ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
- 10.1″ WSVGA (1280×800) IPS Capacitive LED Touchscreen; Android 3.2 Operating System
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU; 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 1 slot, 1GB Max; 16GB Internal Flash Memory; Wireless 802.11bgn; Bluetooth 2.1
- Mini HDMI Port; Micro SD Card Slot; 1.2MP (front) and 5.0MP (rear) Webcam
- GPS; Gravity Sensor; E-Compass; Light Sensor; Gyroscope; 24.4Wh Lithium Polymer Battery (Up to 9.5 Hours Battery Life)
- 40-Pin Docking Port for Optional Keyboard (Keyboard Not included)/Docking Station (Model Name: TF101 DOCKING)
With a slim, lightweight design and a 10.1-inch WSVGA IPS capacitive display made from durable and scratch-resistant glass that is viewable at angles up to 178°, the versatile Eee Pad Transformer is the perfect tablet for anyone who want to enjoy multimedia on the move, but still wish to have easy access to the web, email, and other productivity applications. A custom user interface provides easy access to the many features of the Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) operating system, while the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 chipset provides full support for Adobe® Flash® 10.2,1 smooth HD video conferencing and playback, a lightning fast web experience, and incredible mobile gaming performance. Front and rear cameras make for easy video chat and digital photography, which can be played back in video on HDTVs via a mini HDMI output port, making it a true mobile entertainment device.Some things are meant to go together
Transforming the Conventional into the Unconventional
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Best Honeycomb 3.2 tablet so far (updated August 3rd 2011),
I was lucky enough to wake up early today and go to Memory Express in Edmonton and they had one. Stores received a limited amount of tablets and they were all sold out within hours, including here on Amazon. I’ve been playing with this thing for hours now and so far I’ve only had great experiences with it.
The main feature for me is the remote desktop: you can access your PC, whether it’s a Mac or a PC, if they’re both connected to your home wi-fi connection. You can control your PC from anywhere and use all of its features. I watched a HD movie and worked on MS Word docs, everything went smoothly.
The tablet doesn’t weigh much for its size and the IPS screen is amazing, it’s the same screen used on the iPad 2. I’m not a person who needs to buy products made by just one brand. I like Apple and I own a iPhone 4, but when it came to deciding which tablet to buy, I went for the Transformer because it offers me a tablet/netbook function, the best of both worlds.
The tablet itself has a microSD card slot so I already have 32GB more to use it. The docking station (which can be purchased by 149.99) has 2 USB ports and 1 SD Card slot.
You can edit Microsoft Office docs on it using Polaris Office, it’s great and this app comes pre-installed on it. Playing mp3s or acc files on it it’s great too. You can use the app MyNet to play music from your own PC or Mac, via bluetooth.
I’m playing SNES games using SNESoid app and using a Wiimote/Classic Controller via Bluetooth and everything works great! It has native email (which Blackberry Playbook doesn’t) and you can sync your calendar and contacts easily. It has full flash compatibility. For $399, there’s nothing on the market with these specs. The Motorola Xoom has similar specs and it costs $200 more. It doesn’t give you the option to attach a docking station with all those slots. When I buy computers, I want to be able to upload content to it easily, or transfer files from it easily as well. The Apple system is ok but needing iTunes for everything is kinda like a dictatorship. I had to jailbreak my iPhone to be able to play SNES games on it, or even listen to music on Grooveshark. That’s where the Android Market comes in.
You can download any apps you want, any developer can create apps for it, it’s a “free” system. It’s not as wide as the App Store, but it’s getting bigger and bigger by the minute. I downloaded the Kindle app and already transferred all my e-books to it (I also own a Kindle and I love it).
There are some quirks that have to be tweaked with Honeycomb 3.0 OS and that’s something Google is working on. That’s easy since updates will be released (an update is scheduled in 2 days). So that will improve the overall performance of the OS. But I honestly didn’t have any issues with it, I really like Honeycomb 3.0 so far.
I definitely recommend this thing for people who want to use their tablets as an extension or even a replacement to their laptops. Asus has hit a home run with this one, since it costs much less than anybody else and its specs are great. It’s hands down the best purchase I’ve had under 400 bucks.
The docking station is sold out anywhere else but I pre-ordered it on Amazon and I’m hoping to get it in a couple of weeks. I’ll post a video with the combo once I get everything up and running. I’m a iOS person who’s welcoming Android with open arms!
Review Update: Apr 29 2011 – Ok, so I’ve been using my Transformer for a few days so I’d like to add a few pros and cons to this review.
Pros: beside what’s been mentioned above, I noticed that:
– multitasking is really easy on the Transformer. You can quickly jump from one app to the other, check e-mails, browse something on Wikipedia, listen to music and even have your Skype session open at the same time. I was chatting with my dad and multitasking and had no issues. The Skype app needs updates, but that’s nothing to do with Asus.
– File Manager: this feature is great! You don’t have to hook up your Transformer to your computer all the time to move, copy or paste files. You can create new folders and even transfer files from your microSD card straight to it. I transferred a movie from my microsd Card folder (path is rootremovable to access microSD files) to my Movies folder and it was very quick. And I didn’t need to plug it in in order to access or move the files.
– Widgets: Your Desktop Area (Or Asus Launcher) is very wide so you can add many widgets to it, and they’re very handy. That’s something that can’t be done on the iPad 2. Mind you Widgets can affect the speed a bit, but nothing noticeable at all. Those people running speed tests between iPad 2 and the Transformer need to bear that in mind.
– Weight: believe it or not, it doesn’t feel heavy at all for its size.
Cons: ok, so here it is:
-smudges on screen – it’s a fingerprint…
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|Awesome with one little complaint **Usage Update***,
I was one of the lucky view at the stroke of midnight on April 26th, was able to get my order in on Amazon. I just received my tablet tonight via Amazon Prime.
I’ve been on Android since the original T-Mobile G1 released, and have owned an iPad since September of last year, so quite awhile on both. This is my first ownership experience of a Honeycomb 3.0 tablet.
Software wise, there’s not that much I can add in terms of what others haven’t already said. It’s VERY refreshing coming from iOS, to actually not be staring at pages and pages of useless icons. The notifications are ABSOLUTELY sweet (i.e. useful!). The app quick access with screenshots adds to a very desktop-esque experience, but with the navigability of a tablet UI.
Most things run very smooth, typical of all the standard Tegra 2 devices. Speakers are surprisingly loud, and there are actually 2 of them (stereo). Screen is absolutely gorgeous (IPS).
If you’re deep in Google services, such as Gmail, Picasa, Youtube, Docs, etc. Honeycomb is a godsend. I have almost 20gb’s of photos in Picasa, and after one account setup, EVERY SINGLE PICTURE synced. Pretty much all my cloud files and settings synced. From Chrome bookmarks to docs to pictures…. it seriously is a breath of fresh air to have things “just work”, without the use of something like iTunes.
Granted, if you’re not a Googler like me, it won’t be AS beneficial, but that’s not to say it’s still not a great device.
It also charges FAST as hell. My iPad takes on average 6 hours to go from 0% to 100%. I haven’t done a full discharge on the Asus, but it went from 7% to 100% in a little under 2 hrs. That’s insane.
The not so great, both the front and rear camera seem slightly sub-par as far as clarity goes. Very usable, but not great. My only real complaint is the “tightness” of the construction. I absolutely don’t mind the plastic. It’s light, grippy, sturdy, and looks great. However, along the bezel where the plastic seems to meet the glass, the Transformer tends to creak. Nothing worth concern, but it would be nice for a device that’s basically a slab of glass to “sound” solid in your hand.Then I think to myself, this thing cost 399… It’s 100 bucks less then the cheapest iPad.
So, the question really isn’t “Is this thing awesome” or “is it better then an iPad”. I believe either of those answers are really up for interpretation. However, when you throw in the equation of PRICE…”Is this thing awesome for 399″ , i have to give a resounding “YES!”.
****** Edit : Usage Update *******
So I’ve been using this tablet in place of my iPad exclusively for about 4 days now, and have better insight to the Transformer.
The good is that my previous complaint about the build quality really has proven to be a really superficial concern. It does faintly creak in a couple spots, but I would have to classify the actual severity as minimal to non-existant.
Also, after reading the issues with the Asus update, I decided to proceed since it’s only been documented that a handful (i.e. less then 5) people out of potential thousands have actually had issues. My update went without an issue.
I hear people complain about the lack of apps specifically for tablet. I can happily say that i haven’t experience this limitation since even most non-tablet specific apps scale fine. “things look stretched out”. Yes, that’s actually an indication that Android was designed to scale properly (literally). Look at iOS, they literally blow up non iPad apps to the point of pixelation. Android’s solution, while not ideal, is much better and most non-tablet specific apps actually work and look just fine. Having a FULL browser is incredibly helpful.
The notification system is awesome. Just this change makes this tablet twice as more productive then my iPad.
Now, admittedly, there have been more not-so-good issues that I’ve discovered. First off, the tablet is definitely prone to freezes and locks. On several occasions it would just freeze completely and would require a reboot. Also, there have been several times where, when going from portrait to landscape, the resolution of the screen stayed fixed. This would result in an odd partial-screen view. Usually fixed itself after a couple of seconds of rotating the tablet. Other times, presses are unresponsive, ex. opening an app. This is definitely a software issue however, not an issue with the capacitive hardware.
YouTube playback was surprisingly choppy, even in standard def. The recent update however, seemed to have improved that greatly.
Last thing, just like most Android devices, the user experience is proned to “slow-down” once you’ve been on it for any decent amount of time. Can’t be a RAM issue as this has 1GB, and at any given time there’s only 400mb or so in use.
All in all, most of these…
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