ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 21, 2011 4:00 AM ESTDock Issues
As impressed as I was with the fact that ASUS took a tablet OS and made it work in both the tablet and notebook worlds, the Eee Pad Transformer dock isn't without its issues. As I alluded to before, there are times when the dock simply doesn't work. I'll be using the dock, scrolling around or typing and then all of the sudden the keyboard and trackpad stop working altogether. Sometimes the solution is as simple as undocking and redocking the Eee Pad, but other times it requires a full reboot. It's frustrating.
I've also encountered a hard lock and an unexpected reboot, both while docked although I'm not sure if ASUS is to blame or if these are Honeycomb specific issues. ASUS tells me that the Transformer docks that were sent out to reviewers are one firmware revision too old, and what will go out to customers next week should have a number of bugs fixed. I expect to have final hardware/software sometime next week, which I'll be testing to see exactly how much has been fixed.
There's also an issue with power consumption. The dock doesn't exactly have an on/off switch, so even when not in use it'll eat up power as it waits to see if you've docked an Eee Pad to it. ASUS expects to address this with a future firmware update for the dock next month. The update will put the unit into an ultra low power state when docked if the tablet is in standby, and power down completely when not attached to the tablet.
ASUS' Virtual Keyboard: By Nuance
If you read our Xoom review you'll know that I was pretty impressed with the stock Honeycomb keyboard. Not only does it boast a clean layout but Google also provides adjustable autocorrect settings, allowing you to configure how aggressive the autocorrect system behaves. Thus I was surprised to find out that the Eee Pad ships with a custom ASUS virtual keyboard:
A little digging reveals that Nuance (the company that makes Dragon NaturallySpeaking) is the ISV that developed the keyboard and its underlying autocorrect engine. Similar to what Apple offers under iOS, Nuance corrects what you type by looking at word length, letters used and proximity of those letters to others on the keyboard. The ASUS keyboard is just as configurable as the stock Android keyboard, even letting you set how aggressive the auto correction engine behaves.
The ASUS virtual keyboard also supports "trace input" which is basically a non-trademarked word for Swype. Trace input on the Eee Pad works but the tracing animation is pretty laggy and I feel like accuracy isn't quite as good as Swype on smartphones.
The look and layout of ASUS' virtual keyboard also differs from the stock Honeycomb keyboard. ASUS includes a row of number keys along the top of the keyboard, without increasing the footprint of the keyboard—meaning all of the keys get shorter. Thankfully on a 10.1-inch screen, even shorter keys aren't that hard to hit, and the addition of the number row saves you an awkward trip to a secondary keyboard screen. The backspace and return keys are unfortunately placed in the very bottom right corner, which I never could get used to.
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DesktopMan - Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - link
Why no gaming benchmarks? I think they're important to show what a poor performer the Tegra 2 GPU actually is.spambonk - Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - link
Owners are saying a new firmware update is rolling in at the moment, fixing the video camera stutters.Ramshambo2001 - Wednesday, April 27, 2011 - link
Does downloading a third party app fix the issues with the camera?Ramshambo2001 - Monday, May 2, 2011 - link
Awesome review, I just ordered mine yesturday. Found a $40 off coupon for Target from fatwallet.com! Crazy awesome deal for $359!techwafer-tech - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - link
You can buy it at Target. When you add the Transformer to your cart and use the promo code TCA27BAR, you can knock $40 off the price. Check <a href="http://www.techwafer.com/2011/05/05/asus-eee-pad-t...weeweeman - Thursday, May 19, 2011 - link
This is a IPAD2 killer and this has now already dropped in price! It is currently sub £400 on Amazon! - http://amzn.to/jLbPxqA-Griffith - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
I do not generally write reviews but this tablet is worth it. I have owned(and returned) and Motorola Xoom and have tested the Ipad 2. BOTH are nice devices for sure but a tad bit overpriced and I am not a huge fan of the boring iOS customization options. For $399 (Asus Transformer 16gb version) you get the 10 inch tablet, you get the Tegra POWER, the nice sound and the latest Android tablet operating system (honeycomb) which is the perfect combination.Device feels very solid in hand, not too light, not too heavy, all of the apps from my previous Mytouch 4g work on the tablet and it functions very well. Battery life is GREAT, I set it to leave wifi on permanently without disconnecting and took it off the charger at 9pm yesterday, used it to tweet, browse and type a paper while listening to non stop music until about 1-2am. Woke up today at 9am, my new emails were synced and gtalk was running.....STILL had 69% left. It is now going on 1pm, i haven't used it much besides for my alarm clock and listened to another 10 songs and tweeted while i got ready for class and its sitting at 63% now.
PROS:
- Great Battery Life (Without the Keyboard dock's extra power source)
- Nice weight, does not feel cheap
- Android 3.0 for tablets is a great step forward to set it apart from everyone else just using the phone OS
- SPEED
- Can handle ALL tasks( Recreation, Games, Music, Work documents, homework, etc) My laptop has been put to rest since owning a table.... R.I.P.
- PLENTY of apps for everyone and everything you are interested in.
- Google talk video chat works like a charm
- Cameras take good quality pictures
- EASE OF USE
Cons:
- Not a fan of the placement of the speakers since they put them towards the bottom. My hands sometimes blocks them while holding the device but i can still hear the music just fine(even though not as loud)
- The charger is kinda short, that is acceptable but it seems like when you plug the Tablet to the computer it stops charging when you have the screen on, i found that a little strange. Safety reasons? im not sure.
Final Verdict: If you want a GREAT tablet that is affordable, has video chat, music, games, apps, full internet browsing abilities and PLENTY of customization options then this is your device! Easily replaced my new laptop, much lighter, better battery life and can do the same things...literally.
*** P.S. If you will buy this Tablet I suggest you have compare price before you decide at --> www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Foffer-listing%2FB004U78J1G%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Ddp_olp_new%26condition%3Dnew%23&tag=othersitecomment-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
aphonic - Saturday, June 11, 2011 - link
I've never felt the need to comment even as a reader since basically inception..because the reviews are always great.. as is the tech info. This is no exception, but I wanted to put my $.02The tf is a device that could have solved some problems..however, it is clearly beta from head to toe. It's an incredibly frustrating device to use. Unresponsive is being kind. 3.1 didn't solve the issue, the trackpad being unable to disable touch click makes it useless. One cannot even type a reply like this in the browser with the hard keyboard due to tremendous lag (including alternate browsers, though opera is better)
it's a real shame this wasn't a more considered device prior to release.. and imo, since asus as speculated the sequel in q4, don't pay to beta test honeycomb and their product. This is simply not a product ready for prime time. Some of the blame lies on asus, some on google, but either way, by the time things are resolved, there will be much faster hardware.. wait six months.
austrien - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
Can the USB cable on this unit be plugged into a USB connector that plugs into a car's cigarette plug for charging and if so what would be the time involved?Bearocalypse - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I'd take it travellinf