Hands On: Asus EeePad Transformer review

Asus has added some software, but thankfully it’s not the usual shovelware we’re used to seeing on new laptops. There’s a DNLA-aware media sharing app, which lets you share multimedia files between your tablet and other DNLA-capable devices such as TVs and media streamers. MyCloud is a cloud storage app that lets you backup files to Asus’s secure servers; Asus is offering unlimited space for the first year, but don’t get too used to it as it’ll start charging by the month after that period. There’s also an ebook Library app, but sadly the sample we saw didn’t have any books installed.

Communication can be via 802.11b/g/n wireless or Bluetooth, and there’s a 3G model planned. Plus there’s also the option of a Huawei 820W 3G module. The tablet itself has a microSDHC card slot, a headphone port and a mini-HDMI output, while the dock adds a full-sized SD card slot and two Type-A USB ports. These are both host ports, so they’re for attaching peripherals, rather than used to attach the Transformer to your PC.

Charging is done via a proprietary interface which attaches to your PC via USB; the same interface is used to attach the tablet to the dock. When the tablet is plugged into the dock to charge, it will charge its battery before the dock’s built-in battery, so if you just want to grab the tablet you’ll know it has as much charge as possible.

Although we didn’t have a lot of time to play with Honeycomb, we found it generally similar to the Android we use on our smartphone, the main difference being that the notification bar is across the bottom of the screen rather than the top. The dock has a number of buttons along the top row that act as hardware shortcuts, for example toggling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and media control buttons for music and movie playback. However, we were informed that these would change in the final version, so the pictures here may not be accurate.

We hope that some of the more obvious omissions will be addressed in the retail product; for example, there was no task switching button on the keyboard, like Windows’ Alt-Tab shortcut. Integration of the keyboard and touchpad input with 3rd party apps was also lacking. In Android apps such as the browser, we could select text in the address bar using the touchpad or cursor keys plus Shift, and cut and paste with Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V, but these keyboard shortcuts wouldn’t work in the bundled document editor.

We weren’t given a precise release date for retail, but the Wi-Fi only EeePad Transformer should be on sale very soon. Initially it will be available in three versions: a 16GB model for £379; a 32GB model for £429; and a 16GB model with the docking station for £429. While it stands on its own as a tablet, we feel the docking station adds so much more, that you shouldn’t consider buying the tablet on its own at these prices. The 3G version will be released later through undisclosed network operators on contract.