asus transformer Archives

ASUS Transformer Official Philippines Launch: SRP PHP 29,995 with keyboard

Hello. Back in February I was able to get a sneak peek at the ASUS Transformer at the NVIDIA booth in MWC Barcelona. This wasn’t the ASUS booth — NVIDIA was showing off its new Tegra II mobile graphics chip running on the new Android 3.0 devices. Alongside the Slider, Motorola Atrix and Xoom, the Transformer from ASUS sat proud.

The Transformer is one of the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices to make it to the Philippines. In our local scene, it is this tablet alongside the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (to be released very soon) and the iPad 2 that are currently waging the silent war for market share.

I have the official pricing:

ASUS Transformer w/o Keyboard Dock PHP 22,995
ASUS Transfomer w/ Keyboard Dock PHP 29,995.00

You can use this pricing as a benchmark as to how much cheaper you got it. I hear that an online forum is selling the complete set for PHP 25,000.

The Transformer is unique as it is currently the only tablet that comes with a keyboard dock. The dock allows the tablet to perform as a laptop and adds an estimated 16 hours of battery life to the unit when unplugged. Also, the dock comes with USB ports so you can transfer data into your tablet from an external drive.

When I featured the Transformer on my weekly tech show (watch ‘The Geeks’ every Wednesday 2-4PM at flippish.com/vjlive) I only had stock video from the press launch and some more videos from the NVIDIA booth back in February. Chris Tan, our producer had just recently bought one for USD $500 and showed it off. A summary of our feature:

– crisp, bright, screen; bigger than the iPad 2
– has problems transferring data from a Mac
– no 3G support; Wi-Fi only but easily remedied by tethering your phone
– can watch 3 movies before batteries fail
– HDMI out

Bottomline
Perhaps the only bad thing going for it is the fact that it doesn’t have a 3G counterpart unlike the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad. If you really don’t care for that, the Transformer is worth getting even just for the tablet only. But I’d honestly recommend getting it with the dock to increase battery life and so you can transfer data from your external drives. With the tablet alone you’re already presented with an amazing package of screen quality and features. In terms of audio, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has better external speakers.

Day 1: Going crazy with Tegra 2 enabled tablets

One of the sexiest booths in MWC belongs to NVIDIA. Not much on the outside, but a lot to offer on the inside. NVIDIA went all out to demonstrate the new Tegra 2 mobile GPU for tablets. This is essentially the technology that will allow your tablet to do high end graphics and a bunch of other cool stuff. If your tablet is running on Android, you need to have at least Honeycomb 3.0 installed to become compatible with NVIDIA’s latest chip. Examples of such devices are the Motorola Xoom and the LG Optimus Pad.

In the video, I go through the following:

Motorola Atrix 4G – an Android phone that attaches to an external dock. The dock serves as the charger, desktop display, keyboard and mouse. The phone automatically converts your screen orientation from phone to desktop mode. After docking, it takes roughly 7 seconds for the desktop dock to refresh and show your new screen.

ASUS Slider and Transformer – The ASUS Slider is a Honeycomb enabled device that comes with a pop-up keyboard. It’s 10 inches bitches! On the other side, the Transformer is a detachable 3.0 tablet. Both sport the Tegra 2 chip.

Motorola Xoom – The first Android 3.0 device in the market is definitely sexy. I had a bit of time to immerse with the new Samurai game that takes advantage of the processing power of the Tegra 2. Same goes for the LG Optimus Pad

After reading all of this, I suggest you do yourself a favor and hold back on that Tablet purchase you were about to do this month. 2nd generation tablet technology (1st gen was the one Microsoft tried to espouse) is about a year old and there’s so much room for growth. What I’m showing you are up and coming devices to be launched this year.

Parting shot: Andi9 with the Motorola Xoom. Or is it the LG Optimus Pad. Gee, they’re all looking the same!