Asus shows off Eee Pad Transformer Prime, powered by quad-core Tegra 3 CPU

Shortly after teasing the Eee Pad Transformer sequel, they pulled out the real thing during their turn at the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong. While no one predicted that Asus would go deeper into the whole “Transformers” thing by officially naming it the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the unveiling confirmed a number of rumored details regarding the tablet’ highlight: the Transformer Prime will indeed run on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 (the “Kal-el”) chip, making it the first –and so far the only – tablet to rock the world’s first quad-core mobile processor.

Like its predecessor, the Eee Pad Transformer Prime will still feature a 10-inch screen as well as a slimmer keyboard dock accessory that it can snap on to for use as a notebook-like device. Besides adding a physical keyboard, the dock accessory also adds a mini HDMI, SD card slot and USB port as well as its own battery that gives it a claimed 16.5-hour battery life. On its own, Asus also gave it a nice aluminum  finish and trimmed the tablet’s thickness down to 8.3mm.

More specs and details should arrive when the Transformer Prime gets an official launch on November 9, but Asus hinted that it could cost around $500 when it starts shipping.

Asus also mentioned details for the Padfone, a phone that docks behind a tablet-like accessory for big-screen operation. According to ASUS CEO Jonney Shih, the company plans to launch the Padfone in early 2012 running on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).