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I was one of the lucky view at the stroke of midnight on April 26th, was able to get my order in on Amazon. I just received my tablet tonight via Amazon Prime.
I've been on Android since the original T-Mobile G1 released, and have owned an iPad since September of last year, so quite awhile on both. This is my first ownership experience of a Honeycomb 3.0 tablet.
Software wise, there's not that much I can add in terms of what others haven't already said. It's VERY refreshing coming from iOS, to actually not be staring at pages and pages of useless icons. The notifications are ABSOLUTELY sweet (i.e. useful!). The app quick access with screenshots adds to a very desktop-esque experience, but with the navigability of a tablet UI.
Most things run very smooth, typical of all the standard Tegra 2 devices. Speakers are surprisingly loud, and there are actually 2 of them (stereo). Screen is absolutely gorgeous (IPS).
If you're deep in Google services, such as Gmail, Picasa, Youtube, Docs, etc. Honeycomb is a godsend. I have almost 20gb's of photos in Picasa, and after one account setup, EVERY SINGLE PICTURE synced. Pretty much all my cloud files and settings synced. From Chrome bookmarks to docs to pictures.... it seriously is a breath of fresh air to have things "just work", without the use of something like iTunes.
Granted, if you're not a Googler like me, it won't be AS beneficial, but that's not to say it's still not a great device.
It also charges FAST as hell. My iPad takes on average 6 hours to go from 0% to 100%. I haven't done a full discharge on the Asus, but it went from 7% to 100% in a little under 2 hrs. That's insane.
The not so great, both the front and rear camera seem slightly sub-par as far as clarity goes. Very usable, but not great. My only real complaint is the "tightness" of the construction. I absolutely don't mind the plastic. It's light, grippy, sturdy, and looks great. However, along the bezel where the plastic seems to meet the glass, the Transformer tends to creak. Nothing worth concern, but it would be nice for a device that's basically a slab of glass to "sound" solid in your hand.Then I think to myself, this thing cost 399... It's 100 bucks less then the cheapest iPad.
So, the question really isn't "Is this thing awesome" or "is it better then an iPad". I believe either of those answers are really up for interpretation. However, when you throw in the equation of PRICE..."Is this thing awesome for 399" , i have to give a resounding "YES!".
****** Edit : Usage Update *******
So I've been using this tablet in place of my iPad exclusively for about 4 days now, and have better insight to the Transformer.
The good is that my previous complaint about the build quality really has proven to be a really superficial concern. It does faintly creak in a couple spots, but I would have to classify the actual severity as minimal to non-existant.
Also, after reading the issues with the Asus update, I decided to proceed since it's only been documented that a handful (i.e. less then 5) people out of potential thousands have actually had issues. My update went without an issue.
I hear people complain about the lack of apps specifically for tablet. I can happily say that i haven't experience this limitation since even most non-tablet specific apps scale fine. "things look stretched out". Yes, that's actually an indication that Android was designed to scale properly (literally). Look at iOS, they literally blow up non iPad apps to the point of pixelation. Android's solution, while not ideal, is much better and most non-tablet specific apps actually work and look just fine. Having a FULL browser is incredibly helpful.
The notification system is awesome. Just this change makes this tablet twice as more productive then my iPad.
Now, admittedly, there have been more not-so-good issues that I've discovered. First off, the tablet is definitely prone to freezes and locks. On several occasions it would just freeze completely and would require a reboot. Also, there have been several times where, when going from portrait to landscape, the resolution of the screen stayed fixed. This would result in an odd partial-screen view. Usually fixed itself after a couple of seconds of rotating the tablet. Other times, presses are unresponsive, ex. opening an app. This is definitely a software issue however, not an issue with the capacitive hardware.
YouTube playback was surprisingly choppy, even in standard def. The recent update however, seemed to have improved that greatly.
Last thing, just like most Android devices, the user experience is proned to "slow-down" once you've been on it for any decent amount of time. Can't be a RAM issue as this has 1GB, and at any given time there's only 400mb or so in use.
All in all, most of these problems are directly related to Honeycomb, not Asus Transformer hardware.
In actual use case, I would say I experience one of the above problems about 1-5% of the time I'm actually using the tablet. It's not enough to make it unusable at all, it's actually been a pretty positive experience. However, I now completely understand the sentiments that Honeycomb is "half-baked". Generally speaking, people read blogs that are writing 3rd hand information to begin with, and make that comment without actually having owned a Honeycomb tablet. Well, I have, and I understand now. As a consumer device, I still think it's fine, but there's enough glaring early version issues that I probably wouldn't reccomend something like this in business or enterprise use.
Last thing, all you funny people in the comments trying to pigeon-hole me as a anti-Apple or pro-Apple, or whatever it may be... In all honesty, I'm one of the few people I've ever met that has one foot equally (and fully) planted in 3 completely separate platforms. I use iOS, OS X,Android, and Windows 7 in equal capacities at work and at home, and my mobile OS of choice (outside of tablets) has been Android for the last 3 years. I do this because I LOVE and HATE various things about ALL the OS's I use, which is why I use 4 of them to fill in each other gaps. Take that as you will.
Click Here to see more reviews about: ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Tablet Only)
Product Description
With a slim, lightweight design and a 10.1-inch WSVGA IPS capacitive display made from durable and scratch-resistant glass that is viewable at angles up to 178°, the versatile Eee Pad Transformer is the perfect tablet for anyone who want to enjoy multimedia on the move, but still wish to have easy access to the web, email, and other productivity applications. A custom user interface provides easy access to the many features of the Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) operating system, while the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 chipset provides full support for Adobe® Flash® 10.2,1 smooth HD video conferencing and playback, a lightning fast web experience, and incredible mobile gaming performance. Front and rear cameras make for easy video chat and digital photography, which can be played back in video on HDTVs via a mini HDMI output port, making it a true mobile entertainment device.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6 in Personal Computers
- Size: 16GB
- Color: Espresso
- Brand: Asus
- Model: TF101-A1
- Dimensions: .51" h x 6.97" w x 10.67" l, 1.50 pounds
- Memory: 1000MB DDR2 SDRAM
- Hard Disk: 16GB
- Processors: 1
- Battery type: Lithium Polymer
- Display size: 10.1
Features
- 10.1" WSVGA (1280x800) IPS Capacitive LED Touchscreen; Android 3.2 Operating System
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU; 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 1 slot, 1GB Max; 16GB Internal Flash Memory; Wireless 802.11bgn; Bluetooth 2.1
- Mini HDMI Port; Micro SD Card Slot; 1.2MP (front) and 5.0MP (rear) Webcam
- GPS; Gravity Sensor; E-Compass; Light Sensor; Gyroscope; 24.4Wh Lithium Polymer Battery (Up to 9.5 Hours Battery Life)
- 40-Pin Docking Port for Optional Keyboard (Keyboard Not included)/Docking Station (Model Name: TF101 DOCKING)
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