ASUS Eee Transformer Review

I caved in and bought a tablet about a month ago.  I always like to do a little bit of research first to see which are the best bang for the buck, as well as allowing a little bit of my underdog loving ego.  This article isn't about the OS or Apps, but it does talk about the experience of using the hardware and operating system.  My version does not have 3G, but for me this isnt an issue at all, I  simply use a wireless hotspot on my phone and connect via that.

By the way, before I get into it, most of the Tegra 2 based Tablets seem very similar in specs although there have been a few blog posts(see table footer) which score the Xoom to be better in a number of areas.

                

	Apple iPad 2	ASUS Eee Pad Transformer	ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 32G with Dock	Motorola Xoom WiFi	Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
SoC	Apple A5 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)	NVIDIA Tegra 2 (Dual ARM Cortex A9 @ 1GHz)
GPU	PowerVR SGX 543MP2	NVIDIA GeForce	NVIDIA GeForce	NVIDIA GeForce	NVIDIA GeForce
RAM	512MB	1GB	1GB	1GB	1GB
Display	1024 x 768 IPS	1280 x 800 IPS	1280 x 800 IPS	1280 x 800	1280 x 800 PLS
NAND	16GB	16GB	32GB	32GB	16GB 32/64 available
Dimensions	241.2mm x 185.7mm x 8.8mm	271mm x 175mm x 12.95mm	271mm x 175mm x 12.95mm +Dock	249.1mm x 167.8mm x 12.9mm	256.6 x 172.9 x 8.6mm
USB	No	No	2 x USB 2.0	Micro USB (2.0)
HDMI	No	Mini HDMI	See Main Unit	Yes
Input	Touch Screen	Touch Screen	QWERTY keyboard Touch Pad	Touch Screen	Touch Screen
Card Reader	No	Micro SD	1 x Card Reader (MMC/SD/SDHC)	Micro USB
Battery Life	~5h Movies	>6 Movies*	16h minimal >13Movies*	>7Movies*
Charge Time			~3h*	~2.5h*
Weight	601g	695g	695g + 640g Dock	730g	565g
Price	$499	$399	$695	$599	$499

** Xoom and Asus Data from http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1562/1/

So you have the main specs above, now the main usability issues I had:

• Speaker is very low power
• Docking - not smooth, sometimes loses connection to the keyboard and has to be reattached
• Power button - it's sometimes slow to react
• Charger is propriety - cant charge from USB
• Faster/Lower Power Tegra 3(Kal-El) version coming out soon?

Other reviews of ASUS Eee Transformer, The user reviews say pretty much the same:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/asus-eee-pad-transformer-954145/review