ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Review

ASUS has been plugging away at tablets for years now, experimenting with convertible netbooks and trying to coax some semblance of finger-friendliness out of Windows. It’s taken Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 to actually deliver, however: an eye-catching hybrid offering the touch-usability of a slate and the content creation flexibility of a Keyboard Dock. Has Eee Pad outclassed iPad 2 or do the ASUS Transformer’s two halves not quite add up to a whole? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

With its plastic chassis and brown color scheme, the Eee Pad Transformer is always going to struggle against the brushed metal and wafer-thin build of the iPad 2. At 271 x 171 x 12.98 mm and 680g, ASUS has produced a bigger slate than the Motorola XOOM and iPad 2, with a similar bowed-back profile to the original iPad. The textured plastic is at least reasonably flex-free and easy to grip.

The 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen supports 10-finger multitouch and is covered with a slab of toughened Gorilla Glass. Underneath is a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, along with a light sensor for controlling display brightness. That display is a superb IPS panel with brilliant viewing angles (ASUS says 178-degrees), color accuracy and brightness, on a par with what you’d find on the iPad. Unfortunately it loses its appeal when in direct sunlight: IPS LCD has its benefits, but unlike Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus, for instance, you won’t be doing much tableteering outdoors.