ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 25, 2012 3:00 AM ESTThe Display
At 1920 x 1200 with a 10.1-inch diagonal, the Transformer Pad Infinity's Super IPS+ panel works out to a hefty 224 pixels per inch. That's shy of the iPad's 264 PPI but still a tremendous improvement over the 149 PPI of the previous generation Transformers. 1920 x 1200 is a fully supported resolution under Ice Cream Sandwich, so there's no funniness that has to happen in order to support the new display. It's still a 16:10 aspect ratio, but with a 1.5x increase in the horizontal and vertical dimensions.
The effect on the display is subtle but present. Text looks sharper, icons look clearer, everything just gets better. The browser uses the added resolution to make smaller text more legible when zoomed out on web pages:
Macro shot of AnandTech.com on the Transformer Prime, 10.1-inch 1280 x 800
Macro shot of AnandTech.com on the Transformer Pad Infinity, 10.1-inch 1920 x 1080
High resolution photos look good on the display as well, but the effect is a bit more subtle than I would have expected. It's really text that benefits the most in my opinion.
In going to the higher resolution panel, ASUS hasn't improved color gamut or accuracy. Things are a tad better compared to the TF Prime but not appreciably so. White point is kept at around 7500K across the brightness range.
Where ASUS does deliver is in contrast ratio and brightness. In its default state the Transformer Pad Infinity can deliver, at max brightness, 460 nits. Similar to the Transformer Prime, ASUS offers a Super IPS+ mode for outdoor viewing that drives the panel and backlight to just under 700 nits.
Black levels suffer a bit at the Super IPS+ setting, but otherwise the panel is actually a bit better than what ASUS used in the Transformer Prime. The result is a contrast ratio of over 1300:1, or 1135:1 in Super IPS+ mode.
The brightness and contrast improvements are appreciated as is the increased pixel density. It would have been nice to see an improvement in color gamut and color accuracy with the Transformer Pad Infinity. Let's hope ASUS is saving the best for its Windows 8 tablets later this year.
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semiconshawn - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
All that typing and nothing said. Well done.Miggleness - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
You sir, made my day. lol.I lost my Ipad 3 last week, just ordered one last night. But this one looks promising. WIsh it came out sooner as I'm an android fan myself, just not the android hardware i've been purchasing (Shame on you Motorola!)
Steelbom - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
I use my iPad 3 quite regularly and have never encountered any of the issues you've mentioned, you either had a defective unit or some really weird bugs which a restore might have fixed."being so technically incompetent you have to exactly double your pixel count each time because you can't code scaling graphics into your design"
What? Are you joking? Apple doubled the resolution so that everything would be seamless and as little effort as possible was required from developers.
sawilson - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
I think the problem is I was trying to use it as a desktop replacement, and it's not. It's a toy. I can remember my girlfriend saying "why do you do that so much?" when I was flipping between tasks and I was explaining it was because I was trying to five things at once and she was like "It can do that?" and I had to say "No, actually it can't". I was trying to use a toy to get work done. It was my own fault really.maximumGPU - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
Yeah it was your fault. she should dump you.ltphilpot - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - link
Yet another troll post! I use my iPad to remotely manage 11 servers when I'm not on site, yup the iPad is just a toy!Belard - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - link
Yes, it is your fault. You are holding it wrong :)Spunjji - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
So to make everything nice for developers, the customer gets stuck with an unnecessarily high resolution screen that makes web pages look like crap and lumps them with a thicker, heavier, power guzzling device that gets worse battery life than its predecessor.Yeah, that makes sense.
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
You can play bloons TD4 on an ipoop?sawilson - Monday, June 25, 2012 - link
You can until it locks up completely solid at around level 100 on extended play, or you have more than 10 supermonkeys on the screen. Unless I was holding it wrong or something.