I think ASUS *almost* has it with the PadFone Infinity

Posted by silellak on February 25, 2013 07:15 pm 12

So, I have a One X and an iPad Mini, both of which are often with me. For the sake of this discussion, though the Mini could just as easily be any 7-8 inch Android tablet - it's the size I'm concerned with. While I love this combination of devices, there's one thing that would make it even better:

If I could dock my One X into my 7-inch tablet, so that the One X could charge while providing the tablet with phone/cellular capability. Perfection.

ASUS seems to be the only company interested in this concept, and I think they're so close. The one drawback, for me, is that I don't want a 10-inch tablet. When I did own a 10-inch tablet, I didn't take it with me nearly as much as I do my 7-inch tablet - making the PadFone a cool concept, but not really applicable to my use cases.

If ASUS released a 7-8 inch version of the PadFone, I would essentially have the ultimate battery case for my phone, while at the same time, I would also have an LTE tablet - and I would still only be carrying "one" device. As a bonus, the phone could even be placed in such a way as it could serve as the tablet's rear-facing camera.

There are reasonable questions to ask, most notably: why not just carry a 7-8 inch LTE tablet and ditch the smartphone entirely, if the tablet is always with you? Well, for one, I have a grandfathered unlimited plan I don't want to lose. For another, there are occasions where even I - gadget nerd that I am - don't want to take a full-fledged tablet, in which case, I'd still have a standalone high-end smartphone to take with me.

Maybe I'm just crazy, though. Are my use cases that unique? Am I the only one who would really want something like this?