Blognoscenti – Official Blog of WebAntics.co.za

Posts Tagged ‘Transformer’

What makes the Transformer Book unique and what got the Internet abuzz after its launch is the fact that it is considered to be the world’s first convertible notebook. The ASUS Transformer Book allows users to instantly switch between a ultrabook and a tablet by simply detaching the screen.

It is aimed at users who prefer the portability of a multi-touch tablet computer for leisure, but still want access to a more traditional Windows-based ultrabook for productivity use. Thanks to 3rd generation Intel Core processors and discrete graphics, along with SSD and HDD storage, 4GB DDR3 dual-channel RAM and USB 3.0, the Transformer Book delivers performance that rivals other ultrabooks on the market. It also features ASUS SonicMaster technology to deliver crystal-clear sound with deep rich bass through its integrated speakers.

Asus reports that it is aimed at users who prefer the portability of a multi-touch tablet computer for leisure, but still want access to a more traditional Windows-based notebook for productivity use. The company also claims the Transformer Book is the world’s thinnest and lightest Core i7 tablet.

The Transformer Book will feature the latest Intel Core processor with discrete graphics, along with 128GB MSSD and 320GB HDD storage, 4GB DDR3 dual channel RAM, and 3 x USB 3.0 ports.

In addition, it features Asus SonicMaster technology developed by the Asus Golden Ear team to deliver crystal-clear sound with deep rich bass through its integrated speakers. The Transformer Book also sports dual cameras, with a HD front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera making it a tool for both photo-taking and video chats.

This lightweight ultraportable Transformer Book is available with a 29.5cm, 33cm or 35.6cm full HD IPS display with multi-touch capabilities. This can be detached from the full-size QWERTY keyboard to create a highly portable tablet to give the best of both mobile worlds.

The Asus Transformer Book joins the other, already very popular, Eee Pad Transformer range including the TF201 Transformer Prime, TF300 Transformer Pad and the recently released TF700 Transformer Infinity.

The Asus Transformer Book is available in South Africa from WebAntics Online. For more information on the latest releases and product specials, follow the WebAntics Online Facebook Fanpage

ASUS South Africa has confirmed its flagship Android tablet for 2012, the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T, will launch in South Africa at the end of July. The tablet will come bundled with a keyboard dock and will retail for R7,799.99 Incl VAT.

The ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T is a follow-up to the company’s Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet, which was released in South Africa earlier this year. The Infinity is a similar tablet to its predecessor but boasts an improved screen and a higher resolution front camera.

The key feature of the Transformer Pad Infinity appears to be a 10.1″ super IPS+ screen with an impressive 1920×1200 resolution. In comparison, almost all current 10″ Android tablets use a 1280×800 resolution display panel.

ASUS will sell the Transformer Pad Infinity’s keyboard dock as an optional accessory in other markets, but the company will bundle this with all South African models of the device. The keyboard dock adds an extra six hours of battery life to the Infinity’s stand-alone 10 hour battery life when connected, therefore producing a total battery life of up to 16 hours.

An ASUS South Africa Representative confirmed  that the company will sell the 64GB Wi-Fi-only version of the Transformer Pad Infinity in South Africa from “early August”. There was no news at time of writing this article of whether the 32GB will be available in South Africa at a later stage.

ASUS also confirmed it will not launch a 3G model of the Transformer Pad Infinity in South Africa, saying there are “no plans” for the 3G version “at this stage.”

The South African model of the 64GB Wi-Fi-only ASUS Transformer Infinity TF700T will be available in the “amethyst grey” colour and is currently available to order from WebAntics Online (http://www.webantics.co.za/).

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.

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 »