ASUS Transformer Prime Reviews

[sciwizam]

Reviews are out:

Anandtech

Engadget

Verge

PCMag

Basically, the Android tablet to get. Display contrast is .

Though, I'm curious about the battery life delta between the different reviews, could be the attributed to test scenarios. Also we'll have to see if the different battery profiles really do anything. Waiting for Anand's tests to complete.

Also, looks like there's an update for one of the profiles coming this Friday. Hopefully everything settles down by the time this goes on sale Dec 12th (online)/ Dec 19th (in-store).

 

[notty22]

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Tablet Preview - HotHardware

It seems like a excellent device. Good enough to keep Apple Ihonest.

 

[Red Storm]

That native controller support is going to be fantastic for all my emulator gaming needs. Plus you can HDMI to a TV, and you've got yourself a great retro console. Can't wait to try it out!

 

[s44]

Dec 12th (online)

Really? Whew. The Dec 19 date in Anand's review had me worried there.

 

[sciwizam]

Really? Whew. The Dec 19 date in Anand's review had me worried there.

I don't know who has the most up to date info.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/1/2...us-release-date-official-dec-12-online-dec-19

 

[AstroManLuca]

Looks super awesome, but I can't really justify $500 for a tablet. I just got a Nook Tablet for $250. The biggest thing I don't like about the Nook Tablet is its default interface. Easy enough to overhaul once you're rooted, but it's not a totally smooth experience.

I figure over the next year there will be an avalanche of tablets that slot in somewhere between the "Rolls Royce" Transformer Prime and the "Toyota Corolla" Nook Tablet, hopefully some of which deliver a stock Android experience without the expensive hardware. I know a few of those exist already but most are either underpowered (Lenovo A1) or overpriced (Galaxy Tab 8.9). But hey, the great thing about technology is that it's constantly getting better and cheaper.

 

[s44]

Looks super awesome, but I can't really justify $500 for a tablet.

Neither can I, but I can justify $650 for a laptop. That it also happens to have a kick-ass tablet is a side benefit.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yeah if I needed a laptop and didn't need to run any specialized software, this would be at the top of my list.

 

[Munky]

Looks awesome. And Apple fanboys just sh!t their pants all over.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Looks awesome. And Apple fanboys just sh!t their pants all over.

No they didn't, the fanboys are always convinced of Apple's superiority no matter what. I'm sure they'll write off the Prime as a bad product because it doesn't run iOS.

 

[Deeko]

Looks awesome. And Apple fanboys just sh!t their pants all over.

I wouldn't go that far - the Apple fanboys will still be convinced of the iPad's superiority, and the Android fanboys will be convinced of the Transformer's superiority. Realistically, they're both good systems.

 

[alent1234]

Looks awesome. And Apple fanboys just sh!t their pants all over.

why?

ipad 2 is close to 1 year old and still wipes the floor with this in games. for lite use i can buy a kindle fire for $300 cheaper. and once the ipad 3 comes out i bet it's going to slaughter every every android tablet once again in benchmarks.

and the app store has tens of thousands of ipad optimized apps? what about the market?

 

[SWOmega]

I'm also disappointed with the gpu performance, but I'm going to wait for 3DMark Mobile 2012 before I decide if I want a Tegra 3 phone or not.

Glbenchmark doesn't throughly test dynamic lighting, high resolution environments, and physics where as the next version of 3DMark will.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Tapatalk

 

[AstroManLuca]

why?

ipad 2 is close to 1 year old and still wipes the floor with this in games. for lite use i can buy a kindle fire for $300 cheaper. and once the ipad 3 comes out i bet it's going to slaughter every every android tablet once again in benchmarks.

and the app store has tens of thousands of ipad optimized apps? what about the market?

I wouldn't go that far - the Apple fanboys will still be convinced of the iPad's superiority, and the Android fanboys will be convinced of the Transformer's superiority. Realistically, they're both good systems.

:whiste:

 

[Munky]

why?

ipad 2 is close to 1 year old and still wipes the floor with this in games. for lite use i can buy a kindle fire for $300 cheaper. and once the ipad 3 comes out i bet it's going to slaughter every every android tablet once again in benchmarks.

and the app store has tens of thousands of ipad optimized apps? what about the market?

Because:
1) Screen with better sharpness and better colors
2) 1080p HD video playback
3) Expandability with keyboard dock, extra battery, SD cards, HDMI, etc...
4) Faster CPU

That's not to mention the obvious benefits of Android, like real multi-tasking, and not being locked into a proprietary ecosystem.

As far as gaming goes, the review mentioned the ipad2 only has a significant lead in texture-heavy scenarios, as opposed to shader-heavy scenes. Anyone remembering the desktop GPU history for the last 4-5 years should know why shader performance is more important.

And what about the apps? Do I need a dozen Hipstamatic apps to post cheezy no-talent photos? Do I need an app for every website I visit because my browser doesn't support text reflow? Do I need simpleton games that are at best a way to pass time on a long commute? The answer is no, no, and no. For real gaming, there's the PC and consoles. For everything else, the less "apps" I need to install for some trivial task, the better.

 

[Ns1]

do want

re: apple/Android

I wouldn't go that far - the Apple fanboys will still be convinced of the iPad's superiority, and the Android fanboys will be convinced of the Transformer's superiority. Realistically, they're both good systems.

this

 

[alent1234]

1, 2, 4 will be taken care of by the ipad 3

#3 SD card is taken care by icloud. hdmi by the apple TV or the fact that if i want to watch a pirated movie i'll just stick my usb stick into my playstation. ipad 2 battery lasts for days so i don't care about an extra battery in the dock

how many games are actually optimized for tegra 3? apps like flipboard on the ipad mean i don't have to visit 50 websites to read content. Feedly kills the google reader app that google bundles

 

[s44]

Pulse > Feedly

 

[alent1234]

pulse is OK, but it doesn't grab every feed from google reader and there is a limit on the number of pages you can have. i have something like 1000 feeds

 

[ITHURTSWHENIP]

Tegra 3 does not have the GPU horsepower of A5. Nvidia does have a brilliant software team that help optimise gaming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJkw4buDoyQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U2r3yKg0Ng


And with ICS, you will have native support to connect a Xbox or PS3 or other controller to play with

 

[Red Storm]

Tegra 3 does not have the GPU horsepower of A5. Nvidia does have a brilliant software team that help optimise gaming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJkw4buDoyQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U2r3yKg0Ng


And with ICS, you will have native support to connect a Xbox or PS3 or other controller to play with

Nvidia have already included a driver for those controllers, as well as others, so you don't have to wait for ICS with the Prime.

SD card is taken care by icloud. hdmi by the apple TV or the fact that if i want to watch a pirated movie i'll just stick my usb stick into my playstation.

Sorry, but iCould doesn't negate SD cards. Heck, it doesn't even negate Dropbox because at least I can use that on any platform, can't say the same about iCloud.

 

[badb0y]

Good tablet but it is not as "next-gen" it seemed like it would be it's more like bridging a gap to the "next-gen" tablets.

 

[gorcorps]

I still want it, but may wait because I'll probably pick up a SGS II soon.

 

[Ns1]

Sorry, but iCould doesn't negate SD cards. Heck, it doesn't even negate Dropbox because at least I can use that on any platform, can't say the same about iCloud.

dropbox and icloud are not mutually exclusive

can't speak for anyone else but for me it negates the need to have a large music library on my phone

 

[Red Storm]

dropbox and icloud are not mutually exclusive

can't speak for anyone else but for me it negates the need to have a large music library on my phone

That's what Google Music does for me, but that is more like iCloud, doesn't work on every platform, so I didn't mention it.