ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately) on sale

A. Dent "Aragorn" Say: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
Freedom (breakthrough), 2011-05-03
This review is for: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
Finally, a non iPad tablet that's both technologically on par (and here and there superior) with the 'leader' AND reasonably priced AND doesn't force us, the paying customers, into some 'ecosystem' mandatory straightjacket.While not perfect, the Transformer offers a great deal when it comes to features and expandability and it's the clear price leader at this time. And, of course, there's the open Honeycomb and the freedom that a reasonably open OS gives you without having to wait for jailer's okay - no need to jailbreak. You are free by default as you should be. I so wanted an open Wi-Fi tablet so maybe I am a little overenthusiastic but I totally jumped on this one when it became available because it's the first non-iTablet that actually makes sense IF you don't care about 3G/4G.I've only been using the Transformer for a couple of days and I haven't reached the top of the learning curve so I'm not going to write a lot about the various apps but I've had enough time to get to know the hardware part and basic capabilities and, for someone quite skeptical when it came to 'tablets' all I can say is that I am impressed, especially when comparing it with the other tablets out there. And this is why (I rated each feature on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is bad and 10 is best):-- PRICE (8) - the 16 GB model beats all the others at the time I'm writing this. This TF101-B1 comes with 32 GB and costs $100 more for an additional 16 GB - $499 list price - but it's still a good match for everything else that's out there. There is a separate listing for TF101-A1, the 16 GB version.-- DISPLAY SIZE (10) - 10.1", 16x9 (wide screen). Can't really compare it with the iPad because iPad's 9.7" screen is in a 4x3 format - more square inches but movies show much better on a 16x9 screen.-- RESOLUTION (10) - 1280x800 translates in 30% more pixels than iPad's and it's a beautiful, bright image. However, you can't really use it outside unless it's a cloudy day. For reading on the beach, there's the Kindle :)-- INTERNAL MEMORY (8) - 1 GB is not overwhelming but it's twice as much as iPad's (better multi-tasking) and on par with the more expensive Xoom.-- PROCESSOR (8) - 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) is on par with Xoom, clock speed similar with iPad 2.-- STORAGE (10) - 32 GB for this model, expandable through microSD to 64 GB. The 16 GB model may be the better value but you are limited to 48 GB.-- WEIGHT (7) - about 1.5 lbs., comparable with iPad's and Xoom's. It doesn't feel heavy to me.-- CAMERAS (7) - 5MP rear camera for picture or video-taking and a 1.2MP front facing for video chat. Quite happy so far but there is no flash.-- SPEAKERS (8) - 2 SRS on the sides so they won't be muffled if you lay it flat. I believe the iPad has only one.-- CHARGING (8) - via wall connector or USB but it took overnight to fully charge the tablet over USB - understandable because a tabled requires significantly more power than a phone. The dedicated port does it in a couple of hours.-- BATTERY LIFE (8) - I was able to do 7-8 hours on a full charge, not as good as iPad but close.-- PHYSICAL BUILT (7) - It's okay but the plastic on the back feels a little 'thin'.Other features/capabilities include HDMI port, Bluetooth, GPS, Flash (haven't installed the upgrade yet), remote control of Windows and Macs (it works).ERGONOMICSThe Transformer is slightly heavier than the iPad but not significantly so. The 16x9 format is very good for movie viewing and, because it's wider, it makes for better integration with the dock expansion.I like the mostly glass front with a little metal on the edges but the plastic back is so-so. It's solid but you can squeeze it if you really try - it gives to pressure.The screen is responsive to touch. I haven't been a heavy 'touch' user until the Transformer so I am not going to make any comparisons but I am pleased. The fine resolution makes serious multitasking not only possible but also practical. The Transformer has more pixels than the iPad and it shows.THE DOCKI must confess that even though I'm the current user, I bought the Transformer for one of my kids - because he did so well in school but he's getting it in a month or so on his birthday - and I decided to splurge a little, ordering the 'dock'. Hasn't arrived yet - back ordered - but someone I know has one and I was able to test-drive it for about one hour.I haven't used it extensively but, anyone who's used netbooks will immediately recognize one as soon as the Transformer plugs into the keyboard-plus expansion. Besides the physical keyboard which integrates well with the OS and adds lots of dedicated buttons, the dock has a built-in battery, 2 extra USB ports and a SD card port. My impression is that, once plugged into the dock, it charges the tablet and all power comes from the dock's battery for as long as the battery has power. As for how it feels... let me say that I'm a lot more comfortable with a full size keyboard.When docked you can actually fold the Transformer closed with the dock as the keyboard bottom and you end up with something that's hard to distinguish from a netbook, only it's running an Android OS.MY EXPERIENCEI am still getting myself used to a touch-driven OS and the built in apps and I didn't get a lot of third-party apps but not everything ran - tech support told me that not everything 'Android' will automatically run on Honeycomb so... try before you buy :) . However, whatever ran it did so without major problems. Except... playback was sometimes choppy when on full-screen mode but maybe it was so because I was running half a dozen other things at the same time.I should note that WiFi integration was flawless and, indeed, once on my local network, I was able not only to stream from media servers but to also open remote sessions on some of our Windows 7 and Windows Home Server machines.MY EVALUATIONAfter a few days of use I am very happy with my purchase and I am considering a second for my other teen kid - but I may wait for the next great tablet because I don't expect the Transformer to stay the top non-Apple tablet forever. I wrote 'top tablet' because this is the best WiFi tablet deal you can get today.The Transformer has a few minor issues: USB charging, the not-so-hard back, a little on the heavy side but the pluses overwhelm the 'issues' and the dock expansion is extremely innovative and it can even be a good 'transition' prop for those familiar with netbooks - but it does come at a price.I love my Transformer and Amazon's rating for 'I love it' is 5 stars.-->> Brush your teeth, it's the law! <<

GPSUser Say: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
Still not the end all be all, 2011-06-01
This review is for: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
I purchased the Transformer with the keyboard from Amazon recently. Before I bought it, I was on the fence between this tablet, Ipad2 and the yet to be released Toshiba Android tablet. I had a hard time deciding between getting the Ipad2 and this Transformer tablet since I already have some investment with Apple/Itunes because of my iphone4. But the ability to run flash programs, built in GPS in the base unit, with microSD external storage and a larger screen with more resolution was the swaying factor. I'm neither an Apple or Google fanboy. I just want stuff to work and make my life easier or fun.First, the display unit is very nice and sharp. It is a bit glossy and it will reflect quite a bit and it's also a finger print magnet. It's also has a tackiness as you finger will not glide as easy as you might expect but these are minor quibbles. I don't mind the back shell of unit as well as some others have commented that it feels cheap. It feels fine to me.It's major disadvantage seems to be weak wifi performance. I have a Dlink N router and none of my laptops or iphone have any performance issues around my house. The tablet frequently registers fair to poor signal strength with wifi dropping off sporadically. I've altered my router to use a different channel which seemed to help the reliability of the connection but data rate is poor overall. But with wifi being it's only lifeline, you'd expect it to perform better.Video playback at 1080p is not great either. I've tried streaming from DLNA source and on the microSD of some 1080p movies and the frame rates are very choppy. You'll get one second of video and about 2 seconds of freezing. Playback on DVD definition video is adequate but not great. No freezing but doesn't seem very smooth. With the recent update to 3.1 Honeycomb did improve video playback, but it didn't fix the video playback problem. I will have to try some movies at 720p to see if that helps.This is my first experience with Google Android. On some things like the browser or Google Earth the system works great with the touch interface and provides a near seamless experience. But it still needs a lot more polishing all around. When I pinch and zoom in Google Earth, it won't zoom in or out in the area I'm pinching in, just the center of the screen. You can't pinch and zoom in an email either. The browser has flash support, some sites won't recognize it as a full fledged browser and redirects you to the mobile version of their website so you can't access the flash version of their sites. When you do get a site with flash, it seems slow. The other thing that's a nuisance is that some apps prefer to run in either portrait or landscape mode and you can't switch seamlessly around from both for certain apps. It is a pain to switch to portrait mode with keyboard attached. I still have other glitches where my keyboard would disappear and become non functional until I take the tablet off and plug it back in and I've gotten a few lock ups with video playback. Switching the wifi off/on seems to put it in a quandary sometimes. Overall, 3.1 Android still feels unfinished.It's a bit disappointing in the end, I took one star off for unfinished Android experience and another star off for awful wifi performance/range and 1080p playback which is important to me. The only glimmer of hope is that these issues may get resolved with a future update. Then again, maybe I got a bad unit or my expectations were too high.6/5/2011 Update: You can pinch/zoom in the browser by turning off Auto-fit page option in the browser. 720P movies works but bogs down when there are heavy changes in the video. There's a rhythmic change in speed every second. It's very subtle but noticeable in slow smooth pans in video. 720 over DLNA works fine. Youtube video browser is pretty good. Network still drops out for no reason. I just realized there's no easy way to print from the tablet.7/20/2011 Update: Just updated firmware which seem to address the problem of the wifi not picking up my wireless after coming out of sleep mode. Not sure what else the update addressed.8/29/2011 Update: Applied the 3.2 update a few weeks ago and just updated with a new firmware. I'm happy to say the lumpiness in 720 playback speed has been fixed. The odd thing was some of the 1080 playback has gotten a bit worse. In the past, the files would at least load and playback with lots of choppiness. Now 1080 files will not load at all. A step backwards in a feature that wasn't working properly to begin with.Also, the battery life with the docking station has improved dramatically. Before the update, the tablet would run out of juice 1.5 days when tablet + docking station was just sleeping. So far it's been about 3-4 days and it still has about 70% battery left.I worked around my wifi problem by buying an access point and installing closer to where I normally would use it. I haven't investigated whether the wifi performance has improved with the new firmware and the with the original router. I know the performance was not improved by the 3.2 update.Still no easy way to print webpages or emails. Not fond of Google cloud print.

V. Phan "yimnvs" Say: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
Excellent and Affordable Android Tablet UPDATED 5/4/11, 2011-04-29
This review is for: ASUS Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet (Dock Sold Separately)
I am a previous owner of the Archos 101, which was a decent tablet during its time, but as time goes by..it became sluggish and multitasking on it was a drag so I sold it on ebay and saved the money for my next tablet purchase. Then I heard about this tablet and I was anxiously anticipating its US release. I was one of the lucky ones who were able to grab one on Amazon on release day(April 26th). I received my package via OnTrac on the 27th. I opened my package and tried it out for about an hour before deciding to do the OTA update. A few people on the xda forum reported that they have bricked their Asus TFs because of the update so I was hesitant. However, everything went well for me and it was updated within five minutes.-First thing first. Sorry, no iOS vs Android comparison here. If you are looking at this item, you SHOULD already know the advantages and disadvantages for both OS.-The screen is AMAZING!! Viewing angle is superb. High resolution IPS LED LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass for the win.-Only $399. $200 less than the Xoom. $100 less than the iPad 2. $50 less than the Acer Iconia a500. With equal or better hardware/features. You make the decision.-Android 3.0 is great. Very smooth usage. Very open-ended. Customizable to the max. True multitasking; with as many apps running in the background as the CPU can handle. Asus included some exclusive widgets and apps. Games run beautifully with no lag. I am new to Honeycomb, and I am enjoying it a lot.-Asus included a roll of numbers on the android virtual keyboard. That is very handy as i dont have to click an extra button to access the numbers. Most of my passwords have numbers and that saves a lot of time.-Flash 10.2. You can browse the internet without feeling left out. Yes, you get flashy ads also. I would say Flash works 95% because sometimes flash videos get laggy when maximized to full screen. Youtube app videos stutters when you play it fullscreen in HQ. However, there is supposedly a fix of that issue coming soon for Honeycomb. Other than that, every flash based websites load fine.-Apps for Honeycomb is lacking right now but it should kick off soon. Some apps are not compatible with Honeycomb and will crash after installation. If you are a news junkie, Pulse is the app to get. Mobo player is the best video player to me. Many of the free games are very fun to play.-MyCloud was not there when my tablet came. I needed to do the OTA update for MyCloud to appear in the apps folder.Since the remote desktop in MyCloud can only connect to the PCs in your LAN network, I was excited to find out about LogMeIn ignition on the Android Market. You can buy the app to remotely control any PCs anywhere.-Plays back basic video formats like avi. Compared to my Archos 101 which is made by a French company, can play many video formats natively, even mkv. (I love European devices with their video playback capabilities)-Has built in GPS with a free downloadable text-to-speech plug-in on the Android Market.-Build quality is good for the price although not as good as iPad 2. The texture design on the back is nice and gives better grip.-Big bezel. Initially, the big bezel turned me off, but now I understood why Asus made it bigger than other comparable tablets. My old Archos has a thin Bezel and because of that I would accidentally touch the screen with my thumbs, wrecking havoc. With this tablet, my thumbs rest on the bezel and that problem was solved, and also my thumbs get some rest.-Two good cameras, on front and back. Picture quality is great, but video recording is average.-MicroSD slot and miniHDMI. I also ordered the keyboard so that I will have two USB ports.-Charging connecter is shorter than I expected. It can be a hassle if you want to use the tablet and charge it at the same time.-Power button and speakers are on the side. Unlike the Archos 101 and Moto Xoom, having speakers on the side means that when you put it flat down, your sound does not deteriorate. The right speaker is louder than the left for some reason. Hopefuly an update will fix that.-Battery life is good. Around 8-9 hours depending on your usage. Battery life can be extended with the keyboard dock, while transforming into a netbook.The Asus TF is hot at $399, and I am enjoying it very much so far. This thing is in another league compared to my Archos 101. This product is rare right now and I hope Asus can ship more units(or maybe it's just a marketing strategy for more hype).Anyhow, this tablet is great and I am looking forward to future Android updates to make it even better. Five stars for a good tablet.Hope this helps and have fun with your tablet(s)!*UPDATE 5/2/11* So, I have noticed that occasionally, apps force close in Android 3.0. I know this is a software issue with Asus and that there should be updates coming soom to address this. I have heard that the Acer a500 is more stable as of right now.I was at a shopping mall and saw an Apple show store so I decided to come in and play around with the iPad 2. One thing I want to mention is that you will never see any checker-boarding when surfing the net with the Asus TF.*UPDATE 5/4/11*So the stuttering 720p video after recording has been solved after the OTA updates. It is much smoother now.**For those in the dark or have finally came out under the rock: This tablet retails at $399, so do not be a victim and buy it at $500+ from sellers on Amazon Marketplace. Also, you should not rate this item down because of third party sellers jacking up the price.**