Read more.A look at ASUS’s novel take on the Honeycomb tablet, and the concept in general.
Read more.A look at ASUS’s novel take on the Honeycomb tablet, and the concept in general.
I take it you didn't try using any productivity apps on it then, Scott? I was pleasantly surprised by how functional Android is as a productivity OS once you give it a keyboard and a mouse. There's a couple of decent office suites available, and of course there's an Android version of Google Docs now, too
I'd agree with you that if you already have a netbook or small notebook with good battery life you probably wouldn't choose an Android tablet to replace it, but if you didn't have an alternative device (as I currently don't) then an Android tablet just might provide enough functionality to make a Wintel laptop / netbook unnecessary - it's certainly something I'll be considering over the next few months. Nice to get a review of a device from someone who's actually spent some quality time with one though - I look forward to the next one
I must confess I didn't try to do things like write HEXUS stories on it. I've no doubt I would have been able to just fine but, as you noted, there's no compelling reason to switch, that's all.
This was very much a first person review, rather than the more empirical assessments you get from Tarinder and Parm, and in my opinion - if you already have a notebook and a smartphone - a tablet is a luxury rather than a necessity.
Nice review, thanks for that..I have been interested in this particular device to see what it can offer. It seems still nothing to tempt me away from my mac air as my light/portable "sit in front of the TV" computer.
I would love a tablet - iPad, Droid, etc to really impress me..but I still can't find a compelling reason to own one. As you say they are toys through and through, and whilst you can be productive with them, it's just so much more effort than an equivalent laptop or netbook, and whilst they remain around the same price point (and more than most netbooks), there is little reason to make the compomise.
Hows the keybaord, do all the keys work or is it simply a pickup from a netbook and as such some of the keys dont work with Android..?
Good review, thank you!
Now that the iPad2, Eee Pad Transformer and Xoom are all available in the UK - any thoughts on a roundup, or head-to-head comparison? These three tablets seem to be at the top of the list of currently available tablets going on web reviews (I discount Windows 7 tablets for what I consider to be obvious reasons, as well as the RIM PlayBook). My workplace want us to get one or more of these tablets in for evaluation and basic end-user support of these devices. They're already cropping up, especially iPads.
I'm torn between the Eee Pad and Xoom, personally, but am concerned about the lack of 3G when comparing these to the iPad2.
I'd agree with the general sentiment of the rest of your post, but I just can't agree with this. When my last HP notebook died randomly, I thought long and hard about just getting another Windows laptop to replace it. In the end I waited long enough to pick up a cheap Android tablet second hand - thinking it would be more of a toy than a serious productivity tool. But it didn't take long for me to become impressed by the possibilities of the platform for productivity purposes. For instance, I'm currently applying for jobs, and whilst I typed up my new CV on my desktop, I then transferred it to the tablet and did little tweaks and edits on the move or in bed, just with the on-screen keyboard, and found it very intuitive and straightforward.
As I said, if you have a decent portable netbook / notebook with good battery life there's little reason to add a tablet to your collection of devices, and I can see how someone in that position would consider a tablet to be a "toy", as they wouldn't think of using it for doing any of the productivity tasks they are used to performing on their laptop. But if you're in my position, with no other portable device to fall back on, you suddenly open your eyes to all sorts of possibilities that the form factor presents.
The only thing I will say, is that pen / stylus input on a device larger than about 5" is hampered by your palms getting on the screen: and as such I don't think many current tablets will work well for notetaking (one of the uses I'd like to make of my tablet). The only way I can see of improving that is to fall back to rather expensive digitiser + pen solutions...
This is probably going to annoy some Apple fanboi or other but I think the Apple tablets are more toys than Android based ones, purely because the Android ones are expandable and more customizable/open.
Yet again nothing more than a mediocre review on Mobile-Device.biz... I am seriously disappointed by many of the fanboy-tinged comments that tarnish this and other Android reviews. Branding the Transformer as a 'Toy' is ridiculous and hypocritical considering the reviewer compares to the iPad 2, which I'd totally agree with Trig should be far more considered a Toy than any Android application.
The fact that most of the productivity apps and Asus apps were completely over-looked says it all to me. Could the reviewer really not be bothered to give the Transformer a full review? If this was an iPad review i'm sure we'd be seeing in-depth analysis of some of Apple's apps such as Garage Band or iBooks or something... But here, they simply couldn't be bothered....
Really disappointing Hexus...
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NOTHING TO BE SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG PLEASE....
:: of all the things i've lost i miss my mind the most ::
I see what you are saying about the iPad being more of a toy than this specific tablet - and I am inclined to agree, mainly based on how they are marketed. You can however be just as productive on an iPad as you can with this or any other android tablet - there are file editors, DTP packages, web browsers (Clearly!), movie/music editors/creators etc on both platforms. You can also use an external keyboard on both - although clearly only via bluetooth in apple's case.
The point I made about them both being a toy is that it's so much more effort to be productive on them than on a similarly priced notebook, or even on a true tablet PC like the HP Touchsmart range (which start from £450..so same ballpark). So I agree that if you don't have a laptop already, and very rarely need to do typing etc etc, then a tablet could be an excellent half way house and is a much better option for you, than if you already have a decent portable laptop (in which case the tablet is definitely an additional toy/gimmick).
I know that wasnt aimed at me but for what its worth Bunji does have a point about the lack of actual testing all the features and functions of the Transformer, especially as you say in the review that you are a seasoned Android user.
Personally I did originally see Tablets as a bit of a gimmick/toy but having used an iPad and compared that to a cheap (£68 from china) Android based Tablet, the Android one, even thought it was horrible (800Mhz CPU, 256Mb RAM, Capacitive screen) it was still more useful as a work device than the iPad.
Maybe some sort of revisit/long term review might be in order, after all its good to look at toys for a bit and get the initial "new stuff" factor out of the way, like you said in the review "..when I started investigating what you can do new layers of functionality opened up to me." perhaps using the Transformer, and maybe other devices as well on some sort of long term thing might be an idea..
There are rumours that Apple are testing a version of Macbook Air with an ARM processor. This probably will run some dervative of iOS (unless Apple have ported over over OS X). Of course I can predict the reaction to such a device.
It's interesting that a device like this can be branded a "toy", whilst a laptop is a "productivity device", and from what I can see it comes purely down to the software that's being run on them, not the form factor.
For example, if I had a warehouse staff currently using paper picking lists, you could make a strong cost arguement for a tablet form-factor device being used to replace it, doubly so if you have a keyboard dock that'd allow the worker to also use it to easily type up any reports that were needed. Not to mention you could use email or similar whilst you worked and the potential to integrate with a USB barcode scanner attachment
All of which *could* run on a device like this, if only the software wasn't a barrier.
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This is bunny and friends. He is fed up waiting for everyone to help him out, and decided to help himself instead!
The 'toy' designation is primarily a judgement on the platform and tablet paradigm. As I probably should have made clearer in my write-up, I call it a toy because to me it's a luxury that does little my existing technology can't already do. But I agree that it could function as an adequate replacement for a netbook.
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