The Asus Eee Pad Transformer has a 10.1″ LED backlight WXGA (1280×800) screen and a docking QWERTY keyboard which also serves as a tablet stand, provides USB ports and contains an extra 24.4 Wh battery that extends the 9.5 hours battery life of the tablet to 16 hours.
The screen is IPS (In-plane switching) Panel which typically has a wider view angle than a traditional LCD screen – Asus boast a wide view angle of 178° for this screen. Apple’s iPad also uses an IPS panel.
There is a 1.2M pixel front Camera and a 5M pixel rear Camera. The standard range of sensors are included: G-Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, E-Compass, GPS.
The Transformer is based on the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS and supports Adobe Flash 10.2. It has an NVIDIA Tegra 2 1.0GHz dual-core CPU which provides multitasking and 1080p video playback.
Memory-wise, it has 1 GB RAM and comes in either 16 or 32 GB versions for permanent storage. Unlimited ASUS Webstorage is included free for a year.
Network-wise, it is fairly standard with WLAN 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4GHz and Bluetooth V2.1+EDR. What is conspicuously missing is a 3G version so you’ll probably need a mobile broadband USB dongle or a Wi-Fi network to access the Internet.
The docking keyboard comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one card reader (MMC/SD/SDHC) and a touch pad. It can be purchased in the UK for an additional £50 and in the US for an additional US$149 over the base price of the tablet alone.
The tablet itself contains one 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Headphone/Mic-in), one Micro SD Card Reader, and one mini HDMI 1.3a for outputting the display onto an external HD screen. Stereo speakers are built in.
Physically, the tablet measures 271 x 171 x 12.98 mm and weighs 680 g.
The Transformer was first launched in Taiwan on March 25, then in the UK on March 30, and two days ago in the US on April 26. Prices in the US are $100 less than the “equivalent” iPad model.
US Prices
- 16 GB: US$399
- 32 GB: US$499
- Keyboard: US$149
