ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 25, 2012 3:00 AM ESTWiFi & GPS Performance
With the Transformer Prime ASUS moved to an all-aluminum construction but did little to focus on maintaining RF performance. The Transformer Pad 300 addressed WiFi and GPS performance by moving back to an all-plastic chassis, but as the high end in ASUS' Transformer stack aluminum was a necessity for the Infinity. The compromise is simple: a strip of similarly colored plastic across the top of the tablet, behind the WiFi and GPS antennas.
The plastic strip on the TF Pad Infinity (left) vs. the truly all-aluminum TF Prime (right)
I performed a number of WiFi performance tests and am pleased to say that overall wireless performance appears to be much better than any previous Transformer tablet. I managed nearly 40Mbps in the best case scenario, but more importantly I was able to maintain 3 - 4x the transfer speeds of the TF Prime at further distances from the access point. I would say the Infinity's WiFi performance is now on par with that of the iPad, and is seemingly better at 2.4GHz.
| 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 TF Pad Infinity (2.4GHz) | 39.2 Mbps | 34.0 Mbps | 34.3 Mbps | 10.8 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 | ||
ASUS still doesn't support 5GHz unfortunately with the Transformer Pad Infinity, so expect problems in situations with a bunch of 2.4GHz spectrum crowding.
GPS performance also benefits from the RF improvements to the Infinity. Although GPS locks are still not as consistently quick as I'd like them to be, the Infinity is generally able to get a signal lock quicker than even the Transformer Pad 300 - even in adverse conditions. While the Transformer Prime can't get a lock indoors or even in some situations in a car, the Infinity manages to do so in about 12 seconds. The shot below is what I saw after 12 seconds of searching for a lock:
To get something comparable from even the TF Pad 300 took well over a minute. I suspect the improvements to the Infinity go beyond simple chassis work based on its behavior.
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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.