Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 2 - Mobile Dock Only

Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 2 - Mobile Dock Only

The Asus EEE Pad Transformer Mobile Dock is the significant half of the Transformer itself, it provides users with additional 7 hours of battery life with its battery. Additional connectivity such as 2 pieces of Standard USB 2.0, a SD card reader and fuctionality by providing a keyboard same as the EEE PC's Chiclet keyboard and a multi-touch pad. 

 The build of the mobile dock is very good, its provided with a top aluminum body so you can feel its sturdy but still sleek looking. The weight of the keyboard is a bit heavier than the tablet itself but still when combined it only weights 680g. Still lighter than an average Netbook in the market today

 This is what it looks like when its connected with the EEE Pad

 SD Card Slot

 USB 2.0 Hatch, One on the left one on the right

 Top view of the Mobile Dock

Closer look at the latches of the Mobile Dock

The latch to conenct the EEE Pad Transformer to the Mobile Dock are two clamps that easily locks when the transformer is inserted firmly. As seen in the picture  below the sliding sliver bar is the trigger to release the tab from the mobile dock. While connected to the mobile dock, the tablet will enter in charging mode.

While the pad is connected to the Mobile Dock, its possible to charge both devices though the same port but this time in the Mobile itself, located at the upper left side of the Mobile Dock. 

The bottom of the Mobile Dock is exactly like the EEE Pad Transformer with its graded texture, so it matches the Pad itself. The only difference is the rubber stoppers in the four corners of the dock as commonly seen in Notebooks and Netbooks.

The Mobile Dock is the "N+1" concept of the EEE Pad Transformer where Asus aims to make ease for consumers to switch to tablets or still having the best of both worlds by having this optional item. Personally I have to agree since its hard to type in long duration using an on-screen touch screen keyboard, the physical keyboard is still better, plus with the added battery life of the mobile dock itself is already a big advantage over other brands. 

Overall with the SRP of the Mobile Dock of Php 7,000. Its an item worth having since it will literally TRANSFORM your tablet to a 2 in 1 Device. Plus the additional mobility time, connection and user convenience results to a more pleasant Pad experience.

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Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 1 - Pad Only

Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 1 [Pad Only Review]

1^st Impressions

• Graded Texture at the back is good, makes user touch experience more comfortable
• Fast and responsive UI
• Bright and Ample screen 
• Screen is Finger Print magnet
• Charger looks like from Apple but color black only. Still it’s quite identical
• Nice solid grip

Design

The Asus EEE Pad Transformer is one of the 1^st Android 3.0 (Now 3.1 available) tablets announced, as it takes on to compete with the iPad, Asus ensured that the Transformer will be a pad that is hard to resist. Unlike other tablets that are just either plain silver or a combination of black and silver the Transformer stands out by incorporating the color of bronze and black. Also the unique stylish pattern design at the back adds class to the transformer and additional grip to make users that the Transformer is not just an ordinary tablet.

The sides of the transformer is made of aluminium where you can feel the sleek edges paired with the graded dots on the sides so you can know if you are holding near the edge of the pad. Also the transformer has no buttons on the glass panel itself, where the home button is just located on the lover left portion of the screen along with the home and the recent apps key. This is due to that the OS is now honeycomb where its optimized for Tablet usage.   

OS and Performance

Homescreen

Applications Menu

Customization of Panels

   Android Honeycomb is really designed for tablets, where its user interface is more ideal to access application and intended for a large screen resolution. Unlike tablets (Froyo 2.2) before, the apps are intended for pocket devices thus having small resolution in apps and sacrificed quality in its user interface and experience. 

The screen responses very well, as well the User Interface is fluid although it still can't compete with the same responsiveness in screen rotation compared to the iPad. Asus did changed some of the icons of honeycomb, just like the home, recent apps and return button are more visible than the default dark blue color. Also Asus created their own keyboard layout where its balck and silver instead of the black and dark blue where its harder to see. 

HD applications with the Transformer performs well, the Dual Core NVDIA Tegra 2 processor really enhance user experience as you won't encounter that much glitches as compared to Single Core 1Ghz processors. The reason why I said "That much Glitches" is because there isn't any perfect experience of tablets as of now, since Honeycomb is still young so to speak its still in the stages of fixing various bugs.

Although the Android 3.1 improved speed, response and stability of the Transformer in using the tablet in heavy browsing or applications you will encounter minor lags along the way. One example is facebook chat, where when used vertically you will have ample space to see your chat feed and at the same time the keyboard is displayed but unfortunately typing fast with the tablet touchscreen is quite hard as you will encounter delay along the way when you try to type fast. I guess the reason to this is that, the onscreen keyboard, FB chat and using of flash gives the tablet a bit of load to work on all at the same time.

Screen / Speakers / Camera

    The EEE Pad Transformer is equipped with IPS Screen Panel so its capable of 178 degrees viewing angle, although when in bright environments its still not capable to be seen even if the brightness settings is at maximum. As for viewing videos, expect seeing pixels if your video content isn't 720p above, although color rendering is not that that vivid on the default video player. Speakers  of the transformer is quite hidden, but its loud enough for good music listening, playing games or youtube videos all thanks to its SRS premium sound technology. 

Left Side Speaker

    The rear camera of the EEE Pad Transformer is a 5mp camera, its capable enough to give clear delivery of images but you would still notice the pixels as the image view in the EEE Pad is already at 1280x800 resolution. Taking pictures on the Pad is bit tricky as you need to press the screen to take an image, thus may result to shaking and could lead to unfocused shots. Overall the camera could do some improvement but its still capable and decent enough. 

Camera Menu Sample

Camera Picture Sample (click to enlarge)

Battery Life 

    Asus claims that the EEE Pad Transformer can go up to 9 hours of mobility, in my playtime with the EEE Pad I went to SM Marikina for Wi-FI continous coverage and using the GPS on the way, overall I managed to get more than 6 hours of continuous usage with the Wi-Fi and GPS on all of the time. Along with FB, Twitter and Gmail browsing, I also played Graved Defense HD (such an addictive game) for almost 3 hours with the speakers in moderate

Conditions Were 

    Brightness 80%

    Speakers 50%

    WiFi and GPS On

    Running Apps

       - Gmail

       - Browser

       - Grave Defense HD

       - Google Maps

Conclusion (Partial Pad Only)

 - Here in the Philippines, where tablets are becoming more popular and so called the "Next Generation" of mobile devices. The Asus EEE Pad transformer is an ideal tablet for everyday use, with its performance and design its more than capable to make your mobile cloud computing experience complete, also with its optional Mobile Dock (+6.5hrs battery, Chiclet Keyboard, 2pcs USB 2.0. SD Card Slot and Touch Pad) it will be like buying 2 products in one making your transition to tablets more easier and without giving up the hardware keyboard making your experience with the pad even more uplifting.

Part 2 Review [4th week of June]

SRP : 22,990 - PAD ONLY

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