Asus shows Android-based phone/tablet combo and seven-inch 3D device

                     At this week's Computex conference in Taipei, Asus unveiled an Android-based hybrid tablet/smartphone device called the Padfone, embedding a removable smartphone in a 10.1-inch tablet. The company also announced a more conventional seven-inch tablet called the Eee Pad Memo 3D, with Android 3.x, a stylus, and glasses-free 3D video playback.

              The Padfone, which Asus Chairman Jonney Shih termed a "convergent device" in his Computex presentation (see video farther below), combines a 4.3-inch Android smartphone and a 10.1-inch tablet computer into a single symbiotic gadget. The two device are said to share data and 3G Internet access. Final screen sizes may change when they product ships later this year, however.

The smartphone docks inside the tablet to give users an expanded view, says Asus. With the phone docked, it can recharge from the tablet's larger battery. In return, the tablet can make use of the smartphone's 3G connection, says the company. The dual interfaces for both the tablet and phone are said to ensure the layout is automatically adjusted for all activities such as video-conferencing, web browsing, and emailing. 

Padfone with smartphone detached

The concept appears to be very similar to Motorola Mobility's Atrix 4G, which can plug into an optional Laptop Dock to bring the Android smartphone experience to a larger screen. In this case, however, the dock is a touchscreen tablet rather than a netbook.

Asus also introduced a fourth tablet to go alongside the now-shipping Android 3.0 Eee Pad Transformer convertible tablet, as well as its similar, but slide-out style Eee Pad Sliderconvertible and Windows-based Eee Slate. The seven-inch Eee Pad Memo 3D appears to be a revised version of the Eee Pad Memo that was announced with minimal detail at January's CES show.

Asus Eee Pad Memo 3D

Unlike most seven-inch tablets, the Eee Pad Memo 3D will offer an Android 3.x operating system, says Asus. The tablet will also ship with a multitouch screen, but will also offer a stylus, for "note taking in portrait orientation," according to the company. This is similar to the seven-inch, Honeycomb-basedHTC Flyer.

In addition, the device offers a glasses-free 3D display mode that is automatically launched when one flips the tablet into horizontal landscape mode, says the company. No more details appeared to be available.