Is it a phone? Is it a tablet? It’s the Asus Padfone!
Think of it like a phone with its own monitor. Asus has set an unveiling date of February 27, 2012 for a product it first announced back in May of 2011. Dubbed the Padfone it is a smartphone that has a tablet dock. The tablet is made so that the phone can be docked in the back. When this happens the devices will share storage, battery and internet connection.
Both of the devices will be Android powered and share a single SIM-card. When connected the tablet will access the phone’s 3G connection and also charge the phone’s battery. The connection is supposed to be seamless in that the home screens from the phone will be essentially duplicated on the tablet so they will function identically. The Padfone is supposedly rocking a Tegra 3 processor and of course Android ICS. It is also supposed to be compatible with the Transformer keyboard dock.
Overall it’s an interesting idea, and one that should be pretty cool if implemented well. One thing that I would want to know more about is how the tablet acts by itself, as in does it have to have the phone docked to function. I think the biggest hurdle will be the price of purchasing both devices. If Asus can keep the cost down, I can see this being a pretty popular idea.
[TechWeekEurope]
