Now this is cool. Asus is taking the dockable-device idea to a whole new level. We’ve seen the Motorola Atrix and its laptop dock, and there’s also the Eee Pad Transformer with attachable keyboard, but this is the first time that I’ve ever seen a smartphone that docks inside a larger tablet.
Pocketnow has uncovered images of the unique tablet/smartphone combo and they expect to see official information about the devices out of Computex tomorrow.
There’s not a lot of hardware info yet, but I really hope Asus is on to something here; I’d love to see more companies doing this.
Why? I actually sold my original iPad a few months back because it didn’t really have a place in my life. As an iPhone owner, having a 10 inch version of a device running the same OS felt redundant. I can imagine that Android phone owners have a similar feeling. However, there are times where a larger screen is useful. Showing pictures, for instance, is great on a tablet (especially if their geotagged); local multiplayer gaming is also great on a big screen, but such use isn’t common enough for me to be able to justify a whole separate tablet. If I could just drop my iPhone or Android device into a larger and higher resolution screen, that could also take advantage of apps designed for such a screen, it would make the device much more flexible as I could choose when I want the large screen and when I want the device to be pocketable.
If Asus can combo a tablet-dock and a powerful smartphone together for a reasonable price (reasonable, in this case, being cheaper than buying a separate smartphone and tablet) then they could really make a splash with this form-factor. I, for one, am hoping that this takes off!
Now just imagine if the Padfone smartphone/tablet had a dockable keyboard….
Pocketnow has a few more images of the device, go check them out!
I hope the interface will not be the same when used as a phone and when use as a tablet.
With Ice Cream Sandwich reuniting phone and tablet, would be cool if the interface of the OS is switched to the good mode.
Finally to close the loop I wish asus would also use this as the tablet part of a transformer setup, so that one could have: a phone, a tablet and a laptop.