Submitted by Marquez Brownlee, Business student at the Stevens Institute of Technology:
It’s been an interesting experience using the ASUS’ work of art over the past few weeks. It started off running a modified version of Android 3.2 Honeycomb before getting the OTA upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
I’ve gotten used to how the Tegra 3 flexes its quad core muscle for some applications while letting the 500MHz fifth core take over others.
I’ve figured out under what conditions the backlit camera performs well, and where it doesn’t. I’ve even enjoyed days of standby time thanks to the massive battery in the tablet. Let’s take a detailed look at what it’s like to own a Transformer Prime.
"It’s almost impossible to get the device to creak or bend in any way."
The Transformer Prime is extremely well built. As mentioned in the video, it has just about the best build quality of any tablet around. It’s almost impossible to get the device to creak or bend in any way.
Volume and power button placement is perfect, along the left hand side and top of the device, respectively. They’re also easy to access and easy to press.
The speaker on the back of the TF201 blew my mind. I mentioned in the video that the placement is questionable. It’s on the back of the tablet, facing away from the user and directly underneath where you’d normally place your right hand. When you hand is not on the speaker, however, it sounds amazing. Music, videos and podcasts resonated with surprising clarity and volume.
"Music, videos and podcasts resonated with surprising clarity and volume."
ASUS made some claims about the improvements to the speaker that I was skeptical about when I first saw the device. Actually hearing it however, is a totally different story. Placement is a pain, but the drivers are amazing.
The front of the Transformer Prime is beautiful! Underneath the front facing camera is the 1280×800 Super IPS+ display. The panel is extremely responsive to touch and gets very bright. We’re talking 600 nits of brightness here. It’s more readable outdoors than any other touchscreen device I’ve used to date, which is really saying something.
The rear facing 8-megapixel camera on the Transformer Prime is actually quite good. It’s excellent, actually. It has a backlit sensor behind a large aperture that lets in plenty of light for indoor shots. Outdoor photos, however, are where this camera really shines!
Once you get a certain amount of light in the shot, the TF201′s camera takes very sharp, detailed photos. You can even get closer to the subject to create a shallower depth of field, or stand further away and get nearly everything in focus. Manual controls are always there with Ice Cream Sandwich, giving you plenty of control over the images you capture.
"Android 4.0.3, on top of everything else about this tablet, is excellent."
Android 4.0.3, on top of everything else about this tablet, is excellent. It feels efficient, clean and polished. I can’t really say much more than that – Google did a great job! Tablets are amazing media consumption devices, and the Transformer Prime is no exception!
It’s light enough to watch movies and YouTube Videos. It’s powerful enough to handle the most graphic and intense games. It’s smart enough to easily last all day on a single charge without extra batteries.
There’s absolutely nothing fundamentally wrong with the Transformer Prime. Highly recommended!
Conclusion:
"The Transformer Prime is easily the best constructed tablet I have ever used."
The Transformer Prime is easily the best constructed tablet I have ever used. It’s a complete standout in a market saturated with mediocre, half-executed projects.
Android 4.0 runs unbelievably quickly thanks to the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip inside, and the application experience is nothing short of top notch. What’s not to love?
See my video review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBdJ6X1hp-U
Contact Marquez by email: mbrownle@stevens.edu or
Follow Marquez on Twitter: Follow @MKBHD
I’m looking into buying either the Prime or the New iPad and this information was very helpful.
But does anyone know which one would be better?
I need it mostly for running my business and to do school work. So any feedback would be helpful.
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Nice review.
Do you think you could do a review on Evernote (as well as other applications that could be used in a school environment)? I’m thinking about getting a tablet so that when I go off to college I wont have to take a laptop to each class.