I must admit I haven’t exactly thought it would come to 7 inch hybrids of phones and tablets, but it’s not ASUS doing it, but rather a product called TransPhone. One could jump to the conclusion and say this is a copycat, but let’s analyze what we’re dealing with here exactly.
The TransPhone was actually a product that was around for a while, but now it received a Pro version. The hybrid includes a 7 inch 1024 x 600 pixel TransPad dock, that incorporates a 3.5 inch smartphone with a 960 x 540 pixel resolution and a dual core 1 GHz MediaTek chip. The duo is priced at $240 on preorder, but you may want to wait till March 2013, to see the product truly launched. Apparently, behind this product is Frank Zhou, the inventor of the USB memory key.
TransPhone comes with 3G GSM unlocked and brags about having half the price tag of the ASUS Padfone. If you’re expecting lawsuits from ASUS, well don’t, since according to the press release from TransPhone International, they own US patents for such a device from back in 2002, referring to the insertion of a phone into a tablet. Just so you know, TransPhone Pro runs Android 4.0 ICS and it’s able to continue the use of an app started on the phone after you dock it into the tablet. Would you trust such a device?
