[Review] : Eee Pad Slider

Eee Pad Slider SL101 

Changing the Game Once Again

Eee Pad Slider SL101

       The Eee Pad Slider is another CES 2011 launched product of Asus. Where its the 1st tablet to have its own keyboard, they keyboard is opened through sliding thus its name "Slider". What's innovative about the Eee Pad Slider is that it doesn't aim to become a normal tablet, but its designed to capture the tablet prospects but still needing a physical keyboard

As typing in touchscreen is inconvenient in long duration, the Eee Pad Slider solves the problem of having a Physical Keyboard in tablets. Honestly I would like to see this concept into a 14" notebook. The Eee Pad slider is slightly more wider than the Eee Pad Transformer, the fact that in comparing the Transformer to other tablets its the most widest. 

Bottom View

Thicker than most tablets, the Eee Pad Slider is still an worthy tablet as it offers the Physical keyboard for enchanced user experience. Just like the Eee Pad Transformer, the keyboard keys are simillar to the Chiclet keyboards of netbooks but decreased by 1 row to fit into the keyboard all the needs. 

Picture from Yugatech

The specifications of the Eee Pad Slider is standard and same as the Eee Pad Transformer, but this time the Eee Pad Slider has an USB 2.0 Slot due to the keyboard body enables the unit to have more space. At 17mm and 980grams its one of the heaviest tablets in the market, but its the sacrifice of having a physical keyboard. Surprisingly a wireless mouse can work with the Android OS, making productivity even more fun and convenient.

Battery life is up to 8.5 hours, 1 hour less than Eee Pad Transformer's 9.5 declaration of usage mobility. Honestly the Asus Eee Pad Slider is more practical for me as I am not picky in weight and thickness, but others may still consider the Eee Pad Transformer due to its additional battery life. 

Overall the Eee Pad Slider is a worthy tablet in the market today, offering a physical tablet is really a factor to consider as consumers are still not used to touch screen usage in long duration. Given the approach of Asus to tablets, the concept of N+1 really placed Asus to become a worthy tablet manufacturer. Its no doubt that the Eee Pad Slider is one two options from Asus for you not to let go your beloved Physical Keyboard. 

Eee Pad Slider Specs

• NVDIA Tegra 2 1.0Ghz Dual Core 
• 8.5 hours of battery life
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB EMMC Storage
• Chiclet Type Keyboard
• 1x USB 2.0, 1x Mini HDMI, 40-Pin Connector, Micro SD, Audio Out
• 980g / 17mm

*Pictures are from Hardwarezone.com.ph and Yugatech

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Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 3 - Pad & Dock

Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 3 - Pad & Dock

    The Asus EEE Pad Transformer indeed transformed CES 2011 when they introduced it, although they did not win the CES 2011 Best Show Award against the Motorola Xoom the transformer made some good impressions as it has the Mobile Dock where its a Physical Keyboard with I/O ports and extra battery for mobility. Asus introduced the EEE Pad Transformer as an Tablet that transforms to an netbook. The concept was to ease consumer in transitioning from netbook/notebook to tablets plus still giving them mobility and option in what kind of Mobility they want.


       Since I discussed mostly on the performance of the tablet in my 1st part of the review ( EEE Pad Transformer Part 1 Review ), this review will feature the pros & cons of the Mobile Dock itself.

PROS

Physical Keyboard - They physical keyboard itself is a great advantage in typing where honestly in long duration typing on a touchscreen will surely make your fingers sore. 

Touch Pad - You might ask, "Why do I need a touchpad when the tablet is already touchscreen?" The answer to that is, touchscreen is good but not precisely accurate, the touchpad is good when hitting the in between of words in editing or selecting a portion of an image where touchscreen may cause inaccuracy. 

Overall the Bronze and black color combination stands out that the Asus EEE Pad Transformer is not an ordinary tablet. The Mobile dock offers 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 SD Card reader for additional data transferring, its build is solid and has a metal 1st layer on its most common areas such as the mobile dock itself and the sides of the tablet itself.

Additional Battery - The additional battery on the mobile dock itself charges the tablet when connected, giving the tablet up to 7 hours of additional mobility thus you can have up to 16 hours of mobility in total. 

Why do I need the Mobile Dock? - This is the main question, overall the tablet can perform well without the Mobile Dock thus making it optional, but Asus introduced the Mobile Dock mainly for the easy transition of consumers from Notebook / Netbook to Tablets. Where you don't have to sacrifice the physical keyboard which is still more productive than typing on a on-screen keyboard. Plus the additional battery gives you the advantage over other tablets in the market today in terms of mobility duration. 

CONS

Additional item to carry arround? - It is true that you have to carry a keyboard so to speak when you want to attach it to the dock, but that is why its optional, you just need to bring it when you need it. But just like a netbook the keyboard dock merely weights just like a notebook adaptor so its just like the same thing. 

Widest tablet - The transformer's shape is sought after an netbook, so Asus designed the transformer to be as big as an netbook. To date the EEE Pad transformer is the widest tablet in the market, this is because it needs to be in the same size of the mobile dock so if it's attached at closed its like a netbook. 

No USB 2.0 Slot? - Unfortunately the Transformer Pad itself rather its in the Mobile Dock so unless you have the Mobile Dock you can't use USB Devices for Mass Storage or put a hardware interface device such as a keyboard or mouse. 3G mobile dongles are NOT legally compatible with Honeycomb 3.1 OS.

Why don't I just buy a netbook instead? - Its a tablet that can be transformed into a netbook. Asus made the mobile dock to make it an additional feature to become a netbook, currently in the market touchscreen netbooks are ever more expensive than a tablet so why sacrifice price when you can have both at the same price? 

Also its OPTIONAL, not an obligation accessory where its needed to run the EEE Pad itself, its just an highlighted feature that the transformer has that the other brands doesn't, which is your main advantage to this product. 

Overall the Asus EEE Pad Transformer is already one of the capable tablets in the market featuring the main advantage over the others is the Mobile dock which has the additional battery.

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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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