Asus Eee Pad Transformer Review

Introduction:

Is it a tablet? Is it a netbook? No, it's an Asus Eee Pad Transformer! Somewhere in between the two, this smart new device from ASUS operates as a standalone tablet with Honeycomb, a 10” IPS screen and a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. Take things one step further and you can get a full sized keyboard attachment bundled in, turning the tablet into an Android netbook. If past experience is anything to go by, devices that try and do too many things tend to be jacks of all traits and masters of none, so lets see if the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer breaks the mold and scores highly across the board.


Design:

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer comes with similar front panel aesthetics to the Motorola XOOM, with the same screen aspect ratio and a distinct lack of physical buttons. Despite not being as lithe as the iPad 2 and upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, at 12.9 mm thick it doesn't feel as cumbersome as some other tablets due to a curved ergonomic backing which has a bronze textured finish. With the same finish on the underside of the keyboard, the whole package feels very unified indeed.



Question: What do you get if you cross an Apple iPad 2 and a Motorola XOOM display? Answer: An Asus Eee Pad Transformer screen, of course. With the best of both, it combines the IPS technology found in the iPad 2 with the Motorola XOOM's higher resolution. What this practically means is better viewing angles and a sharper image. While the XOOM's picture also has a tendency to look washed out and under-saturated, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer raises the bar with bright, vivid colors and good contrast levels, though the screen doesn't feel quite as responsive as the one on Apple's tab and loves finger-prints.


The fascia is where you'll find both the front facing 1.3MP camera and light sensor directly above the display when in landscape. Along the left side are the only physical buttons, in the form of power and volume rocker, while on the right side, a mini HDMI slot, audio jack and microSD card slot are housed. On the underside is a proprietary power connector while on the back, the main 5MP snapper. The bronze textured backing looks good, but feels a touch hollow despite the tab feeling durable on the whole.

In addition to providing a full sized keyboard, the transforming dock also add 2 USB ports, a full sized SD card slot and an additional proprietary charging port. The keyboard keys are individual chiclets and deliver fantastic typing speeds, being well spaced out and offering a good amount of feedback when pressed. The keys are a modified layout to accommodate Google's Honeycomb, offering a home button and a row of function keys as well. Below the keyboard is a wide aspect-ratio track pad and left/right click buttons, while above is the hinge element.


Upon connecting the tablet and dock, there really is very little to suggest they are not a single netbook-esque package. The mechanics are secure, the design - strikingly unified, and the interaction in terms of functionality - extremely cohesive. When we used the Asus Eee Pad Transformer out and about, people were shocked at the detachability of the two, with the only downside of using it out and about relating to the hinge. When disconnected, the hinge protrudes out at an angle and makes the keyboard element an awkward shape to stow away.



With a pretty attractive look and feel, a Motorola XOOM beating price tag and a gorgeous display, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer is definitely good. The dock component however makes the device's design border on greatness. Asus have honed their netbook expertise to deliver a cohesive, considered accessory that works seamlessly and doesn't come with a Motorola ATRIX dock price-point. Some areas could be more refined, namely the hinge when the two elements aren't one, but at $693 (£429) for the tablet and dock combination, it's by no means a deal breaker.

Interface and Functionality:

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer runs very well thanks to its 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with 1GB of RAM, though there are some instances of slowdown and lag with heavy multi-tasking.

Since it packs on a near stock Android 3.0 Honeycomb experience, it doesn’t deviate much from what we’ve seen already in other tablets when it comes down to personalization. Asus packages along some additional widgets that supplement the existing set available with the platform – these include Asus Email, Asus Time and Asus Weather. For a detailed and comprehensive look at Honeycomb’s rich set of stock features, you can read more about it in our in-depth Honeycomb walkthrough article.


Naturally, you’ll find all the useful set of Google apps on board like Google Latitude, Google Maps and YouTube, while there are some additional ones preloaded as well, such as Polaris Office Suite, File Exporer, MyNet DLNA, MyCloud (a year of unlimited Dropbox-esque service), Book Reader for ebooks and Press Reader to bring newspapers from around the world onto your tab. Putting things into perspective, while the Acer Iconia comes loaded with games, to reiterate the productivity focused angle ASUS are taking, their Transformer packs none, only productivity tools. Naturally, we would have preferred to see both.


Organizer and Messaging:

Being a largely stock Honeycomb tablet, there is nothing different hardwired into the Asus Eee Pad Transformer’s Calculator, Calendar, and Contacts apps though thanks to the keyboard, everything can be accessed by just typing which is a time saver. As can be expected from any Android device, information is synced across your Google account, like your calendar and address book, with Honeycomb adding a visual flare and usability optimized to take advantage of the tablet form factor.


When it comes to inputting text, when the keyboard dock isn't connected, you have an Asus virtual keyboard with SliteIT / Swype technology in place. This works well for standard typing, differing very little from the stock Honeycomb keyboard, however isn't as intelligent as SlideIT or Swype, and can't feasibly be used in the same sliding way. There is also the standard Honeycomb keyboard as well as a Voice to Text option. While these are usable and there are a host of other tablet optimized keyboards out there such as Thumb Board which offer even more bespoke usability, the real treat comes in the form of the keyboard attachment, offering blistering typing speeds compared to any virtual keyboard on offer.

With an abundant amount of screen real estate, the Gmail experience is a pleasure to use, with threaded view, the ability to label items and a two-panel layout that presents emails in their full fidelity. Alternatively, setting up other email accounts is a breeze, requiring an email address and password for automatic setup. However, if it’s not one of the popular email services out there, you’ll need additional information to get things set up.

Camera and Multimedia:

There's a 5MP auto-focus camera on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer coupled with a 1.3MP front facing module. The tab offers a stock Honeycomb camera interface, with a large dial that allows your thumb to quickly navigate between the various shooting settings. There's an on-screen toggle to switch from camera to video mode, a shooting style toggle giving the option of mono, sepia and negative, a white balance toggle and finally another to switch to the front facing camera.

We’re under-whelmed with the tablet’s photo quality with images being light on detail, muddy and under-contrasted. Indoor images in particular have considerable graininess to them and thanks to a lack of flash, there’s no remedy for this.


According to the marketing behind this tablet, video is shot at "720p, High Definition". Sadly, the truth is that video looks ugly with a glitchy picture and even worse sound, there really is no way we can recommend the the Asus Eee Pad Transformer as an HD video capture device. A "video capturing last resort" perhaps, but that's about it. It's a good thing video isn't the main intended use on tablets, as shameful output appears to be a recurring theme (see Acer Iconia tablet review).

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Sample Video:



Browsing through content with the Gallery app is a treat, despite there being no deviation from the stock experience. With the included file explorer and USB ports, we were very impressed with how the tablet handles large image files, with content from an 18MP SLR being quick to load and easy to upload to a Tumblr blog.


As for the music player, Honeycomb's stock offering is visually rich and exciting and acts as you've come to expect from music players, displaying the album cover, on-screen controls and track information. Playing music through the device’s loudspeaker is very audible, though pretty tinny, with sound being pushed out of the stereo speakers on either side of the tab (when in Landscape).


Watching video on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer delivers a true delight. Loading up a video encoded in MPEG-4 1280 x 720 resolution is very smooth with no evidence of any slowdown. Noting the fact it has a beautiful display with fantastic viewing angles and you and a friend can comfortably watch a movie together from multiple angles without any fear of missing the action.

With 16GB of internal storage, and expandability options coming out of your ears, memory hogs out there - this is the tablet for you. Above and beyond the 16GB SSD and microSD card slot onboard, the keyboard dock opens you up to potential TBs of memory, with two full sized USB 2.0 ports and full sized SD card slot. This easy expandability is a huge contributing factor as to why the Asus Eee Pad Transformer could easily be both your tablet and netbook.

Internet and Connectivity:

When in 'tablet mode', the overall web browsing experience is fittingly good thanks to smooth kinetic scrolling, responsive pinch gestures, and double tap for automatic resizing and smooth flash handling. With the keyboard connected, the trackpad offers two finger scrolling and feels uncannily like a standar laptop, with the added bonus of touch screen interactivity. The browser shortcut on the keyboard is also a welcome addition.


Our Asus Eee Pad Tranformer is a Wi-Fi only tablet. Additional connectivity includes a GPS for your location based services as well as Bluetooth 2.1.

Performance:

Performance is predicatbly good. As mentioned, with only the occasional UI lag, we worked on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer across multiple applications very comfortably. With the a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor powering everything along, this is hardly surprising.

So while speed isn't going to make the tablet stand out from the competition, what does overwhelm us when using the Asus Eee Pad Transformer is the battery life when the keyboard dock is attached. Standalone, the tablet delivers 9.5 hours of use which isn't bad, attach the dock however, and you've bumped up battery life to 16 hours of use. To add to this, the dock will also charge the tablet when connected, so if you use the device mainly in its netbook state, you'll unlikely see battery drop below 97% by the end of the day.

Conclusion:

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer makes us wonder, is this a step backwards or forwards for technology? On the one hand, you've got a new mainstream medium, the tablet. Rather than embrace the medium, Asus have augmented it it into last seasons fad, the net book. On the other, Asus are bearing the customer (you) in mind, carrying forward the successes of netbooks, leaving the plasticy underpowered bits behind. One thing is for sure, with a plethora of tablets with little differentiating them, Asus have made their mark, offering more, for less without compromising on quality. The dock adds an obsene amount of functionality above and beyond its keyboard, so for a mere $80 (£50) price difference, it's a no brainer - buy the dock. If however, keyboarding isn't your idea of a tab-ulous time, check out the iPad 2. It's a better tablet on a more developed platform, though pales in comparison in terms of text productivity. Alternatively, if you're a BlackBerry addict and need your RIM fix, the PlayBook could be for you.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Kernel 2.6.36.3-00003-g8038d35
Build HRI66 WW_epad-8.2.3.9-20110423

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Video Review: