Well, I followed it this far so I might as well finish it up. Asus has indeed unveiled a combination phone and table, called Padphone (unfortunately). Name aside, I still like the idea and this would definitely be high on my list if the concept is still around when I’m ready to go with a smartphone.
For completeness, here’s another article.
The quick rundown on this guy is the tablet, or pad portion is merely a display/battery/phone holder. The phone itself has all of the smarts. From a pricing perspective, that makes sense- it minimizes R&D and part cost on the pad portion so the overall cost can be kept down. I also tend to think it makes the system more robust since there are fewer points of failure. Supposedly, extra features are “unlocked” when the two are combined. Not sure what that means.
So the questions become, how well does the system perform together? How well do the phone and tablet pad dock together? How much does it all cost? Seriously flubbing on any one of those could be a killer.
The comments at the second link are interesting, in that people seem to either love it or hate it. The last product launched with that kind of response was the iPad, which we all now know was a dismal marketing flop, ahem. Since I’ve only ever thought of the tablet/pad as a big phone, I really think this concept could take off. But if I’m in the minority and the rest of the world needs/ wants these devices differentiated, then I don’t think it will fly.
If all goes according to plan for Asus, we’ll get some more answers come Christmas.