By Read for another phoneblet? ASUS – hot off the heels of what many are considering a very successful Transformer launch – is teasing another tablet. Or phone. Or something. On their Facebook page, they’ll be revealing teasers of their latest device leading up to its unveiling at Computex in Taiwan. There’s no way to tell what this thing is yet, but consider us interested. [Thanks to all who sent this in!]
Ooh lookout! Apple may use over the use of “pad” ya know, it MUST be a reference to iPad.
You’re totally right. And if not Apple themselves, then their fanboys. I get harassed every time I mention wanting to buy an “Eee Pad,” because it sounds too much like “iPad.” Oh well.
Call it a transformer then……eee pad was a horrible name…..
love the name “Transformer” it has grown on me
I totally agree. “Asus Transformer” has such a nice ring to it.
Yep, that’s what I do. It was just the first couple times I said it, I used the full name, which is what sparked the flame war.
Why didn’t you just roll out of there before things heated up? ba-dum tish
It has to be a tablet phone. They wouldn’t hype it this way if it wasn’t.
A tablet dock for a phone. They use the same CPUs, the same OSes, they’re built by the same manufacturers. It’s actually incredible that no one has developed a serious tablet dock yet (the Atrix doesn’t count).
Imagine the Transformer for 400$. Now substract the SSD, the Tegra 2 chip, the RAM, and all the associated circuitry. The result would be lighter, thinner, and cost half as much.
Its a phone pad. A pad on which your phone can browse the internet, send emails, listen to music, download apps and watch videos.
Buy it to show how much you care for your phone!
the concept
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkE2A-FiD54
It sounds like what I’ve been waiting for and talking about since before anyone even heard of an iPad. I’d seriously drop my money on a workable phone/tablet thats bigger than the Dell Streak (don’t remember if they did one bigger than 5in now).
Maybe finally they are going to do it. And it would be even sweeter if this was some sort of dockable phone/tablet deal where I can pop in the phone to work and pop it out to go. Hell they announce that in 10 inches and Verizon gets it and I’m on it. Something like that could really shake the market.
does it smells like an ice cream?
;)
It’ probably the ASUS Memo.
The Memo is the 7″ 1.2ghz duo core snapdragon based tablet with stylus and has quad band gsm aswell as quad band hspda+
Agreed. If their CES 2011 release schedule is considered, then the MeMO should be available soon. Plus, with the MeMIC bluetooth thing, the tablet can actually be a useful phone. I wonder if ASUS will try to MAKE consumers use the MeMIC, or if any bluetooth headset will work fine without doing any modding?
I, for one, welcome our new phoneblet overlords. I LOVE tablets, but I’m not going to hold up a 7-10″ slate to my face, and I’m also not a fan of carrying a smartphone and a tablet around with me (not to mention paying for a tablet and paying for a phone, and possibly even paying for two data contracts).
Considering that I personally love the 7″ form factor and dislike Tegra 2, I am extremely interested in this device!
Go MeMO!… oh, and ASUS, if you could please go ahead and give the MeMO a real name like you did with the “eee pad” (transformer), that would be great.
Yup, betting its the Memo
Ive been waiting for someone to develop a tablet dock for a phone, if this is really it.. consider me sold.
why on earth should I pay for 2 data plans when I can just dock my current data plan (phone) into a tablet and run.
I keep hearing how dual and quad core phones are pointless because hardware is outpacing software, bring something like this to market and it will be a game changer.
thats just IMHO
I agree with you in regards to the idea of not having to pay for an extra data plan. Though one of the reasons I haven’t ditched my Droid for a Xoom is because the data plan alone for the Xoom is more expensive than unlimited data and voice for the Droid. I hope that if and when tablones or phoneblets or whatever come to the market, they won’t be an excuse for the carriers to charge ridiculous sums for their internet services.
They’ll just make you get a tethering plan like the Atrix folks.
I agree with the other posters that suggest that it is a phone that docks into a a tablet touchscreen. Moto should have done this with the Atrix but I’m guessing Honeycomb wasn’t ready.
There have been hints that this will be possible recently from that story about the guy messing with the screen DPI settings on Honeycomb and accidentally pulling up a hidden “gingerbread-like” layout. So with the phone you have a phone UI and when you dock it into the tablet the UI changes to fit the tablet size. This could be AWESOME! I do have reservations that Asus will really be able to pull this off successfully though, I haven’t really been impressed with their phone offerings in the past.
Still, color me interested.
Let’s say everyone is correct and it’s a tablet dock. Does that mean I could just leave my phone always docked and it would be a tablet phone?
Our mockup of the new Asus tablet
http://notebookitalia.it/asus-tablet-dock-mockup-pad-phone-11617
Yo, don’t knock apple, if it weren’t for them we wouldn’t have tablets. You think moto, htc, LG, or any of the other tooljobs would invest so huge to innovate into such risky territory? No chance. Asus, maaaaaybe. They get 1 point for creating the netbook.
These tabs are cool no doubt, but don’t forget who started this.
Microsoft started this in 2002. For your reference: http://www.pcworld.com/article/113375/tablet_pc_turns_one.html
Actually, I would prefer it to be 5″ tablet with honeycomb and 1280×800 resolution.
that way it’s still not too big to use it as a phone, and still usable as a tablet.
The Transformer is only the pad I would buy at the moment as it has genuine uses
Have you seen the debate over on Pad Vs. Phone? http://on.fb.me/mwwn1G