ASUS PadFone fuses smartphone and tablet, new pics reveal

By Adam Rosenberg May 29, 2011

padfone — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A few teasing images surfaced last week offering glimpses of a new device from ASUS making its debut at Computex 2011, something called PadFone, as PocketNow discovered. Earlier today, the same site posted some more revealing pics of the mysterious device, and it definitely manages to live up to its name.

As you can see, the PadFone comes fully equipped with a secret compartment for the docking of your ASUS-branded Android phone. Nothing is known about how the two devices will pair, but a design like that offers a lot of possibilities. More info will be coming when Computex kicks off this Tuesday.

You can also see in the image below how the PadFone seems to follow the lead of ASUS’ recently released Pad Transformer. If the pictured keyboard docking station is anything like that Transformer’s, it includes a built-in trackpad and battery, as well as USB and SD card ports. Folding a smartphone into a tablet into a netbook seems almost too over the top to be true, the Swiss Army Knife of mobile devices… and yet that’s exactly what we appear to be looking at.

padfone-with-dock — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Topics

Mobile

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Computing

Why Llama 3 is changing everything in the world of AI

Meta AI on mobile and desktop web interface.

In the world of AI, you've no doubt heard about what OpenAI and Google have been up to. And now, Meta's Llama LLM (large language model) is becoming an increasingly important player in the game, especially with its open-source nature. Meta recently made a big splash with the launch of its Llama 3 AI model, and it's shaken up the field dramatically.

The reasons why are multiple and varied. It's free to use, it has a wide user base, and yes, it's open source, to name but a few. Here's why Llama 3 is taking the AI industry by storm and may shape its future for some time to come.
Llama 3 is really good
We can debate until the cows come home about how useful AIs like ChatGPT and Llama 3 are in the real world -- they're not bad at teaching you board game rules -- but the few benchmarks we have for how capable these AI are give Llama 3 a distinct advantage.

Computing

How to delete messages on your Mac

A MacBook and iPhone in shadow on a surface.

Apple likes to make things easy for its iPhone, iPad, and macOS devotees. When signed in with the same Apple ID on more than one of these devices, you’ll be able to sync your messages from one Apple product to the next. This means when you get a text on your iPhone, you’ll be able to pull it up through the Messages app on your Mac desktop.

Computing

The best laptop brands for 2024

best laptop brands hp spectre x360 13 2021 1

If you like to write, browse, game, or work in different parts of your home or office, one of the best laptops is a necessity in 2024. There are many to choose from, but you can first narrow your options by looking at laptops from the most established and respected brands.

Here's a list of the best laptop brands in 2024 to get you started.
Dell