I never thought Seinfeld would make me feel old. There I was at lunch, making a reference to the infamous George Costanza wallet, and all I got in response were blank stares from the interns. I suppose many of them were still in Kindergarten when the show went off the air.
I was trying to sell the interns on the value of carrying around less stuff. Several of the interns had a laptop, tablet and phone with them. I was in the same boat. My own computer bag had become a Costanza wallet of sorts, with two laptops, a tablet, and two cell phones. My aching shoulder was the main reason why I decided to pare things back.
If you have ever watched a Food Network show with Alton Brown (and why wouldn’t you? He is awesome), you will have heard the rule about avoiding “unitaskers.” Alton believes any device in the kitchen should serve more than one purpose. If it is just a unitasker, then it is a waste of space. It is hard to argue with Alton’s logic and it makes sense when applied to tech gadgets as well. Why carry around several devices that only do one thing when you can carry around one thing that does a lot?
AT&T just started selling an interesting tablet/phone combo called the Asus PadFone X. It is two devices in one: a 5” HD LTE Android smartphone and a 9” HD LTE tablet. The phone slides into the back of the tablet, which is how you transition between a big screen and smaller screen experience. The phone and tablet are sold together and use a single data plan, so you basically get two devices for what you would normally pay for just a smartphone.
It has been really nice to travel these with the Asus PadFone X. During my drive up to Seattle, I used the phone to listen to podcasts, keep track of traffic conditions, and to make a couple calls. In the evening, I slipped the phone into the tablet so that I could watch Netflix and browse the internet. The tablet has its own battery, which also charges your phone while docked, so you can watch movies on the big screen and then use the phone to make a call without having to worry about battery life.
AT&T has a few different accessories for the ASUS PadFone X. You can get a white or blue tablet cover, plus a wireless charging mat, for $80 through July 24. They also sell a keyboard cover, which I have been using. The keyboard cover adds some weight because it has its own battery. The really nice thing is that the tablet basically becomes a small laptop with the addition of the keyboard and trackpad. I used the Asus PadFone X and the keyboard cover to write this blog post and just uploaded it using the WordPress app for Android. It worked really well.
There are several options for purchasing the Asus PadFone X from AT&T. You can get it for $22.92 per month with AT&T Next 18, $29.80 per month with AT&T Next 12, or $199 with a two-year agreement. That is basically the same price you would pay for any other Android smartphone from AT&T, so why not go for this and get a phone and a tablet in one?
