ASUS PadFone Leaks Again: Tablet/Smartphone Hybrid

As the ASUS leaks coalesce ahead of Computex 2011, it looks increasingly likely that we'll see the ASUS PadFone, a hybrid docking smartphone/tablet combination, announced at the show. ASUS has kicked out a fresh slice of PadFone teaser image, but NotebookItalia has managed to find a more telling version showing what looks to be an Android handset resting on its companion slate.

That slate is easily recognizable as ASUS' original teaser, back on Monday last week. The assumption is that the phone docks into the back of the tablet, providing at the very least its 3G WWAN connectivity and, possibly, the slate's intelligence too.

Given the Tegra 2 processor ASUS used in its Eee Pad Transformer has also found its way successfully into Android smartphones, it wouldn't be too great a stretch of the imagination for it to serve double duty on both phone and slate scale devices. That would leave the rest of the PadFone tablet form-factor to contain extra batteries and ports, lending it extra runtime and usability.

We won't know for sure until Computex and ASUS' press conference tomorrow, but as mobile processors catch up in terms of power it looks like the long-standing promise of a true hybrid phone/slate with the battery and potency to match either use-case may finally be coming true.