ASUS has raised the bar for converged computing. After the ASUS Transformer Book Trio, the just-announced ASUS Transformer Book V comes with a smartphone that docks. It’s just like Padfone with Station, except that it also runs Windows 8.1. This time round, ASUS built everything into the tablet panel, so the keyboard becomes an optional component.
So in summary, you get 2 laptop modes – Windows and Android, 2 tablet modes – Windows and Android, and 1 phone mode. That’s how the name come about.
If you were wondering how ASUS could squeeze both Windows and Android into a tablet, it’s not that difficult. What they did was to build the Windows hardware into the tablet, while the Android hardware is powered from the smartphone. Come to think of it, with a simple tweak of the existing Padfone series, ASUS created a brand new product solution. Applause!
I hope that the commercial unit runs smoothly and possess no uncomfortable user lag in all modes. I would expect the product to be priced no lower than S$2500. Availability to be advised.