One look at this thing and you’ll be singing the praises of ASUS no doubt. However, the Transphone is not meant to be a ripoff of the better-known Padfone, it just happened to be made in the same era as the latter. At least, that’s what ExoTablet, the company behind Transphone wants you to believe. Whether or not they will be successful in selling more units than ASUS is still up for grabs.

In all honesty, ExoTablet admits the Padfone was a leading idea for their device, which aims to fulfill an untapped market. Combining a phone and a tablet, on a more compact form factor and with lower specs is what the company believes will sell with the public. For specs, we’re looking at a 3.5″ display, single-core CPU, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera and HSPA connectivity, with the tablet addition enlarging the experience to a 7″ and a much more robust battery.

As for pricing, we’re wondering who came up with the numbers, as a hefty $429 undermines the entire selling point. But if that doesn’t make you shy away immediately, and you really feel the need to buy more than one (perhaps a holiday gift or two?), ExoTablet has some goodies in store for you. You can score another tablet-only for a cool $140, another phone for just south of $400, and if you’re really feeling the brand loyalty, a family pack consists of two TransPhones and two TransPacks plus an additional charger for $999.

What say you? Does ExoTablet have the jump on ASUS here, or is this device ‘too little, too late’?