Asus PadFone Images Leaked Ahead of Computex Unveiling

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Asus has been teasing the PadFone tablet and smartphone combo for quite some time now as the company seems to be really interested in changing the way we envision smartphones and tablets.

But despite having seen plenty of teaser images of the unreleased smartphone/tablet, we only got its official name a few days ago, the PadFone, according to a recent trademark leak, and today we get to see the first revealing images of the new device.

The PadFone will be unveiled at Computex 2011 later this week but in the mean time we are apparently able to confirm the previous rumors regarding it. The PadFone is a tablet that contains a smartphone inside. Or better said the Asus smartphone gets docked inside the tablet case and it once there it acts as the “smart” part of the tablet. The smartphone could be the machine that powers the tablet in the first place, and we could be looking at a different version of Motorola’s Laptop Dock right here.

The PadFone could become a “smart” device only after the smartphone has been docked inside the device, and I suspect that without the smartphone part, the tablet will just be a useless accessory. Therefore I imagine one could purchase the smartphone alone and then get the tablet extension when and if needed. The PadFone could therefore turn out to be a more than interesting Motorola Atrix + Laptop Dock competitor, especially for those people that wouldn’t necessarily be interested in a laptop-like layout.

The alternative would be for both devices to be able to work independently, or better said for the tablet to also work as a tablet even when the handset isn’t docked. In which case we’d have a fully working tablet and a fully working smartphone. In which case the merger between the two of them would be futile. Sure the tablet would get to use the camera of the smartphone, but that would be pretty much it. Not to mention that the combo would become a lot more expensive should the tablet be able to work independently from the smartphone, as the tablet case would pack a few extra specs like a main board, processor and all the required radios (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G).

Anyone already excited about a tablet that can make phone calls too? Well, stay tuned, as we’re going to bring you more details about this PadFone, once it gets official at Computex 2011 in a few days from now.