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Asus Padfone connections hint at keyboard dock? Hands-on pictures and video

The Asus Padfone is something we’ve been intrigued by for a long time. You see, it’s both a phone and a tablet. But instead of opting for a Samsung Galaxy Note/Dell Streak-sized device, the Asus Padfone does things a little differently.

The Padfone consists of a phone with a that’s 4.3-inch screen and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

You then have the option of slotting the phone into a 10.1-inch touchscreen dock that essentially transforms the phone into a tablet.

The 10.1-inch portion of the Padfone is essentially ‘dumb’ – it has no antennas or processors of its own – but as you’ll be able to see from the pics and our hands-on video, it runs Android 4.0 smoothly. Think Master Blaster from Beyond the Thunderdome, if Master Blaster was an Android device.

What’s also really interesting, something that we’d not ever considered before is that on the base of the Padfone’s tablet dock there looks to be some rather interesting connections.

We say interesting because they bear a striking similarity to the connections we’ve seen with the Eee Pad Transfomer and Eee Pad Transformer Prime. In other words, it looks like you’ll be able to attach a Qwerty keyboard to this thing. Excited yet?

We understand that Asus is to show off the Padfone in greater detail at Mobile World Congress next month; hopefully if the design doesn’t change from what we’ve seen today then we’ll get to see some Qwerty-tastic action in February.

Have a look at our hands-on shots and video for a closer look at both parts of the device as well as those delicious mystery connections. Would you buy a Padfone if you could stick a keyboard in there? Do you think think Asus will include this function in the final build? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Pictures and video by Basil Kronfli.

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