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."

Comments

I always thought it would be great for the MacBook

[Anonymous Coward]

They could replace the trackpad area with a slot for the iPhone/iPod. It could server as a dockable computer you could take around to whatever machine you need.

Bluetooth

[timeOday]

Surely tethering is the better solution, since you could use any laptop with any phone.

Re:Bluetooth

[Redlazer]

Bluetooth tethering is expensive energy wise, and slow. It's not a great protocol for that.

My N1 can use wifi, which gives me excellent speeds, but really hurts the battery.

There is also USB tether, but I can appreciate something like this. Very clean and modern.

Re:Bluetooth

[jonbryce]

Or even just a separate HSDPA modem. In the UK anyway, a teathering plan for your cell phone generally costs the same per month as a separate modem plan - about £15 per month

Re:Bluetooth

[rtb61]

Think about more from the sellers point of view. All new singing and dancing smartbook with dockable smartphone, for one low initial payment together with a whole lot of expensive and highly profitable phone contract payments (I wasn't about to lie about that part). From the typical users perspective, they know it will work, no weird compatibility problems and it really is logically useful. The smartbook as a charging, long term data storage, easy data input and upload, large screen expansion device, all working pretty much 'automagically' from the typical user perspective.

Similar lifespan, similar price, similar durability, basically all aligning with the 18/24 month phone contract. Of course you can readily imagine the typical 'ugh' fashion statement commercials, the smartpurse, the trend setter, the matching look and upping the intellectual factor of a gossip device, the phone. Plus it avoids the whole keyboard problem associated with smartphones.

How is this better than tethering?

[mdwh2]

Wow, if only we had some standard universal serial bus that might allow us to connect a phone to a netbook, without relying on a custom "slot" and buying both products from one company. Maybe we could use some wireless short range networking method too. And then if only there was a way for the netbook to make use of the phone's Internet connection, so you can use the same SIM and data account for both.

The modular approach addresses one of the great problems of mobile devices for both buyers and designers: you cannot, with current technology, have a device that is both large enough for comfortable extended use and small enough to carry around all the time.

The issue is exemplified by Apple's Iphone and the larger Ipad. The only way to have the advantages of both Apple devices is to buy both and synchronise data between them.

But how is this netbook and phone bundle any different to buying a phone and netbook? Is the price much better, for example?

And how does this device solve the synchronisation problem - do I magically have access to the same data on both, without synchronisation?

Re:I always thought it would be great for the MacB

[a_nonamiss]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only sysadmin that has trouble typing "serve" without automatically adding an 'r' at the end.

Re:I always thought it would be great for the MacB

[Anonymous Coward]

It's always there, it's just sometimes silent.