ASUS Transformer Pad 300 (TF300T) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 22, 2012 3:00 AM ESTGPS & WiFi Performance: No Problems Here
The all-aluminum construction of the Transformer Prime unfortunately resulted in WiFi performance degradation in certain situations compared to the original Transformer, and it pretty much ruined the tablet's GPS functionality. The latter got so bad that ASUS eventually removed GPS from the official spec sheet of the TF Prime and is now offering an external GPS dongle for those users who want better GPS performance.
The Transformer Pad 300 avoids all of these issues by being made completely out of plastic (and glass of course). WiFi performance is better than the Transformer Prime and more in line with the original Transformer as a result. Overall I'd say WiFi performance is pretty decent on the 300, whereas the Prime definitely has issues depending on what is between you and the AP:
| WiFi Performance Comparison | ||||||
| Distance from AP | 3 feet | 20 feet (Different Room) | 50 feet (Different Room/Floor) | 80 feet (Different Room) | ||
| ASUS TF Prime (2.4GHz) | 26.9 Mbps | 9.85 Mbps | 13.5 Mbps | 2.20 Mbps | ||
| ASUS TF Pad 300 (2.4GHz) | 26.5 Mbps | 21.8 Mbps | 20.7 Mbps | 21.3 Mbps | ||
| ASUS Transformer (2.4GHz) | 21.8 Mbps | 17.6 Mbps | 18.8 Mbps | 15.0 Mbps | ||
| Apple iPad 2 (2.4GHz) | 35.1 Mbps | 29.9 Mbps | 26.9 Mbps | 10.6 Mbps | ||
| Apple iPad 3 (2.4GHz) | 35.1 Mbps | 29.9 Mbps | 27.9 Mbps | 9.98 Mbps | ||
| Apple iPad 2 (5GHz) | 36.7 Mbps | 36.7 Mbps | 36.7 Mbps | 11.9 Mbps | ||
| Apple iPad 3 (5GHz) | 36.7 Mbps | 36.7 Mbps | 36.7 Mbps | 11.7 Mbps | ||
Whereas the Transformer Prime relied on two WiFi antennas and a dedicated GPS antenna, the 300 combines WiFi, BT and GPS into a single muxed antenna located to the left of the rear camera:
WiFi is still provided by the Azurewave AW-NH615, a rebranded Broadcom BCM4329 solution. ASUS tells me that depending on supply we may even see the original Transformer's Murata WiFi solution used in the 300.
GPS support is similarly driven by the same Broadcom BCM47511 used in the Transformer Prime, however this time we get much better performance. I hopped in a car (with a metal roof), drove to an area with clear sky visibility and tested each tablet resting on top of the center console, near where you'd find the gear selector in most cars. I created a WiFi hotspot on my phone to speed up ephemeris/almanac download speeds and relied on the tablets' internal GPS to determine my actual location. Here's what the GPS antenna is able to pick up on the Prime after 2 minutes:
ASUS Transformer Prime, GPS Status after 2 minutes
And here's what the Transformer Pad 300 sees after 18 seconds:
ASUS Transformer Pad 300, GPS Status after 18 seconds
Much better. Note that the SNR for the visibile satellites still isn't all that great. Indeed I don't know that I would recommend the 300 as an in-car GPS replacement, but its GPS performance is significantly better than the Prime. Just for comparison's sake, here's what the original Transformer saw after 18 seconds:
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, GPS Status after 18 seconds
ASUS doesn't actually make mention of GPS support on its landing page for the Transformer Prime 300, and the WiFi-only iPads don't offer GPS as an option either. If you really want a good GPS solution you may want to consider either a smartphone or the LTE iPad.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
37 Comments
View All Comments
shriganesh - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Asus rocks! My original Transformer got ICS 4.0.3 update just a few days back! ICS is great and shuttering is gone! UI is much better and feels smooth!Netscorer - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
Even though I like the idea of dockable keyboard, from practicality perspective we would need to wait for Windows 8 tablet for this to take off. I just don't see Android ICS as a serious notebook replacement. Given the rest of the specs, for only $100 more one can get an iPad with vastly better screen, battery life, GPU and other characteristics that actually do matter in tablet. I am not trying to compare ICS with iOS5 here as both have they merits but we should also consider the maturity of the App Market comparing to Google Play and other Android contenders.Finally, ASUS have yet to prove that it can ship any significant volume of their tablets. I wanted to buy the original Transformer but for two months could not find any stock and then cooled to the idea. I was following the Infinity model again with no stock until new iPad was already on the market. What are the odds that ASUS will suddenly release this model in quantity?
I'm sorry ASUS but for Pad to take off, you would need to price it at no more then $350 (with 32GB of RAM) and a $100 dock. Otherwise no-one outside of the geek community would even consider your tablet as an alternative to iPad.
Naguz - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
If only they had included a USB port on the tablet itself - along with a display connector you could connect a VGA adapter to for presentations.dreddit - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Hey guys are you sure the dimension for the infinity are correct. If so then the Bezel must be much smaller than the primes, by 10mm either side.The asus web site still has dimensions the same as the prime. I hope it is a smaller form factor but with the same 10.1 ips screen
Lucian Armasu - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Put a dual core (or quad core next year) Cortex A15 chip at 2 Ghz in it, and with a 2560x1600 resolution at 11.6", and I'll take it. There's no way an x86 device with Windows 8 would be in the same price range. It would probably be closer to $1000 than $500.slagar - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
Looks like another fine ASUS product.Absolutely second Anand's comments regarding one of these with Windows 8 later this year. I can't wait to see what happens :)
Thanks for the great info and reviews as always Anandtech!
Anonymous1a - Saturday, August 4, 2012 - link
I absolutely love Asus' product range but the only problem I have with them is that they don't have their own direct store. Although the base models are easily available on the internet, finding a 3G version of the TF300 is like finding a needle in a haystack and the only place I found the needle was ebay and at ridiculously high prices (600+) and considering the fact that two models have already come out after it and the iPad 2 has it's 3G version at 529, this is just wayyy too high, with these vendors exploiting the lack of a direct chain and lack of availability of these products. And there was literally nowhere I could the the Infinity or Prime with LTE anywhere. I wish they would, at least, for a few major markets like USA and UK have their own direct online selling point.