Asus Eee Pad Transformer review (tablet)

[Jackolantern]

I was waiting a little while to get some more use out of my new tablet, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, before writing a formal review. This is the first tablet I have ever owned, but I have played around with an iPad before, and I have lots of experience with the other 2 main mobile OS', iOS and Windows Phone 7. I have to say that as far as OS' go, Android is my new favorite by a long shot! No more iTunes, no more syncing (unless you want to), no more glitching syncing applications! The open nature of Android is a blessing. If I want to add something to it, I just plug it in to my laptop or desktop and I can immediately go through the internal memory like a flash drive. I can just drop files in the folders where they belong (or make up new folders for new categories), and the apps automatically find it and use it as is! I am even running classic console emulators, and I just download the roms on my laptop, make a new folder for them, and the emulators (which work great, and even use physical, third-party bluetooth controllers) find them automatically.

As for Android usage in general, I have to say that dollar-for-dollar this tablet stacks up amazingly well against the iPad. Of course, if you are app-crazy and love having 100+ apps and games on your device at all times, an Apple iOS device is probably still better for you since the Android Market is not as advanced as the Apple App Store, but that just makes it more fertile for us developers. The giants of the Apple App Store like GameLoft never got a grip on the Android Market, and most of the heavy-hitters with millions of downloads are single developers or small indie teams.

Asus did a great job on this device. The first-party apps that pretty much every Android device comes with are excellent. I can connect remotely to my desktop or laptop and actually control it, run applications and even watch movies from my tablet! With a bit better control from the dockable keyboard and touchpad, you could even play games from you desktop with it (someone on YouTube demonstrates playing Left for Dead 2 from their desktop on the Transformer at a FPS of at least 30 - 40). Its "Library" application is also amazing, and it instantly pulls out all of the media from the internal SD Card and arranges it very nicely with first-class players and readers. With Stanza dead on the iPhone, Android is now the ebook media reader of choice.

Anyway, I am highly happy with it, and I suggest anyone looking into a new tablet to at least try one out. Between the liberation of Android and the excellent workman ship and development that went into the Transformer specifically, it really feels more like a PC than a mobile device. It is also nearly as thin and as light as the iPad. At just around $399 for the 16gb model, it is a steal. And if 16gb isn't enough, it comes out-of-the-box with a Micro SD Card slot that can take any generation of Micro SD Card, including the 32gb one, thus giving you 3x the storage for 1/3rd the price increase from the model that comes with 2x more memory (i.e., you get 48gb of storage for $429 instead of $499 for the factory 32gb model). I highly recommend it!

[Ark]

Nice review! Android fan here