

This is the ASUS PadFone - BvS
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/29/this-is-the-asus-padfone/

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foob
I'm always happy to see new devices like this because I think that having a
single phone act as the central computing device for all of our electronics is
a good direction to move in. That said, if I can plug my phone into a
television and watch tv over Netflix, plug my phone into a tablet and surf the
net, or plug my phone into my laptop and access the internet then I'm only
paying for one internet connection. The alternative is to be paying for a
cable package, home internet access, and then two 3g plans. I don't think that
I'm being cynical when I say that there are major corporate interests against
making this possible and we'll have to see how they play out. In my opinion
the increasing move towards lower 3g caps isn't about current network usage
but is actually about setting a precedent for the future which is incompatible
with paying for only one data connection.

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georgemcbay
My ASUS Transformer is probably my all time favorite gadget ever.

I wouldn't really be interested in this tab/phone thing unless they worked a
Transformer-style keyboard dock into the mix. After using the Transformer I've
realized I want a netbook 80% of the time and tablet 20% of the time and I
won't go back to using a pad/tablet device that isn't both (I know other
tablets can be used with bluetooth and/or USB keyboards, but it just isn't the
same as having it in an all-in-one device).

If they really want me to buy an ASUS phone too what they should do is have a
variant of the Transformer which takes a docked phone into the keyboard dock
while leaving the phone's display visible and usable. When the phone is docked
into the keyboard dock, have it dedicate its display to being the laptop's
multitouch touchpad.

Add in an API where apps could detect being in this docking mode and modify
the phone's display based on context (somewhat like Windows SideShow, but as a
multitouch input panel).

That would be a worthy followup for my Transformer and also convince me to buy
an ASUS phone.

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evangineer
What you're proposing improves on the hardware design for the Motorola Atrix +
its LapDock. My own hardware tweak would be to use Project Kal-El (Tegra 3)
when it comes out.

EDIT: Looks like ASUS are already at work on incorporating Tegra 3 into their
designs: [http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/04/asus-planning-quad-
core-t...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/04/asus-planning-quad-core-
tegra-3-and-intel-based-tablets/)

