Samsung envisions future in which tablets are the same as smartphones

I think most of us would prefer to carry as few gadgets around as possible, which is part of the reason why a tablet can seem like such an extraneous purchase. Anything your iPhone can do, your iPad can generally do better and with more comfort, except for one thing… make phone calls. However, iPads are really too big to bake cell phone modems into, which results in consumers carrying around two gadgets with mutually redundant functionality with them, when ideally they would only carry one.

Samsung — makers of the popular Galaxy series of Android smartphones as well as the only real iPad-competitor in the Galaxy Tab — have a solution to this problem. Make the tablet into a big cell phone, but don’t force people to try to answer it like one: instead, pair a cellular capable tablet with a tiny, elegant Bluetooth receiver.

Called the HM5000 or Slim Stick Type Bluetooth Headset, the thin little Bluetooth stick can pair with up to two devices simultaneously. When not in use, it has a clip, so it can be tucked into any pocket and alert you of incoming calls with a built-in vibrator.

Samsung’s not actually mentioning tablets for this: hypothetically, this little Bluetooth stick can pair with any phone. That said, this gadget has no point except to be paired with tablets like the Galaxy Tab.

I have to say, as someone who is never without his iPad, I love the idea behind this. My iPad 2 does everything my iPhone does and does them better except phone calls. If Apple baked a telephone modem into the iPad and paired it with an accessory like this, I think I could get a smartphone out of my gadget line-up entirely.

It’s a great idea: tablets as a tether point for super lightweight, brainless handsets. I’ll be interested to see if Samsung follows through with this idea.