Back in the fall of 2007, ASUS decided there was room in people's lives for a highly portable, secondary computer that could handle basic tasks ¡ª surfing the web, checking email, listening to music, and playing games. That was the $399 Linux-based Eee PC ¡ª arguably the first netbook ¡ª and it became quite a hit. You know the rest of the story: it wasn't long before other consumer electronics companies, with the help of Intel and Microsoft, started to join in and small laptops invaded the market. The tale hasn't exactly ended, but it's certainty hit a low point ¡ª almost four years later, netbooks have lost a sizable chunk of market share to a new sort of device aiming to fill their original purpose. Indeed, the tablet has arrived.
Hardware / design
The tablet part of the package ¡ª herein referred to as the Transformer ¡ª is a stunning piece of hardware when it's set on a table like you see above. It's got extremely clean lines and its edges are covered in a bronzish metal. Flip it over and its backside is much more audacious than any of the other Honeycomb tablets out there ¡ª the textured brown cover has a diamond pattern of sorts and the material has a slight sparkle to it. There's no doubt that it is one nice looking tablet; however, there are some discrepancies between look and actual feel here. F8+++ Given its dapper aesthetic, I expected the tablet to feel weightier in hand and have a more solid construction. Instead I was surprised at the overly plastic build. That's not to say I think it feels cheap ¡ª that's not really how I'd describe it ¡ª but it certainty doesn't have the same sort of rigidity as the iPad 2, Motorola Xoom, or even Acer's Iconia A500. On the other hand, the plastic makes it a bit lighter than the other Honeycomb tablets out there.
As you can see in the chart above and in some of the comparison shots, the Transformer doesn't fare too well in size compared to the other Honeycomb tablets. Oddly, it's got a noticeably thick left and right bezel when in landscape mode, which results in it measuring 10.6 inches in length ¡ª more than a full inch longer than the iPad and .87-inches longer than the Xoom. (I believe ASUS actually did that to accommodate a wider keyboard dock, but that's just a guess.) In terms of thickness, the .51-inch tablet is on par with its closest Honeycomb competitors, but it's discernibly thicker than the .34-inch iPad 2. Those numbers actually mean a lot in terms of real usability ¡ª the iPad's thinner stature makes a distinct difference when trying to hold the tablet up for longer periods of time.
Screen and speakers
After reviewing a few ASUS netvertibles with terrible resistive touchscreens, I almost want to give the individual responsible for the Transformer's IPS panel a big hug. The quality of the 10.1-inch, 1280¡Á800-resolution Gorilla Glass display is just downright impressive, especially for the price. Viewing angles are stellar, and unlike the Iconia A500, colors don't blur at more pronounced angles. Speaking of colors, the display is extremely bright and crisp. Blacks looked deeper than on both the Xoom and Iconia A500, though, the iPad's display does appear to be slightly brighter.Dapeng T7000 Like every other glossy slab out there, the Transformer picks up a good amount of fingerprints and becomes a mirror outdoors.
The speaker grills, which flank the screen, aren't the loudest we've heard on a tablet, but at full blast, they were loud enough to bother a lovely couple sitting next to me at a coffee shop. (Although, that could have just been the Lady Gaga music selection.) The PlayBook and iPad 2 still hold the title of best tablet speakers, but these will absolutely do for personal listening. Also, as you will see in the sample video below, the microphone quality is extremely poor.
Camera
The Transformer's two cameras ¡ª there's a front-facing 1.2 megapixel shooter and a rear five megapixel one ¡ª prove my theory that tablet makers don't really see a point in strapping quality image sensors to these types of gadgets. The rear camera took mediocre shots, and while they were slightly better than the Iconia Tab A500¡äs stills, they were still grainy and overexposed in most cases. ASUS didn't opt to include a flash, but it did wisely position the lens in the middle of the back, so it's nearly impossible to block it with a finger. On a brighter note, the autofocus was actually quite speedy in comparison to some of these other Honeycomb tablets. The 720p video was clear enough, but the camera had a hard time adjusting to different lighting and the end footage lacked the "high definition" quality we've all gotten used to on some Android phones. 4GSI9+ And that's really the theme across most of these: none of these tablets have cameras that can compete with the likes of the iPhone 4 or other smartphones on the market.
The front-facing 1.2 megapixel camera was adequate for taking self-portraits and also did its job rather well when I decided to video chat with a friend using Google Talk. It also took markedly better quality video than the Acer and it actually seemed to keep up with me in my new, rather fun, yet nauseating spinning test.
Performance
Like every other Honeycomb tablet out there, the Transformer is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of DDR2 RAM. So, unsurprisingly, the day-to-day performance was on par with the others. For the most part the tablet was snappy, but there was some slight lag when I had a number of applications running. That said, apps opened quickly for the most part and a local 720p video played back without incident. Flash sites were a bit flaky to load, but once the dust settled, the tablet had no problem mustering up the strength to play videos in the browser. My unit had 16GB of storage; there's a 32GB option for $499.99.
Keyboard dock
However, adding a keyboard and touchpad to the Honeycomb experience adds something that really sets the OS and Transformer apart. Sure, Google built the software for touch input, but navigating the screen with a mouse actually works quite well, and while I found myself reaching out to touch the screen quite a bit with a finger, the touchpad is a nice fallback and really does create for a nice clamshell computing experience.
Battery life
I mentioned that the dock itself has its own charging port and that's because in addition to the tablet's 24.4Wh battery, the keyboard stores an additional cell. And as you may have guessed, the result is an incredibly long runtime. On its own, the tablet lasted eight hours and 21 minutes on our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video with brightness set at 65 percent and WiFi turned on. When docked the whole package lasted 13 hours and 49 minutes on that same test. Oh yes, just about 14 hours! That won't only get you through a flight from New York to Shanghai it will buy you some time at the gate. Just make sure you have time to charge the dock and tablet up ¡ª you can charge them both together via the port on the dock, but it takes close to four hours to top ¡®em off. Interestingly, the dock can also charge the tablet, so you may even get a bit more juice if you use the keyboard as an external charger for the tablet.
Wrap-up
Given ASUS's history, I think we all knew the company had what it took to build a netbook, but a tablet? And a tablet and netbook that could work together so seamlessly? Well, I had no idea. At $399, the Transformer is the most affordable Honeycomb tablet out there, and even beyond that, it's actually one of the best. On it's own, it's a head-turning slab with a stunning IPS display that lasts over eight hours on a charge. Sure, it has its flaws ¡ª it's larger than others, can get a bit sluggish at times, and the cameras are pretty crappy ¡ª but at $100 less than the iPad, it's got all the vital components to compete. The real appeal of the Transformer, however, comes when you add on the keyboard dock. For $550, you get a tablet / netbook that lasts close to 14 hours on a single charge and provides a pretty great typing experience. Now, that's not to say Honeycomb doesn't still have its kinks. And even though the Transformer will get Android 3.1 in June, I'm not sure if / when Honeycomb will get a solid array of iPad-like apps. However, if there's one device out there that can actually compete with the iPad, it's the Transformer, and that's because ASUS' netbook history has helped it craft a solid blend of laptop and tablet.