Review: ASUS Transformer Prime

Last year ASUS brought an innovative product to the market in the Eee Pad Transformer, giving users an option that strayed from the cookie cutter mold that other manufacturers seemed to have been content with. Although the original Transformer had some great ideas and sold well, ASUS knew it could be improved upon.

ASUS seems to have done the legwork here in the Transformer’s second generation offering. They’ve slimmed it down, removed some bulk, and girded it all in brushed metal. The guts of this gorgeous beast feature NVIDIA’s newest powerhouse, the Tegra 3— the worlds first quad-core (well, really penta-core) ARM CPU. In addition, the upgrade to Android 4.0 gives the Prime the title ‘World’s First Ice Cream Sandwich Tablet.’

While all of this sounds great on paper, just how does it translate to the actual experience of using this device in the real world? Does the Transformer Prime live up to all the hype? Do early adopters need to be concerned and perhaps hold off on this piece of hardware?

Find answers to these questions and more in my review, after the break.

• 10.1 inch Super IPS+ LCD, 1200×800 pixels + Gorilla Glass
• 1.3 – 1.6 GHz Tegra 3 (Scaling) – Arm Cortex A9 Quad-Core processor + 5th ‘Companion Core’ CPU
• 12-core GeForce GPU
• 1GB of LP DDR2 memory
• Front-Facing 8 megapixel f2.4 aperture camera lens
• LED Flash
• 1920×1080 (1080p HD) video
• 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera
• Android 3.2 – *Upgrade to Android 4.0.3 (Official at time of review)
• 32 or 64 GB internal storage
• microSD card slot for expanded storage
• + Asus WebStorage
• 25WH Li-Polymer battery
• WIFI B/G/N, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• 10.35″ x 7.12″ x 0.41″
• 20.67 ounces

Up to this point, I would compare every other Android tablet to your typical standard edition mass production sports car. Pretty enough on the outside to attract the occasional head turn, with enough innards to make your daily commute enjoyable. The Transformer Prime is more like a Limited Edition Lamborghini, with the junk in the trunk to match its sexy exterior.

Available in your choice of two colors; Amethyst Grey or Champagne. The Champagne option is almost gold in color, while the Grey most definitely has a purple hue to it. Never much a fan of gold myself, I opted to pick up the Amethyst Grey version.

Featuring a spun metal aluminum body, the design is reminiscent of ASUS’ line of Zenbooks. This choice in design offers a welcome distinction to the typical metal backing, with a faint circular pattern spun out from the center. For those of us who have developed O.C.D. habits with our shiny new tablets, the pattern also deters the common onslaught of fingerprints and scuffing.

The Prime looks and feels like a $500 tablet should feel. Premium design— lightweight and thin, yet sturdy. While Samsung has come close with its Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Prime just feels more luxurious.

Ports, Buttons and Connectivity

I’ll just talk about the tablet itself here, later on I’ll mention the keyboard dock ports as well. The Prime has your standard array of buttons and ports, the exception being the included mini HDMI port’s appearance on the right side top while in landscape view. I was extremely grateful to see this included, as not many other manufacturers have been doing so.

Just above the mini HDMI port is the volume rocker— it’s slim and unobtrusive. Head down along the same side and you’ll find the microSD card slot, and a reset pinhole. The microSD card slot has a bit of an issue here, as the inserted card sticks out too far and can be easily jostled loose. Within the first few days of use, I nearly lost a 32GB microSD card in my couch.

The left side contains only a 3.5mm headphone jack, with enough depth to allow your plug to sit firmly inside. Along the top of the tab you’ll find the power button and another pinhole microphone. The bottom contains the proprietary charging / docking port flanked on either side by small slits that secure to the keyboard dock. Each port comes with a rubber plug, that you will surely lose within a matter of days. I know I’ve misplaced all of mine.

On the back of the tablet you’ll find the 8MP camera with LED flash as well as the lone speaker grill. The speaker pumps out decent audio, but is placed poorly. It sits exactly where you will be placing your right hand while using the tablet in landscape mode. In use, I found that audio was muffled as I held the Prime while playing games, etc.

ASUS has done a splendid job in this display offering. The panel we are given on the Prime is a 1280×800 Super IPS+ display, featuring Corning’s Gorilla Glass. ASUS has included a toggle in the notifications menu for enabling the enhanced brightness feature. With the Super IPS+ feature in use, the luminescence output far exceeds other tablets, as well as many laptops with a maximum brightness of 600 nits. In comparison, many HDTVs average between 450-1000, with desktop LCDs between 200-300. This level of brightness is perfect for use outdoors, with visibility more than acceptable even in direct sunlight.

Contrasts on this display are very noticeable, with vibrant brights and deep darks that really highlight the choices made in the Ice Cream Sandwich design. Color reproduction is slightly lacking, whites can lean towards a yellow hue. I have experienced far worse in other display types, and really found nothing distracting in this panel.

Viewing angles are exceptional as well, with ASUS touting 178 degree visibility. Colors remained true even at extreme side angles. Many high end displays will begin to show color loss as you lean the screen further forward, the Prime showed no trace of this happening as I experimented. Rest assured you can have company while watching a movie when you want to share.

I won’t bore you with every last feature of the upgrade to Android 4.0.3 and what it offers over Android 3.0, you can find all those details here. I will tell you that both user experience and stability in Ice Cream Sandwich is vastly improved over the poorly received Honeycomb. Google has knocked this one out of the park.

ASUS has done some minor tweaking to Android 4.0 on the Prime, adding their own widgets and menu options. My own Android phone runs a vanilla version of Ice Cream Sandwich, and I barely notice the difference between the two. They have managed to keep customization to a minimum, and I appreciate that. Below is the ASUS promo video discussing the upgrade to Android 4.0.

It is worth noting that there are a few Android 4.0 features missing at this point on the Prime; Face Unlock and Android Beam. Time will tell if ASUS adds these in a future update. I do look forward to unlocking the tablet with my grizzled mug first thing in the morning. I promise I’ll brush my teeth first.

I will mention one feature improved in Android 4.0; the ability to click and drag app icons into a slick looking folder redesign reminiscent of their IOS counterparts. The new appearance is attractive and stylish, allowing the user to lump often used apps onto their home screens with ease. I have never enjoyed wasting screen real estate with tons of app icons, so this was a welcome change.

Hardware

Just “wow.” I have personally owned or tested just about every Android tablet that has come along; from low-end tabs such as the Archos 70IT or the Nook Color, to higher-end offerings such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola Xoom. I should go on, naming each and every tablet I’ve tried out to make my point. This is what the Android tablet experience should have been all along. For the time being, the Prime is King of the Hill. After applying the upgrade to Android 4.0.3, the quirks and shortcomings I found with it running Honeycomb vanished.

Page transitions are flawless; menu scrolling is smooth and fluid. I found absolutely no instances of lag or stuttering, and was half expecting at least an occasional appearance as with every other tablet I’ve played with. Check out my sampling of benchmarks below.

WiFi and GPS

Many users have reported issues with the WiFi signal strength and GPS performance. The aluminum construction appears to interfere with both, and ASUS is aware of the situation, asking users to provide more information to assist them in examining the problems. One of the findings to this point seems to indicate interference with the WiFi signal as well when actively using a Bluetooth device. I haven’t had an opportunity to test this for myself.

ASUS did state the following regarding GPS issues:

“Please note that this product is not a professional GPS device … To avoid inconveniencing users who demand a powerful GPS device, we made the decision to remove it from our specification sheet and marketing communications. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.”

Personally I’ve had few-to-no issues with WiFi. The GPS is most certainly borked however. I can rarely get a single satellite lock while indoors, and the Prime fares only slightly better when I step outside. In my mind it is a non-issue though, as I hadn’t planned on using my tablet for navigation anyways. I am perfectly satisfied using my 4.5-inch Android phone screen for that, and it’s probably safer driving that way also. Unless you are the Flavor Flav type, and plan on wearing your Prime strapped to a chain around your neck, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

ASUS has a Technical Manager assisting users over on the XDA Forums. Gary Key has been pretty vocal in the efforts to trace and resolve some of the Prime issues.

Gaming

NVIDIA most certainly wants you gaming with the Tegra 3 and its combined GPU. There really aren’t many games that will take advantage of this hardware yet, but rest assured that developers are working on it. A good example is an updated version of ShadowGun THD, optimized for Tegra 3. With added atmospheres such as nicely done rippling water effects, it really showcases the potential for future game development. My video below shows off some of those upgrades for Tegra 3.

At CES this last week, NVIDIA and ASUS showed an early preview of Splashtop THD for streaming content to your Tegra equipped device via PC. We were shown the possibility to play PC games through the Prime, one of which was Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I just had to try this for myself…

Pre-loaded on the Prime is Splashtop HD, bundled in with ASUS’ My Cloud app, so I fired it up. I had to mess around with the window size of Skyrim when it was running as it will not stream to the Prime  in full screen (it looks like the THD version will address this). With some tweaking I was able to get Skyrim playable on my tablet fairly easily, and it ran rather smoothly. Check out my video below for an example.

The same design reference is used here for the keyboard dock, completing the ‘Zenbook’ appearance and feel. I brought the combined duo of tablet and dock into work to show off, and my coworkers were both confused and amazed. I’d been talking up my new tab for days, and upon seeing the complete package they found themselves wondering where the tablet I’d bragged about had gone. Audible gasps resonated throughout when I simply slid the latch and disconnected the Prime from its dock. I’m pretty sure ASUS sold a few more units that day.

Typing

Using the dock with the Prime has been a great experience for me, and my netbook has truly been replaced. The majority of this review was written using the WordPress Android app on the Prime. While a bit cramped for prolonged use, ASUS has done a marvelous job with the keyboard design.

The touchpad is improved over the original Transformer keyboard dock, appearing as a single plate with an etched line to separate the click area at the bottom. While improved, the touchpad is also very sensitive, often causing inadvertent mouse cursor movement while typing.

Ports and Connectivity

Several ports appear along the sides of the keyboard dock, and offer very little distraction from the overall design appearance. The left side offers the proprietary power connection with an LED indicator, charging while docked juices up both your tablet and keyboard. Along the right side is a single full USB 2.0 port and SD card slot for even more expanded memory.

On the back side of the dock is the tablet connector. The swiveling hinge is both sturdy and rigid in its movement, with a lock slider to allow removal of your tablet. The bottom of the metal casing also sports four rubber feet to keep your unit from sliding about during use.

While I have yet to find a good use for a 10-inch camera, the 8 MP shooter on the Prime has shown itself to be above average. The camera features f/2.4 aperture for help in low light scenarios, which also graces the new camera upgrade on the iPhone 4S. While the auto-focus tended to be a bit long in making up its mind, pictures were of a decent quality. Android 4.0 has a nice panoramic shot feature in its camera software, I found that it was very simple to utilize.

The Prime comes equipped with a worthy 25WH Li-Polymer battery, and at last we see a device with battery life comparable to the iPad 2. My testing of the battery run-down consisted of a continual looping of a movie, with brightness set to around 50%. On average I found the battery to last around 10 hours 15 minutes, compared to 10 hours 25 minutes with the Apple tab. Connect it to the keyboard dock, and you’ll add another 6-7 hours on top of that. 16 hours will do nicely. NVIDIA seems to have made the most out of reducing power consumption in the Tegra 3, and Google has said we should expect the same benefits from Android 4.0.

ASUS has also given users a tool to help maximize battery life. The Prime has three different power settings, available in the notification menu for easy toggling. ASUS describes the three modes as follows:

 

• Normal Mode
• Will deliver the maximum performance and good battery life. This mode is recommended for tasks such as system benchmarking, advanced gaming and CPU-intensive media processing apps.
• Balanced Mode
• Delivers optimal performance and battery life. Balanced mode is recommended for common-use cases such as Flash-enabled web browsing, gaming, multitasking, etc.
• Power saving mode
• Power saving mode delivers the best battery life without compromising performance for use cases such as web browsing, HD video playback, casual gaming, music playback, book-reading, etc.

Is the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime perfect? No— but it’s very close. As is the case with early adoption in the tech world, issues are bound to appear. I count myself as one of the fortunate, as I have not experienced most of the reported issues with my Prime.

If you are looking for the absolute best Android tablet on the market, take a look at the Prime. If you can get your hands on one, count yourself lucky as they are in short supply. Pricing for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is listed at a retail of $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB version. The keyboard dock is $149.