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Asus to ship tablet/phone hybrid with Android v4.0 IceCreamSandwich

Asus announced a couple days back that their latest experiment, the eee PadPhone, is going to ship later this year.

As you can see from the image above, the PadPhone takes all the processing power of a 10″ Android tablet and compacts it into smartphone sized container. The phone component is removable and can function by itself. The tablet provides extra battery life and extra ports, but it doesn’t have the CPU. It can also charge the phone.

The phone is supposed to have a 4.3″ screen and a dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU, but the specs are still undefined.

Earlier this week I wrote about how Asus had been experimenting with new gadgets that cross product niches or define new ones. At the time I wrote that post I didn’t know about the PadPhone. I wish I had known; it clearly proves my point. This device attempts to combine a phone and tablet in the hopes it will reduce the total hardware cost. I can’t wait to see how it works out.

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Comments


pecosdave August 15, 2011 um 2:15 am

I think this is great, I hope ASUS doesn’t fail us by failing to release future compatible phones. They need to think of this not as an individual unit but as an upgradable platform, much as a PC is to the monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers etc, this can be to the screen. Back to the days of upgrading the motherboard!


Simon December 9, 2011 um 6:32 am

In my opinion, the ultimate convergence will not be a single molded device, it will be a meeting of the Padphone and the Transformer but with a little more flexibility in perhaps the most personal of the elements – the phone. Personally, I don’t think a 4.3 inch touchscreen phone slotting into a tablet is the way – others will never go back to a non-touchscreen phone. I much prefer the return of the phone that feels like a phone in the hand and put to the ear, with a physical keypad, smaller screen. The iPhone is a convergence device so use it as such but when you choose a concept device with the luxury of many guises, let it be a phone (and camera) on its own, then let it reveal it’s flexibility of a proper screen when it slots into the tablet – watchable video, browse-able web, readable books etc. Then add the Transformer element – the keyboard for those who need to write. Make a couple of phones available, a couple of tablets (say, 7 and 10 inch) and sign me up!


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