Asus Eee Pad Transformer (tablet/laptop hybrid) first impressions and ongoing review


two things, one, never thought prometheous would be the kind that likes angry birds, two, how do you edit your user description under your avatar like you have "Local Mega Man Nut"
 
I didn't know what to expect from Angry Birds at first, but it's ridiculously fun.


As for the user title, click your username at the top-right of the forum, click on "My Settings", and then click on the "Profile" tab - it's there. (It wasn't before, though, so either it's been enabled by the team, or it becomes available after a certain amount of posts. I don't know. :p )
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am a METAL SLUG nut.


I have every game, including the new XX.
 
SONY said:
Can't wait to get my Android Tablet!!! :)
Click to expand...
^ Sony..


Just please no on going review...blah blah blah blah blah blah about this n that n this n that.


Just enjoy it and remember you don't have to dissect the thing!! ;)
 
Last edited:
I never do, lol. :D


In fact, when I get something new I usually just say something like, "Yeah, it's pretty f*cking awesome!" and that's it. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Quick thoughts for day three, as it's been quite a productive one with no real issues cropping up;


1: I wish the option relating to opening things in background tabs or not, in the stock browser, was a bit more consistent. Sometimes pages that aren't meant to open in new tabs (such as moving to another part of a webmail inbox) do so. I would imagine that there's probably some way around this.


2: Asus' CE, FCC, etc., labels are just plastic stickers, the same as the dust covers that were on the device when it came out of the box. :blink: I would have thought that this sort of information would have been engraved, instead, since there's no battery-cover to stick it under. :lol:


3: Sleep mode is amazing. It lost only 1% of battery charge overnight whilst in this mode. I'm looking forward to the day when this is so for the Pandora - and I have no doubt that it will come. :)


4: The battery life is also amazing. It really does just keep going and going and going, which is exactly what I was after, and clearly continues to be the norm for ARM-based devices.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Prometheus said:
1: The desktop backgrounds that I prepared for the device, which are all sized at what is advertised as the native resolution for this machine (1280x800) are displayed massively zoomed-in, and the OS insists on me cropping them - which it then promptly ignores anyway, and simply crops to a spot vaguely close to what I actually set.


4: If you accidentally press the back button (which is annoying mapped to the right-click on the keyboard dock), there doesn't seem to be any way of going forwards again - this caused the loss of the almost-completed original text of this review, and caused me to add this problem to the list during my re-write.
Click to expand...
3rd party home replacement such as "launcher pro" gives a more customizable experience but you loose the flashy stock honeycomb launcher (you can always go back if you don't like it)


menu > forward should work for android browser, but the honeycomb is a lot of proprietary that isn't in vanilla android, to include the gmail app that was made specifically for honeycomb doesn't act the same and is not nearly as polished as the standard android version.

Prometheus said:
Firstly, not all applications are closed in the same way - many use the back button located in the lower-left corner of the touch-screen, or the equivalent key located in the top-right corner of the keyboard half, in order to exit, but some apps use this in order to cycle back through visited pages, etc.. Android is clearly not as unified in its interfaces as I've seen claimed. I don't mind the lack of unification myself, but when some folks claim that all software for it is completely unified and interface-standards-driven, the fact that it actually isn't really jumps out at you.
Click to expand...

this one is hard to wrap your mind around especially if you are coming from a normal desktop os or winmo. just use the home button, you use more resources and time/frustration if you are constantly closing/reopening your apps. The memory/resource manager built into android does an excellent job of managing running/idle apps and kills them when needed. You burn more juice killing inactive services and reopening them (even if done automatically for your convenience )next time you use them than if you just let them sit in a zombie state. I've read a bunch about this and seen lots of comparisons, just hit home when you're done (if there is a button for that on your tablet. If possible hold down home and it will show the last 6 or so apps that you were using for quick access that are "running" (idly) in the background.


like I said it doesn't feel natural to just minimize your apps like that but if you can get used to it, it does provide a much more fluid experience and from a multi-tasking point of view it does work pretty well, go from web to email, back to web, over to check weather, to the market, back to the same website you were at.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
^ Thanks very much for the tips. And yep, there is a home button, both displayed on-screen, and, quite nicely, located on the keyboard dock, as well.


I'm getting a lot more used to it now, incidentally, so my impressions are rather different at this point. I do wish they didn't love those cryptic icons quite so much, though. :lol: (Maybe that's a Honeycomb thing?)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
johnsongrantr said:
this one is hard to wrap your mind around especially if you are coming from a normal desktop os or winmo. just use the home button, you use more resources and time/frustration if you are constantly closing/reopening your apps. The memory/resource manager built into android does an excellent job of managing running/idle apps and kills them when needed. You burn more juice killing inactive services and reopening them (even if done automatically for your convenience )next time you use them than if you just let them sit in a zombie state. I've read a bunch about this and seen lots of comparisons, just hit home when you're done (if there is a button for that on your tablet. If possible hold down home and it will show the last 6 or so apps that you were using for quick access that are "running" (idly) in the background.
Click to expand...

^ Prom, he beat me to it. My long-winded point that I was trying to make is that you don't need to bother yourself with closing applications.


As far as a text editor goes: try the Google Docs application. It'll store your docs for you in the cloud so that you never lose them, and I'm pretty sure that it's quite capable of storing and retrieving large documents.
 
David Bowman said:
^ Prom, he beat me to it. My long-winded point that I was trying to make is that you don't need to bother yourself with closing applications.
Click to expand...
I see, I see. It certainly is a bit confusing, coming from regular desktop environments, but now that I know it, it's obviously very convenient.

As far as a text editor goes: try the Google Docs application. It'll store your docs for you in the cloud so that you never lose them, and I'm pretty sure that it's quite capable of storing and retrieving large documents.
Click to expand...
I think I'll pass on that one - I only want a text-editor that can save to my SD Card. That said, I'm getting on alright with Polaris Office, now, so maybe that search is already at its end. :p
 
Prometheus said:
^ Thanks very much for the tips. And yep, there is a home button, both displayed on-screen, and, quite nicely, located on the keyboard dock, as well.


I'm getting a lot more used to it now, incidentally, so my impressions are rather different at this point. I do wish they didn't love those cryptic icons quite so much, though. :lol: (Maybe that's a Honeycomb thing?)
Click to expand...
the forward and reply and stuff in gmail? yea I've heard that same gripe before... it must be an android thing. I have gotten used to it so I don't really notice, but from the drop I bet it can be confusing. My gripe with gmail app is why then didn't do the menu>forward menu>reply etc... that to me would have been much more intuitive then trying to find the icon for the action at the top or whatever
 
^ My gripe with it is that the web interface is absolutely fantastic, and I kind of expected that, but without the trappings of a browser. I wonder why they felt a need to "fix what wasn't broken", so to speak?
 
Prometheus said:
I think I'll pass on that one - I only want a text-editor that can save to my SD Card. That said, I'm getting on alright with Polaris Office, now, so maybe that search is already at its end. :p
Click to expand...
get astro file manager, it comes with a very nice file browser and build in text editor(about as close to notepad as you can get) witch I like very much. It's not a fancy word processor, but if editing script or batch files is your thing this is the way to go.


free version is very powerful and one of my "must have" apps
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Negatives about the Asus Eee Pad Transformer are:


Choppy recording and playback from the camcorder


Very sharp edges ; poor build quality


Various problems arise when docking.


But you get what you paid for i guess. ;)


Relatively speaking a low budget tablet. Cheapest out there in the states at least.


IMHO.


Enjoy. :)
 
Last edited:
I like the ongoing review dude! Uses of the tablet change over time, especially early on, so it's cool to follow along.


And I couldn't agree more with Angry Birds!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

scaramouche
Wikipad : an Hybrid Transformer style gaming console/tablet.
Replies
14
Views
5K
CAZMIESTER
CAZMIESTER
SNESFAN
First Impressions: Odroid
2 3 4
Replies
63
Views
21K
Wolfspirit
Wolfspirit
Prometheus
My 3DS review/impressions
2
Replies
33
Views
5K
relapse808
R
finty
The Asus Eee Pc
Replies
12
Views
2K
Don Miguel
Don Miguel
Gruntfuggly
Gameking: First Impressions
2
Replies
23
Views
4K
OrR
OrR
Back
Top