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Asus Planning Netbook With Slot-In Mobile Phone
An anonymous reader writes "Taiwanese manufacturer Asus is planning a netbook with a slot-in mobile phone that will double as a 3G communications module, according to a distributor. The arrangement is apparently meant to be an easy way to use the same SIM card and data account for both a phone and a portable computer. The phone module, from an Israeli company called Modu, is already on sale, together with an array of feature-phone shells and other devices that it's designed to slot into. There is some comparison being made with the iPhone and iPad — except that with the Modu approach, you can slot the phone into the netbook."
F@ck! Here's the correct link: Modu website.
I don't see why they're bothering at all, especially when Android 2.2 is going to have Wireless tethering as standard. Essentially all they've done is opt for a proprietary, limited connection interface when there's at least 3 universal ones out there that could be used (USB, Wifi and Bluetoth).
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
No problem.
(Unless your phone declines to support it, or your carrier somehow locks it, or your device doesn't understand it. In any case, though, it exists.)
Even if it didn't exist, SIM cards aren't exactly expensive devices. Wholesale price lists aren't just leaping to the top of my google searches at present; but, based on the prices quoted for new prepaid SIMs, any carrier could easily afford to provide extra SIMs for $5-$10 a pop, tying them to an existing account.