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Posts Tagged ‘Tablet’

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Windows 8 Tablet PC

Coming up to a a third of the way through 2013, we’ve seen countless Windows 8 devices — Ultrabooks, convertibles and hybrids, – but to date there are only a few in the hybrid category running Ultrabook-grade processors. Samsung now have their entries into the market: the ATIV and ATIV Pro Smart PC. These 11.6-inch hybrid’s come with either an Atom-powered or Core i5 CPU and include Samsung’s prolific S-Pen to appeal to productivity-minded users.

Each device features a detachable keyboard-docking system that allows users to easily switch between a clamshell notebook PC and a tablet PC form factor. Both the ATIV and ATIV pro PCs run Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit, respectively), with full Windows 7 compatibility.

The Samsung ATIV Smart PC features an 11.6 inch, 5-point multi-touch, 1366 x 768 LED display; an Intel Atom processor; USB 2.0(Smart PC); mHDMI; miniSD and two extra USB 2.0 ports on the keyboard, and a battery life of up to 13.5 hours

The ATIV Smart PC Pro has an 11.6 inch, 10 point multi-touch, Full HD (1920×1080) LED display, runs with an Intel Core i5 chipset, and replaces the USB port for USB 3.0 and can run up to 8 hours.

The ATIV Smart PC Pro’s design is almost identical to the ATIV Smart PC’s; the only difference is the inclusion of vents to accommodate the Core i5 CPU, plus a different keyboard dock. It’s clad in black plastic, with a subtle brushed texture on the back providing the only flourish. At 850 grams and 1.27cm  thick — 1.59 kg  and 1.98cm thick in clamshell mode — this isn’t the slimmest slate, but those dimensions do allow for a USB port. Still, an 11-inch tablet is on the large side, and it definitely feels more natural to use the PC Pro as an Ultrabook.

Connecting the tablet to the included dock is extremely easy and intuitive, as it should be: simply center the tablet over the keyboard and let the latch system work its magic. You won’t have to feel around too much for the device to lock into place. When the slate is docked, its hardware Windows 8 button is mostly obscured, and the glossy finish surrounding the 11.6-inch display contrasts strongly with the matte plastic of the keyboard deck. It’s not a sloppy look, but it definitely feels a bit mismatched, like the keyboard dock could be from a third-party vendor.

Samsung offers the S Pen as an alternative input option, and there’s thankfully a small built-in slot for storing it. The Wacom-certified digitizer registers 1,024 degrees of pressure, which contributes to a great drawing and note-taking experience on the 11.6-inch display. This S Pen is shorter and stockier than the versions made for the Note I, II and 10.1, and it offers a very comfortable grip.

A number of pre-loaded programs tie in with the pen’s functionality; essentially, the S Pen suite has been ported over to Windows 8. S Note includes several templates and handwriting recognition, while Mini S Note simply offers different pen options and a grid-style notepad. Fresh Paint, as usual with Win8 machines, is also pre-installed.

The ATIV Smart PC Pro is a well-executed Windows 8 hybrid, with capable Core i5 performance and a comfortable keyboard and S Pen to see you through both work and play. The touch experience is excellent, but the overall size seems to be just a bit too large for comfortable use as a tablet. The ATIV performs well as a tablet, however, and the touchscreen is responsive and gorgeous. But the overall awkwardness because of the size makes it less than optimal.

Using the Samsung ATIV Smart PC leaves me with mixed feelings. The touch experience is excellent, but the overall size seems to be just a bit too large for comfortable use as a tablet. The ATIV performs well as a tablet, however, and the touchscreen is responsive and gorgeous. But the overall awkwardness because of the size makes it less than optimal.

The ATIV Smart PC will retail for around R9,999, and the high-end ATIV Smart PC Pro will retail for approximately R17,000 Incl VAT.

I suppose it’s not a little ironic that what is easily the best Android tablet yet does not look a little bit like an iPad, but a lot like an iPad, and is being sued for trademark infringement – though not by Apple. If you want to be generous, you could say that Asus’s Transformer Prime stands on the shoulders of giants. With spiked cleats.

Why It Matters
In a word: speed. This tablet has not a dual, not a triple, but a quad-core 1.3Ghz processor, plus an integrated GPU. It is the first device to run Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor—the first quad-core Android tablet—and it simply blows the doors off of everything else. In terms of speed, anyway. Just imagine when it’s not hobbled by the crippling inefficiencies of Honeycomb. Of course, it won’t be the only quad-core tablet by this time next week.

Using It
At just 8.3mm, it’s thinner than the iPad 2 (8.8mm) and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6mm). There’s no cheap plastic on this thing. The back is a solid panel of brushed aluminum—the texture feels slightly off though, to some of us. The result is a very low-profile device that feels incredibly strong (unlike the Galaxy Tabs). It’s not quite as comfortable to hold as Motorola’s rubberized Xyboard tablets, but the lightness makes up for it.

Right now, the Prime is running Honeycomb (Android 3.2.1). All Honeycomb tablets have had problems with consistency. They’re fast one minute, and then slow as hell the next. Not with the Prime. Even when I had ten programs running simultaneously (most of which were HD games) there was virtually no stutter or lag on the homescreen or anywhere else. Nvidia delivered a package of sample HD games that use all four cores and the GPU, and they are absolutely gorgeous. Asus has done some light, (mostly) inoffensive tweaking to the stock Android experience. It adds some extra controls, which are nice, and some software which ranges from useful (Polaris Office) to useless (@vibe Music, a Pandora clone). When it get its Ice Cream Sandwich update, you’ll be able to remove anything you don’t want, and considering we’ve already seen ICS running on the Prime, that should be very soon.

NOTE: The reason it’s called a Transformer is because it has a spiffy keyboard dock that basically transforms it into a laptop. It has a full keyboard, touchpad, USB and SD card ports, and it adds an extra 50-60% to the battery life, theoretically bringing it up to 15 or 16 hours.

Like
The Transformer Prime shows how Android tablets could and should be built. And this tablet actually lives up to the hype as far as speed and performance goes. It’s easily the fastest Android tablet out there, and may well be faster than the iPad 2—though Android has a knack for feelingslower, because of the way, for instance, that it animates transitions. The Super IPS+ screen is incredibly bright, and I had no problem seeing the screen in sunlight. Colors were nice and vivid, too. Battery life is terrific. With fairly conservative use and Wi-Fi only on half of the time, I got ten hours of use. When I pushed it way harder, I still got close to eight.

No Like
The big ding is that it’s still running Honeycomb. While the Tegra 3 over-powers Honeycomb’s speed problems with obscene processing power, it’s still not a very intuitive UI.

The most glaring design flaw is the speaker. Yes, speaker. Singular. If you hold the tablet in landscape (as you will for most games and for all movies) the speaker is on the far right side of the tablet, under your hand. Because the tablet is so thin your hand doesn’t really block the speaker, but you can absolutely tell that it’s only coming out of one side.

Asus has provided their own sliding keyboard (similar to Swype) which is awful. Not only does swiping not make much sense on a giant screen, but the predictions were very bad indeed (fortunately you can easily switch out the keyboard, because it’s Android.). No 3G/4G radio on board (just Wi-Fi), which may be a deal-breaker for some.

Should I Buy It?
Yes. If you know you don’t want an iPad 3. That is, if you know you want an Android tablet. This is the one to buy. It’s the best constructed, fastest Android tablet out there. The only people who should hesitate are those who don’t want to be confined to Wi-Fi. That said, this is my new favorite tablet. Maybe it’ll be yours too

Article courtesy of Brent Rose - http://gizmodo.com/

The Asus Transformer Prime (TF201) is now available from WebAntics Online in a 32GB (R5,999.00 incl VAT) and a 64GB version (R6,999.00 incl VAT). The optional Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Keyboard/Mobile Docking Station is also available at R1,699.99 incl VAT.

Love getting all dressed up in a suit, and heading off to corporate meetings ? Well, then make sure you have the right kind of tablet device to go along with you, and an iPad is way too casual, while the BlackBerry PlayBook does have an air of authority, the lack of decent apps have proved to be its Achilles’ Heel.

Asus’ latest Eee Slate B121 business tablet will not suffer from that fate, as it intends to deliver power, portability and security features in a single device, targeting businesses, health care facilities, and other institutions as the market of choice.

The 12.1” Eee Slate B121 features the power, security, and performance that professionals need to get more done. Equipped with an Intel Core i5-470UM processor and a Windows 7 Professional operating system, the slate delivers the processing power and business productivity tools of a notebook PC in a portable tablet form factor. Confidential data is protected with an onboard Trusted Platform Module (TPM) that is ready to protect your data in the event of theft. A bundled Bluetooth keyboard, an integrated Wacom Digitizer stylus, and a multi-touch screen built with durable Corning Gorilla Glass provide users with multiple data input options. Read the rest of this entry »

ASUS announced via Twitter yesterday that it is currently playing around with Android 3.2 Honeycomb on its blockbuster tablet, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. ASUS is still testing Honeycomb’s latest and last version, and is looking forward to sending out the upgrade to all Transformers. No target release date has been specified, although it will most likely come out ahead of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Android 3.2 Honeycomb will reportedly be the last pre-ICS version in the Honeycomb series. The earlier versions of Honeycomb were optimized for large-screen, mostly 10-inch, Android slates and tablets, and had limited support for mobile processors. Version 3.2 carries new features, such as the following:

- optimized for 7-inch devices,
- expands support for more mobile processors such as NVIDIA Tegra 2 and Qualcomm’s processors,
- fixes some bugs and improves hardware acceleration, and
- provides updates to widgets and apps (e.g., Movies, Movie Studio, Music, etc.). Read the rest of this entry »

Asus South Africa has made its Eee Pad Transformer official. Never heard of the device? To quickly describe it, it’s part tablet, part netbook. Looks like Asus couldn’t decide whether it wanted to make a tablet or a netbook, so it made both. The Eee Pad Transformer is a tablet which docks itself to an optional hinged keyboard and offers a long, long battery life of 16 hours

The Eee Pad Transformer’s biggest thing is that you can use it as a standard, Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet. Surf the Web, fiddle about with apps, that kind of thing. But Asus decided that wasn’t good enough. So in addition to being a fully featured, as-you-like, tablet you can also use it as a netbook.

By setting the tablet in a small dock, you can then use the attached keyboard to use the device more like you’d use a netbook. Perhaps you find it’s easier to type when at as desk using a normal keyboard? The point is, it does both. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes you want to touch. Sometimes you need to type. With the new touch-sensitive, Flash-capable Inspiron duo convertible tablet, you can do both in style. You can tell it is Dell.

- The innovative flip design lets you switch from touch to type in seconds.
- Listen to music, use as an alarm clock or view your photos with the Inspiron duo Audio Station.
- Read books, watch movies and play games on the 10-inch high-definition (HD) display.

The Dell Inspiron 1090 10.1″ Duo tablet Netbook looks like a typical netbook, with unique design, this Dell Inspiron Mini Duo features 10.1″ HD multi-touch screen (1366 x 768 resolution) with an innovative flip-hinge design to glide easily from a touchscreen laptop to a touchscreen tablet. The display features auto-orientation when in tablet mode. AND it also has integrated chiclet keyboard and camera on the bezel above the screen. Read the rest of this entry »