Asus Transformer Prime

[Harlowe]

I think it's awesome. =)

[Ddrak]

Reviews are demanded when you get it, btw!

Dd

[Freecare Spiritwise]

The wifey got her Fire today. Looks like a nice little device. She's tickled pink.

[Harlowe]

So far, I love it!!! I'm going reserve giving a complete review until I get the Ice Cream Sandwich update and the keyboard. It's running on Honeycomb right now and it might be another 3-4 week wait for the keyboard. One neat thing right away, the IPS panel is really nice and I have an android phone so was able to quickly and smoothly sync the apps and contacts from it. I've been sidetracked playing the android version of Settlers of Catan, so I haven't dug too far int it, but so far it's exactly what I was expecting...it's light, has gorgeous resolution and even with Honeycomb, it's fast (the quad-core performance makes a huge difference). In spite of being light and thin, it feels extremely sturdy....you get that satisfying feeling "oh yah" you get holding a well-built piece of technology. I've heard the GPS can be sketchy, but I haven't tried that out yet and that's not a function I'm very interested in.

I'm excited to see how it performs once the Ice Cream Sandwich update comes out.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

I noticed from the specs that your rig has two batteries. That's a neat design. I did notice one thing odd about that though. The unit has a 25 Wh battery that gives it a 12 hour run time, but a second 22 Wh battery only adds 6 hours to that. My guess is that the two batteries have very different discharge characteristics. Doesn't seem to be a typo. Sometimes this is because a company cheaps out but it could also be just the second one trying to balance out the discharge curve. For example the 2nd one might be optimized for wi-fi.

Either way it looks like a solid machine /jealous.

[Harlowe]

I think the second one is from the keyboard, because with the keyboard you get a total of 16 hours battery time.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

From the official specs:

12 hours; 25Wh Li-polymer Battery (4)
18 hours pad with dock ; 25Wh(pad) + 22Wh(docking) Li-polymer Battery (4)


*4 Battery life tested under power saving mode, playing 720p video playback,
rightness:60nits, default volume with headphones.

[Ddrak]

Keyboard likely uses extra power, so plugging it in gives extra battery but also extra consumption.

I thought the keyboard came with the unit? Is it an extra, or just back-ordered?

Dd

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Keyboard dock is extra, as it was on the Transformer.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

So the docking keyboard is bluetooth or something, and you're not docking an actual, connected keyboard?

Seems like with that logic any tablet with bluetooth is a "transformer".

[Harlowe]

Yeah, the keyboard was extra and didn't come with the tablet.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Yeah, it's still a badass looking tablet even if it seems the whole transforming thing is gimmicky. I think maybe what I really want is a quad core netbook. Oh well, a tablet/netbook for me is bumped to next year's family budget anyway, so they'll be twice as cool next year I guess lol. I can work from anyplace on earth with some sort of internet so with the youngest turning 17 in a week it's time to start thinking about maybe writing code sitting at a camp site by a lake somewhere in the northwest. At least once in a while. And for that I'll need lots of condensed horsepower. But for now I can experience the latest of what technology has to offer vicariously through others

[Harlowe]

it's time to start thinking about maybe writing code sitting at a camp site by a lake somewhere in the northwest. At least once in a while.

Well that sounds awesome!

[Fallakin Kuvari]

So the docking keyboard is bluetooth or something, and you're not docking an actual, connected keyboard?

Seems like with that logic any tablet with bluetooth is a "transformer".

Its a docking keyboard, hence it providing power to the tablet as well.