Japanese telecom supplier Nakayo Telecommunications is preparing a videoconferencing-enabled IP phone that includes a removable seven-inch Android 2.2 tablet. The unnamed device features an 800 x 600 touchscreen, a camera, Wi-Fi, a microSD slot, and a USB port, according to the company.

Nakayo expects to sell some 30,000 units of its IP phone/tablet over the next two years. A formal announcement is due in April, followed by initial shipments in July, says Nakayo. The phone will focus primarily on the business market, and will be aimed at a Japanese market, according to a report on MobileCrunch that alerted us to the product.

Nakayo's IP phone with detachable tablet

The Nakayo device follows the same basic design approach as the similarly business-focused Cisco Cius, combining an Android tablet with a docking station that doubles as an IP phone. In addition to focusing on the business market, Nakayo says it will also look into vertical markets for the device, including healthcare and education.

According to a Nakayo PDF (see farther below), the device is equipped with 256MB DDR RAM, 256MB NAND flash, and a microSD slot that can hold up to 32GB. No processor is listed, nor are there any claims for video quality, but the Android 2.2-ready device is said to support MPEG4 and AVC/H.264 encoding.

The webcam is listed as "30" megapixels on the Nakayo spec sheet, which we would interpret as being three megapixels. However, MobileCrunch instead sees 0.3 megapixels. The seven-inch touchscreen offers 800 x 600 resolution, says Nakayo.

The Nakayo IP phone provides both a 10/100 Ethernet port and 802.11b/g, as well as a mini-USB 2.0 Type A port, says the company. An RCA video-out port is said to be provided, as is an audio output, a sensor input, and a "contact output." 

There's no word on what size battery keeps the tablet running when it is detached (as shown at right). The device is said to run on 5 Volt DC input.

Not much detail are listed for the IP phone functionality, except that the device =supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) protocols including RFC3261 through 3265, as well as RFC3215 and RFC2617. A handset is supplied, but users can make calls via the touchscreen whether or not the tablet has been detached, says the company.

The Android 2.2 package will include a browser, email, web conferencing, video recording and conferencing, and music features, says Nakayo. There's no word about Android Market access. Presumably more details will be provided in April, when we can probably expect to discover which carrier will sell the device.

Availability

The Nakayo IP phone with detachable Android tablet will be formally announced in April, with shipments in July. Pricing has not been announced. More information may be found in this translated Nakayo PDF press release and spec sheet. More information may eventually appear on Nakayo's English-ready website.

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