ASUS Transformer Prime Reviews

[BenSkywalker]

And it is good. Very good. ShadowGun is the showcase title here and it runs beautifully. NVIDIA has been promising "PC-class" graphics and, while we wouldn't quite take it that far -- the game lacks some of the visual polish of top-shelf PC shooters -- it is safe to say these are the best graphics we've yet seen on a tablet. The water effects in particular are very good, and more importantly it's a fun little shooter.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review/

Engadget says theTransformer Prime, at launch, has a title that is safely the best visuals on a tablet to date? Obviously they didn't check GLBenchmark, the game that all of the die hard tablet gamers play.....

With built in DS3 support this tablet moved up several notches on my must buy list.

Kind of curious as to the battery life. With so many people on this site regularly talking about the terrible battery life Android has, the Tegra3 must obliterate to bits the A5 in terms of efficiency. Since it seems to be understood that iOS is vastly more energy efficient, the A5 must be an absolute bloated pig to have such terrible battery life next to this quad core packaging that Asus threw in their tablet(if Tegra 3 and A5 are close on efficiency then iOS and Android must be also- if anyone wants to come claim one has a major edge on either end they are by default stating the other end must be worse).

Nice to see Gorilla glass, no wannabe cheap substitution that so many of the sub par companies use and Asus themselves went with for the first Transformer(although, somewhat forgiven as they were $100, less expensive materials were at least understandable).

Also, very nice to see 32GB as the base model, and the SD slot is reported to support up to 64GB additional? Very nice and actually useable for when you want to take a few movies on a long flight as a general example(something other tablets may be good at, if they had decent amounts of storage).

Ideally I would be giggly if this had a OLED display, but the best display in a tablet to date is certainly not a bad thing. It seems that the Transformer Prime is better in pretty much every aspect to all the other tablets on the market and easily so, the dock just makes it that much better(Anand states in the comments of his review he would take the Transformer over a Netbook for doing real work too).

 

[videopho]

I just bought the 32gb (not Prime though) for $399 + tax at MC and not yet opened it.
After reading the reviews on the Prime, this is definitely the tablet I wanted to get.
So the older sibling is going back to MC.
Any idea when will the Ice Cream Sandwich OS be available?

 

[smartpatrol]

I believe they said it would get ICS this December

 

[Cruisin1]

Just played with this at my local Gamestop in SD... Took about 20 minutes of waiting for this damn girl to stop playing games on it. Definately nice tablet.... I really wish I could of purchased it after using it though damn it.

 

[badb0y]

ShadowGun is available for the iPad too....

The Prime is a pretty nice tablet, really impressed with the design. I hope it sells well for them.

 

[you2]

The gamestop I visited had none for display; but had one for sale....

 

[Cruisin1]

Seriously which gamestop!

 

[Tom]

"You won't see the blinding speed when you're poking around the main UI or some of Google's apps, as they're occasionally nonresponsive, although screen transitions are a bit more fluid than on other Android tablets."

Yea, that's worth $500..

 

[poofyhairguy]

Meh, it goes with the territory with Android.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

"You won't see the blinding speed when you're poking around the main UI or some of Google's apps, as they're occasionally nonresponsive, although screen transitions are a bit more fluid than on other Android tablets."

Yea, that's worth $500..

It runs on honeycomb. Google more or less has thrown it in the trash.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Exactly. The Prime has enough power to make ICS fly.

 

[thebomb]

If I buy the transformer prime with HC will I be able to upgrade to ICS later?

 

[Cruisin1]

If I buy the transformer prime with HC will I be able to upgrade to ICS later?

Yes they are advertising it as ICS upgradeable.

 

[Dulanic]

the apple hype/leak/pr machine is in full swing for the ipad 3 and the upcoming apple tv. they are coming

Kind of like that iPhone 5 that came out a month ago.....

Sorry couldn't resist pm... he makes it so easy.

On topic, this thing looks freaking SWEET and I can't wait to see what it can do with ICS on it. This looks like the device to beat for some time, however, I can't wait to see what a exynos 2 device will do.

 

[you2]

Boston; if you live in the area i'll give you the specific store.

Seriously which gamestop!

 

[Pia]

Nice to see Gorilla glass, no wannabe cheap substitution that so many of the sub par companies use and Asus themselves went with for the first Transformer(although, somewhat forgiven as they were $100, less expensive materials were at least understandable).

I have seen a lot of people bitching if Gorilla Glass isn't present on a product and cheering if it is, but I have yet to see any hard data on how it's supposed to be better compared to e.g. the glass used on Galaxy Nexus.

 

[Pia]

BTW, I really like the overall Transformer Prime concept. What I'd like even better is if (when!) Samsung brings out a tablet with the same S-pen tech as on Galaxy Note. The combination of S-pen hardware, S-pen SDK apps, and the ubiquitous native stylus support of ICS that allows use of all other apps with the stylus is going to be huge for people who like to draw things by hand. Incidentally, that has been considered to be one of Apple's core markets.

 

[Pliablemoose]

J&R has TP up for pre order: http://www.jr.com/product/productLis...nsformer+prime

If you're interested, I'd order quickly...

 

[Geekbabe]

The screen looks flawless but it still appears to have a design issue that really bugged me on the first TF.. the edges that dug into my hands after holding it for awhile.

I'll probably get one but won't be among the flock of people placing pre-orders.

 

[Dominato3r]

No trolling but it's amazing to see the iPad 2 still up there in reviews

 

[SKORPI0]

Read that this has a GPS sensor built in. Any test showing how it works?

 

[BenSkywalker]

I have seen a lot of people bitching if Gorilla Glass isn't present on a product and cheering if it is, but I have yet to see any hard data on how it's supposed to be better compared to e.g. the glass used on Galaxy Nexus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYaQnvVwStc

Most people may not care, I have a lot of kids, it's kind of important to me. Discount barn glass may be good enough for people looking at the Galaxy Nexus, and if it works for them all the power to them. The above shows deomstrations of typical 'improved' glass versus Gorilla Glass. Every smart phone any of my kids have had without Gorilla Glass has been shattered. All of their phones with Gorilla Glass are still in great shape. When looking at a budget phone or tablet I can understand the lower quality components(ie- Nook Color or first gen Transfomer),
but when making a premium product it's nice to see premium components.

ShadowGun is available for the iPad too....

Yeah, it is, just like it has been for Tegra 2 devices. What is new here is that build of the game with the enhanced graphics- the version that Engadget it talking about looking better then any game they have seen on a tablet to date.

 

[Red Storm]

No trolling but it's amazing to see the iPad 2 still up there in reviews

Seeing as how iOS and Android are competing operating systems, and seeing how the iPad 2 is the latest iOS tablet as well as the most popular tablet on the market, it makes perfect sense...

 

[slatr]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review/
Nice to see Gorilla glass, no wannabe cheap substitution that so many of the sub par companies use and Asus themselves went with for the first Transformer(although, somewhat forgiven as they were $100, less expensive materials were at least understandable).

My original Transformer has gorilla glass.. did I read your post correctly?

Having said that I do want a Prime being a gadget freak and all..

 

[LrsK]

Travelling to the US in a couple of weeks, and thinking of getting one then. I would probably put CyaogenMod 9 on it once that matures. Looking to use it as a developer tool anyway.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this thing though so I feel like I'm being suckered into getting one... oh well...