By ASUS made some pretty epic strides in the smartphone-tablet hybrid game with the Padfone combination, but you soon won’t need to own an ASUS smartphone in order to get that same sort of experience. Introducing the PhonePad+, an accessory designed to turn many smartphones into a tablet with a very nice and practical design.
It’s a 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 touch-screen slate that works in conjunction with your phone through Bluetooth, USB and MHL. Your phone — limited to the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S3 for now, but the Galaxy S4 will be supported soon after launch — essentially becomes the guts of the tablet, delivering the video and audio to the touchscreen and stereo speakers this thing is outfitted with.
The PhonePad+ can be twisted and turned to fit any situation, be it a laptop-esque clamshell, swiveled to become a desktop presentation display, or slid down to become a traditional style tablet. The device features 8 hours of battery life, and you also have the option of charging your smartphone with the PhonePad+’s battery while it’s docked inside. Gaming is emphasized here, too, as each PhonePad+ will come with a free fully-featured Bluetooth gaming controller that looks like it belongs on a console.
This awesome sounding package is set to launch this June in the United Kingdom and will run for a cool £149.99. There are no current plans to bring it to any other regions, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. The best part is that this isn’t another Kickstarter or IndieGoGo hopeful — the project was privately funded, and there’s no uncertainty standing in the way of a proper release.
Some of you may be turned away by the lack of support for non-Galaxy S smartphones, but Eicus Media tells us to be on the lookout for support for phones from another major smartphone vendor sometime after launch. We don’t know who, exactly, that manufacturer will be, but we imagine HTC, Sony, LG and Motorola are all likely candidates.
Eicus couldn’t give a straight answer to the question of whether or not they’d be looking at one-size-fits-all designs, but we were told that the project is always evolving and that future PhonePad+ designs could open up some unique possibilities. Take that for what you will, but they’re only promising support for certain smartphones for the time being.
The PhonePad+ will display a 100% mirror of your smartphone for the foreseeable future, and unless Google adds native support for switching to tablet mode in Android (or if Samsung or any future OEMs decide to add it in their firmware) it doesn’t appear that will change. We’re excited for the product regardless, and we’re eager to see how many other phones will eventually be supported as we inch closer toward the device’s coming out party in June. Head to the PhonePad+ site for more information.
This reminds me a lot of the Motorola Atrix laptop dock. I fear it will go over about as well, too :-/
ASUS version is way better.
Definitely a better implementation, but those are the breaks when you are designing for multiple devices that aren’t yours.
Id take this option. Much cheaper and works with other devices! Good job to this company! and i had an idea for something like this so long ago now someone else has done it
With the screen resolution so low (no doubt there because of costs), I’ll have to call this a “bunt” more than a “home run”. Still I have been asking for this type of device due to the coming end for the lapdock compatible phones (I hear this is the Droid Bionic’s last upgrade and the Razr/Razr Maxx are not much older). I would rather see a reasonable product vs. having to hack together an MHL adapter for the lapdock.
A solution in search of a problem…..
Since Tablets and Smarthphones are out selling PCs , i would think that major manufacturers would offer a dock for tablets and smartphones. Samsung should make one for Galaxy devices, motorola should also, crapple too,LG, It gives the best of both worlds IMHO….
This is the direction technology needs to go in, one device to rule them all. Eventually our phone will be our phone, tablet, PC, TV, all with the use of devices that dock our phones. I’d love to be able to tote my phone around to say the university library and work on a paper, dock it at one of the stations and work on it, then go to class and undock then redock with my laptop while i take notes in class. Go home and dock it into a tablet that mirrors to my TV… The possibilities are endless! Just need to have apps that recognize what is what and be able to morph depending on the situation they are being used in.
The more devices to expand the use of our phones the better!
“turns galaxy SII into Galaxy Mega 6.9”
….. Pretty much.
I’d love to have this for the Note 2, even with the 5.5 inch screen. It’d save me from buying a tablet, which I have been wavering between the Note 8.0 and the 10.1.
that screen resolution is not worth it
HEY MAC! they are using your app!
Madmack is a US Citizen, I don’t know if he OK’d this!
kinda looks big and heavy—> NEXT
Pretty darn nifty, like designs like this. To bad the U.S.A. will not see it.
I think it needs a better display and proper tablet UI. It would also be good if the smaller screen on the phone was used as a second smart display. So good idea but not greatly implemented.
Shame Samsung etc don’t release fuller versions, however if they did why would you /I buy their full tablets?
This is a real cost saver, and versatile. When you buy or trade up your smartphone you needn’t trade up an ipad or tablet as well, so long as it fits most phones it should take off as a low cost accessory that can be used in the family by anyone regardless of phone make.
Interesting product! I might consider getting something like this, –IF– it were actually available in the U.S.!!!
I want this for my Galaxy Note 2 and what built in laptop sized keyboard. At work I can use this with my Bluetooth as a phone and tablet and on holidays I can just use my phone without this add on. Both ways I would be enjoying one single Device. Wow!
good concept, ugly design.