Spider Combines Laptop, Tablet, Phone, Handheld

During the IFA 2011 electronics show in Berlin, Korea’s KT telecommunications provider revealed a new Android smartphone project dubbed as the "Spider Concept." At the heart of this project is the Spider Phone, an Android 2.3.4 "Gingerbread" device with a customized KT UI. Slap on various peripherals, and this simple phone becomes a handheld gaming platform, a tablet and a laptop.

The Spider phone itself consists of a 4.5-inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, a 1710mAh battery, a dual-core Qualcomm processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, 16 GB of internal memory and a Full HD camera (8MP rear-facing, 3MP front-facing). It roughly weighs around 0.311-lbs and measures just 3.74-inches thick.

Now comes the fun part. By simply inserting the Spider Phone into the back of a tablet shell, users automatically have the 10.1-inch Spider PAD. The phone can also be shoved into the Spider Laptop shell which adds a larger screen (size unknown), a full QWERTY keyboard and a USB drive for adding a mouse or an external hard drive.

Finally, for those in the mood for some serious (Android) gaming, the Spider Concept bundle comes with a gamepad kit, creating a Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) clone complete with a D-Pad (left) and four buttons (right) when snapped onto the phone. As with the laptop and tablet adapters, the gamepad adapter comes with its own battery to extend the overall power usage.

KT's Spider Concept is expected to launch domestically in Korea sometime during November or December, but as of this writing, pricing is unknown. A spokesperson said the company isn't sure about an international release at this time, indicating that the company is taking a "wait and see" stance based on the local performance.

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more. 

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