Eee Pad Transformer

[GTguy0901]

Wow. First I want say I am a huge fan of my Archos 70 you can search my youtube name ice0901 and find 5 or 6 videos I did for the a70 which are all positive and I've done 2 for the transformer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bGnBNBBAHk I have to say the tf101 I have is $399 not $550 and way more complete than my a70 was. The screen on the tablet is unmatched by any honeycomb tablet currently on the market. The a101 is a great tablet for 350 but compared to the tf101 at $50 more there is no contest, again I am a archosfan but I am not a fanboy and if a product is better I will admit it. Sorry charbax archos got 1up'ed by Asus but, I hope the next Gen devices from archos can surpass my tf101 because archos codex support is in a class by itself and I don't enjoy covering video formats to support this tablet.

[xfirex]

It is not really a fair point to compare the Archos tablets with these new tablets I suppose.
They are of a resent cycle so any older tablets like Archos or Viewsonic are not able to match their performance.

No doubt it would be plain silly to not pay $50 more and get the one of the newer tablets at this point.

I think the most valuable part is the full web experience like flash working 100%, there again the never processors are now showing the difference.
Archos have chosen to be the frontrunner in the cycles, but I wonder if it really was the right business choice to be left out at this time.

I chose to sit out the Archos gen 8 after having trouble getting straight forward answers on their ability to run flash on embedded web pages.
So now it very difficult to wait for the next gen Archos as it will add another 6 month.

Thanks WMTOANDROID for your quick review, this tablet looks like a winner and it is sold out everywhere right now.
Although the keyboard dock has been played down on web reviews I see it as a real benefit to the Asus over other tablets especially when traveling as it extends battery and adds protection to the screen.

If this tablet was available right now I would be on my way to the store.

[MikeeWeird]

Very nice review Thanks.
For me a 10 inch tablet would be to big as a E reader but as a net book, the Transformer is going to be a great addition to my Rv without the optional keyboard/battery option I am sure its still a great Tablet but I would not purchase it without it.
Maybe by the fall it will be available for mass consumption

[Charbax]

the tf101 I have is $399 not $550

Again, for $399, you haven't got an Asus Transformer, just an Asus tablet that only has a better screen compared to a 6 months old Viewsonic Gtablet.

The a101 is a great tablet for 350 but compared to the tf101 at $50 more there is no contest

A101 6 months ago was $299, A70 6 months ago was $269, and those are definitely better value than buying an Asus Tablet $399 or $548 with heavy proprietary keyboard/battery dock today.

If you want to compare value today, compare with Arnova 7 at likely $149 and Arnova 10 at likely $199, all of which likely get Honeycomb and can transform to laptop mode using any $10 USB or $20 Bluetooth keyboard.

Sorry charbax archos got 1up'ed by Asus

How is that 1upping when Transformer comes out barely 1 month before Archos announce Gen9 that is more than 60% more powerful than your Asus and still probably much more affordable and with plenty new features that are actually innovative.

[WMTOANDROID]

If you want to compare value today, compare with Arnova 7 at likely $149 and Arnova 10 at likely $199, all of which likely get Honeycomb and can transform to laptop mode using any $10 USB or $20 Bluetooth keyboard.

How is that 1upping when Transformer comes out barely 1 month before Archos announce Gen9 that is more than 60% more powerful than your Asus and still probably much more affordable and with plenty new features that are actually innovative.

Charbax, perhaps you can help with specs on the arnova 10 as all internet sites are giving mixed information.

Is it a dual core device? How much RAM? Two cameras and what resolution for each? Screen resolution? Bluetooth? I know you mention using a Bluetooth keyboard, but several sites say this device doesn't have Bluetooth. Is Honeycomb guaranteed or will it be like flash on the current gen8, where we have to go through unauthorized means to get it on our devices?

I think if we are going to compare prices, we have to compare similar specs. The Arnov 10 could be $50, but if it only has 256 or 512MB of ram it's useless to me and would be very limiting to others.

[Charbax]

Charbax, perhaps you can help with specs on the arnova 10 as all internet sites are giving mixed information.

http://archosfans.com/2011/04/14/arnova ... ed-in-may/

ARM Cortex-A8 1.2Ghz, means it's about 20% faster than Samsung Galaxy Tab, but it's still about 30% slower than a Dual-core Tegra2. But more than fast enough for Honeycomb for sure.

How much RAM?

512MB RAM.

if it only has 256 or 512MB of ram it's useless to me

RAM is just about useless to Honeycomb. You see, you can open 2000 tabs and 1000 apps on 128MB RAM in Honeycomb, only the state of the closest and most important tabs and apps need to be in RAM while all the rest can be swapped nearly instantly and seamlessly from the 8GB of flash memory.

While you may experience a bit more "live" tabs and apps with 1GB RAM, the difference can nearly not be noticed with 512MB or 256MB RAM. Nobody needs 5 flash videos running at the same time in 5 tabs to use up all that ram. The other tabs that are not active can simply be paused and instantly resumed when selected. That is the genius of the Android multi-tasking engine that has been even much improved with the Honeycomb update.

[WMTOANDROID]

Charbax, perhaps you can help with specs on the arnova 10 as all internet sites are giving mixed information.

http://archosfans.com/2011/04/14/arnova ... ed-in-may/

ARM Cortex-A8 1.2Ghz, means it's about 20% faster than Samsung Galaxy Tab, but it's still about 30% slower than a Dual-core Tegra2. But more than fast enough for Honeycomb for sure.

Just before you were balking that tegra 2 is outdated and this device is 30% slower and that's OK?

How much RAM?

512MB RAM. This will not work well if it ever gets honeycomb.

if it only has 256 or 512MB of ram it's useless to me

RAM is just about useless to Honeycomb. You see, you can open 2000 tabs and 1000 apps on 128MB RAM in Honeycomb, only the state of the closest and most important tabs and apps need to be in RAM while all the rest can be swapped nearly instantly and seamlessly from the 8GB of flash memory.

While you may experience a bit more "live" tabs and apps with 1GB RAM, the difference can nearly not be noticed with 512MB or 256MB RAM. Nobody needs 5 flash videos running at the same time in 5 tabs to use up all that ram. The other tabs that are not active can simply be paused and instantly resumed when selected. That is the genius of the Android multi-tasking engine that has been even much improved with the Honeycomb update.

You are quite wrong. Several games and apps now require at least 512MB of ram to work well. More ram is a must for multitasking. Believe me, I wasn't able to do 1/10 of the things on my Archos 70 that I can do now. No more closing tasks or waiting for logmein to reload everytime I switch out from another apps, or run games in the background while responding to an email. I don't worry that the next website I load will crash my browser or that the launcher apps (home screen) has to reload all the time. I've got several apps running live all day without worries (IM apps , Skype, etc). You really need to use a 1KGB device to experience the difference. There really is no comparing it to 256 or 512MB. I'm using my device as a PC now, which is something I couldn't dream of doing before.

[MikeeWeird]

Just released new tablet ,comes with every imaginable tech invented to date and some not even thought of yet,Priced at 299.99

Dang to late

Archos is better or will be better or was better !! fly the flag

[MarcusMarcus]

RAM is just about useless to Honeycomb. You see, you can open 2000 tabs and 1000 apps on 128MB RAM in Honeycomb, only the state of the closest and most important tabs and apps need to be in RAM while all the rest can be swapped nearly instantly and seamlessly from the 8GB of flash memory.

I doubt this will be the case with Archos' Honeycomb tablet. Loading things off the flash memory is a lot slower than keeping it in the RAM and is far from seamless. Unless Archos does not cheap out and they put in faster (a lot faster) Flash than it my be OK, but still would prefer 1GB RAM than swapping with flash.

[mplant1999]

Sorry, charbax, but the Asus is out now and the Gen9 hasn't even been officially announced yet. Thus, the Asus *must* be compared to the Gen8 line. It's futile in the tech world to compare what is out today to what might be - what might be is always going to be more attractive...

Having said that, I sincerely hope that the Gen9's are world beaters.

[Charbax]

Sorry, charbax, but the Asus is out now and the Gen9 hasn't even been officially announced yet. Thus, the Asus *must* be compared to the Gen8 line. It's futile in the tech world to compare what is out today to what might be - what might be is always going to be more attractive...

A true geek will not buy Gen8 today without knowing about the Gen9 announcements coming out officially next month. Just as a true geek will not buy an Asus Transformer today for $548 if they can get an Arnova 7 Transformer tomorrow for $169 including a Bluetooth keyboard and leather case.

The Asus is barely like a 11 months old Malata SMB-A1011 with just a slightly better screen and slightly earlier access to Google code http://armdevices.net/2010/06/09/malata ... id-tablet/

Google will likely open Honeycomb source code in 8 days from now at Google I/O, enjoy your 8 days of Honeycomb exclusivity for nearly $500 more and just about 380 grams more than waiting another few days for an Arnova 7 with Honeycomb experience.

The Asus tablet is 680 grams alone, probably over 1kg with the Keyboard/battery add-on, that fact alone makes the 7 months old Archos 101 Internet Tablet and Archos 70 Internet Tablet better value. What's the point in having such a heavy tablet if you can barely carry it around comfortably.

[MarcusMarcus]

A true geek will not buy Gen8 today without knowing about the Gen9 announcements coming out officially next month. Just as a true geek will not buy an Asus Transformer today for $548 if they can get an Arnova 7 Transformer tomorrow for $169 including a Bluetooth keyboard and leather case.

Every true geek has different incomes. Some true Geeks with high income, will buy the best available no matter the price or price/performance or what is coming soon. Others have less income and have to consider the next generations and upcoming devices so they get the best performance/features for their money. But every true geek wants to buy the highest performance technology right now if they could.

The Asus tablet is 680 grams alone, probably over 1kg with the Keyboard/battery add-on, that fact alone makes the 6 months old Archos 101 Internet Tablet and Archos 70 Internet Tablet better value. What's the point in having such a heavy tablet if you can barely carry it around comfortably.

It's probably more sturdy feeling than the 101, I know my 70 does not feel that sturdy and does creek once in a while, I'm sure the 101 is even more. I would gladly have my 70 weigh a little more and be a little thicker if it felt sturdier.

[WMTOANDROID]

The Arnova line is HUGELY inferior to even the 70IT and 101IT. It's not even in the same class as the Xoom, Transformer, A500 tablets. I don't know why it's still being discussed as an alternative to a true Honeycomb tablet.

[Charbax]

The Arnova line is HUGELY inferior to even the 70IT and 101IT. It's not even in the same class as the Xoom, Transformer, A500 tablets. I don't know why it's still being discussed as an alternative to a true Honeycomb tablet.

Arnova is the absolute best value tablet in the market, certainly much better value than $550 Asus, Xoom or Acer tegra2 tablets.

Discarding anything else than Tegra2 at $500+ as valid competition is just stupid.

Arnova will run Honeycomb just as good as any Tegra2 device http://armdevices.net/2011/04/16/honeyc ... s-for-now/ and being not only MUCH cheaper (nearly 4x cheaper!!!), it's also much more compact, pocketable for the Arnova 7, much lighter, it's just all that much better value.

[MarcusMarcus]

Arnova will run Honeycomb just as good as any Tegra2 device

about 30% slower than a Dual-core Tegra2

If it's 30% slower with less RAM to keep apps live in, how are you comparing that it will run Honeycomb just as good?

Plus that link does not show that it can run honeycomb just as well, just that they have some neat looking key chains.

[WMTOANDROID]

Arnova will run Honeycomb just as good as any Tegra2 device

about 30% slower than a Dual-core Tegra2

If it's 30% slower with less RAM to keep apps live in, how are you comparing that it will run Honeycomb just as good?

Plus that link does not show that it can run honeycomb just as well, just that they have some neat looking key chains.

It won't run honeycomb well. The fact that the arnova will have one camera, less ram, lower resolution, slower processor, no Bluetooth(?), no HDMI, no support for tegra optimized games makes it a budget tablet at best. It might compare well with coby tablets, but not the current dual-core tablets on the market.

[Charbax]

It won't run honeycomb well.

You wish. Anyways, if you guys want to believe that your $550 investment in Asus Transformer Tegra2 device is a good one, go ahead, live in your Asus world. At least you are lucky Asus stopped working with Intel for that thing.

We're having much better time here with Gen8 OMAP3630 1Ghz approx. $250-$300 since 7 months ago, Arnova RK2918 1.2Ghz approx. $150-$200 this month and Gen9 OMAP4440 1.6Ghz approx. $250-$300 in a couple months or so.

[xfirex]

Hi Charbax, can you show me the way to the Asus World?

Sorry could not resists. unskyld!

[Charbax]

Hi Charbax, can you show me the way to the Asus World?

Sorry could not resists. unskyld!

Try http://assusfans.com

[WMTOANDROID]

It won't run honeycomb well.

You wish. Anyways, if you guys want to believe that your $550 investment in Asus Transformer Tegra2 device is a good one, go ahead, live in your Asus world. At least you are lucky Asus stopped working with Intel for that thing.

We're having much better time here with Gen8 OMAP3630 1Ghz approx. $250-$300 since 7 months ago, Arnova RK2918 1.2Ghz approx. $150-$200 this month and Gen9 OMAP4440 1.6Ghz approx. $250-$300 in a couple months or so.

I enjoyed my Archos tablet, but it was a toy and not a tool, like my current tablet is. The limited app space, limited ram, flaky bluetooth tethering and keyboard support, deleted media files and poor wifi were just not cutting it for me. For $100 more than what I paid for my 7" tablet, I have a powerful 10" device that exceeds my expectations. You cling to the Archos brand (for obvious reasons), but I'm happy to go with the brand and device that works for me - ipad, xoom, transformer or whatever...

I look forward to seeing what Archos and other brands come up with in 2011.