ASUS Transformer Pad 300 (TF300T) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 22, 2012 3:00 AM ESTCamera Quality
The Transformer Pad 300 comes with a 8MP rear facing camera (F2.2 aperture, 3264 x 2448 capture resolution) and a 1.2MP front facing camera (F2.4 aperture, 1280 x 960 capture resolution). The rear facing flash from the Prime is gone, although captured image quality appears to have gone up compared to the Prime in both low light and well lit conditions. The difference isn't always dramatic but it's clear ASUS did some ISP tweaking with the 300.
Taken with the Transformer Pad 300's rear facing camera
Images shot using the rear camera range in size from around 2.6MB to 4.5MB depending on the scene. Captures are very quick and the ICS camera UI feels very natural.
Video quality from the rear sensor isn't bad either, although it's best viewed at lower resolutions rather than the native 1080p output. The 300 captured using baseline H.264 at just under 16Mbps for the sample below:
While this low-light sample ended up with an average bitrate of around 8Mbps:
Note that neither capture was a consistent 30 fps. Average frame rate in the latter was around 16.7, while the former was much closer to ideal at 27.2 fps.
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Hrel - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
I wanted to upvote this. But I'm not on reddit:(hackbod - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
<quote>Google has even added support for external batteries like the Transformer Pad's in Ice Cream Sandwich</quote>This isn't true, this is a customization that Asus has done. The power of open source, etc., etc.
sprockkets - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
That was true of 3.0. You have a source saying it isn't in 4.0?hackbod - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
You can look at the source code if you want to confirm -- for example look at BatteryService.java and see there is nothing there for reporting multiple batteries.Also I know what stuff we have added to Android in this area, and internal + dock battery is not one of them. :)
XZerg - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
Is there a USB port or not on the tablet itself? I noticed the charger is usb based, correct? If so, can that port be used to connect other devices such as keyboards and usb keys?Impulses - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
There's no USB port but you can use a 40 pin to USB adapter, it's like $12 (and took forever to come out after the original TF but it's finally readily available as of a few months ago). Other tablets with a micro USB port still require the use of a special USB OTG cable AFAIK, so neither approach is clearly superior.haar - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
WELCOME to the niche market!... 80000 transformers sold! lol ...where you have to carry two pieces, a keyboard and screen, so that you can transform it into a notebook that should have been...
so how is a tablet with a 10 inch screen+keyboard any better than the 11 inch macbook air with win8 ...do you think would you use a 11 inch screen in a laptop for everyday work?... when you answer that question for yourself, then you will know if this transformert ablet is good for you.
exact how are you going to remove the perception that you are using a "toy"... dont "real" tech geek use "powerful" processors! HUGE screens!, 1337 Ice cream OS's!!!!
transformer infinity? ... it does NOT exist for sale! why list it in a table?... and because it doesn't exist how can the specs be correct...? making an article 10% ad copy in is beneath Anandtech.com or shoud be!
crankerchick - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
Including the Infinity in the spec comparison is very helpful for those of us deciding to wait it out. Obviously it is not a available yet and a performance and quality comparison isn't an option yet, but reminding us of the features helps us keep a mental note that there is something more on the horizon so we can decide if what is different spec wise is worth waiting for. The specs are as correct as can be confirmed by what has been released by ASUS. Get over it.TrackSmart - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
Yes, the article was quite informative. I'm researching tablets right now for a relative. The analysis, comparative performance data, and the frank opinion provided in the conclusions were all useful for the decision-making process.And for Haar (above), many of us would be buying this as a tablet only - without the dock. And for use as a entertainment / media consumption device, rather than for work. The only useless information here is your rude comment.
Souka - Sunday, April 22, 2012 - link
stick the iPad3 screen onto the Transformer Infinity guts... "Winner" :)