Asus Eee Pad Transformer review

With every electronics manufacturer in the entire universe looking to release an Android tablet in 2011, individual products are all going to need some kind of unique selling point.

This is especially true with Android 3.0 products, because the vast majority of them are all packing near identical innards – namely Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual core CPU platform.

The LG Optimus Pad, then, has its 3D camera. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V has its 8MP snapper. And the Android 2.3-toting HTC Flyer comes with its own Sense UI overlay.

So it makes perfect sense that Asus - the company that gave birth to the netbook - would seek to position its first Android tablet in a niche it knows well.

Ever since the iPad was unleashed on the world like an Apple-scented hurricane in 2010, the humble netbook's days have been numbered. But the problem was that until now, there wasn't a product that truly offered the functionality of a netbook and the portability, convenience and not to mention the pleasure of using a tablet.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 is that product. With its detachable keyboard and trackpad dock, it's a powerful Android tablet while on the move, and a functional Android-powered netbook when you're sitting at a desk.

The back of the tablet and the keyboard is covered in a honeycomb-style texture, which makes it quite grippy to hold in your hand.

That said, build quality doesn't quite live up to the impossibly high standards of the iPad 2. The plastic bodywork feels mostly solid, but there's a fraction of give there that slightly undermines what is otherwise a very lovely-looking device.

Another small negative is the size of the thing. The 10.1-inch screen is surrounded by a black bezel and a further metallic surround, which makes the device almost 20mm wider than it would be without them.

It's also slightly heavier than some of the other tablets around. At 680g it's still not exactly heavy, and with the keyboard dock attached it feels about the same weight as a decent netbook.

And there is one enormous positive that we've yet to mention. The price.

The Transformer is available from as little as £379, while it'll cost you just £429 for the tablet and keyboard dock together. That means it's significantly cheaper than the likes of the Motorola Xoom, while offering arguably a lot more.

So does the Transformer offer the best of both tablet and netbook worlds? Or is it a horrible mess in the shape of the Acer Iconia Tab W500? We're about to find out.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer comes packing the same Tegra 250 chip as the other big hitters in the Android 3.0 world.

Backed up by 1GB RAM, and 16GB and 32GB storage flavours, it's as well-specified as any other tablet we've seen. That storage capacity can be supplemented by taking advantage of the microSD slot in the tablet and the SD card slot in the dock.

It also comes with a 10.1-inch capacitive IPS display at a decent HD resolution of 1280x800, a 5MP rear-firing camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

Other hardware features come in the shape of a three-axis accelerometer, gryroscope, wireless N connectivity and a tablet-only battery life of 9.5 hours. There's not yet a 3G version but we believe there's one on the way.

The Transformer has a proprietary docking connector on the bottom side, which is used to charge the battery, connect to a computer and dock with the keyboard peripheral.

It's a fully-featured keyboard, tailored perfectly to the Android 3.0 operating system. So as well as the QWERTY key layout, you've got hot keys for locking and unlocking the device, adjusting screen brightness, turning Wi-Fi on and off and opening the Android settings menu.

You've also got a laptop-style trackpad that enables you to use a cursor to browse the Android OS if you so wish.

The keyboard dock is where two USB 2.0 ports and an SD card port reside, so if you buy the cheaper version without the dock, you won't get those features. But the dock is more than just a keyboard and USB port – it has hidden powers, courtesy of its own battery.

The dock's battery packs in an additional six and a half hours of playtime, meaning that when docked the Eee Pad Transformer can be used for up to 16 hours without the need for a recharge.

What's more, the dock actually passes its charge on to the tablet itself. So when the tablet's not at 100% power the dock will charge it up, providing it has enough juice to do so.

If both batteries are fully charged, the device will take power from the keyboard first, meaning the tablet always has as much power as possible for when you want to detach it.

With the Android 3.1 update, the Transformer will be able to act as a host for external devices such as digital cameras, further reinforcing this tablet's status as a netbook killer.

source:  http://www.techradar.com

Asus Eee Pad Transformer review

With every electronics manufacturer in the entire universe looking to release an Android tablet in 2011, individual products are all going to need some kind of unique selling point.

This is especially true with Android 3.0 products, because the vast majority of them are all packing near identical innards – namely Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual core CPU platform.

The LG Optimus Pad, then, has its 3D camera. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V has its 8MP snapper. And the Android 2.3-toting HTC Flyer comes with its own Sense UI overlay.

So it makes perfect sense that Asus - the company that gave birth to the netbook - would seek to position its first Android tablet in a niche it knows well.

Ever since the iPad was unleashed on the world like an Apple-scented hurricane in 2010, the humble netbook's days have been numbered. But the problem was that until now, there wasn't a product that truly offered the functionality of a netbook and the portability, convenience and not to mention the pleasure of using a tablet.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 is that product. With its detachable keyboard and trackpad dock, it's a powerful Android tablet while on the move, and a functional Android-powered netbook when you're sitting at a desk.

The back of the tablet and the keyboard is covered in a honeycomb-style texture, which makes it quite grippy to hold in your hand.

That said, build quality doesn't quite live up to the impossibly high standards of the iPad 2. The plastic bodywork feels mostly solid, but there's a fraction of give there that slightly undermines what is otherwise a very lovely-looking device.

Another small negative is the size of the thing. The 10.1-inch screen is surrounded by a black bezel and a further metallic surround, which makes the device almost 20mm wider than it would be without them.

It's also slightly heavier than some of the other tablets around. At 680g it's still not exactly heavy, and with the keyboard dock attached it feels about the same weight as a decent netbook.

And there is one enormous positive that we've yet to mention. The price.

The Transformer is available from as little as £379, while it'll cost you just £429 for the tablet and keyboard dock together. That means it's significantly cheaper than the likes of the Motorola Xoom, while offering arguably a lot more.

So does the Transformer offer the best of both tablet and netbook worlds? Or is it a horrible mess in the shape of the Acer Iconia Tab W500? We're about to find out.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer comes packing the same Tegra 250 chip as the other big hitters in the Android 3.0 world.

Backed up by 1GB RAM, and 16GB and 32GB storage flavours, it's as well-specified as any other tablet we've seen. That storage capacity can be supplemented by taking advantage of the microSD slot in the tablet and the SD card slot in the dock.

It also comes with a 10.1-inch capacitive IPS display at a decent HD resolution of 1280x800, a 5MP rear-firing camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

Other hardware features come in the shape of a three-axis accelerometer, gryroscope, wireless N connectivity and a tablet-only battery life of 9.5 hours. There's not yet a 3G version but we believe there's one on the way.

The Transformer has a proprietary docking connector on the bottom side, which is used to charge the battery, connect to a computer and dock with the keyboard peripheral.

It's a fully-featured keyboard, tailored perfectly to the Android 3.0 operating system. So as well as the QWERTY key layout, you've got hot keys for locking and unlocking the device, adjusting screen brightness, turning Wi-Fi on and off and opening the Android settings menu.

You've also got a laptop-style trackpad that enables you to use a cursor to browse the Android OS if you so wish.

The keyboard dock is where two USB 2.0 ports and an SD card port reside, so if you buy the cheaper version without the dock, you won't get those features. But the dock is more than just a keyboard and USB port – it has hidden powers, courtesy of its own battery.

The dock's battery packs in an additional six and a half hours of playtime, meaning that when docked the Eee Pad Transformer can be used for up to 16 hours without the need for a recharge.

What's more, the dock actually passes its charge on to the tablet itself. So when the tablet's not at 100% power the dock will charge it up, providing it has enough juice to do so.

If both batteries are fully charged, the device will take power from the keyboard first, meaning the tablet always has as much power as possible for when you want to detach it.

With the Android 3.1 update, the Transformer will be able to act as a host for external devices such as digital cameras, further reinforcing this tablet's status as a netbook killer.