Read more.Quote:
World's first quad-core tablet reviewed and rated.
Printable View
Read more.Quote:
World's first quad-core tablet reviewed and rated.
Looks nice, still, not enough to pull me form my Xoom tho..
Will just have to see what ICS brings, hopefully Google will sort their s**t out as well as far as tablet apps on the Market go.
Any chance of you guys doing some sort of generational comnparison up, the original Transformer vs this one, or at least some sort of old vs new, I'm sure you could pick up a Xoom or similar to compare it too...
The benchmarks surprise me... how multi-threaded is the multi-thread test? Looks to be ~double the performance of single-threaded rather than closer to 4x... Seems a bit off to me?
BBC iPlayer - Just use Stock Browser to access instead.
Facebook - Current market app works fine on honeycomb.
Flipboard - Just use News360 or Pulse App instead
Kindle - Current market app works fine on honeycomb.
LOVEFiLM Player - Just use Stock Browser to access instead.
Rightmove - Just use Stock Browser to access instead.
Sky Player - Coming Soon Q1 latest
Skype - Current market app works fine on honeycomb.
Twitter - Current market app works fine on honeycomb.
What does tablet optimised mean to you?
To me it just means it supports the native screen size that's all and my Asus Transformer resizes the non native tablet apps for me. Not had any problems, all functionality is retained.
Hence why I think the benchmarks should throw sometihng like a Xoom or similar into the bag, give us a bit more of an Android vs Android test rather than Android vs iPad and iPad2, infact why is the original iPad even in there, we know the iPad2 trumps the iPad across the board, yet for some reason were not being shown a more relivant iPad2, Tegra2 vs Tegra3 set of benchmarks...Quote:
Originally Posted by streetster
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltyzip
Think the point is that "theres an app" for that, yet on the Android front there isnt, its just a case of using the browser, yes being able to use a fully functional browser is nice but for ease of use having an "app for that" makes things easier, especially if you have kids that use your tablet..
Take the benchmarks with a pinch of salt until ICS arrives. It is widely known honeycomb isn't optimised for quad core and doesn't have a hardware accelerated UI.
I have the original Asus Transformer and love it. I purchased it on the basis of good reviews, Asus brand, price (Paid £275) and Asus have confirmed it will be upgradable with ICS in the not too distant future.
Biggest want from ICS is the hardware accelerated UI, finally should support super smooth scrolling from Android Market to Web Browsing!
Fingers Crossed!
My point is there is an App for that!Quote:
Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig
5 of the Apps stated as missing have Apps available on the Android Market, fully functional apps too for running on this tablet, it is just they are not tablet optimized, as in they have a specific version for a tablet size screen. Out of the Apps listed and aren't supported by an App on Android which ones are the kids going to use?
Most Droid developers have taken the easy option for now and support one app, ensuring it resizes correctly for Tablets.
No different from the same PC application running on a 10" screen or a 24" screen, you don't need specific versions. If a developer makes specific versions for screen size then you can charge twice for the same app, this is the Apple Model. Android has to support so many different size screens this model isn't so black and white.
I meant in general, if theres an app its easier than firing up a browser and then navigating to the place you want to get too...
I agree but out of the "Core" apps which in itself is a personal preference, which ones aren't available?Quote:
Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig
These are my core selection and they all have Apps available and duly installed on my Asus Transformer:
Google+
Latitude
Google Earth
Google Calendar
YouTube
IMDB
Sky+
ITV Player
BT Fon
DropBox
eBay
Paypal
Sky News
Guardian
Kindle
Google Books
Spotify
Tesco Groceries
Yell.com
Pocketmags
British Gas
eON
I don't feel I am missing out on anything from using the Android platform, the market has my core requirements covered and more!
Hexus please compare the Twitter, Facebook, Skype Apps on Android vs the tablet optimized version on iPad so I can see what this reviewer appears to be referring too, to backup the claims?
App store aside it seems to be an awesome piece of kit let down by sub-standard Android software, if the benchmarks are to be believed. Let's hope the ICS update bring Android up to speed. The idea of running windows 8 on this machine is sorely tempting, I wonder how far you could take it's gaming capabilities...
Am I the only person who loathes that description?Quote:
ASUS's Eee Pad Transformer Prime is being touted as the latest "iPad Killer"
Asus' spokesfolks have been quoted as saying that they'll consider a 16GB model (or keyboard less one) depending on how the sales of this "top end" one go. Personally, if they don't do these models then they're out of their minds! Especially the 16GB model (which'd undercut the iPad2).Quote:
When the Eee Pad Transformer Prime lands on our shores in January, British buyers will have only one configuration to choose from; a 32GB Wi-Fi-only bundle priced at £499 that includes the detachable keyboard dock. That's £20 more than the equivalent-capacity iPad 2 (or £100 more than Apple's entry-level 16GB model), and about the same price as a mid-range Windows laptop.
That said, I can't see the point of buying the Transformer without the keyboard dock - if you feel you don't need it then surely you'd be better served by one of the Samsung Galaxy Tab's? (even if it means getting stuff thrown at you by iPad owners)
Same here - it's only really noticeable on the boot screen and the very occasional app - although strangely enough Galaxy on Fire - being a space-based game - doesn't show this issue.Quote:
The display is without a doubt one of the Prime's strongest features, but it isn't entirely fault free as we experienced an unexpected occurrence of backlight bleed. It's most visible during dark scenes or images (the boot sequence being a good example), and the bleed is most severe along the right edge of the screen.
I don't see how quick boot time is necessarily a good metric for a well optimised OS. E.g. Splashtop boots in <2 seconds on my tower, and Windows7 in a lot longer - so I can't really see an argument that Splashtop is a "better" OS than Windows7.Quote:
Turning each of the devices on from a complete off state, we found that the iPad 2 on average booted to the lock screen in 16.8 seconds. The Transformer Prime takes almost a minute-and-a-half to kick into action. Of course, you could leave the device in standby [snipped] but the test is nonetheless a good indication of how well optimised the respective platforms are.
Remember that the Transformer's have more hardware to startup/check-for, so that's surely going to account for some of the wait. That said, I would have agreed that the boot time for the current Transformer is too long, (and don't get me started on the TouchPad!), maybe ICS will sort this out (but I suspect not).
Is the iPad2 "simpler to use"? I'm not entirely convinced. And on the flip side, all the way through the review there are statements that the Transformer Prime has better hardware. In which case you've got to draw the conclusion that it's the reviewed OS that is the culprit. Remember - of course - that the ATP's on the shelves will have ICS not Honeycomb.Quote:
And then there's also the issue of price. Apple's iPad 2 is simpler to use, tied to a vast library of apps, quicker in most benchmarks and available from £399. The Transformer Prime costs £100 more, and though it's intriguing enough to be worthy of consideration, you can't ignore the fact that fully-fledged laptops are available at around the same price.
So yes, I'd also like to see a revisit of this review (which to be honest I'm taking as "preview") when the proper OS is available. :rockon: (Although I'm looking forward to seeing ICS on my Transformer more!)
I'll second that request! :thumbsup: Unfortunately this "claim" of lack of tablet apps is one I've heard trotted out by iPad fanboys frequently - and when you ask for more information, "tablet optimised" seems to boil down to being able to run full-screen without any trickery like zooming.Quote:
Originally Posted by saltyzip
Good looking tablet, i would buy one if i could justify the pricing! If i win the lottery soon i will buy one without hestitation but at the minute id rather spend £500 on a gtx580/6970 and grab a second monitor or something so i can finally run BF3 on ultra :D.
In regard to apps, i agree its a bit hard to compare and from experience things like facebook are SO much better accessed via the browser, simply open browser hit the bookmark and you're done. I tend to use opera and if im in a terrible signal area i can tell it to use opera turbo and i can disable images, its also faster in general regardless of signal (university wifi 100Mb/s connections), the fb app is sluggish takes damn long time to load.
And for the benchmarks, i think its clear that really its not optimised... you could have said that about Ie9 when it was released and was being hammered by chrome in benches yet after a few updates its significantly faster!. Benches on the tegra 2 chips werent optimised aswell which was why phones like the O2x and Atrix were behind yet as soon as they were out for a bit the benches were finally getting their act together and you can actually see T2 outperforming other chips :).
In my opinion Nvidia have kinda gone the wrong way about the tegra designs, quad core is good for gaming yeah but for actually doing processes like browsing it becomes a bit redundant as i bet clock speeds provide a signifcant boost rather than adding more cores. They should have concentrated on getting it to a 2.5Ghz or something above the 2 value and then increase the cores in T4, it would have provided a better boost as there isnt always a good way to design basic apps as multithreaded :P.
Really though im hoping Asus sends this tablet over to MS to get Windows 8, i dislike Android really the only thing i like is the fact you can change almost ever aspect but thats it... i dont want loads of apps that are crappy kids apps, i want professional apps (i.e office, virtual machines, remote desktop etc) they seem to lack these on android and the apps that are actually present could be much better.
Good posting (especially the bit I had to snip - very interesting) :rockon: Just going to pick you up on something in that quote, namely apps:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hicks12
Office - there's a couple of these (Polaris, QuickOffice, etc) - I use Docs2Go because I need Office2007 (:puke:) file compatibility and it's fully "Google Docs aware";
Virtual machines - it's a tablet ffs, not a laptop. Although I'd be fascinated to find out what OS you wanted to run in a VM on a tablet! :geek:
Remote desktop - there's a couple of VNC clients available (some free, others at reasonable price). Asus supply Splashtop remote desktop, which I've used to "dial into" (is that the right way to put it?) a full blown Windows7 desktop.
Yes, there's a lot of "crappy kids apps", but conversely there's some real gems - e.g. a simple photo editing app by Adobe, a drawing app by Autodesk. What makes me laugh is how difficult it's been to sort wheat from chaff - especially since Google is famous for search - but at least it's getting better/easier.
My examples were done in a rush so maybe not 100% relative :D.
I have used docs2go and it was alright but the price of it put me off and looking for alternatives i finally found kingsoft office, it seems faster than the rest but it still is quite slow to load documents and search for documents unfortunately :(. I just wish MS office was available on it as my old HD2 has 2010 and it was brilliant on WM 6.5.5.
Virtual machines, yeah thats probably one of the irrelevant suggestions i made lol but i think what im overlapping is that it is essentially a tablet and a laptop, its got to that point where the speeds are getting better and better and this will certainly be an option when intel comes back into the game next year.
Remote desktop, i will have a look at them just last time i tried using some they werent that great tbh, however i guess the market should have matured a bit by now!.
Oh yeah i agree with the gem bit, there are a few but trawling through all of them is a task and a half, i blame Apple mainly for this as its all about how many "Apps" they have rather than relevant / useful apps (Fart button comes to mind :D).
I think the main reason i feel so let down by the applications is that when i had my HD2 it was on windows mobile 6.5.5 yet it had a strong office application, remote logins and a very smooth browsing experience along with a huge line of compatibility. I also found it to be the best in terms of UI, the WM6.5.5 titanium GUI was extremely simple and fast and then ofc HTC sense which was the best compromise between speed and eye candy but now WM has gone i feel a bit left out :P.
I hate it too, it's all about healthy competition in my books, iPad is excellent and so is this Asus Tablet, even more so when it gets ICS.Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
I think parts of the review discussing benchmarks, boot times and perhaps even battery life need to be taken with a pinch of salt at this stage. At the end of the day by release either ICS will be ready to download over-the-air or will be ready within a few weeks.
We already know that ICS has much improved SunSpider performance and likely NVIDIA will have focused most of its later patch work on ICS and so I'd expect better core optimisation including a focus on making sure that 500MHz core is used as often as possible. No doubt other aspects of ICS programs will have been reviewed for quad-core usage by Google as well.
I hope Asus uk read this thread or the info gets passed back to them as I really want a transformer prime but with the single uk sku has completely priced me out of getting one.
Even though they have missed the christmas window I would of liked to of purchased the base tablet myself (for £350 odd) and then received the dock and other accessories as presents. Or at worst buy tablet now, dock a month later but having to save up the extra for higher spec dock and tablet other tablets may of been announced by that point and will get the sale instead (samsung 11.6)
"you can't ignore the fact that fully-fledged laptops are available at around the same price"
Sorry but I can ignore that as this is a completely different product! How many £499 laptops have an easily detachable tablet which is thinner than than the oft mentioned ipad2? Why did this comparison need to be in the article? and especially in the final thoughts? where incidentally the reviewer was comparing the price with a from £399 ipad. At that price you get a 16Gb ipad that is also equivalent in price to a good specced core3 laptop with 8gig of memory!. If we compare prices of the 32Gb ipad the cost difference is roughly £25 (ebuyer prices as of this time and date) for which you get a well fitting matched keyboard with better storage and connection options. Hmmm, perhaps there is a bit of bias in the review in which the transformer was unfairly compared cost wise with a lesser specced machine.
The other issue for me in reading the article was that I was unsure of whether it was a stand alone review of a piece of hardware or a comparison article between the transformer and the ipad; though this might have been completely unintentional and subconscious by the reviewer.
I did not that there was a list of apps that are used by his GF and at first I wondered why flash was not in the list, but then I remembered it is not an app and that his GF would not have had the chance to use it as it was verboten lol
I also have to clarify that this is the first time I have ever pre ordered a bit of hardware as I normally wait a while to let bugs get ironed out and prices to fall, but events conspired as I am using Xmas as an excuse to buy it as I wanted a replacement for my trusty 12" netbook which has travelled to Thailand with my daughter and the aged lappy sitting on the kitchen table is so big and heavy that my desktop is most probably more portable LOL
Quite true - I just can't see a tablet being a suitable replacement for a laptop. On the other hand if you're in the market for one of these new "ultrabooks" then surely a tablet is in with a shout. Just checking and even an Acer (usually cheapest) is about the £700 mark, in which case the Transformer Prime at £200 cheaper looks like a bargain! ;) (And yes - I realise that the Ultrabook runs Windows, so all your software will probably work, whereas the TP runs Android, so you're limited to whatever's available for that platform)Quote:
Originally Posted by slef2003
That said, I replaced a £200 netbook with a £400 Transformer last year, so maybe I should get a T-shirt with this icon ":stupid:" on it.
Agree totally with the comment about Transformer v's iPad - seemed a bit daft to review the Asus and be generally complementary, then recommend buying something else. :wallbash:Quote:
Originally Posted by slef2003
As to the app comparison - I don't think it was worthwhile doing, nor particularly valid either. Yes, iPad/iPhone have more apps (at the moment) but I think increasingly you'd have to search quite hard to find something major that's not covered in both app shops.
I have been thinking of getting one of these for when I travel, the battery life is good for long flights and unlike laptops you dont need to take them out of your bag when going through the scanners (this is a real pain when you need to make 3 or 4 flights in a single day)
Battery life point is very valid - just remember to take that booster-battery/keyboard!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay
The no-inspection thing I'm not so sure of though. Haven't got any experience of it myself, but an acquaintance of mine got a major league dressing down for not getting out the Transformer. Unfortunately in it's "ultrabook" mode it's indistinguishable from a device that needs to be taken out. That said, he'd been smart enough to leave it on (and in "airplane" mode) so it was pretty darned easy to prove it wasn't a very thin laptop.
Actually, is "airplane mode" good enough to use on a flight? I'm also sure that I remember someone else telling me that they got a dressing down from the steward(ess) for having a device out and operational, (and no it's wasn't at landing/take-off when they say that all electronics should be off/in-bag). I haven't tried myself, but I'm wondering if one of those Android-based PMP would be worth getting.
The rules are anything with a hard disk or CD Rom so ipads etc dont need to be removed for scanning also airplane mode is fine during flight.