ASUS Combines Tablet and Smartphone with ‘Padfone’

If there’s one thing we learned about ASUS at CES in January, it’s that the company loves combining one gadget with another, offering unparalleled flexibility. At the Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan, the company furthered that fact with its announcement of “Padfone” – a device with a simple name, but one that explains the product better than most do.

The Padfone is in fact two devices combined into one. One part tablet (pad), one part smartphone (fone). Similar to Motorola’s ATRIX, which allows you to plug in your smartphone in order to use it as a laptop, the Padfone turns your smartphone into a tablet, allowing you a much easier computing experience when a larger screen is needed.

The idea is simple. Once a smartphone is no longer ideal, it can be plugged into the back of the tablet, which then will make use of the smartphone for both Internet connectivity and content. Alone, the tablet won’t do anything, as its heart is in fact the phone. While the phone is docked inside the tablet, it makes use of the larger battery and charges itself – another simple, but sweet perk.

On ASUS’ website, the details of the device are still quite scarce, but more information should be pouring out on other websites as Computex continues on. While a functional product, the Padfone should still be considered a prototype as ASUS hasn’t acknowledged that it will indeed hit the market. Instead, the company would be using this time to gauge interest, so with that, I ask you: would you jump at a product like this?

Here at ASUS we are firm believers behind the practice of design thinking. The Padfone has been specifically created to fulfill a demand for both smartphone and tablet users. It is a first of its kind innovation that allows you to switch seamlessly between pad and phone for a user experience that best-fits your activities, at any time. Internet access from the 3G network connection is shared between the phone and pad, as data storage is streamlined through a single storage pool.