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Eee Pad Transformer - Tablet/Netbook super device

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Marty Chinn said:
Ok, what does that box look like? =)
Click to expand...
whoops sorry ... didn't see your post.

2nm3pqo.jpg


I threw in a BD for scale. As you can see, the boxes are quite tiny actually.
 
Angelus Errare said:
I'd agree with this. The only thing I can think to add is how you use each device. If you're looking for something that bridges the gap between desktop and laptop, a honeycomb tablet might fit the bill better. I said this in another thread, but ios in its current form is very good....for phones and other small screen device. But honestly it holds the Ipad back, the way information is presented and how you acquire it is nno different than on the iPhone. Sure thats great for familiarity but as for usability it can be drastically improved. As a main examples, notifications are ridiculously horrible, if you get one, you have to stop what you're doing and dismiss it. If you get multiple notifications only the latest one is shown, you have to exit out your app and open the app in question to see what's going on. In that respect Google was every smart to use their phone os but create a UI that's clearly made for tablets in mind. If you get an email on your I pad, you just see a badge number on the email app icon, no context. On honeycomb you get enough information that doesn't intrude on what you're doing. Another thing some don't see as a big deal but it really is, snapshots of your multitasking. With the increased real estate Apple really needs go include snapshots to go along with the app icon, an icon is arbitrary, it gives tthe user no visual information.

My last issue is the rows upon rows of icons, but that's far less of an issue than the aforementioned in my opinion. Sorry for any spelling /grammar mistakes, auto correct is auto
Click to expand...

I think this is right. Now I have the dock my Transformer usage has changed a lot. I no longer need to worry about a case so I can throw it in my bag. It books faster than any laptop, has no heat and the best battery life of just about any laptop or tablet I know of.

But the device still feels a bit sluggish compared with my laptop or even my ipad 2 when browsing and sometimes typing.

Then again when it has the dock attached I keep forgetting I can just touch the screen, for example when scrolling down a big web page.

Interesting device. Definitely this will become my workhorse business unit. My ipad 2 remains the king for entertainment for now.

Good times.

edit, do folks think I can use an apple charger like this

ipod_charger.jpg


to use with my transformer cable?

the apple one says output of 5.1V 2.1A

the asus one says output 5.15V 2.12A

reason being I do not trust this ASUS powerpack as far as I can throw it. It gets hot and there have been resports on XDA of them fritzing.
 
rodvik said:
I think this is right. Now I have the dock my Transformer usage has changed a lot. I no longer need to worry about a case so I can throw it in my bag. It books faster than any laptop, has no heat and the best battery life of just about any laptop or tablet I know of.

But the device still feels a bit sluggish compared with my laptop or even my ipad 2 when browsing and sometimes typing.

Then again when it has the dock attached I keep forgetting I can just touch the screen, for example when scrolling down a big web page.

Interesting device. Definitely this will become my workhorse business unit. My ipad 2 remains the king for entertainment for now.

Good times.
Click to expand...

Remember, the somewhat sluggishness of the OS is also related to Honeycomb 3.0.1
With the imminent upgrade to 3.1 you will see improvements in OS, browser and other applications.

ASUS is also released a dock firmware upgrade next week it seems to have better touchpad responsiveness.
 
Dock is available now at Amazon. Went ahead yesterday and ordered the case from there but I am going to hold off on the dock for now.
 
So I still haven't pulled the trigger on this yet. I have a hard time spending this much money without a hands on.

My boss bought one and I will get to try it out extensively this week.

How are those of you that bought it liking after using it for a while? Any quality issues with the materials? Screen? etc. Anything that is just annoying?
 
Mr Pockets said:
So I still haven't pulled the trigger on this yet. I have a hard time spending this much money without a hands on.

My boss bought one and I will get to try it out extensively this week.

How are those of you that bought it liking after using it for a while? Any quality issues with the materials? Screen? etc. Anything that is just annoying?
Click to expand...
I've been ever-so-close to ordering one on BestBuy.com (it's back in stock, apparently), but I've decided that I can't possibly buy a new tablet until Amazon reveals theirs.

It's really inconvenient because I want one now badly, but I can't take the plunge before I see what Amazon has to offer.
 
Damn, 3.1 being out is making resisting even harder. I'm impressed with how often and quickly Asus is doing updates so far. I hope it's not just because it's still freshly launched.

Gotta wait one more week. Just one more week.... Please don't have widgets iOS5, please....

Raistlin said:
whoops sorry ... didn't see your post.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pics!
 
Kindle App, Zinio Reader, Movie Studio are added to the 3.1 update btw.

As well as upload/download indicators for the wifi.
 
Copernicus said:
Kindle App, Zinio Reader, Movie Studio are added to the 3.1 update btw.

As well as upload/download indicators for the wifi.
Click to expand...


3.1 out now huh? If video playback and recording are fixed, I can comfortably say the ee is king of the android tablet hill. Until the tab arrives anyway.
 
kinggroin said:
3.1 out now huh? If video playback and recording are fixed, I can comfortably say the ee is king of the android tablet hill. Until the tab arrives anyway.
Click to expand...

Leaked out, not sure if final.
 
kinggroin said:
3.1 out now huh? If video playback and recording are fixed, I can comfortably say the ee is king of the android tablet hill. Until the tab arrives anyway.
Click to expand...

Video playback is super smooth in the YouTube app now. I used to get some bad stuttering when playing full screen in HD. Now, it's butter smooth. I tried out some of the videos I played on 3.0.1 and the difference was night and day.

I tried the web browser, and it's definitely much smoother now. Flash 10.3 was designed for 3.1, and it shows. At 1080p, it's still not smooth, but 720p video is perfect. Scrolling through a page with Flash elements enabled is also super smooth.

3.1 is NO joke.
 
Vyse The Legend said:
Video playback is super smooth in the YouTube app now. I used to get some bad stuttering when playing full screen in HD. Now, it's butter smooth. I tried out some of the videos I played on 3.0.1 and the difference was night and day.

I tried the web browser, and it's definitely much smoother now. Flash 10.3 was designed for 3.1, and it shows. At 1080p, it's still not smooth, but 720p video is perfect. Scrolling through a page with Flash elements enabled is also super smooth.

3.1 is NO joke.
Click to expand...


3.1 feels like you're out of beta and now have gone gold. Things arent perfect still (acceleration of the ui vanishes when rotating the tablet any way other than default landscape, vbulletin text input is pitifully laggy, and there is still some stutteryness in the ui when exiting demanding applications), but mostly it finally feels like a great base to start with. Some patches will only make the good (sometimes great) experience even better.
 
Copernicus said:
Hey look at that you can take screenshots by holding down the recent apps button. Cool.
Click to expand...

Shit, I seriously didn't know that. Gracias sir. Edit, cake is a lie! Holding the multitask button does nothing!!!!

Marty Chinn said:
Damn, 3.1 being out is making resisting even harder. I'm impressed with how often and quickly Asus is doing updates so far. I hope it's not just because it's still freshly launched.

Gotta wait one more week. Just one more week.... Please don't have widgets iOS5, please....



Thanks for the pics!
Click to expand...

Where would you even put widgets?

iOS5 = iTunes 10.

I shall not fall for Apple's tricks again! >:|
 
So as much as I love my transformer, I find myself more and more annoyed with all the hiccups in the UI. It doesn't have that buttery smooth feeling with transitions, app opening, scrolling, and pinch zoom that IOS or windows phone have. I have no problem giving google the benefit of the doubt since this is the first iteration of their tablet OS, but the lead programmer at my work says it will never be as smooth as IOS because it's java based (IOS is something else apparently and made for the device (something along those lines. I can't remember exactly what he said)).

The UI is amazing and I find people love it in comparison to my ipad 2, but if the speed issues aren't fixed I don't think I can ever fully appreciate it.
 
Tapiozona said:
So as much as I love my transformer, I find myself more and more annoyed with all the hiccups in the UI. It doesn't have that buttery smooth feeling with transitions, app opening, scrolling, and pinch zoom that IOS or windows phone have. I have no problem giving google the benefit of the doubt since this is the first iteration of their tablet OS, but the lead programmer at my work says it will never be as smooth as IOS because it's java based (IOS is something else apparently and made for the device (something along those lines. I can't remember exactly what he said)).

The UI is amazing and I find people love it in comparison to my ipad 2, but if the speed issues aren't fixed I don't think I can ever fully appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Uh, scroll up, dude.

3.1 leaked; it's much smoother, refined now.

Side-note: 3.1 officially comes with Movie Studio now.
 
So I discovered a pretty good made for tablet comic book app called Komik. Not the most feature filled but it's quick.

Also for some reason my PC doesn't see the folders on my Xoom anymore, the only folder it sees is my pictures. To make matters worse I "hid" my wallpaper folder from gallery on accident (was trying out another photoviewer app and accidently hid them." Now I can't find how to unhide it, nor can I find the actual "donotshow" or whatever it's name file via Astro.
 
Angelus Errare said:
Shit, I seriously didn't know that. Gracias sir. Edit, cake is a lie! Holding the multitask button does nothing!!!!
Click to expand...


You gotta turn it on under screen settings. =D

Browser quick controls are even better yum yum.

Too bad they don't work in conjunction with the quick scroll bar option. =(

The launcher is still a little under performing, but the device is definitely a lot faster overall. There's almost too many apps in the recent app list now. heh
 
Angelus Errare said:
I'd agree with this. The only thing I can think to add is how you use each device. If you're looking for something that bridges the gap between desktop and laptop, a honeycomb tablet might fit the bill better. I said this in another thread, but ios in its current form is very good....for phones and other small screen device. But honestly it holds the Ipad back, the way information is presented and how you acquire it is nno different than on the iPhone. Sure thats great for familiarity but as for usability it can be drastically improved. As a main examples, notifications are ridiculously horrible, if you get one, you have to stop what you're doing and dismiss it. If you get multiple notifications only the latest one is shown, you have to exit out your app and open the app in question to see what's going on. In that respect Google was every smart to use their phone os but create a UI that's clearly made for tablets in mind. If you get an email on your I pad, you just see a badge number on the email app icon, no context. On honeycomb you get enough information that doesn't intrude on what you're doing. Another thing some don't see as a big deal but it really is, snapshots of your multitasking. With the increased real estate Apple really needs go include snapshots to go along with the app icon, an icon is arbitrary, it gives tthe user no visual information.

My last issue is the rows upon rows of icons, but that's far less of an issue than the aforementioned in my opinion. Sorry for any spelling /grammar mistakes, auto correct is auto
Click to expand...
I agree.

Looks like Apple has heard our concerns: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20066938-248.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
 
If they shrink down the app icon size, add widgets and a much better notification system, and redid the multitasking. I'd tip my hat off to them and that would probably get me to use my iPad more than my Xoom.
 
Vyse The Legend said:
Video playback is super smooth in the YouTube app now. I used to get some bad stuttering when playing full screen in HD. Now, it's butter smooth. I tried out some of the videos I played on 3.0.1 and the difference was night and day.

I tried the web browser, and it's definitely much smoother now. Flash 10.3 was designed for 3.1, and it shows. At 1080p, it's still not smooth, but 720p video is perfect. Scrolling through a page with Flash elements enabled is also super smooth.

3.1 is NO joke.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks for the impressions. I'm excited but I think I'll wait until it's FOTA. Unless there's no difference?
 
Nice, didn't expect 3.1 to be usable so quickly. As soon as I have the money lined up I think I'll be jumping on this and I'll contribute here as much as possible.
 
Anyone know if they've fixed issues with google earth?

On ipad you could load kmls through mymaps and display thousands of points/logos/etc

On honeycomb it would crash.

Actually are there any release notes for 3.1?
 
kinggroin said:
My God. The two biggest reasons I prefer android over ios. If this rumour pans out...I can see myself going to an ios5 based iphone (assuming the screen size is bumped up).
Click to expand...

Indeed, there are some great concepts out there that are completely in line with Apple's design philosphy. I really like this concept, they can make the notifications take up less room vertically though.

And Michael Carts (a few of his videos are in the link) has some great concepts. Like I said earlier, let's pray this stuff is introduced in iOS5 and it doesn't turn into a iTunes 10 situation.
 
My Transformer is updating. Let's see if the dock update that shows up afterwards magically fixes the keyboard.


For those of you scared to use the bootloader to update, you can actually trick it into doing an auto-update (thanks to nc88keyz at AndroidCentral for the info)


  • decompress the tar file to get the zip inside
  • rename the zip file (EP101_SDUPDATE.zip) to US_epad-user-8.4.4.5.zip
  • In the root directory of your MicroSD, create a directory called ASUS
  • Inside the ASUS directory, create a directory called Update
  • Copy the renamed zip into the Update directory
  • Insert the MicroSD into your Transformer
  • An alert will be displayed showing system update detected. Click it and follow the instructions.
  • Done

No hard resets, or system bootloader tricks. Just Update from Honeycomb
Of course make sure you are at 50% power (or plugged in).
 
Oh damn ... liking it so far. UI is notably smoother, and 720p flash runs great.



HBO Go is now not just usable, but actually watchable. Still a bit blocky but the motion is like butter. Awesomesauce indeed.
 
Raistlin said:
My Transformer is updating. Let's see if the dock update that shows up afterwards magically fixes the keyboard.


For those of you scared to use the bootloader to update, you can actually trick it into doing an auto-update (thanks to nc88keyz at AndroidCentral for the info)


  • decompress the tar file to get the zip inside
  • rename the zip file (EP101_SDUPDATE.zip) to US_epad-user-8.4.4.5.zip
  • In the root directory of your MicroSD, create a directory called ASUS
  • Inside the ASUS directory, create a directory called Update
  • Copy the renamed zip into the Update directory
  • Insert the MicroSD into your Transformer
  • An alert will be displayed showing system update detected. Click it and follow the instructions.
  • Done

No hard resets, or system bootloader tricks. Just Update from Honeycomb
Of course make sure you are at 50% power (or plugged in).
Click to expand...
Huge thanks. One big flaw seems to be that YouTube videos are orientation locked in full screen.
 
Schlep said:
Huge thanks. One big flaw seems to be that YouTube videos are orientation locked in full screen.
Click to expand...
It's funny you mention that ... I just noticed it right before reading your post. So this is a new issue? Never really noticed previously - it wasn't always like this?


Typically I have my Transformer oriented normally, but I was in the middle of charging while on a stand. Had to turn it upside down because of the cable. What's amusing is the music video I was watching has portions that are upside down. At first I didn't realize there was a problem, then I was like wtf is this shit?
 
Actually, I'm not sure that I ever checked since it was so unusable before. It's only an issue now because of the case when it's in keyboard mode. Oh well, iPad was like that for a bit too until they fixed it.

The video story...lol. BTW, any information on when they're adding movies to the market? I thought that was a feature of 3.1.
 
Not sure about the movies. TBH, I thought they were already available with all this talk about rooted phones/tablets not being able to access them. Guess all the talk is preemptive.



[EDIT]

Actually it is available if you go to the market website. I'm not sure why it isn't showing up in the market app yet though.

It already is on Xoom, and everyone seemed to think it would just show up with 3.1. Hmmm.
 
Sucks that I lost root, but 3.1 is that good. I can't wait however to go back to 1.6 overclocked and running 3.1.

That should be soooo good. :)
 
Update to 3.1 coming this Monday from Asus.

Oh and for those of you still wanting one. In stock at Best Buy right now.
 
Noticed a cool update to the browser. You know that position indicator on the right when scrolling? It's now grabbable for easy page traversal. Makes forums, etc sooooooooo much nicer
 
Raistlin said:
Noticed a cool update to the browser. You know that position indicator on the right when scrolling? It's now grabbable for easy page traversal. Makes forums, etc sooooooooo much nicer
Click to expand...

Too bad it doesn't work with quick controls. =(

Which, by the way are even more awesome now.
 
Does Honeycomb have a lot of apps? And how are phone Android apps on the tablets? Are they scaled up? Isn't that ugly?
 
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/29/android-markets-most-popular-emulators-disappear-without-a-trac/


Android Market's most popular emulators disappear without a trace (update)

If you're an Android gamer, chances are you've heard of Nesoid, Snesoid, Gensoid, N64oid, Ataroid, Gearoid and Gameboid: they're all video game console emulators developed by yongzh, and many ranked among the most popular paid apps on the Android Market. This week, they've got something else in common, too -- they've all been abruptly removed. Following a complaint from Sega, two emulators were nixed late last month, but we're hearing that Google has since revoked yongzh's developer privileges, just like PSX4Droid comrade-in-arms ZodTTD. We're currently reaching out to both yongzh and Google for comment, and hope to hear back soon, but it's looking like a bleak week for the emulation community.

Update: We got in touch with yongzh (or Yong Zhang, as he's known in real life) to discuss the matter, and he confirms that his developer account has been removed and his apps pulled without warning -- cutting off his primary source of income and leaving him with an inbox stuffed with worried email from customers. He has, however, already migrated a number of emulators to third-party app store SlideME, where they'll be free for a while, allowing existing customers to get updates without paying a second time, and likely helping a number of new individuals to mooch off his troubles. He's not too optimistic about his prospects at SlideME, though.
Click to expand...

So basically go to https://slideme.org/user/yongzh and get all the emulators for free :p
 
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