Keeping up to date with the latest technology is expensive and often requires you to end up with multiple devices. If you happen to have both a smart phone and tablet, you end up paying two different data fees just to use both. You could have a tablet that only runs Wi-fi but that still limits where you can use it. Frank Zhou, who created the original TransPhone, is confident his new version has what it takes to stop the wallet-thinning, multiple data fees, two different devices that just do the same thing anyway…madness.
Similar to the ASUS PadFone 2, the TransPhone 1 Pro is the newest smart phone/tablet hybrid that promises to save its user money all around. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which may cause some to dismiss it as out-of-date, but at a special pre-order price of $240, you might want to take a second look.
Now you may have been so busy switching between and syncing all your different devices, you completely missed out on even hearing that there could be a better way. A smart phone is just a tiny computer and a tablet is basically a big smart phone that doesn’t make calls. Put the two together (the smart phone slides into the tablet dock and acts as the “brains) and you have the TransPhone 1 Pro. I will just let Frank himself explain:
The whole point of this configuration, is that most people rarely need to use a tablet and a smartphone at the same time and that means they are spending quite a lot of money on duplicated processing, connectivity and storage electronics as well causing themselves additional hassle with two devices to manage and synch, and – if you want the tablet to have 3G – two SIM cards and extra contract hassles. When you add up all the unnecessary costs TransPhone eliminates, it wins Total Cost of Ownership wrestling matched by a wide margin.
The key specs are below, for the kind of people (everybody) that insist on them.
- Android 4.0, Dual Core 1GHz Processor, 4GB internal memory
- Phone: Multi touch, capacitive, TFT LCD 960 x 540, 16 million color screens
- TransPad: Multi touch, capacitive, TFT LCD 1024 x 600
- 114g + 374g = 486g (1lb 2oz) for both
- GSM / GPRS / Edge 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G:WCDMA 1900/2100 HSDPA
- 5.0 and 0.3 million pixel cameras (autofocus on main)
- Video capture 640 x 480, 30 frames/second
- Bluetooth 2.1, WIFI (IEEE 802.11 n/b/g), personal hotspot, USB data cables
- Portrait / landscape with lock
- GPS
- Supports: PEG4 / H.26 / 3GP / OGG / H.263 / WMV / RMVB and others, MIDI / MP3 / AAC / WMA and others, ring tones 64 polyphonic support, MP3 / MIDI and others, JPEG / PNG / GIF / BMP and others.
If you are like me, you like saving money and might just be willing to make the small sacrifice of not using the latest operating system to do so. The TransPhone does not claim to be cutting edge but it still offers much to make up for it. You can now have just one device that keeps you always connected with a two-year guarantee and five-year repair service. One device means only one network contract, one set of apps to install and one SIM card, all with no need to synchronize. I know I am interested but I want to know what you think. Have you already clicked on the pre-order link or do you plan to employ the wait-and-see-if-somebody-comes-out-with-a-better-device approach?