However, in tablets specifically my personal feeling is that, while Samsung is one of the leaders, the most exciting vendor using Android is ASUS. ASUS doesn’t have the recognition and attention of Samsung, but they’ve been doing some great work in tablets – and it looks like Google took notice as they took ASUS’s planned $249 Eee Pad MeMO 7-inch tablet and reworked it to become the $199 Nexus 7, Google’s first branded tablet. The first quad-core 7-inch tablet and the first device to launch with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

In the first generation of real Android tablets, those launched with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Galaxy Tab was well known for its sleek design. But the ASUS Transformer, and later Transformer Prime, we nearly as slim and light while keeping functionality like a microSD slot, which the Galaxy Tab did without. And, of course, they had the unique capability of effectively becoming a netbook with a purpose designed keyboard dock. They’re tablets have been competitively priced and have had a series of firsts. The first Android tablets designed with a keyboard dock, the first ‘slider’ tablet with the Eee Pad Slider SL101, the first quad-core Android tablet with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 powered Transformer Prime, the first HD Android tablet with the 1920×1200 10.1″ Transformer Pad Infinity, and more.

The the Transformer Pad Infinity’s display is 224ppi, effectively making it the Android market’s answer to the iPad’s 264ppi retina display. Though I personally feel the 10.1″ 1920×1200 16:10 aspect ratio display on the Infinity is preferable to the iPad’s 9.7″ 2048×1536 4:3 aspect ratio display when it comes to consuming content, especially HD video.

Of course, ASUS also has the Padfone which is a truly revolutionary design that I’ve been waiting for someone to build for years. I hope it finds its way to the US in an LTE model. ASUS also has a good track record for updating their devices to newer Android versions. It hasn’t been painless, but they’ve done a better job that a lot of the bigger names. And we’ve just heard that even the original Transformer and Slider will be receiving Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, along with the newer models.

All of these, IMHO, have been sleek, well designed products. I myself own the Transformer Prime (though I’m starting to feel the lust pangs for the Transformer Pad Infinity since I don’t see Verizon picking up the Padfone soon) and I couldn’t be happier with it. My wife & I gave our nephew the Transformer last xmas and he’s still using it regularly. He hasn’t lost interest or broken it – not bad considering he’s 13. I’ve recommended the ASUS Transformer line to many people, as I think they’re truly the best Android tablets out there.

The keyboard dock, or just the capability of using one, is a major advantage over other tablets for anyone looking to use a tablet for productivity. A keyboard case or Bluetooth keyboard just isn’t the same. The keyboard dock makes an effective case for the tablet in one solid, easy to carry, solid package. And the extra battery life is most welcome. I love the way ASUS designed it to keep the tablet battery charged, charging it from the keyboard battery when connected. That way the tablet is always topped up if you want to use it solo, and the keyboard provides a kind of portable charger if the tablet gets drained.

Performance is top notch and inclusion of memory card slots and ports makes the ASUS tablet more flexible than some of the competition. Personally I think the Galaxy Tab 2 line was something of a disappointment. It is really more of a refresh of the original Galaxy Tab than a next-generation tablet. Similarly the Motorola Xoom 2/Xyboard wasn’t a big jump from the original Xoom. With the ‘flagship’ vendors kind of dropping the ball it really left the market open to ASUS, and other vendors like Acer and Lenovo, to produce some of the best tablet values considering performance and price.

I think there is a strong argument to be made that ASUS is really the leading Android tablet maker when it comes to innovation, value, and functionality. I think they deserve more attention from consumers and the press covering the tablet market. Whether they get it or not, I hope they continue down the same road and continue to provide innovative products. If you’re considering an Android tablet purchase I think you’d be well served to carefully consider ASUS’s offerings. The second generation ‘low-end’ model Transformer Pad TF300T is a close match to my first generation ‘high-end’ Transformer Prime TF201, and the model I think most buyers will be looking at.

ASUS recently released a series of videos which gives us a peak into the design process and philosophy that shaped the Transformer products, especially the new Transformer Pad and Pad Infinity. I think they’re a nice look behind the scenes and not overly full marketing spin.

So what do you think? Do you agree that ASUS is really the flagship Android tablet maker? Do you think someone else is? If so, why do you feel that way? Leave a comment!

When you need a larger display the phone docks with a tablet. But the tablet is really just a screen and larger battery – it has no native processing capability. Instead the phone provides all of the power. That means no need to install apps twice and keep them in sync, or to have two data plans, etc. The tablet is just a ‘sleeve’ for the phone.

ASUS takes this even further with the PadFone, building on their Transformer products, but having the tablet dock with a keyboard. So the phone becomes a tablet becomes a netbook.

The PadPhone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8260A Dual-Core 1.5 GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and 16/32/54GB internal storage with a microSD slot for expansion. It has a rear 8MP camera with flash, though the front camera is listed as only VGA (.3MP) which is a little disappointing. The dimensions are 128mm x 65.4mm x 9.2mm with a weight of 129 grams. The display on the phone is 4.3″ qHD (960×540), which is respectable, though it’d be tough to give up the 720p display of my Galaxy Nexus.

The magic happens with DynamicDisplay, a special feature developed by ASUS. It dynamically resizes apps as the PadPhone is docked with or removed from the PadPhone Station. Not only do you get a 10.1″ 1280×800 display, but apps with optimized tablet views, such as Gmail, will change. So you won’t just see the phone display blown up, but the proper tablet view.

When docked, the PadPhone’s camera and flash are still used, but the front camera is replaced by one built into the tablet. What’s not clear from the specs and images is which ports the Station dock has. The keyboard dock looks very similar to the one for my Transformer Prime. Like the Prime’s keyboard it adds additional battery, as well as a full size USB port and full size SD slot.

This looks like a very interesting product. I’m not sure if I’d give up my Galaxy Nexus phone and Transformer Prime tablet for the PadFone, especially since I’ve really only just picked up both. But down the road when my G-Nex is up for replacement I’d certainly look at the then-current generation of the PadFone. This is exactly the kind of design I’ve been waiting for.

ASUS also announced that the Eee Pad Transformer line is bring rebranded as the Transformer Pad, and two new models are being introduced.

The Transformer Pad 300 looks like a slightly lower-end version of the existing Transformer Prime. Like the TF201, the TF300 has a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/b WiFi, and a 10.1″ 1280×800 display. However, the display is IPS, not Super IPS+, and it only has 16GB of storage – instead of 32GB or 64GB. The TF300 has Bluetooth 3.0, up from 2.1+EDR. The TF300 loses the flash on the rear camera, though it is still 8MP, with a 1.2MP front camera.

While the TF201 is only available with WiFi, the TF300 will also come in HSPA+ & LTE versions. Battery life is 10 hours, 15 with the dock – down from 12/18 on the TF201. And it is physically slightly larger.

The other model, the Transformer Pad Infinity, goes the other way – an upgrade on the Transformer Prime. We saw this model teased at CES as a new model of Transformer Prime, the TF700. Specs-wise it is clearly an updated version of the Transformer Prime. It is the same size and weight – the keyboard dock is actually the same unit.

The WiFi model has the same 802.11b/g/n and BlueTooth 2.1+EDR, 1GB RAM, 32/64GB storage, and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core CPU – only here is is clocked up to 1.6GHz. The like the TF201 the screen is a 10.1″ Super IPS+ display – but the resolution is 1920×1080 Full HD. It does as some new tweaks. In addition to Bluetooth 2.1+EDR it has Bluetooth 4.0 LE, or Low Energy.

Unlike the TF201, the TF700 will also come in HSPA+ and LTE models, which differ in other details. Instead of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, these units will use the Qualcomm MSM 8260A/8960 Snapdragon S4 Krait Dual-core clocked at 1.5Ghz. Why? When they started designing this unit the Tegra 3 wasn’t yet paired with 4G chipsets. It seems the TF300 was designed later, as there is no indication the cellular variants of that model will not be using the Tegra 3. Battery life is given as 10/16, which makes sense with the higher resolution screen and higher CPU clock.

I love my ASUS Transformer Prime, and the Transformer Pad Infinity looks interesting. I’d go with the WiFi model since I currently use my Prime with WiFi tethering on my G-Nex.

EDIT: ASUS just posted a video of the launch event at Mobile World Congress:

While the name is a little strange, the hardware looks very cool. It is an Android smartphone that can become a tablet, netbook, handheld gaming console, or a media set top box. They unveiled the new phone as the just-ended IFA conference in Germany, and the phone itself is quite a little powerhouse. Dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 CPU, 1GHz RAM, 16GB on-board storage expandable by up to 32GB with microSD, 8MP rear camera and 3MP front camera – both with autofocus, Full HD 1080p 30fps video recording, SRS WOW 3D sound, microHDMI and microUSB, and a shockingly high-res display – 4.5″ 1280×800 WXGA. Just as a phone it is at the high end of the Android range. The specs are up there with the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Motorola Droid Bionic, better in some areas.

With the growth in power of smartphones they’ve reached the point where they can legitimately compete with tablets and netbooks, even low end laptops. We’re seeing dual-core CPUs of up to 1.5GHz, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G & 4G data, etc. The only limitations have been screen size, input mechanisms, and battery life. And to a lesser degree port availability. The phone needs to stay small enough to fit in your pocket and be comfortable in the had.

As I’ve said all over the net for the past few years, the smartphone can be the ‘CPU’ module for other devices. It contains the CPU, RAM, connectivity, primary storage, etc. If you want a larger display in tablet format you ‘dock’ the phone with a tablet sleeve. The sleeve has nothing but the larger screen and a battery. When docked the phone provides all of the brains, and the camera on the back of the phone is now on the back of the tablet. Depending on the design the front camera on the phone could also see through a hole or transparent section on the tablet bezel, or the tablet could have it’s own front facing camera. Connectivity is simple – microUSB for device support and microHDMI for the display. And this is exactly what KT has done.

Want a more productivity oriented system, something like a netbook or laptop, then there are two options. One is an Asus Eee Pad Transformer-style dock where the above described tablet docks with a keyboard base to form a netbook. This is elegant because you only have one larger display. And you could dock everything into one unit for a fairly compact carry – like carrying one netbook.

The other option is actually the one I thought of originally, and that KT is using. Simply another sleeve, a netbook this time of course, in which the phone docks just as with the tablet. KT is doing exactly what I’ve suggested in the past – you dock the phone where the touchpad is on most laptops, in front of the keyboard. The phone *is* the touchpad, and it could even be a small secondary display for custom controls for programs, etc. Imagine doing some editing work with your customized shortcuts available on command on the touchpad display (aka the phone). With modern touchscreens and a stylus it could act as a small digitizing tablet, etc.

What about when you’re done being all productive and just want to relax and frag something? Gaming on smartphones is huge, but most games have been fairly simple, largely due to control limitations. Sony has their PlayStation Phone, but that’s a compromise. You’re carrying around the slide-out controls all the time, and they’re a little cramped. What about a sleeve that turns the phone into a handheld game console that looks quite a bit like a PSP (or maybe an Atari Lynx)? Pop in the phone and take advantage of the CPU and display that a better than any dedicated handheld game system, with controls better than any phone.

Finally, a bit more conventional for today’s smartphones, you can use the phone as a streaming media STB. Connect it to your HDTV via the microHDMI and stream HD video from the phone, online streaming services, etc., right on your big screen.

A couple of blogs have posted videos of the Spider Phone being demo’d at IFA 2011. The first video is from AndroidPIT and the second is from Areamobile. AndroidPIT has several great photos of the phone and sleeves in their post as well.

KT is the only company I’ve seen announce the full suite of sleeves, with a very powerful phone at heart. Before this the closest we’ve come is the Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet-slash-netbook and the announced Asus Padfone smartphone-slash-tablet. In fact, the Asus Padfone tablet design and the KT Spider Phone tablet design are very similar. If only Asus would combine the Padfone with the Transformer and give it a keyboard dock (perhaps the same one), we’d have two smartphone/tablet/netbook options.

The Spider Phone has a few downsides however, at least from my perspective. The first, and largest, is that it is running Android Gingerbread. Gingerbread is a phone-centric OS and is not optimized for use on tablets, especially larger ones. It has been used on some tablets, but that was really a stopgap until Honeycomb was available. Honeycomb is the tablet-centric version of Android, but it lacks full phone support. So the right release for this would be Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which merges Gingerbread and Honeycomb and runs equally well on phones or tablets. In fact, that’s the version the Asus Padfone will be running. Since ICS isn’t due out until later this year, KT may have decided that launching with Gingerbread was expedient. But I really hope they have plans to upgrade to ICS once it is available. That would really unlock the potential of this hardware.

The other downsides aren’t as substantial, and may well be temporary. But the Spider Phone is currently only slated for the domestic market – South Korea – where it will launch in November or December. KT currently has no plans to release the phone in other markets. The phone is also a GSM device, and I really need something that’s CDMA/LTE for Verizon. (My employer’s corporate carrier.) So I probably won’t end up with a Spider Phone unless they bring it to Verizon in the US, but if they did I’d be sorely tempted even if it meant upgrading out of contract.

I’m just happy to see someone finally building the concept I’ve been pining for for several years. It is encouraging, as it means others may follow suite and that would increase my odds of finally owning such a system.

So, what I really want is something like the KT Spider Phone or an Asus Transformer/Padfone hybrid, available on Verizon with LTE support. Who’s going to build me my dream phone/tablet/netbook?

KT makes it seemingly impossible to link directly to press releases on their site, so here is the one for the Spider Phone:

KT reveals new smartphone All with one ; ‘Spider Phone’2011.09.02
? KT reveals ‘Spider Phone’ turning into various IT devices at IFA in Berlin, Germany
? Solving difficulties in high costs of buying multiple IT devices, complicated usage of each devices and managing data.
? It can also link with ucloud to provide N-Screen service.
? Expecting the device ecosystem cooperating with many manufacturers.

KT(www.kt.com), the leading telecommunication company in Korea, announces that the company unveils Spider Phone, a smartphone that can be turned into various IT devices at IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) 2011 Consumer Electronics Fair in Berlin, Germany, from September 2 to 7.

Spider Phone can be connected with various different screens such as tablet PC, laptop and game kit etc. Those devices do not function stand alone, because they are not loaded with neither CPU, OS nor memory. However they do function with physical connection with Spider Phone.

Not only Spider Phone can provide mobile office environment linked with ucloud service but also connect with tablet PC or laptop, which enables to edit and manage documents. Additionally it can give a wide variety of game experiences for users through its 4.5-inch screen and well optimized keys to control the game kit comfortably and easily. Spider Phone will be launched this November developed by KT who started the project last November.

With the launch of Spider Phone, KT expects to solve many issues, including high costs of buying multiple IT devices such as a mobile phone, a laptop and a tablet. Also it can relieve the possible stresses of complicated usage of IT devices such as difficulties in managing data.

The company also stresses that Spider Phone can surmount the small screen problems of smartphone by combining with external kits. KT expects that Spider Phone will help the company and other manufacturers to enhance their global competitive edge based on the phone’s capability to expand into the N-Screen service easily and affordably.

Especially the key sources of hardware and software interface are disclosed, making any company manufacture external kits that can be connected to Spider Phone and ultimately helping promote the industry – Device Ecosystem.

KT plans to pave to create an environment where a single smart phone can control all information and devices around it by even linking with non-IT industry products such as health care devices etc.

Run by Android OS, the phone features a 4.5 inch wide WXGA(1280*800) high-resolution display to offer tablet PC and laptop-like experiences and a 1.5GHz Dual-Core high-performance CPU that allows fast document editing, web browsing, and video playing. Additionally it has large-capacity battery(1710mAh) and Full HD supported camera.

“Spider Phone is an innovative device that can impress the global smartphone market, and I’m sure it will draw a lot of attention at IFA,” said Kyeong-Soo Lee, Executive Vice President of Device Strategy Department, who supervised the development of Spider Phone. “KT has already offered leading companies in Korea to build a new device ecosystem together, and I hope we will get a lot of favorable responses at the event”

KT also presents the ucloud storage service along with Spider Phone at IFA. KT launched ucloud service which for individual users, in July last year, and subsequently ucloud servers, VDI(virtual desktop interface), CDN(Contents Delivery Network) and storage. DB and backup services are under open beta test.

KT’s cloud service features full line-up infrastructure, which cannot be found in any other local competitors’ services. Any service related to IT infrastructure is available, and IT infrastructure can be established over the net within five minutes, which would otherwise take a whole week when using IDC hosting service.

Besides speed, ucloud’s rates and performance are equally impressive. Cloud Harmony, a cloud market research firm, revealed that KT ranked first or second in five performance areas among 20 major cloud service vendors including Amazon and Rackspace.

? For more information

– In Won Lee : Deputy Director at PR Dep.(at IFA)
: +82-10-7221-0552, inona@kt.com
– Hyun Wook Jung : Assistant Manager at PR Dep.(at IFA)
: +82-10-9693-1009, hwway@kt.com
– Yoon Jeong Kim : Assistant Manager at PR Dep.(Seoul, Korea)
: +82-10-3010-2618, kate1@kt.com
: +82-2-730-6292(Seoul office)

Spotted via Engadget.