I just got my Asus EeePad Transformer and I have a few words.

[emagdnimohno]

I had the transform that I bought from fry's electronics. I had some good fun with it till it came time to update. . It wouldn't accept the update. It would get halfway done and freeze! So I called Asus to get them to warranty the problems. They told me to find the serial number on it but lo and behold... The serial number was non-existant on the tablet. "Sorry sir your warranty is void" I returned it that day! Frys had no more in stock and wasn't going to get elany till the fat lady sings and pigs can eat at the dinner table with a fork. Decided to get the Acer iconia a500! Loooovvvveee it! Just feels so much sturdier and no light bleeding on the screen. Sorry Asus but I like the Acer better

 

[jonyah]

My main complaint is the charging cable. It's proprietary to Asus and you can't buy/get replacements anywhere. Apple's cables may cost an arm and a leg, but at least you can get them.

Oh also, the case they have for the transformer is nearly identical to the one for my ipad 1, but it both costs more (50 vs 40) and it's thinner/flimsier. Asus can't do that. They can't charge more for poorer quality.

Otherwise though, the ipad goes unused in our house. No one wants to play with it anymore. There's always fights breaking out over the transformer.

Give me micro/mini/usb charging and make that case better quality and cost less and I'll have nothing left to complain about.

 

[Kronko]

I just got the dock and I love it. Typing with it right now. I will come back with more. Got the dock software update after one minute of plugging it.

Sent from my Transformer TF101

 

[Kronko]

I have the 32gb Transformer and Keyboard Dock running 3.1 Honeycomb. I have used my TF practically every waking hour since I got it around Memorial Day. I got the Dock the first week of June.

I would say that I am a 95% happy camper but there are some annoyances that have not gone unnoticed: (1) the lag when typing on the keyboard dock is noticeable. I read in the forums that lag was a problem, but the hope was that it would be addressed in 3.1. So far, not so much. There is improvement when I use the DolphinHD browser. it is almost unbearable when using the stock browser. I really hope this is addressed in another firmware update; (2) the speakers are definitely on the "low-talker" side. I don't think mine are unbalanced as others have reported, but adding a set of portable speakers doesn't do much to improve the sound at all. I wonder if this underperformance is due, in part, to combining the mic and headphone into one port?

Anyway, I am hoping that Netflix gets their act together sooner rather than later so that I can watch my streaming queue on my tab. It would be nice to have a decent audio experience when that day finally arrives...Love my Transformer and the fact that it "transforms." The keyboard lag/speaker issues just mar (a little bit) what has otherwise been a stellar experience so far. Oh well, what the heck - nothing's perfect!

I just got the dock and have not noticed any lag whatsoever. It is pretty good and quick. I got the dock update and took less than a minute. Sorry to hear that you are having problems with it.
The speakers are working better. Youtube videos sound a lot better than other ones, no idea why. I installed Volume+ and it helped.

 

[Kronko]

I just received my Transformer from Newegg on Monday. I think it's a great tablet, but there are a few flaws or things that I like better on my iPad, the acer tablet or the xoom.

First is just a known issue with Honeycomb 3.1, the reply to an HTML email with any sort of apostrophe uses the XML code instead of HTML code to produce the apostrophe. It works fine if you're responding to plaintext emails or anything of that nature. But this is across the board for Honeycomb tablets running 3.1. There are a couple other Android quirks like Netflix and Marvel being stupid, but outside of that everything is at least on par to better than the other tablets available.

Specifically with the Asus tablet, I am going to have to return mine as mine had a manufacturing defect where the casing around the dock port is actually bent outward causing the casing to separate from the screen to a very small extent. Most people probably wouldn't even give it the time of day, but I'm one of those people where damnit I just bought this it needs to be perfect, if I dented it, that's another story, but if I've not touched it yet, then it needs to be fixed

Another issue I have specifically with the Asus tablet is my screen feels more grippy than say a Motorola Xoom or an iPad, your finger doesn't slide across the glass as well. Of course if I go with a screen protector this will all be negated, but just kind of odd that the feel of the glass would be different even between it and the Xoom.

The last one would probably be the port selection, not that it matters, but I think a microUSB port would be nice to have, again not a huge deal, I also like microHDMI better than the miniHDMI it has on it. I understand the need for the dock port since the keyboard is an option, but I always love the microUSB charging option

But lets put it this way, once I get my returned tablet back, it'll be replacing my iPad which will be eBay'd or sent to Gazelle. The no Netflix sucks, but... meh I can live without it.

Sorry to hear the yours got a defect, hope you get a good one when the replacement arrives. I have no problems with the screen, my fingers just slide as well as any other phone or tablet ( I checked the xoom and a couple more).

 

[Kronko]

I had the transform that I bought from fry's electronics. I had some good fun with it till it came time to update. . It wouldn't accept the update. It would get halfway done and freeze! So I called Asus to get them to warranty the problems. They told me to find the serial number on it but lo and behold... The serial number was non-existant on the tablet. "Sorry sir your warranty is void" I returned it that day! Frys had no more in stock and wasn't going to get elany till the fat lady sings and pigs can eat at the dinner table with a fork. Decided to get the Acer iconia a500! Loooovvvveee it! Just feels so much sturdier and no light bleeding on the screen. Sorry Asus but I like the Acer better

The serial number is at the bottom of the table, really small numbers. It is also in the warranty book that comes with the transformer. I guess you did not get that book then. Light bleeding, as I said before, does not bother me. I have a couple of samsung monitors and a HD TV and the have it. I only see the bleeding when booting the computers and the tablet so everything else looks great. Acer Iconia looks like a good one but I love Asus, have a couple of laptops from them and I built my computers with Asus components and never had a complain.

 

[Kronko]

My main complaint is the charging cable. It's proprietary to Asus and you can't buy/get replacements anywhere. Apple's cables may cost an arm and a leg, but at least you can get them.

Oh also, the case they have for the transformer is nearly identical to the one for my ipad 1, but it both costs more (50 vs 40) and it's thinner/flimsier. Asus can't do that. They can't charge more for poorer quality.

Otherwise though, the ipad goes unused in our house. No one wants to play with it anymore. There's always fights breaking out over the transformer.

Give me micro/mini/usb charging and make that case better quality and cost less and I'll have nothing left to complain about.

I am glad that you like the transformer. I agree with how short the charging cable is, so I bought this extension USB 3.0 cable. One of the reviews says that it works with the transformer.

For only $3.18 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 6ft USB 3.0 A Male to A Female Extension 28/24AWG Cable (Gold Plated) | USB 3.0 Extension Cables - A Male to A Female

Cases, I was looking for one and I went for this one. I believe it will be ok, have not gotten it yet.

Amazon.com: Case Logic VLS-110 Sleeve for 7-Inch to 10-Inch Netbooks and iPad: Electronics

Good price I think. If I do not like it, I could get another one. Will let you guys know.

 

[elcheapodeluxe]

I got a Transformer at Fry's last weekend and absolutely love it. There is very minimal light bleeding - which is not noticeable except at bootup honestly. Never notice it when playing videos. Brought it with me on two transcontinental flights so far and was very pleased with the video capabilities. LOVE the 3.1 update. Having the resizable mail and calendar widgets on my home screen like my Atrix is KEY for how I want it to look and feel.

FYI - Fry's Campbell rep said they did not have any of the docks and they were on backorder. Imagine my surprise when I saw three of them on the shelf over by the iPad accessory section. Not that I wanted one.

Problem though: I've noticed that using my transformer while it is plugged into the Asus provided charger causes the device to act wonky. It has really long lag times responding to screen clicks and appears to completely lock up. Unplug the cable from the Transformer and everything instantly starts responding again. I'm going to have to bring it back. Debating another Transformer or going with the lighter / thinner Galaxy Tab 10.1 coming out soon.

 

[emagdnimohno]

The serial number is at the bottom of the table, really small numbers. It is also in the warranty book that comes with the transformer. I guess you did not get that book then. Light bleeding, as I said before, does not bother me. I have a couple of samsung monitors and a HD TV and the have it. I only see the bleeding when booting the computers and the tablet so everything else looks great. Acer Iconia looks like a good one but I love Asus, have a couple of laptops from them and I built my computers with Asus components and never had a complain.

Lol I know where its supposed to be. It wasn't there. It was in the manual but needs to be on the device which it wasn't.

 

[flipdippy]

I got my transformer a week ago and finally had the time to bust it open on vacation today. Maybe I got lucky, didn't have any of the hardware niggles many other people seem to have.

I guess the one surprise has been the lack of apps - I knew that was an issue, but I'm surprised at how few there are which work, let alone which are optimized for Honeycomb.

The browsing is awful, I've found Firefox to be the best of the worst so far.

I'm curious what people actually use their tablets for? As an ereader, I prefer my Kindle since it's much lighter. For web browsing, it's sufficiently poor on the Transformer I prefer to browse on my EVO or on a laptop. I don't see listening to pandora or podcasts on this thing. That leaves media consumption, and for now, that means loading your own media since there's no netflix/hulu/centralized media store like itunes or amazon?

I may be returning mine and waiting to see how the tablet market evolves...it's a cool toy but I don't feel like it is giving me anything new different or useful.

If someone can show me the light, I'm all ears.

 

[slopokdave]

I just got mine today, both the tablet and the dock from toys r us. So far I am impressed, the most desktop like experience of any of the tablets I've tried including the Tab, Xoom, and Ipad2.

I have lightbleed, and may exchange it for that, but so far its excellent.

Toys R Us is a good deal with th $25 giftcard and a 45 day return policy (if its "defective").

 

[Kodros]

The browsing is awful, I've found Firefox to be the best of the worst so far.
For web browsing, it's sufficiently poor on the Transformer I prefer to browse on my EVO or on a laptop.
...
I may be returning mine and waiting to see how the tablet market evolves...it's a cool toy but I don't feel like it is giving me anything new different or useful.

I'd love to know why you think web browsing on it is awful. Tablets aren't going to give you anything new or different. Everything that you can do on it can be done on some other device such as a smartphone or laptop.

 

[bonanzabucks]

I've had mine for about a week with the dock and I absolutely love it. It has more or less replaced my laptop and desktop for pretty much anything. My biggest complaint would be the lack of games on the android platform, but it's great for just about everything else. I didn't know that you couldn't save apps in the microSD card though.

 

[flipdippy]

I'd love to know why you think web browsing on it is awful. Tablets aren't going to give you anything new or different. Everything that you can do on it can be done on some other device such as a smartphone or laptop.

That is a gross oversimplification of what devices do. A smartphone now gives me the same capabilities as my laptop. An ereader lets me avoid buying and toting around books.

Nobody has really made a killer app for tablets for consumers yet. If I go with your logic, it is just a $500 toy since a $500 laptop does all the same things and does them bettet and the Tf is just a toy.

The browsers I played with on the transfomer were all slower or on par loading web pages as my evo 4g on the same wifi network. I expect better performance, or as I said, why not wait for the apps and for better hardware since its probably less than 6 months away at this point.

Maybe its just me but I don't see doing away with my laptop for a tablet yet so for the price I expect more in terms of features.

 

[Kronko]

That is a gross oversimplification of what devices do. A smartphone now gives me the same capabilities as my laptop. An ereader lets me avoid buying and toting around books.

Nobody has really made a killer app for tablets for consumers yet. If I go with your logic, it is just a $500 toy since a $500 laptop does all the same things and does them bettet and the Tf is just a toy.

The browsers I played with on the transfomer were all slower or on par loading web pages as my evo 4g on the same wifi network. I expect better performance, or as I said, why not wait for the apps and for better hardware since its probably less than 6 months away at this point.

Maybe its just me but I don't see doing away with my laptop for a tablet yet so for the price I expect more in terms of features.

For me browsing is as good as it is with my laptop or my desktop computer.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.

 

[kareden]

Asus, Can You Hear Me?

I just got the dock and have not noticed any lag whatsoever. It is pretty good and quick. I got the dock update and took less than a minute. Sorry to hear that you are having problems with it.
The speakers are working better. Youtube videos sound a lot better than other ones, no idea why. I installed Volume+ and it helped.

Thanks for weighing in. I must say that, so far, the lag with the keyboard dock only occurs when I am in a browser. In other applications, I don't really notice a lag. I installed the latest update as soon as I unpacked the dock. So that's workable, at least.

I tried the free version of Volume Control+ (I am assuming you mean the app"Volume Control+" by Coffeebreak Apps) and didn't notice any difference. Were you using the paid version by the same dev? I don't mind paying for it, I just want some assurance that the app I am referring to is the correct one.

I read the forums a lot (maybe a little too much) and I am a little concerned with the the number of people reporting charger problems or problems with either the tab or the dock not charging. I've got my fingers crossed that I don't have to deal with this. In fact, I put my tab in the dock to charge it this morning and ran off to work and forgot to disconnect it. I was very happy to come home about 12 hours later to find that the tab and dock fully charged and the charger cool to the touch. (Yea!)

 

[kareden]

I SO Need My Asus Transformer

I got my transformer a week ago and finally had the time to bust it open on vacation today. Maybe I got lucky, didn't have any of the hardware niggles many other people seem to have.

I guess the one surprise has been the lack of apps - I knew that was an issue, but I'm surprised at how few there are which work, let alone which are optimized for Honeycomb.

The browsing is awful, I've found Firefox to be the best of the worst so far.

I'm curious what people actually use their tablets for? As an ereader, I prefer my Kindle since it's much lighter. For web browsing, it's sufficiently poor on the Transformer I prefer to browse on my EVO or on a laptop. I don't see listening to pandora or podcasts on this thing. That leaves media consumption, and for now, that means loading your own media since there's no netflix/hulu/centralized media store like itunes or amazon?

I may be returning mine and waiting to see how the tablet market evolves...it's a cool toy but I don't feel like it is giving me anything new different or useful.

If someone can show me the light, I'm all ears.

My tab is a replacement for the Asus netbook I bought last year. One of the reasons I got my tab is for browsing while watching tv. Although there are aspects of the stock browser I prefer, I mostly use DolphinHD because of the reduced lag when using the keyboard dock. These days, I just find it impossible to only watch tv - I have to be reading something or looking something up while I am watching. My tab has also become the keeper of my photos. I have already put hundreds of pictures in the stock gallery and enjoy looking at them there, rather than on my laptop or in my camera.

I also have a dedicated e-reader (Nook Color) for novels and magazines, but I much prefer to read the news on my tab. I really enjoy Google Maps on my tab and I would much rather browse the forums on my tab than on my phone. I love the screen on the Asus so much that I really enjoy watching videos - especially the video versions of podcasts. Youtube videos are pretty cool too. And at the risk of restating the obvious - Angry Birds is just too much fun on this tab!

 

[flipdippy]

My tab is a replacement for the Asus netbook I bought last year. One of the reasons I got my tab is for browsing while watching tv. Although there are aspects of the stock browser I prefer, I mostly use DolphinHD because of the reduced lag when using the keyboard dock. These days, I just find it impossible to only watch tv - I have to be reading something or looking something up while I am watching. My tab has also become the keeper of my photos. I have already put hundreds of pictures in the stock gallery and enjoy looking at them there, rather than on my laptop or in my camera.

I also have a dedicated e-reader (Nook Color) for novels and magazines, but I much prefer to read the news on my tab. I really enjoy Google Maps on my tab and I would much rather browse the forums on my tab than on my phone. I love the screen on the Asus so much that I really enjoy watching videos - especially the video versions of podcasts. Youtube videos are pretty cool too. And at the risk of restating the obvious - Angry Birds is just too much fun on this tab!

So you purchased a $550 netbook for web surfing?

I agree with how you are using it, but all things being equal I still dont see a strong case for why a tablet becomes anything more than a toy for those who can afford it.

Just my. 02

 

[mknollman123]

So you purchased a $550 netbook for web surfing?

I agree with how you are using it, but all things being equal I still dont see a strong case for why a tablet becomes anything more than a toy for those who can afford it.

Just my. 02

That's exactly what it is. Just like a Mac is a really expensive PC for those that can afford it and a Porsche is blah blah blah

It does what 3 other things can do but all in one - mine only cost 350 -almost the same as a netbook -has a faster processor, lighter weight os,mulitple cams, GPS, is lighter, has better battery life, better for browsing, image editing, reading, navigation, gaming, lost of stuff. - I too own a netbook and I still use it for some specific work related items that I do not want to beat up my tablet doing.

You say the TF us just an overpriced netbook replacement, I say a netbook is just an underpriced underpowered pc that happened to beat the TF to market. Both items have their strong points - unfortunately for the netbook it's only one is price.

PS I am extremely frugal - if I bought a refurbished netbook then added all the peripherals to get it to do what my TF does, plus a bag to haul it all in I would be out twice as much money and still stuck in 2005.

 

[Kodros]

If I go with your logic, it is just a $500 toy since a $500 laptop does all the same things and does them bettet and the Tf is just a toy.

Yeah, kinda. Most people use their computers as toys. So, you could just say that it is a slightly more expensive toy. Lets break it down. Smartphone are incredible because they put the power of a PC and the internet into your pocket. A tablet is a large smartphone without the phone, thats it. It can't be anything else. There's nothing revolutionary that you can do on a tablet that can't be done on a smartphone because there's no difference. Its like saying a laptop with a 12inch screen is going to be different then a laptop with a 14inch screen.