Sign In. Download the latest issue of Business Today Magazine just for Rs. The first quad-core tablet upgraded to Android's Ice-Cream Sandwich that converts itself into a powerful netbook by sliding in a keyboard dock.
Nidhi Singal Print Edition: Mar 01, Asus Transformer Prime Price: Rs. Quad-core processor and Android 4. If only the pricing strategy had also been innovative! Apple's iPad has virtually dominated the tablet market. Sometimes it appears that not even Google seems to care about the quality of these apps. The multitouch pad is also perfectly adequate for navigating Honeycomb.
While I used the keyboard quite a bit, I found myself choosing to reach out and touch the screen over using the touchpad quite often. How does that hold up in real life? I should note that I ran that test in "Normal" mode; lowering it down to "balanced" or "power saving" mode should increase battery life, and Asus has already promised a firmware update that should improve the already-solid endurance.
See update below. But, of course, the tablet has the keyboard for some great battery back-up. The keyboard houses an additional 22Wh battery, which when strapped to the tablet, let the entire package run for 10 hours and four minutes on that aforementioned battery test. It took close to four hours to charge back up both cells via the AC adapter. UPDATE: A big update on the battery life: On our standard test with brightness set at 65 percent and power saving mode switched on, the tablet lasted six hours and five minutes — exactly an hour longer than when it was set to normal mode.
Still, that's an hour shorter than the original Transformer, which lasted seven hours and 27 minutes on the same standard test the same 65 percent screen brightness setting, etc. Asus maintains that the screen brightness is the culprit here, and I tend to agree with them — 65 percent brightness on the Prime is higher than on the original Transformer and most other tablets. I don't have a light meter, so I cannot measure the exact brightness equality amongst the screens.
However, there's another explanation for the shorter run time on our standard test: when I ran a video rundown using a p clip with brightness set at 65 percent and in power saving mode, the tablet lasted nearly two hours longer — yes, it ran for nine hours and 19 minutes. By the way, video playback was extremely smooth at that setting. According to Nvidia, Tegra 3 is optimized for video and thus doesn't use the added cores when playing HD video. Nvidia and Asus hold that the standard Verge Battery Test script keeps all cores active even in balanced or power saving mode , and that those test results would be representative of somebody sitting down and playing a game like ShadowGun which draws on all the cores.
I am currently rerunning all these tests with the dock attached to give you an idea how much time you'd get with the extra cell, but I think it's pretty clear: the Prime is capable of running for over nine hours on a charge even longer with the dock attached with the screen being plenty bright, you just have to be mindful of what you are actually doing with the tablet and the power saving modes.
Regardless, the battery life can be very impressive for the thickness and for the power inside. The Prime is an incredible piece of hardware. But a true laptop replacement isn't about raw power; it's about the productivity that power enables, and Honeycomb just isn't up to the task. The operating system hasn't been optimized for that ridiculous processor or that beautiful display, the app selection remains pitiable at best, and it's just not that intuitive to use.
Asus may have produced a brilliant piece of engineering at a price that's competitive with the iPad, but Android hasn't yet matched iOS when it comes to unlocking all that potential.
Android 4. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Transformer Prime lead. If you have to type a few thousand words every now and then for work, a tablet just isn't going to be your friend.
As the Transformer's name suggests, you can pop the tablet part into a keyboard dock and set your fingers to work on those financial reports. Clipping in the tablet requires only a slight push until the clip locks in place. To remove it, flick the switch the other way and pull it out.
It's all very simple. The keyboard itself is mm wide -- exactly as wide as the tablet. It weighs g, which by itself isn't that much, but it pretty much makes the tablet twice as heavy.
You'll end up carrying around a hefty bit of kit when it's all slotted together. The all-metal constuction is responsible for that weight, but it does at least mean that when it's all closed up, the Prime is hunkered down like a frightened armadillo.
The keys are of the square, isolated variety. Although they are spread the whole way across the base, they're still fairly squished up, so they can be awkward to type on. It's about the same size as a netbook's keyboard, so if you can't squash your hands in enough for one of those, you'll struggle to type for too long on the Prime. The trackpad is rather small, but it supports multi-touch gestures and is easy to swipe your finger across.
It's reasonably comfortable to use, but if you're doing lots of scrolling around web pages, you're much better off using your fingers on the screen. The dock adds a USB 2. It also has its own battery, which complements the tablet's own, giving an extra 6 hours of run-time on top of the tablet's As Asus' flagship tablet, we'd really expected it to push the boat out on software as much as it has in the construction.
Sadly, it hasn't yet loaded it up with the latest version of Android for tablets and phones, Ice Cream Sandwich , but has instead gone for the older Android 3. To the average person in the street, having the latest updates may not be high on their list of priorities.
But when you're spending half a grand on something claiming to be absolutely top-of-the-range, it's galling to know that it's already running outdated software, especially when ICS has started to ship on high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Asus told us the Prime will be updated "hopefully" some time in January, but that it can't say if any of the tablets sold after that time will ship with the new software. It's clearly a priority for Asus, but if it had waited to send out review units until the software was ready it would have avoided this confusion. Thankfully though, the Honeycomb experience on the Prime is still a pleasant one.
You get five home screens to fill up with apps and live widgets. Is it worth it? I'd say so -- provided, of course, that you're able to justify dropping that kind of dough. The Prime trumps pretty much every other tablet on the market today in terms of performance and potential. And it's sleek and gorgeous, to boot. In my review, I make the following comparison:. For that extra 50 bucks, you're getting twice the processing power, twice the internal storage, and significantly better battery life.
You're also getting native support for microSD and micro-HDMI connections -- and you aren't even sacrificing a thin and sexy form. As for the iPad vs. Yeah -- Apple premium pricing and rest-of-the-world premium pricing don't always match up. So ultimately, my buying advice is this: If you want an Android tablet and can justify the price, go for the Transformer Prime.
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