14 reviews

Asus Eee Pad Transformer

$400.00 Released April, 2011

The Pros:Incredible value at $400. Innovative keyboard dock transforms tablet into laptop/netbook. 10.1" WXGA IPS touch-screen display (1280x800) - beautiful quality, not unlike the iPad (impressive colours, nice off-angle viewing).

The Cons:Plastic construction (both the tablet and keyboard). Glossy display reflects a lot of light, might pick up and display fingerprints. Heavier than the iPad 2 (680g vs 601g).

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer is a thin and light tablet PC running the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) operating system. This is closely related to the Asus Eee Pad Slider, but has a separate keyboard built into a docking station that extends the battery life to up to 12 hours.

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Asus Eee Pad 10.1" 16 GB Wi-Fi Brown Tablet by PriceGrabber.com

They are otherwise the same, with a 10.1 inch touch and pressure sensitive display that uses 1280x800 pixels. The NVIDIA Tegra 2 GPU is capable of displaying video in full 1080p HD quality. Wireless connectivity is handled through a standard Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection with EDR. USB 2.0 wired connections are possible for easy file transfers, and a mini-HDMI port is also available for display of the screen contents on a TV or monitor.

Features

OS: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
CPU/GPU: NVIDIA Tegra 2 (1080p HD playback)
Storage: 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0
Display: 10.1 in WSVGA 1280 x 800 IPS with capacitive touch
Camera: 1.2 megapixel front, 5 megapixel rear
Interface: miniUSB, audio jack, microSD card reader, docking port, mini HDMI
Predicted battery life between charges: 12 hours
Dimensions: 273 x 180 x 17.7 mm
Weight: 886 g

User Reviews (16)

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ProScore

Pros

11

incredible value at $400
6

innovative keyboard dock transforms tablet into laptop/netbook
6

10.1" WXGA IPS touch-screen display (1280x800) - beautiful quality, not unlike the iPad (impressive colours, nice off-angle viewing)
6

Gorilla Glass protective display covering helps avoid scratches, cracks
5

Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU at 1GHz (dual-core)
5

mini-HDMI output
5

Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS
4

1.2MP webcam with microphone
3

great battery life - 9.5 hours, extended to 16 hours with the included keyboard
3

16 or 32GB of internal storage
2

1GB LPDDR2 memory
2

5MP rear camera
2

4-in-1 card reader (microSD, SDHC, etc.)
2

two USB 2.0 ports (!)
2

16 hours battery life with keyboard dock
1

Adobe Flash 10.2 support (Nvidia Tegra2 hardware-accelerated)
1

Awesome name

Cons

4

plastic construction (both the tablet and keyboard)
2

glossy display reflects a lot of light, might pick up and display fingerprints
2

heavier than the iPad 2 (680g vs 601g)
0

doesn't recognize USB sticks reliably (at release 04/2011)
-1

horrible name
-1

broken camera app (at release 04/2011)

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Comments (1)

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dom: #asus_eee_pad_transformer this EeePad Transformer has great hardware features - not a surprise, as it comes from the purveyor of the netbook. But I somehow doubt that Honeycomb can handle all this - I don't think it was designed with all these features in mind. The success of this machine then depends largely on Asus' driver software and Honeycomb integration. Let's see.... Mar 31, 11

comments (12) like 4 people like this

Yale: I completely agree.... Just need to take a step back, and wait for this to launch. Like Asus' convertible netbooks and pure tablet designs of years past I have a feeling it will be a lot more expensive, and a lot less impressive when it comes to market.

Edit: Well that came out of nowhere... Already at Best Buy! Still hesitant. Mar 31, 11
dom: no rush.... just wait for more people to try it out :-) Mar 31, 11
Omar: Just been reading more about this thing and... it's looking pretty darn sweet. Compared to things like the Xoom it's a heck of a lot more compelling. Price is very competitive. Features are great - specifically a nice screen (IPS AND 1200x800 resolution) and good enough battery life. Add onto that the slick keyboard dock that doubles battery life and you have a pretty darn slick package.

It definitely makes me skeptical about the $400 price specifically because it hasn't been totally confirmed yet. If it is $400 and the dock comes in around the $50 price, then ya this may well be the #apple_ipad_2 beater. Or at the very least will show that the Android tablet market is going to be just as competitive as the smartphone one. Mar 31, 11
dom: Engadget posted a review here. Just as I feared, the USB ports are flaky when it comes to using them, and the camera app is pretty screwed up (at the moment). On the upside, it's good to hear they put some solid camera hardware in the thing. Apr 18, 11
dom: Honeycomb 3.1 is a real game changer for tablets - it now supports full USB host mode!! This means that now, instead of Asus having to shoehorn this into the OS, the OS comes with native support for it. All Asus will have to do is plug in the USB controller driver into the OS framework. I hope they get around to providing the 3.1 for the Transformer soon, and can show off how tablets are moving closer to being able to replace netbooks. May 11, 11
Yale: Did you get a Transformer or are you waiting? I know you've been waiting for this for a while now, and it shows the ability for Android devices to really compete on a new level - but do you think it's what the mass consumer really cares about? I think they might have missed the mark on this. I think the majority of people see the tablet as being all about portability and all-in-one usage - not a laptop with annoying carry-around peripherals. I wouldn't even know what I'd possibly want in a peripheral for a device like this anyway, besides a keyboard! May 11, 11
dom: No, I haven't made any tablet purchase... Before I go ahead and do that, I'll get a much needed laptop upgrade, something like a ThinkPad T420s or EliteBook 8540p (the latter has dual-HDD support which is great, though not an HP fan).
As for the Honeycomb 3.1 features like USB host mode, I think that's something extremely useful and independent of whether or not your tablet has a keyboard accessory. A colleague of mine is sending his daughter off to college soon and he told me he's contemplating getting an iPad for her college needs. He didn't know that tablets are still far from being able to serve in that function, though they appear that they are. If tablets even want to replace something as basic as a *netbook*, they must be stand-alone devices (e.g. not requiring a desktop with iTunes) that make it extremely easy to exchange files via standard USB accessories (thumb drives, cameras) without dongles, adapters, or software hacks. Although Honeycomb 3.1 made great strides toward this, personally I prefer waiting another couple of generations (but I wouldn't mind playing around with someone else's ;-)).
How about you? Did you pull the trigger on a tablet yet? May 17, 11
Yale: No not yet, not sure what I want to be holding when the dust settles. Why aren't you considering the X220? I think I'm off full size laptops. May 17, 11
dom: I actually meant 8460p. Stupid model numbers. Really, I'd prefer the X220 over these two.... I can get my company to buy it for me, but they won't do the X220 unless I have some "very good reason", and "I like it better because it's more portable" doesn't qualify, unfortunately :-) May 18, 11
Yale: You can do it, I believe in you. May 18, 11

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Yale: Besides isn't the X220 cheaper? Even upgraded slightly? Maybe not a super power house by comparison - but still capable. May 19, 11
dom: If it's cheaper, that may be an argument. But IT has their own ideas on what and how to do it.... I guess I'll try anyway. May 19, 11