Asus Transformer

[Del Lardo]

I popped into PC World for a few minutes yesterday to amuse myself whilst I waited for Miss DL and I walked out 20 minutes later with a Transformer.

For those of you who don't know it's a 10" Android tablet running 3.1 (after a 4 minute upgrade on first boot) with a USP of a keyboard dock, I decided to get the version with the keyboard (£50 extra if bought with tablet or £100 standalone) and PC World were kind enough to cock up and only charge me for the version without the keyboard. The keyboard is a very cool addition, the tablet offers Micro SD and mini HDMI connections and an 8 hour battery life, the keyboard adds another 6 hours of battery (it actually charges the tablet), 2x USB and SD slot.

I had an iPad1 for 6 months and never really warmed to it but I think the Asus addresses my issues and first impressions are very good......

The tablet is widescreen format, I'm sure that Uncle Steve will tell me I'm an idiot but I prefer the format, video looks better without black bars and I find Kindle books nicer to read.

The live widgets are brilliant, I can see time & date in big numbers along with weather prediction and my last 10 emails from my home screen with lots of space for links to my 12 favorite apps.

Build quality is very good, if I'm honest it doesn't feel as solid as an iPad but it's 95% there which is more than good enough for me.

With the keyboard attached it turns in to Netbook, it's actually a bit weighty like this but I can't imagine it would be a problem in a backpack or handbang and to be fair there's got to be a whole heap of battery in there. Standalone I think the tablet is ~650g, in landscape it's a 2 hand job but in portrait mode I can comfortably hold it in 1 hand (unlike the iPad) as it is narrower (thanks to the it being a widescreen panel) so the weight it over your hand.

The keyboard is far from perfect to type on but it's sooooo much better than on screen keyboards, I don't mind using them for short mails but I always ended up going back to my MacBook when I had an iPad as most of my e-mails are long and most of my internet surfing is on forums where I couldn't be bothered to use the on screen keyboard to type responses.

Summary, when I had my iPad I kept on going back to my MacBook as whilst it was a brilliant device for consuming media I found it very limited for creating anything. It's early days but I've barely touched my MacBook in 24 hours (couldn't say that at this stage of iPad ownership) as they keyboard makes a brilliant addition for creating media and whilst it does turn it into an expensive netbook the Android OS and touchscreen UI are spot on.

[LeperousDust]

Pretty much what i think of this, its a superb product and showcases what android really can do, ASUS are really proving themselves to be an awesome manufacturer as of late...

I'd LOVE to have one but it's out of my price range, they can only get better/cheaper though so i look forward! I also hope many people might buy them irrationally

[Flibster]

Still want one...

Too skint to buy one...