ASUS Announces the Padfone, A Tablet/Phone Combo

For a few days, there has been some rumors and speculation about ASUS' new tablet device, thought to be called the Padfone. All rumors were wither denied or confirmed at today's official unveiling of the Padfone.

The Padfone was announced earlier today during the first day of the Computex exhibition in Taiwan. 

The idea of the Padfone is that it will sell as a tablet/phone combo running Android. When one needs a bigger screen, say, for watching a movie or playing a game, you can just slide the phone into a slot in the back of the tablet, and your screen is suddenly magically bigger.

The tablet also has a bigger battery in it, so when your phone is low on juice, you can just pop it into the back of the tablet, and it will start charging. 

With the Padfone, there is no need to buy a separate data plan for both the phone and tablet, because the tablet can just use the 3G data connection built into the docked phone.

Although it is unclear whether the tablet part of the Padfone will work without the phone docked inside or not, this seems like a pretty cool device. There are no details about pricing or availability, or even specs, which is definitely a setback. Another problem with Android tablets in general is the lack of tablet designed apps, at least with the Padfone, there is a smaller screen device to view phone-optimized apps. 

Below are the two promotional videos that ASUS put out.

Motorola Xoom WiFi Only Official Dates

     Release dates for the Motorola Xoom WiFi, a 10 inch tablet running Honeycomb, have been leaked for quite a while, but today Motorola made it official. The WiFi only version of the Xoom will hit the shelves on March 27th, about two weeks from now, in seven major retailers. Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Staples, WalMart, and a few Sam's Club locations will all be getting the WiFi only Xoom on launch date.
     The WiFi only Xoom has the same front and rear facing cameras, dual-core processor, and 10.1 inch screen as it's 3G counterpart. The Xoom is also one of the first tablets to run Honeycomb, which is the latest release of the popular mobile OS Android.
     The WiFi version of the Xoom will be going for $599, with a rumored $50 off at Sam's Club. The Apple iPad, another 10 inch tablet, is closely competing with the Xoom, and only costs $499. Customers who want a tablet would probably go for the iPad, which has a lower price, many more applications, and a few more features, but the more technically savvy might go for the Xoom, because android gives users more control over a lot more.

HP Touchpad, Veer, and Pre3

     At an announcement recently, HP announced three new products that will run it's webOS mobile operating system. HP announced two phones and a tablet, all of which look slick and seem to be good products.

    WebOS is a mobile operating system created by Palm. Palm was then acquired by HP, who seems to be doing a good job keeping the operating system alive. 

The webOS Card UI

    WebOS's unique cards user interface gives it an appealing look. The apps it comes with catch your eye and make playing with the device fun. 

    The Messaging client combines all the messages from one person into one big flow, so a message can be sent as an instant message, and replied to as a text. 

    The web browser mostly disappears, letting you browse the entire web page without having to worry about the URL bar getting in your way. With a smart phone's small size, this can be very important.

    The email client gives you a unified inbox for multiple email accounts. With many of us getting emails at our work and personal email accounts, the unified inbox can be really helpful.

     A really interesting feature can be found in the contacts app. Many of us have spent hours entering our contacts information into the phone, all of which is available on Facebook or other social networks. WebOS's contact app just requires you to enter your friend's name. It will download info from Facebook, Google, Microsoft Exchange, and more. 

     WebOS also gives access to the Amazon Music Store. This gives access to thousands of songs, all DRM free, which means that once a song is downloaded, you can move it and copy it to any device, without any complicated copyright laws getting in your way.

     A really cool feature is HP's Touchstone. The Touchstone is dock for the phone that charges the phone wirelessly on contact. There are ways to do this with other phones like the iPhone, but these require bulky cases. The Touchstone also changes to nightstand mode when the phone is not in use. Nightstand mode displays the time and notifications. 

     The webOS operating system described above will be running on all of the devices that HP announced at the event. 

HP Veer

     The HP event started with the announcement of the HP Veer. The Veer is a small, touchscreen phone with a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The Veer is only about the size of a credit card, has a 5 magapixel camera, and has a 2.6 inch touchscreen. 

     An interesting trend with the new smartphones is the lack of physical buttons. The Veer has no home button. The front is a plain, black surface. The home button is virtual. You just tap under the screen to go to the homescreen.

Palm Pre3

     The announcement then moved on to a slightly larger topic. The next product to be announced was the Pre3. It is basically a slightly bigger version of the Veer. The Pre3 adds a front facing camera, a 3.8 inch screen, and adds a 16 GB option. It has the same 5 megapixel camera as the Veer, but adds a flash.
     The last, and biggest (literally) thing of the event was the HP TouchPad announcement. The TouchPad is webOS's step into the tablet world. The TouchPad offers the same great webOS experience as the two smartphones, but makes it a bit bigger.
     An interesting thing about the TouchPad is that it straightens out the rounded corners of the webOS user interface. The card UI is gone, but the UI still looks slick.

HP TouchPad

     The TouchPad is pretty much a giant Pre3, but the extra screen real estate can sometimes really make the difference.
     The TouchPad has the same front facing camera as the Pre3, but offers a slightly higher resolution.
     Overall, these three devices look really compelling. They are missing just two slightly important things: price and release date. They give the general idea with summer or spring on the website, but no distinct date. I haven't yet played with any of the webOS devices, so I don't know how responsive they are, which could also be an issue. Another big issue is the app market. Apple has hundreds of thousands of apps in it's store, with android slowly creeping up behind it.
     With no price, a small app market, and no official release date, it's hard to know whether or not the devices will be worth it. We will have to wait for more info to come out before a decision is made.

To watch the actual event, click here.

     

Blackberry PlayBook: Now Touchable

     Last year was the year of the 3D TV. This year is the year of the tablet PC. When looking through my various tech and gadget blogs on Google Reader, most of what I saw was either stupid, or tablet, or both. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, pretty much every PC manufacturer announced a tablet PC.
     For those slightly unfamiliar to the technology world, a tablet is a touchscreen computer that usually runs a mobile operating system. Some run the popular Android, others their own customized OS, some run Windows 7, and a few even run Linux.
     The tablet PC was started by Microsoft quite a few years ago, but the concept never caught on. Until now. Apple's iPad really popularized the idea of the tablet. Now Motorola, Samsung, and even Vizio, a TV manufacturer, have caught on.
     In September, RIM (The creators of Blackberry.) announced it's PlayBook, a 7 inch tablet running a new, personalized OS. The BlackBerry tablet was always a cool idea, but nobody was ever really able to touch it. Until now. (Second time I've used that this post.)

BlackBerry PlayBook

     At the Consumer Electronics Show, BlackBerry had a few working prototype models displayed. Viewers can see a tech demo, and the lucky few could actually play with the tablet. The reviews were overall good all around, and although it is not a final model, the device seemed to work fairly well.
     The PlayBook is 7.6 inches across, 5.1 inches in height, and only 0.4 inches thick. With a weight of 0.9 pounds, the PlayBook is lighter than the 1.5 pound iPad by about 0.6 pounds, and with it's small size and light weight, the PlayBook will be great for professionals on the go.
     The PlayBook does not run the BlackBerry software, but, simular to the BlackBerry smartphone lines, is optimized for business use. Unlike most tablet PCs, the PlayBook has true multitasking, meaning that, unlike other tablets, it does not pause apps when they are minimized. Rather, this BlackBerry tablet leaves apps running completely, and lets you see them running with it's unique user interface.

PlayBook's Photo App

      The PlayBook features a 7 inch capacitive touch screen, a 3 mega pixel front facing camera for video chat, along with a 5 mega pixel rear facing camera for (the strange few) who want to take photos with a 7.6 inch tablet, and  a microUSB and microHDMI port. The PlayBook also sports stereo speakers and 1080p video playback.
      The business user needs power, and BlackBerry promises power with the PlayBook with a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM.
      The coolest parts of the BlackBerry PlayBook are the little things. The fact that there are no physical buttons on the front, and that the touchscreen extends beyond the visible screen, so you just swipe up from the bottom to access the home screen. Another neat feature is the actual home screen. The bottom half contains a grid of your apps, while the top half contains small previews of the currently running apps, as they are running. For example, a running YouTube video would be watchable (in a very small window) even when you are not currently in that app.
     The PlayBook  has 3G or 4G, along with 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR. The 4G will be available from Sprint, and with the 3G version, it is not clear which carriers will have it.
     The PlayBook seems like a very compelling device. Two things may stand in the way: The price is still unknown, and with all of the true multitasking going on, it will be hard for BlackBerry to achieve good battery life.

      The BlackBerry website states, "BlackBerry 4G PlayBook coming soon to Sprint." This seems to indicate  a near release date, so PlayBook awaiting individuals, the seven inch tablet of your dreams may be coming out sooner than you think. If you were planning on purchasing an iPad, but like the PlayBook, you might wan't to wait for it. The only reason I'm not saying "Buy it." is because it is not yet buy-able. But if it were, I would definitely recommend the BlackBerry PlayBook.