Asus Unveils Padfone Hybrid Android Smartphone-Tablet | Hacker News Reader

Asus Unveils Padfone Hybrid Android Smartphone-Tablet

hothardware.com

36 pointsbigwophh19 comments

I'm not sure if this is gonna work.

Please note:

- The pad is only a dock, so it doesn't offer any functionality by itself, without the phone docked.

- These are just mockups. Asus won't ship until the end of the year.

- Don't we have wireless connections enough by now? Do we really have to put a phone behind a display secured by a latch?

Actually I'm sure it won't.

Why?

I can see a long term goal: The smartphone as central authentication key which enables access to applications and data on host tablets, computers, terminals, which will extend funcionality (input devices, display size, physical media...) and improve networking capabilities.

This is not it. It's a stupid display, with difficult physical access to the docked device, no real benefits except a minor increase in screen size with the drawback of an additional device and decreased mobility.

It's an interesting concept, since it also has advantages.

    The pad is only a dock, so it doesn't offer 
    any functionality by itself

Which means the acquisition cost should be lower than buying both an iPhone and an iPad. And these recent phones have enough processing power for most people's needs, but not enough battery or sufficient display size and the pad takes care of that.

About wireless, everytime I actually need a phone or a tablet (as when I'm on the move) I don't have wireless. When sitting on my bed or other such activities, the tablet is only more convenient, but I can very well use my laptop (and I do, depending on my mood).

The only thing that worries me about this product is build quality and the user experience coming from an interface that should scale from small to big.

The device is likely to come out in the post-Honeycomb 3.1 release time frame. Which means it will probably be running Ice Cream Sandwich which unifies the Android phone & tablet UI, no doubt by taking full advantage of the Fragments API which was explicitly mentioned by Asus CEO Jonney Shih in his Padfone presentation.

> The only thing that worries me about this product is build quality and the user experience coming from an interface that should scale from small to big.

Asus tends to have really good build quality. Anecdotally, the two Asus netbooks I've owned were/are both extremely solid. The first one (which is now upwards of three years old) continues to work perfectly save for some issues with the screen's connection, and the second one is in almost perfect shape after a year and a half or so. My Asus laptop is about a year old, and is going well except for a bit of damage to the trackpad. Less anecdotally, Asus has the lowest 3-year failure rate of any manufacturer, including Apple, according to a study a year or so back.

"unveils" is a bit of a misnomer. they showed off a plastic mockup. While I do like the idea of a hybrid device, every time I have seen something this far from production be publicly launched, it hasn't turned out great.

"Pretended to unveil" ruined the flow of the headline.

I am not sure whether I trust that latch to hold for the lifetime of the tablet. If it doesn't, I won't bet on the lifetime of the phone.

Also, taking calls while the phone is in the table could be awkward.

Otherwise: interesting concept, I will watch it.

Why is docking your phone into your tablet a good thing?

not have to sync the two together, extended battery for the phone, reduction of gadget space are hte first few that come to mind

I've found that many iOS applications implement their own syncing that works quite well (and the OS-level syncing of contacts, calendars, and mail works well). The mere presence of an iPad means I'm more likely to use that than my iPhone, saving the battery for calls. And finally, I'm not sure a tablet with a big phone-sized wart on the back is a net space savings, considering you're usually going to want your phone closer at hand (pocket) than your tablet (bag) anyways.

"Many" !== all. It relies on developers to roll their own syncing. On the other hand this product would mean literally anything on one device is available on the other, regardless of network availability. On top of that, it is undeniable that one of iOSs strongest points is its lack of hardware diversity. You dont expect the sync your iPad with your droid, but should you expect to sync everything between your Galaxy Tab and your Droid X? If so, whose burden would it be? Samsung? Motorola? Google? the community? Or every developer of every app? This streamlines it a bit more. And since it only relies on the location of a couple of plugs, any oew could make it hardware compatible.

It makes the tablet marginally thicker, but the lack of necessity for a second charger already makes up for that.

I do not think the design is without its flaws, however I really do think that this is moving more towards the future than a dead end.

The pad is basically a screen magnifier. That's valuable, but I'd probably leave it at home most of the time.

Wait, you buy a smartphone plus almost-a-tablet, which has 70% of what other tablets have, costs probably 70% of the price of an ordinary tablet to manufacture, but doesn't work at all by itself. Doesn't seem like a rational thing to spend money on.

I'm more concerned about the combined weight of the 2 devices if I were to use it as a tablet (i.e holding it to read ebook etc)

Mock up video is running IE http://bit.ly/mr06pB

Phones merging more and more with PC's.

I've made a promise to myself that HDMI-out is a must for my next Android phone (currently I have HTC EVO 4G which has one, but is unusable as a phone since I'm in Europe).

This is even better, at least on paper.

asus could conquer the world with a eeekeyboard where the side screen portion is a dock for my phone.

then I'd have a full size keyboard with keys for a change and wireless hdmi

Reply on news.ycombinator.com