Manage updates with the Download AppAsus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, gray)
Manufacturer: Asus Part number: TF201-B1-GR
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- Bottom Line:
- The Asus Transformer Prime is the best full-featured Android tablet yet, with a sexy design, thoughtful features, and an impressive camera.
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CNET editors' review
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, gray) price range: $389.00 - $706.68
- Reviewed by: Eric Franklin
- Reviewed on: 12/02/2011
- Released on: 12/12/2011
The good: The Asus Transformer Prime sports an iPad 2-inspired design that's even thinner and nearly as light, while also managing to include microSD and Micro-HDMI support. The Prime delivers smooth and clear 1080p video, and the 8-megapixel camera captures detail and color more accurately than any other tablet camera we've reviewed. Android 4.0 makes small but significant improvements to Honeycomb.
The bad: Not every game takes advantage of the quad-core CPU, and frame rates can suffer as a result. When connected to the dock keyboard, the tablet is top-heavy and can easily slide off a lap or table if you're not careful.
The bottom line: The Asus Transformer Prime is the best full-featured Android tablet yet, with a sexy design, thoughtful features, and an impressive camera.
User reviews
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Transformer Prime Extensive Review
by DonaldMSmith on February 19, 2012
Pros: Sleek, elegant design, small, fast five core processor, packed with Android goodness, excellent keyboard dock, dock can charge the prime or even other usb devices. good wifi in strong to medium wifi hot spots. Excellent bundled apps.
Cons: If you use the dock you are going to loose the rubber/plastic grommets covering the small slots that go into the dock. GPS not very strong.
Summary: The device itself is utterly beautiful, a far cry from it's predecessor. The original Transformer, despite being popular and incredibly useful, was a bit of an ugly duckling being ...
Summary: The device itself is utterly beautiful, a far cry from it's predecessor. The original Transformer, despite being popular and incredibly useful, was a bit of an ugly duckling being heavy and a little on the fat side. However, with the Prime, Asus appear to have truly found it's feet with design. Measuring and weighing in as thinner and lighter than tablet design benchmark, iPad 2, the prime sports a combination of spun aluminium and high quality polymer materials, giving a sturdy build and inspiring looks. The Prime comes in two colours, a dark grey with a hint of purple and a silver with a hint of gold (which Asus appropriately calls the "champagne" colour). If you admired the build quality, weight and thinness of the iPad 2, then you're going to be gobsmacked by this; the first ten minutes of my time with the Prime was spent literally caressing it, I almost licked it. If I had done that with a living being, I'd have probably been arrested. The ring spun aluminium finish on the back, when it has light shone on it, gives a beautiful array of concentric circles as they reflect off the brushed finish. the Asus logo in solid Aluminium dominates the center of the back of the tablet, but tastefully. Directly above the Asus logo, towards the center-top of the back is the 8MP camera with single LED flash. The camera has a 2.4 aperture, a significant upgrade from the usual 2.2 apertures seen on consumer devices. This will lead to a high quality camera experience (which is somewhat lost on a tablet).
On the front side of the tablet, you are greeted by a beautiful, sturdy slab of Corning's Gorilla Glass. Not only this, but Asus have followed suit with Apple by using a hydro-oleophobic coating on the glass so that fingerprints and smudges are somewhat mitigated (though not fully). Aside from the screen itself, the front side only sees the Asus logo used once again in the top left section of the bezel. Also housed in the bezel is the 2MP front facing camera which is situated just right of center-top and the photometer for adjusting screen brightness. Physical connectors and buttons are fairly par for the course for a high end tablet such as this. The left section of the top edge holds the power button, the upper section of the right edge holds the 3.5mm audio jack. The left holds the following in top-to-bottom order, volume rocker, micro-HDMI port, Micro-SD card slot and microphone. The center of the bottom edge houses the 40-pin proprietary connector Asus uses to connect the tablet to the dock. It is also the connection used to hook it up to your PC, so this is somewhat bittersweet but is forgiven when considering the kind of functionality it brings in the form of the dock.
On the inside the Prime sports some beefy specs. First up and most notably, the Prime is one of the first tablets in the world to hold Nvidia's brand new Tegra 3 quad core processor. Sporting 4 ARM Cortex A9 cores clocked at 1.3GHz and a fifth, ultra power efficient, "companion" core clocked to a maximum of 500MHz, the Prime isn't lacking in processing grunt. Now, now, I hear you all clamouring in unison, "but what about battery drain?!1'. Fear not, children, as the Tegra 3 actually, according to Nvidia, has less power drain than the Tegra 2. This works through the companion core with it's ultra efficient architecture keeping the tablet ticking over with menial tasks, with the four big boys only turning on when some serious work needs to be done. This combination makes power efficiency shoot through the roof compared to Tegra 2 who only had it's two equally clocked 1GHz cores to provide processing power which would have been less power efficient. Paired to these beastly cores is a 12 CUDA core (or 48 stream processor) GeForce ULP GPU. Nvidia has its expertise firmly set in graphics and 3D rendering with it's successful consumer and enterprise graphics solution business. This translates over to developers wishing to make games or other 3D applications utilising some of Nvidia's special API's like Physx for greate realism in games, or CUDA for more efficient floating point calculation. So these two major processing centers are paired to 1GB LPDDR2 RAM which gives ample memory for apps to play with.
The Prime also comes with the usual gamut of radios like Wifi b, g a & n, A-GSPS and Bluetooth 3.0. 3G is not included in the Prime and there is not a 3G model. So if you were absolutely banking on your tablet having 3G then this isn't for you, lest you use your Android smart phone as a wireless hub for the Prime to utilise you phone's 3G connection (something available on all Android phones from 2.2 onwards). The screen is a 1280 x 800 Super-IPS display. I'm not sure what the "Super" in Super-IPS actually means or does; but it seems that these screen manufacturers like to put an endless amount of prefix names to denote a new iteration (see also Samsung's Super-AMOLED display). Like the iPad 2, this display of the Prime's is a full RGB array, which means absolutely nothing. This endless tussle between full array and PenTile is ridiculous as 99% of users don't tell the difference and that 1% are usually tech-nerds who deliberately look for the difference just to rant about it on XDA or somewhere else. In short, the display is beautiful. Bright and vibrant, viewing angles are excellent and outdoor reading in sunlight is actually do-able to a nice degree. All this beautiful tech wet-dreamery is powered by a 22Wh battery that gives the Prime, on a full load torture test, 10 hours 17 minutes battery time (according to Engadget). The battery in the dock extends that to (what Asus claim to be) 16 and a half hours. So, with moderate use, you don't need to worry about running out of juice throughout the day.
The keyboard dock is as beautiful as the tablet itself, being incredibly thin and light. It has the same colour as the tablet, so you are perfectly colour co-ordinated. Dominating the top of the dock is the keyboard itself. Black chiclet keys were Asus' choice and they were a good once, giving a demure and understated look. Asus have made a number of changes to what you'd be used to on a standard PC keyboard, replacing the top Function keys with shortcuts to many things like turning Wifi on or off, adjusting screen brightness, accessing the browser app, skipping or pausing music etc. There is a button for "Home" where the Windows or Apple key would be and left Alt is replaced by a Search key which takes you straight to Google's integrated search functionality in Android. Overall, the layout and innovative alterations seen on the keyboard are fantastic, the only gripe is that the layout is a little compact (but what do you expect on a 10' form factor) and that the keys themselves have shallow press distances, so initially you're not overly confident when pressing keys but it is something that mitigates itself over time. The trackpad, while small, is very nice. It supports multi-touch gestures (two-finger movement will enact a scrolling action in whatever you're doing) and is accurate. Integrated into the track pad are both left and right clicks. Left click sends a touch instruction over the thing you have the cursor over and right click opens the context menu for that item that will often be brought up when touch-and-holding.
The left side of the dock holds another 40-pin connector, the same one on the bottom of the tablet, that can be used to connect the dock to the charger or a PC. Note that charging the dock while the tablet is connected to it will also charge the tablet in a one-two fashion. The front side of the dock tapers into a very thin front finish reminiscent of ultra books. The right side of the dock holds a full size SD card slot that can take up to 32GB and a full size USB port that can be used to connect to a phone or other device. The connection onto the tablet itself is very secure. It takes some force to clip the Prime onto the dock, there are two spring loaded clips that load into little slots found on either side of the 40-pin connector on the tablet. The connector slides into place and you will hear both clips click into place. The Prime will make a little "bing" noise to let you know it is connected, and the black status bar at the bottom of the screen will bring up a little icon to let you know it is connected. To disconnect, there is a little spring-loaded latch toward the back of the dock which dis-engages the two clips and allows you to pull the tablet off the dock. Some force is required to do this, which is only a testament to how well Asus have engineered the tablet to stay sturdy on the dock. When connected, the cradle section of the dock that holds the prime creates a natural lift at the back end of the dock. This tilts the keyboard and screen ever-so-slightly towards you, which helps with ergonomics. Asus have seriously done their homework with the design of this. Capping things off are four rubberised feet at the bottom of the dock to keep it gripped on whatever surface you put it on.
Overall, the Prime looks and feels the part. It performs lightning quick, the quad core Tegra 3 providing ample grunt to sweep through any and all that gets thrown at it. Physically, you're not going to be embarrassed by being seen with this, it's something you're definitely going to want to show off. The keyboard, while providing some gripes regarding the keys and its compact nature, allows you to really step up the work you can get done if you need to do an extended typing session. ICS on tablets is just as it is on phones, but for the bigger screen (so it's lovely, in short). If you want a bottom line about the Prime, it's this: the Prime is the best Android tablet out now, and is probably the best tablet out now, depending on your perspective.
P.S. If you're will buy this ASUS Transformer Prime, I suggest you have to compare for best prices before you decide at: Prices-comparison.info/Transformer-Prime/
Thank for reading!47 out of 49 users found this user opinion helpful.
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THE BEST TABLETS HANDS DOWN
by quadfour44 on December 9, 2011
Pros: quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor,8-megapixel camera same as Iphone 4s and has smooth and clear 1080p video,microSD and Micro-HDMI ,Thinner and lighter then the Ipad 2
Cons: none as of now
Summary: Very bad review by Eric "my next kid will be named Steve Jobs" Franklin there is no way this should have been rated lower then the Ipad 2 at least ...
Summary: Very bad review by Eric "my next kid will be named Steve Jobs" Franklin there is no way this should have been rated lower then the Ipad 2 at least even. CNET keeps taking down the reviews of people that are upset with Eric's review its about 35 to date that they have pulled down. Eric gave the Galaxy 10.1 a rating of 8.0-6.0-8.0 the Ipad 2 9.0-8.0-8.0 and the prime 8.0-8.0-8.0 the prime blows away the galaxy 10.1 Donald Bell should have reviewed the Prime. Lets see if CNET as the guts to Prizefight the Ipad 2 vs Prime. I bet it will be a tie.......CNET Cause Nobody Equals The apple. I'm sure they will take me down again for the 4th time.
35 out of 49 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Owner's review
by KenHayashi on December 4, 2011
Pros: Aesthetics and design
Available connections
Keyboard dockCons: HC is not optimized for quad core, hopefully ICS eill be
Summary: I think I may be one of the first actual owner of this tablet. I am currently visiting Taiwan, and per-order for the device started way before than in the ...
Summary: I think I may be one of the first actual owner of this tablet. I am currently visiting Taiwan, and per-order for the device started way before than in the States, and actual delivery started on the 3rd. I took delivery of my Prime at 2pm. I preorder mine through TKec here in Taiwan. Taiwan is home to Asus, after all, and it seems Asus really takes care of its fans in its home base.
I have several tablets currently, both iOS and Androids, and have had more. Of course, this is only my personal opinion of the device, and you should take it with a grain of salt as with any other reviews. I am not associated with Asus nor cnet.
Ok, first thing first: I am reviewing this for those that are tablets pros, those who have had several tablets of all competing platforms, and who are wondering what Prime is bringing to the table. Looks elsewhere if you do not already have several tablets of made by Apple, HTC, or HP, etc.
I think I am not out of line when I say that I believe of all platforms out there iOS is the most mature, androids has the most potential and others are just also ran. With that being said, I have to say I am disappointed with just playing HC on my Prime instead of ICS. All the little annoyances of HC are still there, even the bad optimization. Home screen switching is very smooth, and so are apps launching. But every so often, there will be stuttering performing either tasks, just like what HC has always done. I am beginning to believe that all those performance issues really are Google's bad coding, as the hardware of this tablet is not in question. It's is a freaking quad-core! Until ICS ships, I believe, do not think that all the stuttering will be gone. Compare to iOS, sadly, iPad 2 still wins in the consistent smooth operation for now. ICS may very well change that quickly.
Aesthetically, this thing is the best looking tablet there is, bar non. Yes, it is prettier even than the iPad 2. It is thinner as you probably know, but what really strikes me is how solid the tablet feels. The flexing problem or the previous transformer are gone. This thing feels like a solid forged piece of metal when you hold it in your hand, and it exudes expensive and sophistication with aplomb. Design cue pays more than a nod to its Apple competitor, but that is not necessary a bad thing. It is different enough that no one will confuse the two, so on the aesthetic side this thing is the best looking Androids tablet there is. Compare to iPad 2, it is on par with the Apple on looks alone. Prime does feel more "expensive" than even the iPad, so combined with that aspect then it trounces even the Apple offering.
I bought my champaign gold Prime with the dock, so I'll go over a little bit about operation with the dock attached. The dock feels very much like the tablet: thin, light and high class. The keyboard layout is the same as the first gen dock, so if you're already comfortable with that, you'll be at home here. Two cons about the docks are that it is not backlit, and it is not as solid as the tablet itself. Don't get me wrong, it's not that the dock is of low quality, but compared to the tablet it does feel lower. An analogy would be like if you have been driving your Ferrari all day, stepping into your Mercedes S class feels like a let down. To match the quality of the Prime, I would've loved for the dock to be backlit, and the chicklet keys bigger. Maybe even for the keyboard to be thinner,I don't know. All I know is that I was blown away by the tablet. The keyboard, not so much. The top heavy comments made by several reviewers do ring true, Prime does tip over very easily. Be careful.
I have not had my Prime for that long to give a full review. Once I do, then I'll update my findings.26 out of 38 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The new gold standard for tablets
by Liftline on December 5, 2011
Pros: Vastly better in every key regard than the iPad. Amazing display, camera,video, smooooooooth operation, form and function. Apps are now plentiful and great.
Cons: Yes, with the keyboard it seems a little top-heavy, though not really a problem.
Summary: A truly great product that fulills much of what the iPad supposedly promised...and, best of all, its an open platform free of the goofy limitations and insane restrictions that ...
Summary: A truly great product that fulills much of what the iPad supposedly promised...and, best of all, its an open platform free of the goofy limitations and insane restrictions that Apple inflicts on its users.
20 out of 31 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Works great, just put in an order for a second one!
by Jason_Franco on January 3, 2012
Pros: - Nice Design, Built Solid
- Great display
- Usable Apps Included
- Works well as an entertainment power house or for the
professional who like to travel light but still be productive.Cons: 1. Stock Browser performance but that will be fixed with android 4.0
or installing another android browser from the market.
2. Not comfortable to hold and use with stock keyboard, download the
app thumb keyboard.Summary: I am going to keep my review as short as possible. First off, my tablet works flawlessly. I did have my concerns like some of you who have done your ...
Summary: I am going to keep my review as short as possible. First off, my tablet works flawlessly. I did have my concerns like some of you who have done your research about wifi performance, gps and light bleed. Off the bat, my wifi performance was good but not consistent. I used wifi analyzer to check my signal with comparison to my current android phone, the HTC EVO 3D. Both showed the same signal strength but I noticed the inconsistency with various download speeds that ranged from 8 to 20MPS. This was from about 15-20 feet away from my wireless router, the Netgear Wireless N600. I re-configured my router to use channel 11, set the security options to WPA2-PSK (AES), Mode set to 300mps. I disabled the guest network and the 5ghz wireless broadcast. After making those changes my wireless reception improved and I was consistently hitting 20 Mbs using the speed test app. My internet service is provided by Comcast. About the GPS... I was not able to lock onto any GPS satellites from inside my home. Took the table outside and locked on to 6 satellites and counting within seconds with great accuracy on location. Using the stock Navigation app I was able to lock and use. About light bleed... There is no light bleed what so ever on my tablet, confirmed using the light bleed app from the market. ONE issue I have with the tablet is when typing with the tablet using the stock keyboard can feel uncomfortable. Its like the edges of the tablet start digging into your palm. This will be easily be fixed once you put it in a case and/or download the app Thumb Keyboard. Performance wise, I did not notice any slowdown in switching between apps and screens until I installed the app called Pulse. This app or others like it may have a compatibility issue with the companion core causing a slow down when the Asus using the companion core to conserve power. Just something to keep in mind. The browser did not load web pages as fast as other free android browsers such as Opera, Dolphin Browser and Boat Browser. I was able to speed up the Asus stock browser by typing in the address bar, "about:debug" without quotes. *This will not take you to another screen though, follow my next steps...* Then enter the browser's settings, touch the option that says "debug", then make sure only the following is checked:
- Enable open GL rendering
- Enable Web Gl
- Use Wide viewport
Relaunch the stock browser and now one of my cons is no longer a con. Enjoy!
In short, this tablet looks great and does everything I want. I love everything about it, watching movies, fluidity, games, Multiple email account support using the Asus stock email app, and a beautiful display built into a great design to ice the cake. I was looking to jump in on a full featured Android tablet and I found it here with the transformer prime. All that's missing is Ice Cream Sandwich. I will update my review again when I receive the ICS update and/or our second transformer prime (champagne) that I ordered for my girlfriend. To bad it wont ship until the end of January early February from Amazon. The Grey Transformer tablet that I own know came from Best Buy, ordered on November 29th, shipped on December 19th, received on December 23rd. I know, I was one of the lucky ones!11 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Brilliant. Sad about the few that have issues.
by Static-X-Machina on February 22, 2012
Pros: Excellent customer support. Open 24/7 for North America.
Bleeding edge technology in tablet form.
Optional keyboard with built in touchpad, USB 2.0 port, extended battery, standard SD card slot.
Micro SD port, HDMI out, 8mp camera, 3.5mm headphone.Cons: Has had some issues with QC enough to raise an eyebrow but not enough to shun the device.
The rubber feet seem too short to protect the case against scratching on anything but a perfectly flat surface. (ordered laptop lifts rubber feet to solve this.Summary: The transformer prime is a stunning device and has a pristine sleek look that is almost sexy. There are hardly any stark lines to it and is a real head ...
Summary: The transformer prime is a stunning device and has a pristine sleek look that is almost sexy. There are hardly any stark lines to it and is a real head turner. I have had people walk up and ask what the heck it was that I had in places with free wifi when I ejected it from the keyboard to use it like a tablet.
The camera is 8 MP and takes stunning photos and has the option to use photoshop like tools to edit the photos.
The graphics is where it REALLY excels. Try playing shadowguns THD on this baby. The water ripple effects are what stand out as the standard version (if I am right) do not have water effects.
18 hr battery life with keyboard dock. Wow.... I will attest to this. I wake up at 6am every morning and unhook my prime from its charger and it never sees the charger again until I go to bed at around 11 and STILL has over 50% battery life on the tablet. This is with moderate to heavy usage and always with wifi on. I keep my brightness at about 1/3 to 1/4th maximum brightness and super IPS turned off. that being said it is plenty bright at that level indoors. It will test your browsing limits.
Well worth the money I spent.
Wife loves hers too!5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A+ - Outstanding in every major way.
by Livefreeorpay on December 12, 2011
Pros: - Functional and aesthetic; great design
- Amazingly smooth operation
- Fast, fast, fast...
- Brilliant, clear display
- Good crisp sound
- Intuitive interface
- The keyboard rocks
- Much more enjoyable experience than the iPad2Cons: - A little wobbly when mounted on the the keyboard. Not too bad though.
- Light...but not quite light enough.
- Competitive cost, but could be a little less expensiveSummary: We have just gotten one of these...and it compares very well against the iPad2 we've been using for months. Sort of a his/hers situation now...but we'...
Summary: We have just gotten one of these...and it compares very well against the iPad2 we've been using for months. Sort of a his/hers situation now...but we're fighting for this one over the iPad. We really like the openness of the platform...especially in contrast with the horrible (and sometimes insane)restrictions that Apple inflicts on users. We've been Mac/iPhone/iPad users for years now, but we're really fed up with the clunkiness of Apple's so-called ecosystem. The hardware is lagging also, but we've been living with it.
The new Android hardware is now as good or better than the iPad. The Android OS is the deal sealer; vastly superior to iOS. Hardware and software come together very nicely in this device.
looks like the future to us.8 out of 14 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great product if well assembled, a real letdown if not
by Tomsgate on April 21, 2012
Pros: Great design, amazing battery life, fast...
Cons: From my experience, extremely poor assembly quality: 5 exchanges for flaws in a week!
Summary: Hi eveyone,
Just wanted to share my personal experience regarding the TF201. Note that I love this product, its conecpt and design, which is why I own one despite what ...Summary: Hi eveyone,
Just wanted to share my personal experience regarding the TF201. Note that I love this product, its conecpt and design, which is why I own one despite what happened to me. I did not make this up or exaggerate any of this in any way. This is all true:
I bought my first TF201 about a week ago in a store (Saturn in Luxembourg). Grey model, 32GB with keyboard, very nice. Yet I soon noticed that the motion sensors (rotation, gyro, compass etc.) would stop working after a while for no apparent reason. I wrote to Asus support about it, and they suggested to have it replaced. "Bad luck" I thought, this can happen, and since I still had a few days left to exchange it at the store for another one, no big deal. So I did, and left with a new one, gold model this time, they were out of grey ones...
I opened the new box, started setting up the tablet and went to put it into the dock: very difficult, it wouldn't really fit. After a brief inspection, I noticed that the screen was not attached to the frame properly on the bottom. There was a gap, which made the tablet very hard to fit the hinge. I returned it the same day...
Third model, again a golden one. I had checked the screen in the store right after exchanging the old one: this one was fine. I took it home and started setting it up. I then noticed that the vibration unit (which vibrates at boot up and shut down, or when you mute the tablet) made an unhealthy sound: it was loose in the tablet, rattling...
I exchanged it the next day. Pissed! Thankfully, the staff in the store was very friendly and forthcoming... I opened the fouth one in the store in front of a vendor and we inspected the tablet together: the screen was loose on the bottom. The store decided to send the entire TF201 batch back: 18 units. I got my money back, no problem.
The vendor told me he had had another costumer return on the same model: black screen of death and no possibility to transfer data to a computer anymore. Total shutdown. The customer broke the devive in half in front of the vendor...
This may sound crazy, but despite all of this, I still wanted a TF201: I think it is a great product, looks amazing and is exactly what I want... when it is well built. So I went to another store, which had grey models and a more recent delivery, and bought one there. I inspected it in the store (ok) and use it now. It's fine for now, exept for a couple of dead pixels which you only notice on boot screen...
So, to all of you who consider buying a Transformer Prime (TF201), here is my advice:
- Buy it in a local store, NOT online: you might have to return it and you need to be certain you can exchange it easily
- Return the device as soon as you notice anything wrong. Don't assume it's a software issue: it's probably not...
- Inspect the device in the store right after buying it for screen gaps. Turn it on and check the vibration sound. Might save you a trip back...
- Get a microSD card and backup frequently. You never know what might happen...
- If you have a perfectly fuctionning device, enjoy it (because it is great) and do not give it away.
On a positive note, all the flaws I noticed were assembly related, thus easy to spot quickly and return the units. Also, I think the components are fine, except for some screen bleed ans dead pixels sometimes, but barely noticable... I can live with a dead pixel on boot screen and a tiny bit of screen bleed on boot screen, as long as the rest is fine: this device is great to use, has impressive battery life (especially with the dock), a nice keyboard etc. Worth it. Of course I would prefer a perfect unit in every aspect, but these seem to be pretty rare, according to my experience. If you have one, smile! :)
My advice to Asus:
- Improve your assembly line, for crying out loud! Qualified people, or more staff: productivity is good, quality is better! Selling faulty devices is a bad choice: you get money more quickly, but returns are more frequent and your reputation suffers from it. Bad move.
- How about setting up a quality control? How can units with loose screens even be shipped? Anyone could see the unit is faulty, even without turning it on!!!
See you!
Thomas2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This tablet is surreal!! Best tablet on the market!
by S_Eke512 on March 26, 2012
Pros: Incredible picture/video quality!
Extremely fast processor
High resolution screen
Great Wi-Fi
Easy access to Android Market w/ fast downloads
Incredible memory
GREAT battery life!!
Charges quickly
Great on-screen keyboard with SWIPE.
LightweightCons: Availability.
I don't have enough money to buy more of them!! :-)Summary: I've researched and waited on this tablet for the last three months. I've read countless reviews on multiple sites and talked, at length, with other tech junkies like ...
Summary: I've researched and waited on this tablet for the last three months. I've read countless reviews on multiple sites and talked, at length, with other tech junkies like myself about which tablet was the best on the market. When I finally had the money AND was able to find one online (the only major knock I have against this tablet is how hard it is to find, which is a GREAT thing that a company should have as a knock), I bought it immediately.
Since I received my tablet on Friday (3/23/12), I have almost literally not been able to put it down!! After fulling charging it, I started to play with it to find out just exactly what this thing that I've been coveting for so long could do... And three days later, I'm still beyond fascinated by this piece of tech! It is AMAZING in every sense of the term! It's lightning fast in moving from one open page to the next with the ability to move between programs seamlessly, the screen and resolution is off the charts, clarity is superb, and the apps I downloaded did so in incredible speed (less than a minute tops... Most around 30 seconds). The picture quality (thanks to the AMAZING 8mp camera!) was brilliant to say the least, with multiple stock effects and a zoom capability I did not know the camera had. The video quality was mesmerizing for any device and was everything and more than I could have hoped for... (When I was in the market for a tablet, one of the main things that sold me on the Prime over the iPad2/3 was the camera and I was anything but disappointed!).
One of the clever things that is very aesthetically pleasing is the living wallpaper (interactive/moving wallpaper) that comes with the tablet and the option to download other LWP's from the Android market. This, too, set the tablet apart from an artistic and graphic stand point that was a subtle but great discovery.
I had the great benefit of being able to do a direct, side-by-side comparison with a friend of mine over the weekend who has the iPad3 and by the end of the night on Saturday, he was looking into finding a Prime that was available and wanted to sell his iPad as soon as he found one! Mind you, my friend is an avid fan of Apple and has always bought Apple products, from his MacBook Air, to his iPod touch, to his previously mentioned iPad3. He was incredibly impressed with the speed, look, feel, and video/picture quality of the Prime. The resolution difference on the screen between the two was marginal at best. Again and again as we played with our respective tablet, he was found setting his down to admire my Prime and inquire about it.
Not wanting to make this review too long, I'll sum up my overall thoughts so far on this tablet and respond to some other reviews on the problems I read about before buying mine, because I fear that if I do not cap myself, I will literally talk all day about this mind-blowing tablet!!
First, to address the cons I've seen in other reviews:
I have not experienced any difficulty with the Wi-Fi whatsoever. Even when the signal strength of the router was low (as was indicated by the Wi-Fi signal at the bottom), my browsing was far superior than that of the LAPTOPS in the room running on the same Wi-Fi network, one of which was a MacBook as previously mentioned. Maybe this is a problem that ASUS solved in the time before I got mine but either way, I have had 0 problems with it at all.
I have not used the GPS so I'm not sure if it's still glitchy but I did notice that Google Maps opened about sluggishly when used from the home screen, but this may have also been a product of the fact that I turn off all "Location" services on all my tech for privacy purposes.
I have not had any issues with ICS and love how quickly my tablet works and processes, so the updates they have done since January have been effective and I did not have to wait for a single update since I've had my tablet.
The battery life, which was never listed as a "Con", is beyond superb! It took all day (8-10 hours) of consistent use before my battery completely died and it retains its charge very well.
All in all, this tablet is the most amazing tech I've ever held in my hands, played with, and owned. It excites me every time I pick it up and I have only just begun to find out all that it is capable of. I have the hardest time putting it down for any reason and consistently find excuses to use it even when my laptop is available. The ability to switch between three different levels of power output is also an amazing plus that allows you to pick and choose how fast you want things to run or if you're on a long flight or trip, you can preserve battery life substantially by reducing the power output without losing speed in major programs or open pages. It is truly remarkable.
I would give this tablet more than 5 stars if I could because it is truly THAT good! I would recommend this tablet over any other, hands down, and would especially recommend people to buy this tablet instead of spending more money for a lesser product in the iPad 3. The Prime is $60 cheaper for twice as much memory, a significantly better camera (8mp to the iPad 3's 5mp camera. And the Prime records in HD 1080p over the iPad 3's 720p), equal screen resolution, substantially better battery life, no over-heating problems as is the case with the new iPad, and a quad-core processor that absolutely crushes the competition! This is an investment that no one will regret. My only "buyer's remorse" is that I don't have more money so that I could buy 3 or 4 of these amazing devices!!!
Hope this helps as much as other reviews helped me in my decision making!!
S.E. -- Senior Year College Student.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Wireless performance is terrible.
by Pistol204 on February 19, 2012
Pros: All other aspects of the tablet seemed great. First tablet, so not much to personally compare against other that occasional IPad usage of friends.
Cons: Wireless required you to be almost on top of my new Netgear N600 router. Connection dropped by almost leaving the room. I read other complaints on this before purchasing, but assumed it was fixed. Big mistake.
Summary: Taking mine back today. Don't want to give in to the Apple hysteria, but may just have to swallow my pride and get one. I hope Asus can fix ...
Summary: Taking mine back today. Don't want to give in to the Apple hysteria, but may just have to swallow my pride and get one. I hope Asus can fix the wireless, as they appear to have a great product other than that. What good is a tablet if you have no mobility on your internet connection???
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Asus
- Part number: TF201-B1-GR
- Description: The Eee Pad Transformer is the best tablet choice for users looking for media consumption and mobile productivity in an elegant yet versatile design. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer features the powerful and responsive Android operating system, ASUS' intuitive waveshare user interface that results in an exciting portable tablet for content creation, social communication, high-definition media playback and smooth realistic game play.
Display
- Type 10.1 in S-IPS+ TFT active matrix - LED backlight
- Display Resolution 1280 x 800
- Touchscreen Yes
General
- Operating System Android 3.2 (Honeycomb)
Processor
- Processor NVIDIA Tegra 3
- Number of Cores Quad-Core
Memory
- Flash Memory 32 GB
- RAM 1 GB - LPDDR2 SDRAM
- Supported Flash Memory Cards microSD
Communications
- Wireless Connectivity 802.11b/g/n,
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR Camera
- Rear-facing Camera 8 megapixels
- Focus Adjustment Automatic
- Front-facing Camera 1.2 Megapixel
Location
- GPS Navigation None
Multimedia
- Max External Resolution 1280 x 800
- Audio Microphone , Stereo speakers
- Supported Digital Audio Formats MP3
Input Device
- Type Touch-screen
Software
- Preloaded Software File Manager,
ASUS Sync,
ASUS WebStorage,
ASUS @Vibe Music,
NVIDIA Tegra Zone,
SuperNote,
App Backup,
App Locker,
Polaris Office 3.0,
MyCloud,
MyNet,
MyLibrary,
ASUS Launcher Expansion and Connectivity
- Expansion Slot(s) 1 x microSD
- Interfaces 1 x Headset,
1 x Micro-HDMI,
1 x Dock - HDMI Port Yes
Battery
- Technology / Form Factor Lithium polymer
- Capacity 25 Wh
- Run Time 12 hour(s)
Miscellaneous
- Color Amethyst gray
- Sensors G-sensor,
Ambient light sensor,
Gyro sensor,
Digital compass - Features Expandable storage ,
Front camera ,
Rear camera ,
Micro HDMI - Included Accessories Power adapter
Dimensions & Weight
- Width 10.4 in
- Depth 0.3 in
- Height 7.1 in
- Weight 1.3 lbs
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
Product series
-
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, champagne)
Manufacturer: Asus
Specs: 10.1 in TFT active matrix - LED backlight - Yes,
Android 4.0,
1 GB - LPDDR2 SDRAM,
NVIDIA Tegra 3,
IEEE 802.11n,
IEEE 802.11b,
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR,
IEEE 802.11g,
10.4 in x 0.3 in x 7.1 in,
1.3 lbs -
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, gray)
Manufacturer: Asus
Specs: 10.1 in TFT active matrix - LED backlight - Yes,
Android 3.2 (Honeycomb),
1 GB - LPDDR2 SDRAM,
NVIDIA Tegra 3,
IEEE 802.11n,
IEEE 802.11b,
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR,
IEEE 802.11g,
10.4 in x 0.3 in x 7.1 in,
1.3 lbs -
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (64GB, champagne)
Manufacturer: Asus
Specs: 10.1 in TFT active matrix - LED backlight - Yes,
Android 4.0,
1 GB - LPDDR2 SDRAM,
NVIDIA Tegra 3,
IEEE 802.11n,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g,
Bluetooth 2.1,
10.4 in x 0.3 in x 7.1 in,
1.3 lbs -
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (64GB, gray)
Manufacturer: Asus
Specs: 10.1 in TFT active matrix - LED backlight - Yes,
Android 3.2 (Honeycomb),
1 GB - LPDDR2 SDRAM,
NVIDIA Tegra 3,
IEEE 802.11n,
IEEE 802.11b,
IEEE 802.11g,
Bluetooth 2.1,
10.4 in x 0.3 in x 7.1 in,
1.3 lbs
Accessories
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 TranSleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (35098619)30.52 - 31.10
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 TranSleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (35098757)29.99 - 37.51
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 TranSleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (35098736)
- Targus Truss Leather Case/Stand for Asus Eee Pad Transformer 10.1" - case for web tablet (35091426)49.99
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 sleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (34997690)37.98 - 39.95
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 sleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (34639241)43.67 - 46.99
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 sleeve - protective sleeve for web tablet (35152954)37.99 - 45.99
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Asus products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:Asus
- Address:
44370 Nobel Drive, Fremont, CA 94538 - Phone: +1-510-739-3777
- Email: tmd1@asus.com
- Fax: +1-510-608-4555
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