What we'll have is a 'shooting war' between Asus and Sony if we are to compare head-on the upcoming PadFone 2 and the Xperia Acro S.

Blurring for a moment the other features deployed with both handsets and focusing on their camera sensors, consumers are set to get smartphones, which experts would likely affirm, are also decent camera toys. More than sufficiently decent, in fact.

The Acro S came with a whopping 12MP rear shooter, arguably the best anyone can have for a gadget chiefly masquerading as a smartphone, and Sony opted not to hit the camera engineering brakes there. The new Xperia variant also came blazing out with technologies programmed to please camera enthusiasts.

Each units comes with geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panorama and image stabilization - enough camera features for buyers, long-searching for mobile phones that can also produce fantastic images and videos, to shell out the cash.

On this note alone, this Sony gizmo is a winner.

Yet now here comes the PadFone 2, which by the way is the second iteration of Asus' attempts to lure consumers into acquiring a bundle of smartphone and tablet in single product. Actually, the idea is about two separate bricks, with the phone functioning independently but seams smoothly when docked with companion 'tablet station'.

By itself, Asus successfully forged a cool tool in the 'phone-half' of the whole PadFone package, its embodiment reflective of the excessive features that Android vendors routinely throw into their product rollouts: 4.7-inch screen size with 1280 x 720 resolution, high definition screen display and multi-core processors plus generous amount of storage that should allow anyone to walk around with vast amount of digital files tucked on the pocket.

However, what differentiates the PadFone 2 from its rivals is the 13MP camera sensor that Asus said will allow users to capture crystal clear still pictures and record as the same time home movies both on 720p and 1080p HD modes.

And just to sweeten the package a bit further, the new Asus camera mechanism came equipped with 'burst mode', which gives users the power to shoot multiple images per second, six at most as per Asus' press release.

Such feature is mainstay on high-end and professional cameras and Asus thought it wise to allow the average consumers to experience the same gratification normally reserved for hard-core photographers.

Now Asus clearly got a champion in PadFone 2's cam offerings and beyond as its overall specs definitely exceeded that of the Acro S - the two use Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor variants but Asus picked the quad-core for its gadget and to match that power, 2GB of RAM was installed while Sony only employed 1GB.

Display on the Acro S is governed by the Bravia Mobile Engine while image and video rendering on the PadFone 2 is due to the HD Super IPS+, described by early reviewers as more cutting-edge compared to the AMOLED version that came with the first PadFone.

Durability wise, the two handsets are sturdy enough with both resistant of scratch, though Sony obviously has the edge by designing the Acro S to fend off possible damages caused by liquid spills.

Android operates the two gadgets, which last hours of talk-time and online use but the PadFone 2's more powerful battery delivers almost twice the amount of power juice that can be squeezed - average of 16 hours to Sony's 8-hour of humming time.

In surface, the PadFone 2 seems pricier, with the basic 16GB model tagged at about $600 out-of-the-box and the top-of-the-line configuration expected to easily hover around the price range of $800 and $900, at least in Australia, while the Acro S' starting price was last set at $700 with a contract.

But buyers should note too that the Asus PadFone 2 is a bundle, with its 10.1-inch tablet dock serving as the smartphone's extension that stretches the screen to 1280 x 800 and acts as a charger for the phone, which conveniently does the work while users enjoy the tablet features.