Comments on: ASUS Transformer Prime Hands-on and Unboxing

By: Eric Steeves

Eric Steeves — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:32:00 +0000

How do the speakers compare to the last one? Same with wifi. What is the real world surfing/video battery life? How top heavy is the device while in use? Do you need to avoid using the touchscreen? How does the action on the keys compare to the older model? How badly does the back pick up finger prints? Does if have 5 ghz wifi? What is the overall performance; do you notice a performance boost with Teg 3? Just 1 usb port on the dock? Charge cable length? How does it feel in the hand?

Thank you for any and all questions answered.

By: Eric Steeves

Eric Steeves — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:32:00 +0000

Thank you for any and all questions answered.

By: Eric Steeves

Eric Steeves — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:32:00 +0000

Thank you for any and all questions answered.

By: Andy Jenkinson

Andy Jenkinson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Probably a general tablet question but what’s roughly the cost and procedure for replacing batteries when they no longer charge? Is the keyboard battery user replaceable?

By: Vagabond-Tech

Vagabond-Tech — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:06:00 +0000

Which is more durable, the upcoming prime or its predecessor?

With thinness comes fragility, and as a constant traveler (the backpack on a train with live chickens kind, not the briefcase in an airplane where my laptop will be safe kind) I’m wondering whether or not I might be better off just getting the plain transformer. Is the aluminum/glass casing strong enough to withstand accidental drops and the possible stresses of being in a backpack next to a pair of hiking boots?

By: Newmcarol

Newmcarol — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:05:00 +0000

does it have an onscreen keyboard?

By: Cyan

Cyan — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Looks nice but I wonder if I can play some MMORPG for PC such as Conquer Online, Eudemon Online, Dragon Oath and some games from Perfect World and the likes.

By: Apelles

Apelles — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:14:00 +0000

I remember doing this with my Android G-1 and a Samsung NV 20 via micro sd to sd adapter, editing photos (Photoshop mobile) on the phone and emailing them via gmail. That was almost 4 years ago. I don’t know whether the Asus has a powered USB port but they can also be rigged up via portable Duracell chargers that have USB ports to power card readers ,some designed for mico sd and sd cards(Dynex) that are the size of a thumb drives. Samsung now also makes cameras that take micro sd cards only. Another great thing about micro sd cards is to store and play movies from them. Micro sd cards now come all the way up to 32GB class 10. I regard any tablet that doesn’t take micro sd or some form of functioning expandable memory as incapacitated

By: Upirons

Upirons — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Can you figure out if the keyboard dock SD card reader is able to read an SDXC card?

By: cnetreviews

cnetreviews — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:35:00 +0000

web browsing compared to dual core should be blistering fast. there should be no lag and scrolling should be smooth as butter. good luck and this seems to be the best android tablet on the market

By: techreview

techreview — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:29:00 +0000

when you sign in to your email and market account they will show up and you can download them again for free. Or you can download an app called titanium backup and do a full backup of your transformer then when you get the prime download that app sign in and you can restore all or just the apps you want. Hope i answered your question.

By: Sales

Sales — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:08:00 +0000

Could you please look at the warranty card and tell me if its an International warranty?

Thanks

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:57:00 +0000

definitely. I really only care about the keys. The numbers can be wherever as long as the keys are full sized. Anyway you could find how much smaller the keyboard is than a normal full size keyboard?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:23:00 +0000

my amazon order doesn’t even have a date, all it says is after 12/25. i paid 2nd day shipping, but amazon could be 2 weeks behind (like it did with original transformer). i might need to start looking else where

By: hk

hk — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:14:00 +0000

Thanks, I’m really interested in getting this or one of the ultrabooks but really wanting to wait for the ultrabooks to mature so this may be a really good alternative for now.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:49:00 +0000

Can you test the audio quality when you do a full review?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:46:00 +0000

Although some people are miffed at the comparison I do feel like this tablet docking station combo is a suitable mac book airesque substitute. Of course this equally pertains to ultrabooks as well.

Any why not? this thickness, weight and build quality are comparable. What do you use ultra portables netbooks/ultrabooks for anyway? Editing documents, polaris suite; webbrowsing? check. downloading porn and boot legged comics? check. It also can read mass storage devices and it has full usb ports as well as video out putting options.

the most important difference for me is the purported 18 hours of battery life – hey to get three hours I go to power saving mode and dim the screen nearly to zero on my lap top, the 40% discount compared to ultra/airbooks and the ability to double as a tablet so I can watch youtube on my bed.

By: John

John — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:38:00 +0000

No questions… The ASUS Prime had me at hello.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:51:00 +0000

Please report some more about the audio. I thought they had fixed that issue and Engadget seemed to have no problem with the sound.

Please also do a comparative browser load, surfing and scrolling test next to an iPad on a few websites and post the results. An actual video like many do on YTube would be better than just a text version of the results.

The battery dock was supposed to have its own battery level indicator. Please assess/review.
Also check the sleep mode WITH the battery docked and see if that affects battery drain like the bug with the first transfomer.

By: a w

a w — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:01:00 +0000

i have apps in my first gen transformer which i would like to keep using in the prime. will these be available for download into the my prime when i go to the android market account? or will i have to buy these apps again?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:33:00 +0000

Not so fast.
My wife has the Bionic which in turn has gorilla glass, and she treats it the same way that she treated her original iPhone, and the Bionic already has scratches on it, not many, but more than the iPhone.
I too thought that Gorilla Glass was special, but I am not so sure anymore. It may be more resistant to actually breaking, but I would be careful with the screen nevertheless.

By: Pgknowles1

Pgknowles1 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:37:00 +0000

yes

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:44:00 +0000

if you can do it thru an android phone that you should have, then you can do the same in transformer prime.
the microSD card you put into an android device will behave the same as the built-in storage. from my experience, using SD card in android is just like using SD card in Windows.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:03:00 +0000

Tiny little rubber bumpers on the corners of the keyboard prevent touching when closed.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0000

The first Transformer can open Word docs, Powerpoint, Excel etc. The documents that are created or edited in Polaris open fine in Word, Excel, etc.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

If it’s like the 1st gen Transformer, it’s not a full size keyboard. Full querty, but numbers are along the top.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:59:00 +0000

As an owner of the first generation Transformer, I can attest that there are several advantages to the way ASUS has built the dockable keyboard, compared to the attachment Bluetooth keyboards you get with iPad 2, Xoom, Playbook, Galaxy Tab 10.1 etc…

-internal battery. I can’t tell you how useful this is. I tend to use my tablet as a netbook much of the time, and for the first half of the week, because it functions off the keyboard battery, my tablet stays at 100% charge. Most of the time, my tablet gets charged once a week, and that gets me through about 6 days of use, with about 3 hours/day. The Transformer Prime’s battery life is supposed to be even better. The important point is that any time the two are docked, the keyboard is recharging the tablet…..so any time you’ve had them docked together for an hour or two, your tablet is charged.

-full integration. The lock mechanism is solid. Docked, the two pieces are pretty much identical to having a full laptop/netbook. This is really useful for transport. I don’t have to worry about screen protectors etc. as I just dock it, fold it up, and the keyboard protects the screen. Then, when it’s time to use the tablet, I just disconnect the keyboard and go ahead and use the tablet.

-docks+ports. 2 USB ports plus an SD card slot. Sometimes if I know I’ll be in meetings, I actually bring my wireless mouse, plug the receiver into the USB port on the keyboard, and it functions perfectly. It’s recognized every mouse I’ve tried. The keyboard also gives you access to portable HDDs for mass storage, as well as the ability to connect directly to a digital camera such as an SLR. When I’m on site at a client’s location, I can connect my SLR, pull the photos off in seconds, and then blast them back out by e-mail, upload them to a server, etc. etc.

-Android shortcut keys…the keyboard has buttons for turning off the mouse and triggering a bunch of different Android functions.

The bluetooth docks I’ve seen for most other tablets don’t give those abilities.

The Transformer Prime looks even better than the original…more solidly built, lighter, prettier, longer lasting, lighter…..I kind of regret having the first gen product now :)

I think my only reservation is that I haven’t found as many good games and such as I have on my iPhone…..but hopefully that will change. But then, I use my tablet mainly for work.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:58:00 +0000

One thing you miss when you draw the comparison between the Primes keyboard and the iPad BT keyboards is the battery extension you get with the prime. Though I have to say, 150 for a keyboard and a battery is the same kind of stupid exccessively overpricing accessories that we usually only see from Apple.

Dont talk release schedules; Europe isn’t even getting the TP in 2011 at all! Just cancelled my preorder… Probably, given previous experiences with Nvidia, they have trouble yielding sufficient numbers of T3 thus delaying all their customers…

I cant think of any company stupid enough to WANT to miss the holiday sales; Unfortunately it almost seems like the old story continues; The second-gen Android tabs will hit the market bit by bit until around march, by when Apple will disgrace them all again with the iPad3…

By: Nick Sherick

Nick Sherick — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:57:00 +0000

No its not a full size keyboard. I am typing on my Asus Eee PC 1018P now, which is extremely close to the exact size of the prime. This keyboard has taken some getting used to, and it looks exactly like the prime’s in size and layout. Heck, this netbook is even brushed aluminum too. I’ve read about the office apps a lot and there are a couple that seem to get better reviews than Asus’ polaris office, but should work for lite document use. This won’t be able to replace a windows laptop, if you use your laptop in depth. I’m going to try to replace this netbook with it though. Hope this helped.

By: Upirons

Upirons — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:49:00 +0000

Other sites are reporting that online release is the 12th but in-store sales start the 19th. I pre-ordered as well so I hope that is true. Amazon still tells me Jan 6th though :-(

By: Upirons

Upirons — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:46:00 +0000

I really need to know if it will be possible to plug in a microSD card from my camera and directly access it and upload photos from it to, say, an FTP site or cloud storage of some kind without first having to copy all of the contents to the device itself. If you can verify this for me it would really help me out. This is the main reason for my Transformer Prime pre-order over an iPad or other tablet – iPad cannot do this, it requires you to first copy the files over and given that they don’t allow additional storage obviously you can run out of space quickly. So please answer this one if possible. Thanks!

By: FortitudineVincimus

FortitudineVincimus — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000

so if you do not get the keyboard, does it come with rubber plugs for those big open notches?

By: BlakeK

BlakeK — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:20:00 +0000

How does the keyboard dock compare to the Bluetooth keyboards available for the iPad?
I have been debating between getting the Prime or the iPad 2.
Initially I liked the idea of the keyboard with the Prime, but then I found out that keyboards are available for the iPad as well.
The iPad is $100 more expensive for the same memory size, but the Prime keyboard is $150 and the BT keyboards for the iPad start as low as $35, with really nice ones around $75. So basically, the end price is going to be same for either choice.

I’d really like to hear any general comparisons between the two tablets as well.
FYI, I currently have an HTC Thunderbolt phone, so I am familiar with Android and I like it. But iOS is supposed to be easy to use too, so it really comes down to features and performance for me.

Side Note:
I do think they are making a mistake releasing it on 12/19. I think they are going to miss a bunch of potential sales. Most people won’t wait that late to buy Christmas gifts. I really thought they should have pushed for a Black Friday launch, but I thought they should be able to at least save a little Christmas revenue by getting it out on the 8th. Waiting until the 19th is sure to have a negative impact on initial sales, it just comes down to how big that impact is.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

I agree although I would like to see it compared to netbooks in general. I love the idea of this tab with its solid keyboard dock and would like to replace my dying laptop with it. It’s nice to hear the trackpad works well but what about the “office” apps for it? Also, is it a full size keyboard?

By: Shredda

Shredda — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:47:00 +0000

The hacker community will not, not unless Adobe decides to develop and compile an ARM based version of Photoshop. You can’t “hack” an x86 application to run on the ARM platform.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Transformer Prime vs. Macbook Air seriously? Why does this website have to compare everything to something apple. Nobody cares about apple.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:23:00 +0000

id love to see some web browsing demo, how the quadcore and flash compares to dual core and flash.. im excited about this tablet, no more carrying my macbook pro with extension cords to class!

By: Omega Man

Omega Man — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:35:00 +0000

You can run
Adobe® Photoshop® Touch on it!
And Adobe Flash!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:29:00 +0000

No none at all.

By: Daniela Huguet Taylor

Daniela Huguet Taylor — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:03:00 +0000

If anything like the Transformer TF101 (which I have), it has tiny rubber inserts on the edges of the keyboard (1 each side) to avoid touching.