The Future Of Phone Tablet Versus Tablet Phone

If you are like many, it does appear that mobile devices have been changing a lot for the past few years. And the features of tablets seem to be coming to smart phones. You only have to look at the ever increasing screen sizes to see the growing real estate becoming available as a result. The Samsung Galaxy S3 with its 4.8 inch screen was seen as something which was deemed too large for a smart phone. But, if you have had the pleasure of using one, you quickly come to appreciate that space. And the resulting sales prove that people want to have a smart phone with a large screen. You if you have not used one with a larger screen, take the time to take a look at one.

And over the past few months, we have been seeing that a 5 inch screen has become the new standard for smart phones. If you do not currently have a smart phone with a screen of 4.5 or greater, you soon will. The rumors for the iPhone 5 have it coming in at 4.8 inches in size. The coming Galaxy S4 is rumored to be coming in at 5 inches and matches so many other phones coming out right now. This increasing screen size does make the phones more difficult to just slip into your pocket. With screen sizes above 4.5 inches, we are looking at features of tablets coming to smart phones. Some comes with a stylus and software to do drawing. That is where things appear to be headed for phone tablets.

On the other side, we have been seeing tablets being reduced in size to less than 7 inches as they size down to fill a space in the market. The first one to really do this is the Galaxy Note with a screen size of 5.3 inches. And with all the promotion for what Samsung called a phablet, it has done remarkably well in sales. The follow on is the Galaxy Note II with a screen size of 5.5 inches. This is creating a situation where you have tablet phone. The features of a tablet with the features of a phone being added to it.

The features of a phone are now being included in what has previously been strictly a tablet and had no characteristics for using one as a phone. That is changing and blurring the lines between whether devices in the 4.5 inch to 6.5 inch screen size are to be considered a phone tablet or a tablet phone. Either way that you look at it, it is creating some confusion as to what category a phone or tablet falls into when they are that size and the included features.

With all of this going on where companies are releasing tablets or phones which are in this gray area, Asus has taken a far different approach. They have released both a phone and a tablet calling it the FonePad, though some are calling it the PadFone. They are looking to capture both the phone interests and tablet interests at the same time. The difference is that it is really two devices. To use it as a smart phone, you remove it from the dock on the tablet. To use it as a tablet, you put the phone back into the dock to turn it into a tablet.

Strange device, but it does point out the confusion of whether we are looking at phone tablets or tablet phones. Is this the future we are going to be seeing?