News - ASUS Transformer Prime introduced and examined

[HEXUS]

Finally, an iPad 2-killer is born?

Read more.

[keithwalton]

Lets hope the tegra 3 lives up to all its hype, if so I might finally buy a tablet

[HalloweenJack]

stick MW3 on it will you

[crossy]

Wish Asus would do a (limited time?) trade in deal for Transformer Mk1 - I'd be in there like a shot. Even if the cost to change was something crazy like £150.

Looks like a damned fine piece of kit - although the smaller battery and 50% reduction in USB ports is a retrograde step as far as I'm concerned. Got to say that a 32GB one with the keyboard dock would suit me fine - given it's still got the uSD slot I've no need for a 64GB variant.

[DannyM]

I think I'll be getting this, if the prices are fair.

[[GSV]Trig]

See how long it is before Apple start with the lawyers...

Personally I have the Xoom 3g and one of the things that annoys me with it is where the power cable plugs in when charging, makes using the unit a pita with it in its folio and on charge at the same time as the folio doesnt allow me to flip it upside down and have it on charge, the Otterbox was fine as it can be rotated in the clam section and have the power cable stick out of what is then the top, hopefully Asus have put the power on one of the sides so it can be charged and docked at the same time..

[crossy]

See how long it is before Apple start with the lawyers...

Personally I have the Xoom 3g and one of the things that annoys me with it is where the power cable plugs in when charging, makes using the unit a pita with it in its folio and on charge at the same time as the folio doesnt allow me to flip it upside down and have it on charge, the Otterbox was fine as it can be rotated in the clam section and have the power cable stick out of what is then the top, hopefully Asus have put the power on one of the sides so it can be charged and docked at the same time..

I'm pretty sure that the charging cable port is at the bottom (longest side that doesn't have the logo on it), same as on the non-Prime. For the Transformer this makes sense because the charging port is also where the keyboard docks in too. Of course you could always charge the dock separately and then when the tablet charge falls switch it into "netbook" mode in which case the keyboard dock's battery will also charge the tablet.

Biggest problem I've had with the Transformer tablet and charging is ... THAT THE DAMNED CABLE IS TOO SHORT! I can see why Asus had to go with a special connector, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. They should have taken a leaf out of Logitech's K800 keyboard - the supplied charging lead for that is about a metre long.

I know what you're getting at with the Apple comment - can't see them repeating their disagreement with Samsung and trying to sue on form factor - because only a complete idiot could mistake the Transformer for the lesser product! (Cue the arguments with the iPad2 owners ... <grin>)

[MaddAussie]

I'm pretty sure that the charging cable port is at the bottom (longest side that doesn't have the logo on it), same as on the non-Prime. For the Transformer this makes sense because the charging port is also where the keyboard docks in too. Of course you could always charge the dock separately and then when the tablet charge falls switch it into "netbook" mode in which case the keyboard dock's battery will also charge the tablet.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-3-0...m-length-48893

I got one of these, works a treat

[Spud1]

I don't care how much I get flamed for these comments..what follows here is just my opinion, and I am not arguging over which platform/os is better..its purely my own view. Ahem.

The hardware looks great - pretty much perfect in many ways for a tablet.

The reason I won't be buying one, and crucially the reason it's definitely not an iPad 2 killer? It's running android, not iOS (or even WebOS).

The second most important reason that many people will be buying an iPad (after the fact it's "made by Apple") is that it's running iOS, and has all the apps and benefits that brings.

Beautiful hardware, just a shame about the software imo.

[shaithis]

Wow....apple really do have a brainwashing app!

You do realise many apps for Android cannot be done on IOS due to apple limitations? There are no such limitations in the opposite direction. Exactly what apps can you not get on Android?

As for why people buy Apple......it's the "look at me" factor...the vast majority of apple owners probably haven't got a clue what IOS is if you asked them!

[[GSV]Trig]

Ahh yes but they dont need to know do they..

[Spud1]

Wow....apple really do have a brainwashing app!

You do realise many apps for Android cannot be done on IOS due to apple limitations? There are no such limitations in the opposite direction. Exactly what apps can you not get on Android?

As for why people buy Apple......it's the "look at me" factor...the vast majority of apple owners probably haven't got a clue what IOS is if you asked them!

I didn't say that I thought that way - personally I don't like the android UI for the most part, and the lack of security and complete lack of polish that exists for the most part puts me off 100%. That is without mentioning the massive fragmentation of both the hardware and software market w/r to android devices, which is it's biggest limiting factor. HTC do a great job of fixing the UI issues with manilla/sense on their android phones, but I still wouldn't consider one as my primary device.

Nothing to do with "brainwashing" - its all a personal choice. I like iOS - it's great for me..not perfect, so I jumped to WP7..which is better on many levels, but still has some annoying issues. Im not going to go into the debate of which is better between droid/webos/ios/wp7..done it many times before and cba again,nothing has changed.

Simple point was that I don't think its an "iPad 2 killer", and certainly it won't be an iPad 2 killer when it comes to sales..and thats it.

If you personally prefer android or think this tablet is a better bit of kit - great, go buy and one and enjoy it

[saltyzip]

Massive fragmentation never harmed the PC version of Windows, in fact having fragmentation is the best option for the consumer. Yes there are limitations and frustrations, but you have the choice as a consumer to make those decisions as to which phone you buy. In Apples eyes one size fits all, but everyone is different, some want a bigger screen, some want a smaller screen, people like to buy something different than what you have bought before.

Apple have stuck with the same phone design since its inception and I am surprised users haven't become bored with its looks already.

[chis]

Exactly what apps can you not get on Android?

A vast amount of music production applications, e.g. NanoStudio, BeatMaker, FruityLoops.

Which is a shame because - if Google sort out audio latency issues - a tablet like this running a slimline mobile / tablet OS - that isn't OS X or Windows - could provide a highly stable, fast and reliable audio production environment.

[crossy]

I didn't say that I thought that way - personally I don't like the android UI for the most part, and the lack of security and complete lack of polish that exists for the most part puts me off 100%. That is without mentioning the massive fragmentation of both the hardware and software market w/r to android devices, which is it's biggest limiting factor. HTC do a great job of fixing the UI issues with manilla/sense on their android phones, but I still wouldn't consider one as my primary device. Nothing to do with "brainwashing" - its all a personal choice. I like iOS - it's great for me

With the greatest respect () I think you're doing Android a disservice here - looking at your sig kit list I was tempted to mark you as "Apple fanboy", but I suspect that would be doing you a massive disservice - and rude to boot, so I'll not do that.

You seem to be lumping phones and tablets together - no, you can't really do that. The "Android UI" that tablet's run is a horse of a different colour to the myriad of ones that exist on the phones. (Disclaimer: I'm talking about proper tablets running the "tablet edition" of the OS - not the el cheapo gear that's running Android for phones). The Honeycomb UI is just as usable as iOS - it's got some obvious flaws, but then again so has iOS.

Lack of security? Presumably you mean the switch to allow 3rd party repositories. That's off by default, (so you can only use Google Market Place), and switching it on gets you a large warning message. If you have no reason to use non GMP stuff (and I don't) then leave it be and you're just as secure as in Steve/Tim's "walled garden".

Fragmentation? If you're talking about the entire Android environment then I'll agree - but that's inevitable given the breadth of people doing it. If you're talking about tablets, then I'll disagree - there's not a lot of difference (if you ignore the budget knockoffs - and even then these seem to follow a limited number of configurations).

You'll possibly dismiss these comments as the ravings of an Android fanboy - perhaps true, although I'm quite willing to praise the iPad2 where it richly deserves it. Wouldn't buy one myself though, because I'd find it limited and annoying - preferring the Transformer because, to quote a celebrity, "it's great for me"

[Scribe]

Just an update on this post guys. Some new information Igor Stanek, Senior Product PR Manager Notebooks/Tegra.

He has very graciously let us know some more details about the Tegra 3.

It will be clocked at 1.4GHz single-core mode and 1.3Ghz in multi-core mode.

It will support hardware acceleration of H.264 High-Profile 40Mbps, VC1-AP and DivX 5/6.

The NEON vector unit will be present on each core (so a total of four at any one time).

All in all if you perform the same task on the Tegra 3 as the Tegra 2, the chip will generally use less power, but if you max it out it'll consume more but offer 5x the performance of the Tegra 2 - much as we expected.

Thought some of this information may be interesting and have updated the post.

Cheers