (keyboard) by around 9 times.

Of course these are lab testing figures so it will be interesting to see what the average user will encounter but nevertheless these figures sound promising. All that remains now is for ASUS to come up with that elusive release date as we think it’s likely that the PadFone will fly off the shelves when it finally graces us with its presence.

Are you still waiting for the ASUS PadFone? What are your thoughts on these initial battery life figures? Let us know by sending us your comments.