ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-GR Review

ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-GR Review - Breaking free from the normal constraints of a device through constant innovation, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the perfect example of what a tablet should be. The feature that gives the Eee Pad Transformer Prime its name, the mobile docking station, gives a whole new meaning to the term Paired for Perfection.

The new Eee Pad Transformer Prime is mind-blowingly slim and light weight and with a beautiful metallic spun finished design. In fact, it is the slimmest tablet on the market yet, only 0.33" thin and 1.29lbs light. You can easily carry it with you no matter where you go.

Specifications

Display
10.1-inch WXGA Super IPS+ capacitive multi touch display built with
Corning® Gorilla® Glass; 178° viewing angle(1280 x 800)

Operating System
Android 3.2 Honeycomb Platform (Upgradeable to Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Chipset
NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 mobile processor | with Quad Core CPU

Memory
1GB DDR2

Wireless
802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth
Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR

Storage
32GB eMMC Flash

Camera
1.2 megapixel (Front); 8.0 Megapixel (Rear)

Speakers
Built-in Stereo Speakers with SonicMaster Technology

Card Reader
Micro SD Card Reader


Input / Output
1 x Micro HDMI, 2-in-1 audio jack (head phone/mic-in jack), internal mic

Battery Pack
25 W/h Li-polymer battery (up to 12 hours)2

Dimensions
10.35" x 7.12" x 0.33" (W x D x H)

Weight
1.29lbs

Color
Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold

List Price: $ 697.50
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My Review:

Pros:
* Tegra 3 chip makes for more powerful gaming with games that are designed for it, as well as overall performance improvements.
* The enhancements on Honeycomb OS are subtle, but nice. Hopefully ICS will be a HUGE improvement.
* The screen has that special coating that they talked about, and although it does fingerprint up like crazy as with any touch screen tablet, it is SO much easier to clean off the prints. Wow, it is nice.
* The rear camera is a huge improvement over the previous model. Perfect? no, but incredibly improved? yes. The auto focus is nice, although sometimes jittery when making a movie. But overall it is great.
* The rear camera has an LED flash now, which is very nice to have.
* I like the gold color a lot more than I thought I would. It is very subtle.
* For only having one speaker this time around, I was impressed by the sound for both music and games and general sound bites.
* They included a longer charging cable than the original 3 footer. Looks to be about 5 foot this time around. Thanks for that Asus. The extra 2 feet seriously helps.
* The overall-design looks and feels better than the original.
* When I opened it, and booted up, I had 2 Asus updates ready for me.
* Wifi speeds seemed the same as the previous model. I didn't test it, just from using it and judging by memory.
* The screen looks much improved from the original, even though it is the same resolution, the brightness helps and the colors look better.
* Movies look amazing on this screen.
* Adobe Flash sites work on this tablet.
* Not sure why we need it, but there are 2 microphones this time around.
* Asus implemented a new file manager which is really nice and easy to navigate.
* Headphones connected sound amazing, and are in stereo. (I read others questioning if headphones would sound good or not)
* HDMI port is not the same as the original Transformer. This is Micro HDMI and the original was Mini HDMI. But it looks great on my HD TV.

Cons:
* The Gorilla Glass, which is supposed to be scratch resistant, came with a scratch on it. See my update above for details.
* As far as design, the biggest complaint I have is that the power button is hard to press because it doesn't stick out far enough. You have to try to press it to truly understand. Took my a while the first few tries.
* If you use it, the MicroSD card sticks out more than it did in the original. Probably due to the Prime's curved edges. Not a major flaw, but noticeable if you had the original Prime.
* As per usual, the more apps you install, the longer the start-up boot time. Not Asus' fault, but this is with any Android Tablet. I have quite a few apps installed (I installed 107 apps myself), and while it still shuts down very quickly, it went from taking 30 seconds to boot, all the way up to 4 minutes and 10 seconds now. That is a LONG boot up. Like I said, before I installed my apps, it was only 30 seconds.