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

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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…

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