While your video reviews are really cool and you should definitely keep doing them, I think you should have some sort of a sign-off at the end of them. The way it just cuts is really abrupt. You know, something simple like along the lines of "I'm Anand Shimpi and this has been the Eee pad Transformer Prime" or something. It'd add a little polish.
Good review though, I much prefer listening to reading
"...when I first started attending industry events I noticed everyone always introduced themselves as Name from Publication. It always rubbed me the wrong way. If I'm asking a question, and my question is appropriately phrased, the publication I write for is irrelevant information."
In asking the question at an industry event, I agree with your view and Anand's. Its a really KISS MY BUTT thing to do, like should you get a difference answer because who is asking?
But this is about the video. A proper closing (perhaps with a fade to black) would be nicer and more polished. Even the video editor in Windows7 can handle such jobs easily - and I think his Macbook can as well.
Also, his video can be embedded onto other sights, people may not know WHO is talking or where it came from.
"Also, his video can be embedded onto other sights, people may not know WHO is talking or where it came from."
yeah! because it's unfair to all the illiterate folk... who cruise geek sights for reviews on tech.. who can't read... that small inconspicuous sign over your left shoulder... wait... what?
Also... OMG! He lost his hair! I remember about 10 years ago when he had... hair, on HIS HEAD!! Put a wig on man, please!!
Don't take it personal Anand... I knew I would be balding when I was a teenager and my hairline started thinning in my mid-20s. I tried that Rogaine (sp?) crap for about 2 days, but that sticky nasty stuff felt horrible and the IDEA of putting sticky crap on my head every day for the rest of my life (at about $25 a month) seemed stupid.
I shaved my head that day. And I keep it shaved. I've haven't seen my curls in years, I don't need a comb. Makes me look a bit tough too :)
PS: Asus has done a great job with their tablets... It amazing how HP, RIM, Toshiba and others have screwed up.
To be honest, there was about another 30 seconds at the end of the video that ended up being cut out which contained a more gradual sign off. I appreciate the feedback for sure :)
I try to do these things in one take, it significantly reduces editing time and helps me get them done given the already insane schedule we have to work on at times. This one suffered as a result but I'll do my best to avoid the abrupt ending happening again in the future :)
Thanks for this follow-up article, Anand! It was a good read and answered some of my remaining questions about the TF Prime. Still looking forward to picking one of these up in January!
I read elsewhere that engineering samples of Tegra 3 weren't performing as much better as Nvidia originally expected them to, due to the cores and GPU being constrained for memory bandwidth. I don't know of them changing this in the original design. I'm curious how much ICS will improve T3 performance with its better multithreading and better GPU acceleration, and how much comes down to all the elements competing for bandwidth or some other hardware limitation?
I guess we should not have expected a non apple slanted review from such a mac fanboy site. I dispair for tech journalism when the point becomes less about an honest unbiased review and more about ones allegiance to apple. Nice try though to sound unbiased though, stating that it is a much improved tablet, your apple bias showed through though when you indicated you felt that it was only in comparison to other Androids and that it was still below anything Mac.
The lesson I learned don't come to Anandtech.com when you want an honest unbiased review.
What parts of this came across as biased? To me it seemed all the facts were laid out impartially, and they put effort into correcting the old battery life measurements as well as promised performance updates when ICS hits. If everything comes back to the iPad, its for a reason, like it or not its still the standards bearer for these tablets, and I'm a hardcore Android user. I think the Prime will be better than the iPad personally when ICS hits, but the review is based on current software of course.
It's important to show how it performs against the iPad, especially with regards to battery life. Most people don't care about android vs iOS, they just want a media consumption device, and will therefore choose the device that allows them to do that better.
Second, the numbers for battery life are in Apple's favor. It would be biased to ignore them.
Sounds to me like you would be better served by going to an Android fanboy website.
You are a fool druter. I and others do not know WHAT you think you read or watched.
A) Anand isn't much of a tablet user (AFAIK from his previous articles)
B) He uses all kinds of technology - he does have the right to use what he wants for his personal uses, no? He uses AMD and intel for his own servers and in general - has kept standards pretty good on this sight.
C) All devices WILL compare market leaders, including the iPad. With what is on the market TODAY from Samsung, ASUS, Toshiba, etc - None of them have the battery or GPU (graphics) performance of the 9 month old iPad2 and some are below that of an iPad1 especially when it comes to battery life.
D) "below anything mac"?? he didn't compare the TF-Prime to any Mac. Apple only has one type of tablet on the market and its NOT a Macintosh. He stated the simple fact that tablets DO NOT replace actual notebooks. That is true if the iPad2 as well.
E) Use the best tool for the job or personal preference and budget. Simple as that, eh? I build my own desktops, own ThinkPad notebooks and have an iPad. My dislike for apple is the same for Microsoft, so it just doesn't matter.
Some people aren't happy unless something is reviewed as being much better than any comparable Apple product.
Like it or not, the iPad is still the gold standard, and everything is going to be compared to that. This guy will be very unhappy in March when the new one comes out.
I have an Ipad 2 and an Android Razr Smartphone. The equipment may be better on the Android side but the experience is better on the IPad side. If I want to save $$, Andriod is the way to go. In my opinion for the money a $200-$350 Android tablet is the best value. If I'm spending $600 on a tablet, I'd go Apple.
Great to see a really thorough, technical review. To sum up though: WANT! Although, being in the UK, that means another 4 week's waiting - and no 64GB option!
"Being able to watch 4-6 full length movies on a plane without worrying about your battery is a pretty nice feature."
Technically, it's great. But that implies ripped movies and an international flight. A core function of the Department of Homeland Security is to prevent such activity. So you'd have to worry about more than the battery. But at least you could be sure that none of the other people getting on the plane had violated any copy-protection.
Or, for example renting 4-6 movies on the Google Market app and docking them on your device. That's what I did when they were doing the top 10 for $1. Rented 4 or 5 of them and then docked/pinned them on my TF101 so that I could make sure I can watch them at any time.
First off, I am very happy for your thoroughness. You always try your best in your reviews. My trouble is with your CONSTANT comparison to mac book air. How expensive is your mac book air, and what processor and hd etc come with it? Even if you take the 64 GB model TF-Prime, you are still easily a couple hundred under MBA. Also, as you mentioned, one is a tablet + dock , while the other is designed, albeit very very well, as a laptop. Now the comparison to netbooks is one I can understand, but the constant comparison to MBA I feel degrades from true evaluation. One thing I found funny, is that even with the comparison to a system that is much more expensive, it still is able to keep up some.
"Now the comparison to netbooks is one I can understand, but the constant comparison to MBA I feel degrades from true evaluation."
I think that comparisons like this are actually very helpful, since there are a decent number of people who want to know whether they need a MBA/Ultrabook, or whether they can save $400-$500 and use a tablet. And, particularly because tablets are still pretty new (as mainstream devices, anyway), it's also useful to delineate the boundaries between laptops and tablets.
"One thing I found funny, is that even with the comparison to a system that is much more expensive, it still is able to keep up some."
This is a very important point for some users - and a point that wouldn't have been made but for comparing the tablet to a MBA.
There's not a major ultraportable laptop platform between netbooks and the mba. Some of the cheaper ultrabooks might drop into it but none are there in meaningful volumes yet.
1.4GHZ Tegra 3 is barely faster than the iPad 2 and we know that thing only runs at 1GHZ.
By March, we know the A6 will be quad-core and most likely run at 1.2GHZ and Apple always make a huge performance leap just to keep the device potent enough for a whole year.
Why would anyone want to buy the TF Prime that will be the fastest Android tab for about 3 month for $500
Samsung will have their own quad-core Exynos out soon too.
iPad 3 will also have a 200ppi display which will make every other tablet look like a pixel board.
This is not an Apple fan post, just stating the what the competition will be and Tegra 3 is a very small upgrade.
No, It should read "transformer prime is barely faster than the iPad 2".
There is no way tegra 3 is slower than A5, it's the software. While ios is fully optimized for A5, honeycomb can't even utilize dual-core chips properly. Let's see what ICS would do.
A lot of semantics there. True that A5 is probably slower than Tegra 3, but also from the article there is no significant performance difference between an iPad 2 vs Transformer Prime. The OS and platform do count.
I'm a bit disappointed too though. I really thought the quad core Tegra 3 would be at least 40% or so faster than similar clocked A9 based systems just because of the extra 2 processors, but apparently not. I'm thinking maybe Android isn't quite optimized for more than 2 cores yet.
"Whereas the move from one to two cores was instantly noticeable on Android phones, the move from two to four is understandably less appreciable."
It looks like 4 core is for the forseeable future a practical limit for the "multi-core" era before we opt for another approach.
The gains in battery life in web browsing and video playback is likely not due to having extra cores and being able to clock them down faster, but the more advanced power saving available in Tegra 3.
They noted something similar to Intel's DPST(Display Power Saving Technology), along with better C states compared to Tegra 2.
Yes. Since Tegra 3 is actually capable of clock-gating individual cores as opposed to all-or-nothing like Tegra 2, power utilization should be better.
That in combination with display local dimming and lower voltage -- since the CPU's are made on 40G -- definitely help brings per-core power down.
The question is whether or not the performance is there to compete with SoC's on Android early next year with Samsung's new Exynos and Krait based devices.
Is it now the norm to compare products based on their size rather than ability and, most importantly, price? A Netbook probably retails for $250-$400. This thing retails for $650 (with dock)? I don't see how this in any way compares to a netbook. Sorry.
It isn't fair comparing the two because the ASUS has a 10.1" screen at 1280x800, not a 9.7" screen at 1024x768. Thats a 0.78MP screen vs a 1.0MP screen. It has to render 20% more pixels and on top of that the screen is larger.
Thanks for doing the follow up on this, demonstrating once again why you're the best in the business.
Hopefully Asus will learn from this; if you weren't as thorough as you are they would have ended up with their only review here being unnecessarily negative. Maybe they'll give folks more lead time in the future!
So there is just some improvement and not a great deal of improvement. Wonder if it would be better if Nvidia put two 1.8Ghz cores rather than 4 1.4Ghz core, then the end result in performance would be way better with slight penalty on battery life ?.
I do think it is commendable of you to update your original review with these updated tidbits. However, I do wonder when it comes to your gripes, particularly with multitasking.
I agree with the limitations of Honeycomb's multitasking, but what are we comparing it too? Your review was specifically comparing it to a netbook, so your criticism is fair if we're comparing it to Win XP... but compared to other mobile OS', it's the best on offer (admittedly, I have not tried the Playbook's implementation of multitasking which looks like it may be more comparable to a desktop experience).
Currently, I think heavy users run into serious limitation regardless of which tablet platform they are using. I think I was hoping for quad core to change this as well tho... so that's disappointing. Maybe ICS?
Your comments on higher clocked, dual-core 28nm chips possibly being comparable in performance to Tegra 3 gave me reason to pause as well! Simply b/c I fear that Android 4.0 is still being optimized for dual core devices, not quad core... Because unless things change at CES, most new mobile devices being announced for 2012 still have dual cores!
Would love to see an update to your review now that ICS has been on this tablet for awhile. I personally haven't touched my iPad2 since I received my TP. I use it in place of my laptop and netbook as well. I rarely have to pick up anything else. I am a road warrior with a Verizon MiFi and Sprint Hotspot on my phone and always have internet connectivity and this thing is always with me.
Games:
Between onlive, emulators and all the gaming options from Android (including the great Tegrazone games) this makes the case for a mobile gaming platform with console quality graphics but also the dead simple casual gaming making this a great fit for both types of gamers. Onlive is excellent on this platform btw.
Productivity/Web:
I just recently added Onlive Desktop to my subscription and I have full blown Office at my finger tips along with Internet Explorer. It is limited to the MS stack on the desktop, but I find that good enough. Native to the tablet I use Polaris Office, Adobe, Firefox, Chrome, Android Browser and Dolphin. I literally have not found office content that I can't access. The same is true for web content including Flash support.
Media:
All the usual app suspects are here. Netflix, Pandora, Hulu + (installs but doesn't officially support the device takes a little bit of know-how to get it working. ie developer mode and config files.) One must have app for Android here MX Video Player It plays all my years of movie collecting, works as good as VLC on Windows/Linux.
I also have this working with my ActiveSync Mail server for my corporation and actively use this device for presentations and note taking in customer meetings.
I only hope they continue to develop and support the Transformer platform and I only see a bright future for this tablet.
What a great review. Very detailed and complete. I do agree a signoff would be nice. I have had a little trouble finding out about battery "memory", I didn't catch that in the review, which would have been nice. Finally found what I think is correct on Asus web site. It is best to let the tablet discharge completely and then recharge it. I will definitely follow you. Great job.
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kishorshack - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
That graph is still a bit difficult to understanda typical graph comparing two transformers would have been great :|
freedom4556 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
While your video reviews are really cool and you should definitely keep doing them, I think you should have some sort of a sign-off at the end of them. The way it just cuts is really abrupt. You know, something simple like along the lines of "I'm Anand Shimpi and this has been the Eee pad Transformer Prime" or something. It'd add a little polish.Good review though, I much prefer listening to reading
Matias - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Sign in too, something like "Hi, my name is Anand from Anandtech and today I'll be reviewing..." you know?20 minutes is ok, good video.
Andrew Rockefeller - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I think this passage from an interview with Anand may sum up his feeling on extranious self promotion:http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560801/5-minut...
"...when I first started attending industry events I noticed everyone always introduced themselves as Name from Publication. It always rubbed me the wrong way. If I'm asking a question, and my question is appropriately phrased, the publication I write for is irrelevant information."
Belard - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
In asking the question at an industry event, I agree with your view and Anand's. Its a really KISS MY BUTT thing to do, like should you get a difference answer because who is asking?But this is about the video. A proper closing (perhaps with a fade to black) would be nicer and more polished. Even the video editor in Windows7 can handle such jobs easily - and I think his Macbook can as well.
Also, his video can be embedded onto other sights, people may not know WHO is talking or where it came from.
It is the end that is at issue.
bungfinger - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
"Also, his video can be embedded onto other sights, people may not know WHO is talking or where it came from."yeah! because it's unfair to all the illiterate folk... who cruise geek sights for reviews on tech.. who can't read... that small inconspicuous sign over your left shoulder... wait... what?
MrTeal - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I know I always enjoy being told to stay classy.Graag - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
That would be a *great* sign off line."That concludes our review. This is Anand Shimpi for Anandtech.com reminding you to stay classy."
Belard - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Also... OMG! He lost his hair! I remember about 10 years ago when he had... hair, on HIS HEAD!! Put a wig on man, please!!Don't take it personal Anand... I knew I would be balding when I was a teenager and my hairline started thinning in my mid-20s. I tried that Rogaine (sp?) crap for about 2 days, but that sticky nasty stuff felt horrible and the IDEA of putting sticky crap on my head every day for the rest of my life (at about $25 a month) seemed stupid.
I shaved my head that day. And I keep it shaved. I've haven't seen my curls in years, I don't need a comb. Makes me look a bit tough too :)
PS: Asus has done a great job with their tablets... It amazing how HP, RIM, Toshiba and others have screwed up.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
To be honest, there was about another 30 seconds at the end of the video that ended up being cut out which contained a more gradual sign off. I appreciate the feedback for sure :)I try to do these things in one take, it significantly reduces editing time and helps me get them done given the already insane schedule we have to work on at times. This one suffered as a result but I'll do my best to avoid the abrupt ending happening again in the future :)
Take care,
Anand
medi01 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
It's not about "what is Prime's color gamut", but rather "how does it compare to other tablets".Hopefully it will become standard part of your tests, since brightness/contrast tell only small part of the story.
Ric_Margiotta - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Thanks for this follow-up article, Anand! It was a good read and answered some of my remaining questions about the TF Prime. Still looking forward to picking one of these up in January!sotoa - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Too bad these weren't ready in bulk for Christmas. Not to mention ICS.tipoo - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I read elsewhere that engineering samples of Tegra 3 weren't performing as much better as Nvidia originally expected them to, due to the cores and GPU being constrained for memory bandwidth. I don't know of them changing this in the original design. I'm curious how much ICS will improve T3 performance with its better multithreading and better GPU acceleration, and how much comes down to all the elements competing for bandwidth or some other hardware limitation?druter - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I guess we should not have expected a non apple slanted review from such a mac fanboy site. I dispair for tech journalism when the point becomes less about an honest unbiased review and more about ones allegiance to apple.Nice try though to sound unbiased though, stating that it is a much improved tablet, your apple bias showed through though when you indicated you felt that it was only in comparison to other Androids and that it was still below anything Mac.
The lesson I learned don't come to Anandtech.com when you want an honest unbiased review.
piiman - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
If you think this is an Apple fan site why do you even come here? Just so you can bash the reviews?tipoo - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
What parts of this came across as biased? To me it seemed all the facts were laid out impartially, and they put effort into correcting the old battery life measurements as well as promised performance updates when ICS hits. If everything comes back to the iPad, its for a reason, like it or not its still the standards bearer for these tablets, and I'm a hardcore Android user. I think the Prime will be better than the iPad personally when ICS hits, but the review is based on current software of course.IKeelU - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
It's important to show how it performs against the iPad, especially with regards to battery life. Most people don't care about android vs iOS, they just want a media consumption device, and will therefore choose the device that allows them to do that better.Second, the numbers for battery life are in Apple's favor. It would be biased to ignore them.
Sounds to me like you would be better served by going to an Android fanboy website.
Belard - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
You are a fool druter. I and others do not know WHAT you think you read or watched.A) Anand isn't much of a tablet user (AFAIK from his previous articles)
B) He uses all kinds of technology - he does have the right to use what he wants for his personal uses, no? He uses AMD and intel for his own servers and in general - has kept standards pretty good on this sight.
C) All devices WILL compare market leaders, including the iPad. With what is on the market TODAY from Samsung, ASUS, Toshiba, etc - None of them have the battery or GPU (graphics) performance of the 9 month old iPad2 and some are below that of an iPad1 especially when it comes to battery life.
D) "below anything mac"?? he didn't compare the TF-Prime to any Mac. Apple only has one type of tablet on the market and its NOT a Macintosh. He stated the simple fact that tablets DO NOT replace actual notebooks. That is true if the iPad2 as well.
E) Use the best tool for the job or personal preference and budget. Simple as that, eh? I build my own desktops, own ThinkPad notebooks and have an iPad. My dislike for apple is the same for Microsoft, so it just doesn't matter.
F) Get over yourself.
melgross - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Some people aren't happy unless something is reviewed as being much better than any comparable Apple product.Like it or not, the iPad is still the gold standard, and everything is going to be compared to that. This guy will be very unhappy in March when the new one comes out.
Graag - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
This is an unbiased tech review site. It is not a support group to make you feel better about whatever your personal tech preferences might be.kishorshack - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
This guy for sure a botor illiterate
cant help it man
U need to check your brain first
xype - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
"may be a formidable competitor in the not too distant future"Android tagline since 2008 or some such.
umbrel - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
In this industry the "not too distant future" seems to be 8-12 years, so I'd think we are half the way there.TedG - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I have an Ipad 2 and an Android Razr Smartphone. The equipment may be better on the Android side but the experience is better on the IPad side. If I want to save $$, Andriod is the way to go. In my opinion for the money a $200-$350 Android tablet is the best value. If I'm spending $600 on a tablet, I'd go Apple.bplewis24 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Cool story bro.tech6 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Thanks for the comprehensive follow up. Also, the video reviews are great - keep them coming!Stefing - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Great to see a really thorough, technical review.To sum up though: WANT!
Although, being in the UK, that means another 4 week's waiting - and no 64GB option!
Arbie - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
"Being able to watch 4-6 full length movies on a plane without worrying about your battery is a pretty nice feature."Technically, it's great. But that implies ripped movies and an international flight. A core function of the Department of Homeland Security is to prevent such activity. So you'd have to worry about more than the battery. But at least you could be sure that none of the other people getting on the plane had violated any copy-protection.
Topweasel - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Or, for example renting 4-6 movies on the Google Market app and docking them on your device. That's what I did when they were doing the top 10 for $1. Rented 4 or 5 of them and then docked/pinned them on my TF101 so that I could make sure I can watch them at any time.kenyee - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I'm not sure this would show up in the color gamut tests because the original Transformer had an 18-bit dithered screen...lordmetroid - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Can I install whatever operating system I want?[email protected] - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Hi,First off, I am very happy for your thoroughness. You always try your best in your reviews. My trouble is with your CONSTANT comparison to mac book air. How expensive is your mac book air, and what processor and hd etc come with it? Even if you take the 64 GB model TF-Prime, you are still easily a couple hundred under MBA. Also, as you mentioned, one is a tablet + dock , while the other is designed, albeit very very well, as a laptop. Now the comparison to netbooks is one I can understand, but the constant comparison to MBA I feel degrades from true evaluation. One thing I found funny, is that even with the comparison to a system that is much more expensive, it still is able to keep up some.
Anyway, thanks for a great review!
J
Graag - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
"Now the comparison to netbooks is one I can understand, but the constant comparison to MBA I feel degrades from true evaluation."I think that comparisons like this are actually very helpful, since there are a decent number of people who want to know whether they need a MBA/Ultrabook, or whether they can save $400-$500 and use a tablet. And, particularly because tablets are still pretty new (as mainstream devices, anyway), it's also useful to delineate the boundaries between laptops and tablets.
"One thing I found funny, is that even with the comparison to a system that is much more expensive, it still is able to keep up some."
This is a very important point for some users - and a point that wouldn't have been made but for comparing the tablet to a MBA.
DanNeely - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
There's not a major ultraportable laptop platform between netbooks and the mba. Some of the cheaper ultrabooks might drop into it but none are there in meaningful volumes yet.justaviking - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I cannot get your video to load."An error has occured, please try again later."
vision33r - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
1.4GHZ Tegra 3 is barely faster than the iPad 2 and we know that thing only runs at 1GHZ.By March, we know the A6 will be quad-core and most likely run at 1.2GHZ and Apple always make a huge performance leap just to keep the device potent enough for a whole year.
Why would anyone want to buy the TF Prime that will be the fastest Android tab for about 3 month for $500
Samsung will have their own quad-core Exynos out soon too.
iPad 3 will also have a 200ppi display which will make every other tablet look like a pixel board.
This is not an Apple fan post, just stating the what the competition will be and Tegra 3 is a very small upgrade.
eddman - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
No, It should read "transformer prime is barely faster than the iPad 2".There is no way tegra 3 is slower than A5, it's the software. While ios is fully optimized for A5, honeycomb can't even utilize dual-core chips properly. Let's see what ICS would do.
Personally, I'm waiting for windows 8 tablets.
shady28 - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
A lot of semantics there. True that A5 is probably slower than Tegra 3, but also from the article there is no significant performance difference between an iPad 2 vs Transformer Prime. The OS and platform do count.
I'm a bit disappointed too though. I really thought the quad core Tegra 3 would be at least 40% or so faster than similar clocked A9 based systems just because of the extra 2 processors, but apparently not. I'm thinking maybe Android isn't quite optimized for more than 2 cores yet.
IntelUser2000 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
"Whereas the move from one to two cores was instantly noticeable on Android phones, the move from two to four is understandably less appreciable."It looks like 4 core is for the forseeable future a practical limit for the "multi-core" era before we opt for another approach.
The gains in battery life in web browsing and video playback is likely not due to having extra cores and being able to clock them down faster, but the more advanced power saving available in Tegra 3.
They noted something similar to Intel's DPST(Display Power Saving Technology), along with better C states compared to Tegra 2.
metafor - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Yes. Since Tegra 3 is actually capable of clock-gating individual cores as opposed to all-or-nothing like Tegra 2, power utilization should be better.That in combination with display local dimming and lower voltage -- since the CPU's are made on 40G -- definitely help brings per-core power down.
The question is whether or not the performance is there to compete with SoC's on Android early next year with Samsung's new Exynos and Krait based devices.
TareX - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Quite off topic, but I expected Anand's Galaxy Nexus review to be out by US launch day...Death666Angel - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Is it now the norm to compare products based on their size rather than ability and, most importantly, price? A Netbook probably retails for $250-$400. This thing retails for $650 (with dock)? I don't see how this in any way compares to a netbook. Sorry.quiksilvr - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
It isn't fair comparing the two because the ASUS has a 10.1" screen at 1280x800, not a 9.7" screen at 1024x768. Thats a 0.78MP screen vs a 1.0MP screen. It has to render 20% more pixels and on top of that the screen is larger.quiksilvr - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
I'm referring to battery life.Confusador - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Thanks for doing the follow up on this, demonstrating once again why you're the best in the business.Hopefully Asus will learn from this; if you weren't as thorough as you are they would have ended up with their only review here being unnecessarily negative. Maybe they'll give folks more lead time in the future!
fteoath64 - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
So there is just some improvement and not a great deal of improvement. Wonder if it would be better if Nvidia put two 1.8Ghz cores rather than 4 1.4Ghz core, then the end result in performance would be way better with slight penalty on battery life ?.I guess I have to wait for the A15 cores then!.
Mugur - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
Asus should've done the impossible and have it ready by Christmas with ICS on it and aggresively priced. It would've been an instant hit.vcarvega - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
I do think it is commendable of you to update your original review with these updated tidbits. However, I do wonder when it comes to your gripes, particularly with multitasking.I agree with the limitations of Honeycomb's multitasking, but what are we comparing it too? Your review was specifically comparing it to a netbook, so your criticism is fair if we're comparing it to Win XP... but compared to other mobile OS', it's the best on offer (admittedly, I have not tried the Playbook's implementation of multitasking which looks like it may be more comparable to a desktop experience).
Currently, I think heavy users run into serious limitation regardless of which tablet platform they are using. I think I was hoping for quad core to change this as well tho... so that's disappointing. Maybe ICS?
Your comments on higher clocked, dual-core 28nm chips possibly being comparable in performance to Tegra 3 gave me reason to pause as well! Simply b/c I fear that Android 4.0 is still being optimized for dual core devices, not quad core... Because unless things change at CES, most new mobile devices being announced for 2012 still have dual cores!
vision33r - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
Really bad timing. There are so many phones out right now that makes the Razr look outdated.For starters, this phone doesn't even beat the SSGS2 which came out more than 6 months ago.
Now we have GalaxyNexus Prime, HTC Rezound. Upcoming phones will all have LTE, 720p displays, and better performance.
Alienate - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
So, if I buy one of these now, will I be able to upgrade to Icecream ?If so, how?
niteflyguy - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
My one concern is the single speaker. How doesit sound?stelek - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - link
Hi Anand,Have you tested the GPS performance? Does it work? What's the accuracy?
The first users report some serious problems and for me this is definitely a deal breaker. Could you please verify that? Please see here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1...
I'm supposed to pick up my pre-order in a few days. But I'm not gonna do that unless I know that GPS is not broken in Prime.
Krewe - Monday, January 2, 2012 - link
A brain injury rewired my hearing so that fan noise from computers/TVs/etc can literally cause me to leave the room.To Anand or anyone who is absolutely sure on this issue, are there fan(s) in the original Transformer or Prime or their Docks?
Many thanks in advance.
Krewe
Krewe - Saturday, January 7, 2012 - link
Anand,Thank you for the Transformer Prime teardown. Your attention to the Prime's fanless heat dissipation was not lost on me.
Krewe
shopscounty - Monday, January 9, 2012 - link
Surely you will find on ShopsCounty. You can buy a <a href="http://www.shopscounty.com">ASUS Transformer</a> at ShopsCounty.kulpret - Saturday, March 3, 2012 - link
Anand,Would love to see an update to your review now that ICS has been on this tablet for awhile. I personally haven't touched my iPad2 since I received my TP. I use it in place of my laptop and netbook as well. I rarely have to pick up anything else. I am a road warrior with a Verizon MiFi and Sprint Hotspot on my phone and always have internet connectivity and this thing is always with me.
Games:
Between onlive, emulators and all the gaming options from Android (including the great Tegrazone games) this makes the case for a mobile gaming platform with console quality graphics but also the dead simple casual gaming making this a great fit for both types of gamers. Onlive is excellent on this platform btw.
Productivity/Web:
I just recently added Onlive Desktop to my subscription and I have full blown Office at my finger tips along with Internet Explorer. It is limited to the MS stack on the desktop, but I find that good enough. Native to the tablet I use Polaris Office, Adobe, Firefox, Chrome, Android Browser and Dolphin. I literally have not found office content that I can't access. The same is true for web content including Flash support.
Media:
All the usual app suspects are here. Netflix, Pandora, Hulu + (installs but doesn't officially support the device takes a little bit of know-how to get it working. ie developer mode and config files.) One must have app for Android here MX Video Player It plays all my years of movie collecting, works as good as VLC on Windows/Linux.
I also have this working with my ActiveSync Mail server for my corporation and actively use this device for presentations and note taking in customer meetings.
I only hope they continue to develop and support the Transformer platform and I only see a bright future for this tablet.
-Jon
gmulak - Saturday, March 31, 2012 - link
What a great review. Very detailed and complete. I do agree a signoff would be nice. I have had a little trouble finding out about battery "memory", I didn't catch that in the review, which would have been nice. Finally found what I think is correct on Asus web site. It is best to let the tablet discharge completely and then recharge it. I will definitely follow you. Great job.