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After having a bit of time to play with my Xoom, I'd thought I'd tell everyone how I felt about the Xoom and whether you should be think of upgrading from your Galaxy Tab.
Build quality
The Xoom is very will built, all the components are solidly put together - there are no rattles or any bendy bits. That said the extra weight of the tablet is definitely noticeable compared to the Tab, and certainly makes reading while holding the tablet in one hand less comfortable - plus you don't really need the larger screen for this use.
The screen does not go quite as bright as the Tab, and is not so readable in sunlight. Also it attracts fingerprints like moths to a light, after an hour of using it it looked worse than an iPad does after a whole day, though you can't really see the fingerprints while the screen is on.
Software
This is the main part I was excited about - there has been quite a bit of hype surrounding Honeycomb. Sadly, IMHO, quite a bit of it is just hype -- the main changes are in the home screen and the task/notifications bar. Both of these work really well, the 3D carousel effect when turning pages of the Home screen is really smooth, and the new notification system works really well giving you a system which works quite like a desktop. Sadly you can't pinch the screen to show all of your desktops at once.
The rest of it though, it is pretty buggy. The settings app and gmail apps have force-closed on me a number of times - these are pretty important parts of the OS and so it's seriously disappointing to see them not quite finished. The Facebook app seems to work for a few mins then crashes and won't work until I restart the device.
The browser is very nice, with proper tabs (and incognito tabs!), but if you dare to switch on Flash 10.2 all the time then the whole thing is no faster than the Tabs browser with Flash enabled -- in fact it's quite possibly worse than my Tab with an OC kernel and the latest leaked ROM.
But main problem is - where is the software? Google made much issue about Android 2.x not being fit for tablets but the truth is all they've mostly done is what Samsung did - the email app now has one pane with a list of your emails in and another showing the content of your email. It's the same with the other apps, nowhere is there an incredibly large difference in functionality between the modified Samsung apps and the new Honeycomb ones.
Sure you get a film editor app, but that was pretty much put in to grab a bit of press after Apple put iMovie on the iPad - I'm sure most people, me included, would prefer a decent photo editing/retouching app more than a pretty basic video editing one.
No free, Xoom optimized apps with the device or a store for them like you get with Samsung.
And then we get to media playback, or rather, the almost complete lack of it. So you've just bought a nice new tablet that will play "HD". Like to play your MKV on it? Nope. AVI? Nope. Xvid? Nope. DivX? Nope. WMV? Nope. MP4 and MP4 only (to the point where you have to rename M4V files to MP4 to make them work even though they are the same thing but with a different extension). Yes I know I can use RockPlayer etc but this simply isn't as good as native support. If Archos could afford it the Moto sure can.
That might not be so bad if there was a store like the Samsung Movies Store or iTunes where I could buy or rent a movie in a compatible format. Except this being a "Google Experience" device there are no apps apart from the few that Google put on there (and aside from film studio that's just upgraded standard Android apps). So you have a tablet that doesn't support that vast majority of media formats used by the largest desktop OS; I feel justified in saying that is a slight fail -- is Youtube supposed to be my entire source of entertainment? It's not like you can call the quality of most Flash videos on the web HD.
The one upside is the tegra 2, and all the nice games it will let you play. Except there are only a couple at the moment, and if the Tegra Zone app is to be believed, most of them won't be out for another couple of months. That said the few that are available are very nice, and run perfectly smooth.
Overall
Overall I'd give the Xoom 7/10. It's good, and the first Honeycomb tablet, but I think it will probably not be in the top 5 come the end of the year.
I can understand some people might buy it over others on the promise of slightly quicker updates, but I'm seriously considering taking mine back and waiting for the Tab 8.9, I have a few more days to play around with it before I decide. Sure it will have customized interface so it might not get updates as quickly, but actually it will do much more out of the box than the Xoom does, and it will still probably do more than the Xoom will even after the Xoom has received an update.
I used to be someone who bought plain Android devices on the basis that they quicker updates (have an NS, had an N1, etc), but a lot of the time it makes little difference. Google doesn't actually release updates often enough anymore for that to be much of an issue, and in some cases these days manufacturers have actually made things better than Google did (e.g. the standard browser in the Galaxy S on 2.2 is far better than the stock browser on a Nexus S on 2.3).
Sadly in this case the bad experience reflects badly on Motorola even though it isn't really their fault - they've had nothing to do at all with the software. At the same time that is their fault - it's their tablet and if I was head of a Motorola I'd want to make sure the software I was putting my name on did everything I wanted and worked properly - Android manufacturers should stop getting so desperate to compete with Apple and actually focus on the quality of their own products.
So my advice would be wait. And possibly in this case don't let the factor of whether it's a pure Google device affect your decision so much -- Honeycomb is still an infant and it really needs some features added on for a full tablet experience.
* I was completely aware the Xoom would come with no added extras like the Tab did when I bought it. I just thought Google would have put more work into making Honeycomb for great for tablets.
That's a pretty accurate description. I went through 2 XOOM's which I bought once they released the WIFI only model, and my experience was the same if not worse. Lots of potential, but they really missed the mark with that one. The second XOOM had a hardware failure and refused to charge, and since I was pretty let down overall, and that needle thin power adaptor is just waiting to snap off, I got rid of it entirely. I bought my first Galaxy Tab WIFI model Monday from Tigerdirect, got it Wed and have used it since and I absolutely love it.
That's an interesting review.
It surprised me that honeycomb still isnt working perfectly. I thought that they would update it regularly.
The Xoom seemed to me, to be a liitle bit too fast released device.
I also agree that it probably wont be the best in the flow of the year - off course.
I think HTC looks quite promising, if they release a bigger version of their Flyer.
Let's see if the Companies learn from the others - if a company releases later, it always has a lower risk of failing, because it can learn out of the mistakes of the others...
And then we get to media playback, or rather, the almost complete lack of it. So you've just bought a nice new tablet that will play "HD". Like to play your MKV on it? Nope. AVI? Nope. Xvid? Nope. DivX? Nope. WMV? Nope. MP4 and MP4 only (to the point where you have to rename M4V files to MP4 to make them work even though they are the same thing but with a different extension). Yes I know I can use RockPlayer etc but this simply isn't as good as native support. If Archos could afford it the Moto sure can.
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Click to collapse
This, x1,000. I own an original iPad, and picked up a T-Mo Galaxy Tab for $100 on Craigslist. Once the wifi Xoom came out, I went to Staples to pick one up.
Disappointment doesn't begin to capture it. Such a lovely screen...why, why, why wouldn't you include a Movies app with the tablet? Videos that played flawlessly on the Tab would stutter and whimper on the Xoom. That's just inexcusable.
I also co-sign everything you said about Facebook; I had the same experience with Seesmic.
I bought it on Friday evening. I returned it on Sunday afternoon. I can handle rough edges with software, but this goes beyond that. And selling it for $600? Yeah...not so much.
That said, I'm keeping an eye on the Asus Transformer; $399 is a sweet price point.
rnoboa said:
That said, I'm keeping an eye on the Asus Transformer; $399 is a sweet price point.
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If you're interested, here's my short review of the Transformer, originally posted in the Transformer XDA forum. I do compare it to my Galaxy Tab, so I don't think it's unreasonable to post here!
Regards,
Dave
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I've had my Transformer for 4 full days now, and I've a few comments to make for prospective purchasers.
First of all, a little background - I've had Android phones since the original G1 was released in the US (I was there when it was released), and since then have owned the HTC Hero, the HTC Desire, and now the Desire HD (and a Pulse Mini as a backup device).
I also have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7", which I've been using since October last year and I still think is a fantastic device, so most of my observations on the Transformer (henceforth called the TF) will be in comparison to Galaxy Tab (henceforth called the GT). As an aside, I also have a Toshiba AC100 Android netbook, so I think I have some feel for how the TF will be once the keyboard dock arrives.
Build quality
The TF feels like a really high quality device. I know some people have reported issues with back light bleed etc, but I've had no such issues. The aluminium case is really nice to the touch, as is the back of the device which is a plastic made to look a bit like carbon fibre.
Design - the design is generally really nice, though if I had one criticism it is the size of the bezel is rather large. Additionally, it does feel a little odd holding the device in portrait mode as it comes over as very tall and thin, especially when compared to the GT.
The IPS display is lovely and crisp, though it does seem a little less bright than the display on the GT.
OS and software
This is both simultaneously the best and worst feature that the TF has over the GT. In general browsing use, the TF is much more like a laptop/desktop experience than the GT, and you can see Honeycomb has great potential. However, it does feel very much like an unfinished product.
When the GT first came out, the stock browser was notoriously laggy (fixed in later iterations), and the TF suffers from the same issue - in fact it is worse because whilst the GTs browser was basically just laggy, the TFs browser is laggy and buggy.
Specifically, clicking on links in other applications often causes the browser to pop up, but it doesn't load the new page - this can be fixed by "killing" the browser and restarting it, but it shouldn't be this way. Whilst I much prefer the native browser when it works correctly, I'm now using Opera Mobile for day to day use.
Honeycomb Gmail on the TF is a revelation - it is a far superior client than the client on the GT.
Other minor Honeycomb/TF complaints are:
1. There doesn't seem to be a way to clear all notifications easily.
2. Just getting to the Settings menu is overcomplicated.
3. The keyboards do seem overly large in my opinion, and there don't seem to be enough long press options to get to alternate characters, though I'm aware these are easily replaceable.
4. Overall the TF performance is good, but I don't feel that Honeycomb is taking advantage of the dual core Tegra 2, and thus in general use it doesn't really feel any faster than my single core GT.
Media Playback
This is an easy one - the GT is a better media player than the TF, simply because it natively supports more formats (e.g. DivX).
I'm not unused to transcoding video to H264, as I had to do this often on my earlier Android devices, but with the advent of Cortex A8 class devices with Neon, I found software players like RockPlayer more than acceptable. This does not seem to be the case for the TF, since Tegra 2 doesn't support Neon instructions. However, the AC100 is a Tegra 2 device, and the built-in media player is much better than the stock TF one too, so really I think that Asus should have done more here.
With the TF, I'm back to having to transcode media, and to be honest for the most part that means I'll just my GT instead.
Overall Usage
Here's where it gets interesting!
The TF provides a very different experience to the GT and for the most part it is very enjoyable- when I bought the device, I knew it be mostly be a "coffee table" device, and that the size, weight, and built-in 3G of the GT was going to a distinct advantage over the TF when it comes to travelling.
What I didn't expect is that the GT still holds some advantages at home too.
Put simply, the TF is still too big and heavy sometimes - when I get up in the morning, I usually take my GT off charge and slip it into the pocket of my dressing gown, and this means it goes with me when I go to make a coffee, visit the "office" in the bathroom etc.
Also, late at night, if I want to watch something whilst lying in bed, the GT is simply much more comfortable to hold for any period of time, and coupled with better media support is always going to be the preferred option.
The Future
I don't think it is really fair to judge the TF until the keyboard dock becomes available, because I honestly think this will significant change the nature of the device.
When I first got my AC100, it was running Eclair and to be honest it was pretty rubbish, but it got so much better when Froyo landed.
I can see the TF similarly getting a completely new lease of life once the dock arrives.
Also, Honeycomb does feel like a work in progress, and I'm hoping for regularly updates to this device, which again should improve the experience, along with more Honeycomb specific apps on the market.
Conclusion
I think the TF is a fantastic product and the price is extremely good for what it is. I certainly wouldn't want to put anyone off buying one if they have a genuine interest this form factor. In the UK at least, I think the Xoom has priced itself out of the market massively, which currently leaves the TF as the 10.1" tablet of choice.
The biggest issue for me is that 10.1" tablets are generally too big and heavy, and whilst newer tablets may be lighter, they will still be similarly sized unless they can dramatically reduce the size of the bezel.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9" may well be a better compromise, and I will be looking closely at this once it arrives. However, it won't fit in a jacket pocket, so would still likely just be a coffee table tablet for me.
Ultimately, I think my ideal tablet device would be a 7" form factor device like the GT, similar internal hardware to the TF (dual core, IPS, memory etc), and built-in 3G. Until something like this ships, I think my GT will still be my primary media consumption/browsing device.
Steve Jobs may think that there is no market in 7" tablets, but in my case he's wrong!
Thank you soooo much for the Tab vs Xoom reiew. I was looking at the Xoom a couple weeks ago, but when I saw Sprint marked the Tab down to $199, I bought it instead. Although the Xoom is a gorgeous device, I am becoming quite sold on the 7" size. After using my Tab for a week, I love it! Now if the Xoom was only, say $100 more than the Tab, I may change my mind, but as it is now, it's way too expensive for what it offers out of the box. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Xoom have a price drop soon.
How bad is Honeycomb? The reviews of the G-Slate, Xoom, and even Eeepad Transformer suggest that Honeycomb itself is... not ready and quite laggy. How does it compare to plain old Froyo on a 7'' Tab?
so if understand correctly, android market does not install the tablet version of gmail or any other app on the galaxy tab?
You will have special section of apps created for the Honeycomb and for 2.2 or 2.3.
Apps that are not suppose to work will not be shown on the Market.
Some apps created for phones freeze or fail to work but overall you can find apps that suit your needs. I would agree that at this point software has rough edges but this is always an issue for the early adopters. The 1st iphone had no software choices at all and it took more than half a year to get something else.
Screen size and resolutiin make Xoom almost a laptop.
I like Xoom but prefer Galaxy Tab because of size and weight.
Ok,
I am in the market for a tablet, and hate apple with a pashion. That being said, it leaves me with the options of many good android alternatives.
I am torn between this and the Motorola XOOM tablet. IMO the Acer has a piss poor build quality (though I know alot like it...).
Which is best straight out of the box? I can flash custom roms ofc, but would prefer to stick to stock software for the first 6 months anyway.
I am also considering getting it without the dock as I dont think it would be something I would use much....mabye I am wrong...lol.
Anyhow, whats the TF like running stock software?
Thanks,
Danny
Sorry, should have said, I want a tablet to showcase my amature photography, watch movies and to surf the web
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Asus appears to be better than Moto at tying software to hardware. Their support for software has also stomps all over Moto.
The stock firmware on the TF is perfect for every day usage. Paired with the keyboard dock, I have no problems using it like a regular laptop. It's a powerful piece of hardware that plays nicely with all of my existing storage devices, and even a few of my game controllers. I did end up rooting it anyway, though, just so that I could block ads and disable tap to click on the touchpad.
Photo viewing works flawlessly, provided you can store your photos on a SD card or external hard drive, which you would then plug into the TF. At this point the support for plugging in an actual camera is a bit spotty, no telling whether or not it will work until you try it. Movie support is sort of a mixed bag, as it all depends on which video playing app you use. Personally I like to rip all of my Blu ray movies so that I can watch them from my hard drive, so I use Handbrake to re-encode them all so they can be played natively in the stock Google video player. If instead you have a lot of videos in unrecognized formats like xvid, you'll need to test them with a third party video player.
earlyberd said:
The stock firmware on the TF is perfect for every day usage. Paired with the keyboard dock, I have no problems using it like a regular laptop. It's a powerful piece of hardware that plays nicely with all of my existing storage devices, and even a few of my game controllers. I did end up rooting it anyway, though, just so that I could block ads and disable tap to click on the touchpad.
Photo viewing works flawlessly, provided you can store your photos on a SD card or external hard drive, which you would then plug into the TF. At this point the support for plugging in an actual camera is a bit spotty, no telling whether or not it will work until you try it. Movie support is sort of a mixed bag, as it all depends on which video playing app you use. Personally I like to rip all of my Blu ray movies so that I can watch them from my hard drive, so I use Handbrake to re-encode them all so they can be played natively in the stock Google video player. If instead you have a lot of videos in unrecognized formats like xvid, you'll need to test them with a third party video player.
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all my xvid and divx flawlessly in rockplayer and even stream from a NAS using upnplayer
what will you use app wise to show of your amateur photography? The stock gallery? Are there better apps out there?
wilbur-force said:
all my xvid and divx flawlessly in rockplayer and even stream from a NAS using upnplayer
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MKVs doesnt play audio, decodes video though.
I bought a Xoom first, then an Ipad 2 and have now settled with the Transformer. In my opinion (discounting the Ipad 2 as it's far too limited so I passed that onto the wife ) the Xoom and TF'er are pretty much the same......
the differences which set them apart as the spec are virtually identical are:
- thickness of the tablet
The TF obviously wins this and whilst it may not be the worlds biggest issue, you can definitely 'feel' the difference when you are holding it in your hands and the additional weight of the Xoom can make your arms ache after a while...basically, it's not the most comfortable tablet to hold.
- SD card support
The 3.1 update for the Xoom didn't include the SD card fix so as long as the tablet is stock it is still unsupported (Google still working on the update as far as I'm aware). I know there are fixes and work arounds available but this would depend on what your intentions are regarding modding/rooting etc. The TF'er has it working out of the box so you could drop up to a 32Gb Micro SD card in on day 1. Definitely a bonus and as the OP mentioned a vanilla tablet for the first 6 months in their current state this could be a big issue for the Xoom especially for a photographer who needs storage space.
- Price
Definitely the biggest thing for me...not because I'm on a shoe-string but because of the fact that the tablets have the same O/S, the same spec, the same features and the same software......why would anyone take the Xoom over a TF?, especially with a considerable hike in price and the TF has a much nicer screen which is a major feature of the tablet in itself.
Basically you can't go far wrong with either, but if you're gonna drop £380 or $399 on a tablet then get the one which is $100 cheaper than the current competition.
......and that leads me on to arguably the biggest feature of the TF. The dock. Whilst it may not be a requirement to a lot of people, or something that adds a lot of interest....the flexibility is there to have the TF'er as a notebook replacement - and it also means additional storage space is available via the SD card slot, USB ports which in my opinion will also offer future flexibility as device/accessories/peripherals can be added in the near future with the relevant support.
All in all, a 16GB TF at £380/$399 can have a 32Gb micro SD, and 64GB SD (or another 32GB Micro SD with adaptor) and offers twice the flexibility of the Xoom whilst offering a virtually identical base-feature set. After owning them all, it would be a no-brainer for me. I've not become a fanboy or anything daft like that and wouldn't 'slag' the Xoom off but in a direct comparison with the TF it's virtually identical, so I'd go with 'bang for buck' and flexibility. The TF gets both points by quite a large margin.
What did you find limiting about the iPad 2? Genuine question. I have a tf and ipad2 and I feel they both have limitations.
h00ligan said:
What did you find limiting about the iPad 2? Genuine question. I have a tf and ipad2 and I feel they both have limitations.
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In comparison to the TF (or large majority of Android devices)
Connectivity - no USB/storage devices meaning there is no option but to get apps/data/movies transferred to the tablet etc via a wireless connection or 3rd party application.
Requirement of additional peripherals for HDMI/cameras etc whereas the TF can take a direct connection or plug in the micro sd card directly for transfer.
The dependency on iTunes for some functionality. ie I'd be reluctant to take my Ipad2 anywhere for an extended period of time without a laptop for backup and updates etc. Another example that infringes on this is if you want to copy friends data/music then it's much more difficult to do this with an Apple IOS than it is with Android due to the bluetooth and connectivity issue.
Customisation - speaks for itself.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that every device has its limitations including the TF'er. The Ipad is a lovely bit of hardware, definitely has the better app store, more polished apps and better UI overall but the issues I listed above are restrictive to me personally and if I had to make a choice (which I don't) and could only take one of them, I'd select the TF in a heartbeat because of these points.
ASUS is hands down better than the xoom under every circumstance.
HOWEVER, if you're not interested in the dock (and the functionality it offers) for the TF or having a micro-sd card on the tablet itself, then you should probably go for the galaxy tab 10.1.
It's a $100 more than the TF but it supposedly has a better screen, is lighter and some people are saying that it has better build quality than the TF also.
Just don't get any android tablet other than the TF or Galaxy tab 10.1, especially if you're trying to show off your photography.
starplaya93 said:
ASUS is hands down better than the xoom under every circumstance.
HOWEVER, if you're not interested in the dock (and the functionality it offers) for the TF or having a micro-sd card on the tablet itself, then you should probably go for the galaxy tab 10.1.
It's a $100 more than the TF but it supposedly has a better screen, is lighter and some people are saying that it has better build quality than the TF also.
Just don't get any android tablet other than the TF or Galaxy tab 10.1, especially if you're trying to show off your photography.
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Actually, the TF has a much better screen. Look at any video reviews. I remember in a comparison I saw, both the TF and Xoom had the same wallpaper. The TF showed every color, while the Xoom washed out and showed a blend of white...
Since you're going to use it to show off photography, the SD reader in the keyboard dock would come in handy. I found my TF to be very snappy and responsive. I cannot stream pictures and movies correctly, but that's because I don't know how
SwiftLegend said:
Actually, the TF has a much better screen. Look at any video reviews. I remember in a comparison I saw, both the TF and Xoom had the same wallpaper. The TF showed every color, while the Xoom washed out and showed a blend of white...
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But he didn't even mention the Xoom... he did however compare the TF with the Samsung Galaxy tab 10"
And here i offer a little insight: seems that Samsung loves to have over saturated screens. That could actually be an issue, if the tab has to be used to show photographs... I know that if I set brightness at maximum on my 7" galaxy tab, skintones ends up in the douchebag tan kind of orange. On the other hand, low brightness makes for nice and vivid colours.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
I'd say the TF is the all-round winner for your photography needs:
- It has a much better screen than the Xoom, so that's out.
- It's cheaper than the Samsung
- It has a working AND existent microSD card on it (should be invaluable for transferring pics if your camera also uses microSD. Also if you DID want to to root and flash a new ROM, the Samsung's out again (is this their "No Root" ploy?)
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Thanks paradaz
AlexTheStampede said:
But he didn't even mention the Xoom... he did however compare the TF with the Samsung Galaxy tab 10"
And here i offer a little insight: seems that Samsung loves to have over saturated screens. That could actually be an issue, if the tab has to be used to show photographs... I know that if I set brightness at maximum on my 7" galaxy tab, skintones ends up in the douchebag tan kind of orange. On the other hand, low brightness makes for nice and vivid colours.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
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This over saturated screen on the 10.1 will drive me nuts not only viewing photographs but also watching movies. Its sound like that vivid mode u see on lcd. Some people prefer that look on their tv maybe that why led lcd sell so great. I prefer that natural look you see on plasma tv.
Wow, thanks for the replies guys!
The Galaxy tab was never going to be an option for me with the lack of being able to use removable storage.
Looks like the transformer will be my weapon of choice! Although you are now making me reconsider getting the dock as well....
My reasons for not getting the dock where;
1. It would be another item to cart around. I will be generally only using the tablet so will probably get a leather cover for it. If I where going away I would need to also bring the keyboard as well, perhaps in a separate case?
2. Low stock in the UK at present...i can drive 2 miles and pick up the tablet only package.
Although I didn't know it had an SD card reader! That coupled with the additional battery capacity is rather appealing!
To answer an earlier question, I have no specific app in mind to show off my photos... Can anyone else advise if there is better options than the stock gallery? I use lightroom on my PC, but would imagine nothing similar is available on android.
Also is it possible to convert mkv's to play on these tablets? 95% off all my digital media is in mkv format.....
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
djglenn1337 said:
Also is it possible to convert mkv's to play on these tablets? 95% off all my digital media is in mkv format.....
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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mkv is only the container so many third players like moboplayer are able to open mkv files..
what's really matters is the codec used inside the container, as of now, the TF on 3.1 is able to hard-decode H264 720p High profile and 1080p base profile..
you can use handbreak to encode media files if necessary:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060825
djglenn1337 said:
Also is it possible to convert mkv's to play on these tablets? 95% off all my digital media is in mkv format.....
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I do know some people seems to be experiencing problems with mkv's. Unsure what codecs (video/audio) their mkv's might have, because I played about 30 different mkv's made by different people with and without soft-subs and I've not experienced any hitches or glitches to either sound or video.
All I use is moboplayer and start them - plays flawlessly.
Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?
People have had issues with build quality but I personally haven't. My TF101 has been fine.
Responsiveness is top notch, no issues here.
Depends on what you're comparing it to, it's benchmarks are above the Xoom and Galaxy tab 10.1, but if this relates to real world performance I don't know.
It plays low profile 1080p flawlessly, and 720p high profile flawlessly. Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
Yes it has turn by turn navigation.
I'd recommend it if you need the extra features it has over the Galaxy tab.
seshmaru said:
People have had issues with build quality but I personally haven't. My TF101 has been fine.
Responsiveness is top notch, no issues here.
Depends on what you're comparing it to, it's benchmarks are above the Xoom and Galaxy tab 10.1, but if this relates to real world performance I don't know.
It plays low profile 1080p flawlessly, and 720p high profile flawlessly. Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
Yes it has turn by turn navigation.
I'd recommend it if you need the extra features it has over the Galaxy tab.
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What he said. Screen is totally mindblowing , btw!
I myself have had absolutely zero issues, like seshmaru, but buy it 4m a store, and open and check it, would be my recommendation. Light bleed is the most common issue, followed by some creakiness issues and speaker balance issues, very rare though
Sent from my cell phone. DUH.
Mine eee pad had serial B5xxxxxxxx. So far no issues with it.
But it's quite heavy to hold the eee pad with one hand and using it while laying on the couch.
I got mine like two weeks ago, and I guess I'm lucky that it's pretty perfect (although there's a slight creakiness on one corner).
I don't have any complaints right now, but I'm scared to get the dock because I keep seeing problems about it (battery, lag, what else??).
seshmaru said:
Don't quite know why you'd want to watch 1080p on a 750p screen though.
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As has been said many times on these forums, it's more about not having to re-encode 1080p movies you already have just to play them on the TF.
Regards,
Dave
I am on my 2nd transformer now, the first one had some light bleeds along with head pixels in the midldle.
The only thing that i suggest is to root it when you get it and throw Prime 1.4 and a custom kernel on it so you see the true speed of it. Im semi please with it, still better then the ipad 2 imo. there are some issues but should be fixed over time. the only really annoying issue is when typing in the browser and how long it takes to show up on the screen.
Then I'll get one. Actually after some googling on iPad 2 I understood that I really wont get one, Transformer has so much better hardware and I love honeycomb. iPad has 0.3 Mpix front camera and 0.9Mpix back camera, lol.
Thank you all for helping.
I just put Prime 1.5 on it, run really smooth..
my only issue is the lack of volume. Its too low for my taste. Other than that i love my TF.
KRolands said:
Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With all the issue pointed out here I was a bit worried about buying one. I have not had any issues except for bugs which are part of honeycomb. When I got my Galaxy S2 there were a lot of people *****ing about various issues but when I got my phone I had none of these so called issues once I tweaked things! So each to their own.
You'll find that most posts are about complaints. Very few people come online and say how awesome something is. Most of the time there are solutions to issues but people don't want to search.
1. I chose it over the Galaxy Tab 10.1. I like how light the Tab is but I love the dock and the extra features that the Transformer has to offer.
2. Build quality on mine is outstanding. I have had a lot of android devices and you can see the extra effort Asus put into the dock and the tablet. I don't have any light bleed or flex on my device. Even the USB docks have magnetic port covers. How cool is that? Keyboard is very nice and the keys don't feel cheap.
3. Very fast device and very responsive. Interesting to see how both the Tegra processor and the Exonys (in my S2) differ in different tasks but both are blazing fast (the S2 is faster at rendering pages on wifi vs the transformer). Make sure to update to 3.1 firmware. Mine came with 3.0 which was not very responsive and sucked [email protected]
4. No idea about the 1080p. It is touchy at playing high def files (honeycomb hardware decoding issue). My S2 plays 1080 no problem. I find 720p MP4 videos plays perfectly fine if encoded with the proper specs for the transformer
5. Yes turn-by-turn works great. I tether with my phone and off I go
My only complaint is an issue with honeycomb and the stock browser lag when typing. Also, no auto correction when typing on the hardware keyboard.
Cheers. Hope this helps
I have used the Transformer for couple of weeks now having previously owned the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch.
All in all, my impressions are very positive and I would definetly recommend the device. The screen's great, device is quick to use, to comfortable hold in hand thanks to clever backside texture and reasonable weight, overall design is good. The keyboard dock has been a true surprise, it is way better than in many laptops and the integration with the tablet is seamless.
My unit (Scandinavian) is faultless, no cranky build quality or light bleeds.
However, there are some things to improve
- Flash performance: Flash being the most obvious advantage over iPad, I was disappointed that my old Galaxy Tab plays Flash better than this Dual Core Honeycomb device
- Browser is a bit buggy (closes unexpectedly once a while)
- Lack of Honeycomb apps evident, no way to sort out Honeycomb apps from all Android Market offerings (not a Transformer issue, though)
KRolands said:
Hi
I have rooted Desire and I just love Android, so I'm buying Android tablet for browsing web, watching movies and some gaming. It was hard to figure out which tablet to buy but I think I'll get Transformer instead of Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is more functional. So it would be nice if you Transfomer owners could share some impressions.
How good is build quality?
How responsive it is?
How fast it is?
How good does it play 1080p vidos?
Does it work with turn-by-turn navigation?
And would you recommend it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my Transformer for just over a week now and am absolutely loving it. I have had no problems with my Transformer apart from when I managed to brick it and then get it working again (my fault not ASUS ). The screen is great (though I wish it was SAMOLED+ because my SGSII has an amazing screen) and the build quality is very good - it feels a little heavy compared to an iPad but also very sturdy.
After updating to 3.1 the tablet is very smooth - with the possible exception of the browser when using the dock. Sometimes it takes a couple of seconds for the tablet to realise I'm typing something but generally not too bad. Using the tablet as a tablet (on-screen keyboard) there is no lag anywhere. Youtube 720p and normal 720p play flawlessly and look great. I haven't personally tried a 1080p video yet. Turn-by-turn navigation works well and it's nice they included a GPS chip in it, though you still need WiFi/3G for it work correctly.
The main attraction for me is the fact the Transformer is basically an Android Netbook! Good sized, clear screen with amazing battery life (I get about ~16 hours with Auto-Brightness and browsing/watching films). The best thing is when you root it and under/over clock it however! Under clocked to ~800Mhz I can browse for hours and hours, it's great! Over clock to 1.6Ghz and it's blazingly fast and everything (and can probably handle full 1080p video).
My only slight disappointment is in the rear camera which despite being 5MP is pretty crappy but it's not very often I use it. Bonus points for having Polaris Office and a Remote Desktop service packaged in for free which means I've been playing Portal on mine through my gaming laptop just for fun!
-X
This may be a slightly different post, since most of the users are big fans or / and happy users of Asus Transformer, but hear me out. For haters of long post – a brief summary of my post: the honeymoon’s with my tablet over, considering what to do now…
About 3 months ago I’ve sold my trusty Asus EEE PC 701 to replace it with Transformer, which I currently own. This was done after careful consideration and study of my needs and available products at the time. When choosing a replacement for EEE PC, my priorities were (beginning with the most important):
1. Fast browsing (waiting for EEE PC to boot became a headache) and emailing.
2. Similar productivity capabilities (I mostly work in Google Docs environment with occasional editing of normal documents and spreadsheets)
3. Occasional movies (EEE PC couldn’t handle 720p)
4. Showing pictures to friends (rare occasions)
5. Games, when there’s no work in sight.
When considering a replacement, I took into the account other devices – a better netbook, a smartphone, a normal laptop and, of course, a tablet, which I eventually chose (Transformer + dock keyboard). The start was pretty nice, until I’ve experienced full “features” of Android Honeycomb…
1. Browsing is not what I expected. In PC’s most browsers work the same, render pages in the same fashion, offer similar capabilities. In Android, most browsers are like day and night in some areas. E.g. only in 1 of 5 browsers I tried I was able to move between cells in Google Spreadsheets with my keys on the keyboard (other browsers moved the scroll bar). I’ve constantly encounter(ed) sites that recognized my tablet as a phone, redirecting me to a low resolution version. And by the way – without internet (I’m using the version without 3G) it’s rather useless.
2. Enough to say that a tablet is not meant to be used for a document editing. It’s basically a pain in the arse. Polaris app is more a WYSIWYG html editor than a document app, “Documents to go” app is let’s say a bit expensive. I’ve also did not know how hard it is to use copy-paste mechanism. I do use this in my editing a lot.
3. Movies also are a pickle. While PC can decode almost any format (by choosing a right decoder), Android can’t offer such capabilities. I have 5 different players, which I use to decode movies. Till now I didn’t encounter any movie that can be played in all 5 players, usually 1-2 players (sometimes – none) can open the movie. Subtitles (I watch anime sometimes) are also a headache. Didn’t know that earlier.
4. Picture showing is, let’s say, ok. But only after one update when Gallery app started to act properly, i.e. show pictures in an ascending fashion (before that I had to scroll to the end of the gallery to start showing pictures from the start).
5. Games… Well, what I found out that I simply hate trivial / casual games and the market is full of them. Angry birds / fruit ninja entertained me for one day only.
To make things worse, Google still doesn’t offer a separate search for tabled optimized apps and, most importantly, the market does not offer capabilities of filtering crapware. I found out that there are websites, rating apps in a proper way, but this is still a nightmare.
After this, I’ve tried to search for answers to solve the mentioned problems, but it seems the Android platform is still very young and it will take some time for it to become mature in the software area. By that time the hardware will be different and my current tablet will be let’s say pretty much useless. So keeping it and waiting for a miracle (I’ve thought that Android 4.0 could be a solution) may be not a viable solution… Unless you’ll convince me otherwise.
Rants aside, I’m considering to sell the tablet and buy a smartphone (maybe a HTC Desire S ?). Of course I won’t be able to edit documents or have a big screen for movies, but I hope having a great time with phone optimized apps, blazing fast boot times, better internet availability (I mean 3G).
Your opinions and suggestions about the current situation are very welcome. For me, it's a hard (and maybe an expensive) decision.
P.S. I’ve also considered buying a Windows 7 tablet (which would suit my needs), but found out that the user interface is still VERY hard to control with touches. I’ve also thought about waiting for a Windows 8 tablet, but it seems it won’t be able to run x86 programs, meaning an Android-like situation with little availability of useful software.
No offense, but after reading your post carefully I decided any reply I have is futile. You got the transformer with the wrong attitude. You've been using it with the wrong attitude. And you've been expecting things with ALL the wrong attitude.
It's best that you stick with a win 7 netbook or notebook.
PS - I have not touched my laptop since April. Between my PC at home and my transformer on-the-go, I have no complaint whatsoever. I see your complaints comparable to the complaints of someone who got a motorcycle intending to use it like a car.
goodintentions said:
No offense, but after reading your post carefully I decided any reply I have is futile. You got the transformer with the wrong attitude. You've been using it with the wrong attitude. And you've been expecting things with ALL the wrong attitude.
It's best that you stick with a win 7 netbook or notebook.
PS - I have not touched my laptop since April. Between my PC at home and my transformer on-the-go, I have no complaint whatsoever. I see your complaints comparable to the complaints of someone who got a motorcycle intending to use it like a car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for an oppinion. Yes - my expectations were "something resembling a netbook with a hint of phone". But it's neither a phone, nor a netbook and the tasks I wanted it to do were very limited by the software, which I didn't take into account when considered buying a tablet...
i agree more or less. i owned a 701 too btw. i now own among others an eeepc 1015pem. but i use my transformer all the time. google editing is a bit awkward yes, especially with large docs, but google has his own application for that. it eases the pain a bit.
copy and paste, yes editing is not that easy. i own docs to go, but the user interface is not that intuitive. polaris seems to saves not always that good (it cant be opened with all others wordprocessors). open document format is not very easy to use.
but still i prefer transformer at work for all sort of reasons:
* battery, i can use the transformer (with dock) all day long, with no other hussle.
* it is cool
* boy is the transformer silent - i like that way more than i anticipated.
* the touchscreen, although not always that easy, i love it.
* being more in the cloud (dropbox with 50gb), gmail, and polaris/docs to go, calendar, google contacts, it all works together: fast and easy. i like that too.
* i like the looks, and the way the transformer feels.
* at work with dock, at home: mostly tablet: reading, viewing, surfing
btw i am used to use linux on my netbooks, win 7 moves like a snail.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
I have to agree with GoodInte tions over there; which is ironic because the EeePC 1015PE Netbook that I havent touched since September, was bought in April .
For your needs Android is not effective, for me it is almost as effective as BSD or GNU/Linux; where you use gdocs I use programs that I can run in a Debian chroot or I use a PC, rather than try and use LibreOffice locally with X/VNC.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
For someone who took the time to write that thorough analysis, I would have thought you researched the TF with the same level of thoroughness. Everything you point out in your dissertation has been discussed in detail on this forum.
Yes.. exactly what Rumbleweed said. You said you bought this 3 months ago; then you got it around September, which was about 2 months after I got my transformer (if you got it right at the start). When I first got my tablet, I didn't look through any of the online stuff, but I did start about a week after getting it (to know how else I could improve it further, but I was pretty lucky as my B5 had no problems except for a slight creakiness on one side).
Anyway, by around 4.5 months ago, I already knew several points:
-browsing rendering had some issues, some of which was solved by hardware acceleration, etc. (although, I didn't really notice this as an issue until I looked online because my laptop is old and slower by far)
-document editing is a little flawed because typing lags behind the physical typing
-movies.. well, I saw lots of threads about not being able to play 720p except in Dice Player or something, but I don't really watch HD stuff often except maybe for tennis (btw, espn 360 worked perfectly and looked great for streaming)
-there are a lot of trivial games (I was disappointed with this one too, but I found the emulators soon after, so I haven't played much other trivial games except for the more addictive looking tower defense ones)
tl;dr: I don't understand how you didn't know this by the time you got it as you seem pretty thorough (as per your post). Good luck though, I wanted a Windows 7 tablet before in the past, but they're either expensive as hell or ugly looking as hell.. We just need Google and other tablet-making-companies to realize that tablets are for more than entertainment.
asdfuogh said:
I was pretty lucky as my B5 had no problems except for a slight creakiness on one side).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OT but I always thought it was just me and my B50 with that, on the right/starboard side. Just happy to have none of the serious problems I read about here lol.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Honestly, why not root and stick Ubuntu on there? I realize this would destroy the Android flavor, but that's obviously not what you're looking for.
Specifically:
1. How is not having 3G any different from your EEE PC with wifi? If you wanted the TF with 3G, there's a 3G version. Otherwise, I'm sure your mobile carrier will happily sell you a hotspot device and plan.
2. Do you have the dock? Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X all work for me on the dock. As for an office suite, how about using GDocs? I know it's not as slick as MS Office or LibreOffice, but it's pretty functional.
3. Yeah, I've found that anime can be something of a pain at 720p and decoders aren't brilliant on Android. It's what happens when the majority of the population uses iTunes, Netflix and Hulu for their media, manufacturers get lazy. I really wish VLC would come to Android, with proper codec support (especially with ICS' per-app hardware acceleration capabilities).
4. You know there are non-Gallery photo viewer apps, right? That's the beauty of Android, EVERYTHING (especially if you have root ) can be replaced.
5. Have you looked at the TegraZone? Or some websites for game reviews? It's honestly like trying to find a game for PC, there's a lot of crap to wade through, even in non-casual games.
laikinasis said:
1. Browsing is not what I expected. In PC’s most browsers work the same, render pages in the same fashion, offer similar capabilities. In Android, most browsers are like day and night in some areas. E.g. only in 1 of 5 browsers I tried I was able to move between cells in Google Spreadsheets with my keys on the keyboard (other browsers moved the scroll bar). I’ve constantly encounter(ed) sites that recognized my tablet as a phone, redirecting me to a low resolution version. And by the way – without internet (I’m using the version without 3G) it’s rather useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried using Polaris Office with GDocs syncing? I know Polaris has some Google Docs support. Does the Android app for Google Docs work at all for you? As for the internet comment, how was your Eee PC any different? The TF and PC are the same in that regard. This isn't a Chromebook or anything...
laikinasis said:
3. Movies also are a pickle. While PC can decode almost any format (by choosing a right decoder), Android can’t offer such capabilities. I have 5 different players, which I use to decode movies. Till now I didn’t encounter any movie that can be played in all 5 players, usually 1-2 players (sometimes – none) can open the movie. Subtitles (I watch anime sometimes) are also a headache. Didn’t know that earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had no issues with media playback since Dice Player came out. It handles all of my 720p or smaller video no problem. Even scenes that were always an absolute ***** on my tablet, like high bitrate Big Bang Theory intro (that always raped it) run great in Dice.
laikinasis said:
4. Picture showing is, let’s say, ok. But only after one update when Gallery app started to act properly, i.e. show pictures in an ascending fashion (before that I had to scroll to the end of the gallery to start showing pictures from the start).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say better than okay, I love how it syncs pictures between all of my devices with Picasa.
laikinasis said:
5. Games… Well, what I found out that I simply hate trivial / casual games and the market is full of them. Angry birds / fruit ninja entertained me for one day only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So keep looking. There are plenty of pretty featured RPGs. Go look at Gameloft games. Most of them are kinda crappy, but definitely more than angry birds.
laikinasis said:
After this, I’ve tried to search for answers to solve the mentioned problems, but it seems the Android platform is still very young and it will take some time for it to become mature in the software area. By that time the hardware will be different and my current tablet will be let’s say pretty much useless. So keeping it and waiting for a miracle (I’ve thought that Android 4.0 could be a solution) may be not a viable solution… Unless you’ll convince me otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhh.. just because Tegra 3 is coming out doesn't make tegra 2 any worse... the TF 1 is still amazing hardware.
laikinasis said:
Rants aside, I’m considering to sell the tablet and buy a smartphone (maybe a HTC Desire S ?). Of course I won’t be able to edit documents or have a big screen for movies, but I hope having a great time with phone optimized apps, blazing fast boot times, better internet availability (I mean 3G).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't currently have a smartphone? I'm far more productive with both. It's easy to pull out the phone for 5 minutes and check my email, read news, etc, but as soon as I need to reply to a client, the phone is absolutely useless and I pull out the TF. I tether my TF to my phone for 3G/4G anywhere. If I need to open a large PDF, spreadsheet, ppt, etc it's a pain to do it on the phone, but so much better on a tablet. Ebooks are also great on the TF, as is videos.
Other pros: super thin, battery life is simply *amazing* (I can be on it for 14 hours a day and it doesn't need a charge), quiet, no heat, great audio output for music/video with voodoo sound, touchscreen that lets me take complex math notes that would be hard to type quickly, allows me to draw out theories and ideas anywhere I am (I used this all the time for solving puzzles in video games, working out the answers to the google nexus twitter challenges), plus it turns into a freaking TABLET when you disconnect it (call it a gimmick all you want, it's still badass).
Sent from my Transformer TF101
asdfuogh said:
Anyway, by around 4.5 months ago, I already knew several points:
-browsing rendering had some issues, some of which was solved by hardware acceleration, etc. (although, I didn't really notice this as an issue until I looked online because my laptop is old and slower by far)
-document editing is a little flawed because typing lags behind the physical typing
-movies.. well, I saw lots of threads about not being able to play 720p except in Dice Player or something, but I don't really watch HD stuff often except maybe for tennis (btw, espn 360 worked perfectly and looked great for streaming)
-there are a lot of trivial games (I was disappointed with this one too, but I found the emulators soon after, so I haven't played much other trivial games except for the more addictive looking tower defense ones)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the silimilar time I did not know about:
1. Google market search (how it's hard to find a decent app or a tablet optimized app)
2. Copy paste issues (ctrl+c / ctrl+v is STILL not supported in many apps)
3. Video playback. It's rather annoying to use ~5 video players. 720p by itself is not an issue. Almost all players support native (hadware) decoding. I had more problems trying to open lower resolution movies in, I presume, less common containers / codecs.
4. Page rendering in browsing. I mean that different browsers may render the same page differently. This was an issue in pc world loooong time ago and it's now almost non-existent.
asdfuogh said:
We just need Google and other tablet-making-companies to realize that tablets are for more than entertainment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an interesting thought that I do relate.
Gary13579 said:
Have you tried using Polaris Office with GDocs syncing? I know Polaris has some Google Docs support. Does the Android app for Google Docs work at all for you? As for the internet comment, how was your Eee PC any different? The TF and PC are the same in that regard. This isn't a Chromebook or anything...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't know about Polaris GDocs support, thanks. It works rather how I expect it to work... Speaking about Google Docs - the most common task I do is writing grades to studens in a spreadsheet. In normal PC's, you click a cell, write something, click on another. In Google docs (and most browsers I tried on Android, except one, that is REALLY slow) you click a cell, edit it and must press "SUMBIT". It's a big setback, when you consider larger amounts of editing.
Gary13579 said:
I've had no issues with media playback since Dice Player came out. It handles all of my 720p or smaller video no problem. Even scenes that were always an absolute ***** on my tablet, like high bitrate Big Bang Theory intro (that always raped it) run great in Dice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use that player too. Lots of unopened files, like with other players. Again, it's not about the smoothness of the playback, it's about supporting different codecs / containers.
Gary13579 said:
I'd say better than okay, I love how it syncs pictures between all of my devices with Picasa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you suggest an app, which would work like default Gallery app, but support inner folders ?
Gary13579 said:
So keep looking. There are plenty of pretty featured RPGs. Go look at Gameloft games. Most of them are kinda crappy, but definitely more than angry birds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me, I am looking
Gary13579 said:
You don't currently have a smartphone? I'm far more productive with both. It's easy to pull out the phone for 5 minutes and check my email, read news, etc, but as soon as I need to reply to a client, the phone is absolutely useless and I pull out the TF. I tether my TF to my phone for 3G/4G anywhere. If I need to open a large PDF, spreadsheet, ppt, etc it's a pain to do it on the phone, but so much better on a tablet. Ebooks are also great on the TF, as is videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about owning both of them. Maybe it's the solution I'm looking for, but now it seems that phone may replace most of the tablet functions.
Thanks for your answer.
I have to say, i bought the TF with the premise of getting a tablet that was at least as good as an iPad, without paying Apple Tax. After three months, I am also quite disappointed with the tablet.
I think what a lot of members on this specific website seem to forget, is that many people want to buy a tablet to just use, not to have to tweak and hack to get it to work.
I still cannot play live streamed 30fps 480p flash videos without juddering.
Apps (especially games) for Android simply are not up to the same quality as iOS - this is obviously due to developers not bothering with the platform. And compatibility issues is probably the biggest joke I have ever seen. Even Windows doesn't have that problem.
My own opinion is that HC was simply developed quickly to try and compete with tablet iOS, and was rushed out. I don't know how much of a difference ICS will make - that remains to be seen.
My biggest issue however, is as I said earlier. While I and most people on this website don't mind tinkering and tweaking with their tablet, the vast majority of customers looking for a tablet want it to just work - and HC doesn't. And the hard truth is, iOS does. Except flash, obviously.
Kaltern said:
I think what a lot of members on this specific website seem to forget, is that many people want to buy a tablet to just use, not to have to tweak and hack to get it to work.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Recheck the title of this website. XDA Developers. Kind of like buying a 1968 GTO based on a recommendation in Hot Rod magazine then complaining that it doesn't get 35 mpg like a 2011 Prius. If you are looking for a " tap and play" tablet get an ipad.
Hey there,
hope nobody metioned it before, but why didn't you try installing ubuntu on your TF?
Well in my opinion its an even better os than windows and you get a bunch of free software with ease.
There is a thread over in the qa-forum from lilstevie giving you a pretty easy way to install ubuntu (as long as you got sbk1 at the moment)
It got no hardware graphics acceleration at this point but it didn't sound as you would need it.
Maybe this can save you a few bugs
Greets, coni
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
A lot of your cons will be fixed with the Android 4.0 update.
When I first bought my transformer, I fully agreed with everything you said. I even wanted to sell it because I felt I had wasted my money. But I have to say it is growing on me, for two different reasons.
1) Problems are getting fixed. Better software is coming out or I'm finding solutions to the problems I had. Just the other day I updated flash and started using stock browser to for tudou.com (Chinese youtube), and the videos played flawlessly. Astro made a update recently that greatly improved my file management experience. Granted solving these problems/waiting for updates is still a pain in the ass. But progress is being made.
2) I'm finding things I can do on the transformer that I couldn't do on a laptop. I was taking short notes during an evaluation of one of our teachers. I used evernote with swype (no dock), and it was a great silent experience with no laptop screen blocking my view. Reading books on the transformer is also great. It even got me to start reading comic books, The Walking Dead is a freaking awesome series. I never would have known about were it not for the transformer. And pictures, I feel you on the backwards order thing. But you can't compare sharing pictures on the transformer with a laptop. It's so much better on the transformer.
I still agree that 99% of the games are just terrible. If they can get playstation emulation working a good bit better graphics wise, I'll be happy. Speaking of which, I need to check to see if there have been any recent improvements to the sixaxis app and the emulators.
I like the simplicity of the iPad with the complexity of Android. Minus HC. Not a fan. I have this and the OC Ipad. I like games like Madden 12 and the new NFS and Riptide. Lots of nice graphics. One thing that frustrates me is there are Tegra 3 games out that will not work on Tegra 2. And there is not a huge offering for T2. So Will that mean T2 games will be obsolete?
I find Polaris and Docs to Go are just fine for preparing reports and simple spreadsheets. The 16 X 9 screen is great for movies as well as the nice IPS screen on the Pad. I give the speaker quality to the ipad. Not a fan of the speakers on the Transformer.
Hardware wise, the Transformer blows the Ipad away. Better camera, more RAM, the dock, USB and the sdcard to add on. I think if you are creative then you are using a net book. Plus I can wireless print.
I don't think there is anything wrong with wishing for that perfectly fined tuned device and it will come in time.
To the OP I would recommend the Samsung galaxy note coming out early next year. 5.3 inch screen. IPS screen, dual core processor, phone, and great note taking ability.
I don't like Apples scam of upgrading every year and the costs are incredible. I'm praying for ICS and continued tweaking of problems.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Really, what video formats has Dice been unable to open? It has opened *every* file I've thrown at it.
Sent from my Transformer TF101
Rumbleweed said:
Recheck the title of this website. XDA Developers. Kind of like buying a 1968 GTO based on a recommendation in Hot Rod magazine then complaining that it doesn't get 35 mpg like a 2011 Prius. If you are looking for a " tap and play" tablet get an ipad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly the sort of reply I'd expect.
This site began as a Developer's site, but has since grown into a site for non-devs to get help and information.
You are basically saying that unless you know what 'sudo' means, you shouldn't buy anything other than an ipad, and you shouldn't be on this site.
Which is arrogant and well, not unexpected.
First at all, after almost 2 months of exhaustively daily use I got some conclusions about it.
I do have an Ipad 2 to compare with so I'm going to try to be objective here and realistic as well, i will refer to ipad 2 device as the "competition":
Pros
1. Hardware design, a big praising for asus attention to details.
2. Asus docking station is amazing, although I no longer use it.
3. ICS upgrade???
4. Open android ecosystem makes the TF101 stand out.
5. Very good software included with the TF101
6. Asus Mycloud service
7. 1 Gb RAM, sdhc expansion slot and by far better USB flash drives support than competition, this is actual a big advantage comparing to apple 2, where you have to spend big bucks to get units as kingston widrive and seagate goflex satellite drives(Bought them both)if you want to get additional storage and those are only useful if you have a fast internet connection(I have 24Mpbs at home w/ uverse).
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
"I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour"
i watch 2 movies today 3 hours and serf the web for 1 hour and my battery is in 53%
transformer has an excellent battery...but if your cpu is 1,5 what you expect????
" Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible" i use opera,a great browser
"Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback" video 720p is great with mx video player
"Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow" ics is comming!!!
jrsalda said:
First at all, after almost 2 months of exhaustively daily use I got some conclusions about it.
I do have an Ipad 2 to compare with so I'm going to try to be objective here and realistic as well, i will refer to ipad 2 device as the "competition":
Pros
1. Hardware design, a big praising for asus attention to details.
2. Asus docking station is amazing, although I no longer use it.
3. ICS upgrade???
4. Open android ecosystem makes the TF101 stand out.
5. Very good software included with the TF101
6. Asus Mycloud service
7. 1 Gb RAM, sdhc expansion slot and by far better USB flash drives support than competition, this is actual a big advantage comparing to apple 2, where you have to spend big bucks to get units as kingston widrive and seagate goflex satellite drives(Bought them both)if you want to get additional storage and those are only useful if you have a fast internet connection(I have 24Mpbs at home w/ uverse).
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool story bro
So, after an hour of playing the same game on the I pad, what is the battery at on the I pad?
same game,(plants vs zombies) ($6.99 from apple store vs $1.99 from android market), another big plus here for tf101, android apps are considerably cheaper, but after 90 minutes of playing, ipad 2 is only 92%, tf101 is almost 50%(without the dock of course, revolver ROM, Oc'd to 1.2 Ghz/312 cpu/gpu).
Don't see any of the points you mentioned with my Transformer or they are so small hat they can't be called a real issue imho. Plus I'm really interested in the ICS update which will make the whole thing better (but for me the performance is more than acceptable and also web browsing is absolutely smooth).
@OP I have had my tablet and dock for 4 months going on 5 (September, October, Novemeber, December, January) and share only one of your criticisms: Quality Control. That's just because of the issues I've read here, both by nit picking pricks and about serious issues, and expect the Prime to have more of the former. I have had no serious issues with my B50.
I use this thing excessively every day and it's arguably the best $500+$150 I've ever spent, that doesn't get me to and from work or go in the kitchen for helping food eventually reach my tummy.
I also think you should just sell yours on eBay and save up for the next model of iPad, you will enjoy it a lot more, but odds are there is nothing that WILL make you satisified and happy. At least not that will be produced in your life time.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
jrsalda said:
same game,(plants vs zombies) ($6.99 from apple store vs $1.99 from android market), another big plus here for tf101, android apps are considerably cheaper, but after 90 minutes of playing, ipad 2 is only 92%, tf101 is almost 50%(without the dock of course, revolver ROM, Oc'd to 1.2 Ghz/312 cpu/gpu).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. You may have a battery problem. I have played many an hour of Plants vs Aliens, I would say I usually get 15% drain per hour. I'm running stock...
I would also recommend trying BS Player for your MKVs. It works really well with my MP4s. Agreed, that the Tegra 2 video decoding is underwhelming.
The browser issue is annoying, I've found FireFox to be the best. No Flash and the tab key doesn't work (I can verify they fixed tab in the latest Aurora release). I'm hoping ICS and the release of Chrome for Android will resolve it. Crossing fingers...
I generally have to agree that the Tegra 2 was not up to the Honeycomb challenge. It was passable, but not exceptional. If you look around, you can pick up a Transformer for $299-349 on sale, which is a value. If you want something that surpasses an iPad, buy a Prime (if you can find one).
Even Google admits Honeycomb was rushed. Further it's like 3-5% of their install base (based on the market numbers), so they probably aren't paying that much attention to it. Gingerbread is now king. ICS is their new flagship product, I suspect it will be better.
jrsalda said:
First at all, after almost 2 months of exhaustively daily use I got some conclusions about it.
I do have an Ipad 2 to compare with so I'm going to try to be objective here and realistic as well, i will refer to ipad 2 device as the "competition":
Pros
1. Hardware design, a big praising for asus attention to details.
2. Asus docking station is amazing, although I no longer use it.
3. ICS upgrade???
4. Open android ecosystem makes the TF101 stand out.
5. Very good software included with the TF101
6. Asus Mycloud service
7. 1 Gb RAM, sdhc expansion slot and by far better USB flash drives support than competition, this is actual a big advantage comparing to apple 2, where you have to spend big bucks to get units as kingston widrive and seagate goflex satellite drives(Bought them both)if you want to get additional storage and those are only useful if you have a fast internet connection(I have 24Mpbs at home w/ uverse).
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I logged in just to second this post as it follows my feelings exactly about the pros and cons of the tf101. I thought this was a very well thought out post and in my experence very accurate. I would keep my TF101 over an iPad but these issues definitely keep me from upgrading at this time to another asus or tegra device. Maybe ICS will fix some of the HC issues but it is not likely to fix the main issue I have with some video containers and codecs. I hope it fixes the browser issues because I too am tired of having to remember what browser to use for what site. I recieved my TF in the first batch released by Best Buy so I have had many months to use this thing. Its the perfect traveling device with the dock but it definitely has its issues.
jrsalda said:
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cons 1) had nopt quality control issues with my asus kit, you might want to check out the quality control issues compared to the ipad.
2) honeycomb interface is fast once you overclock- i see no performance difference to the ipad in this respect
3)video production can be fixed with OC and a decent player eg MX or Dice- both can play anything very well.
4) your view on price is skewed because you havent factored in the price of the external HD's for your ipad and the fact that the dock adds much more value than any combination of ipad peripherals eg how much would an extrnal hd and battery cost for the ipad compared to the dock, how much for an extra keyboard eh?
5)seriously, any of those browsers are better than an ipad browser that doesnt do flash and so doesnt actually show the internet as its supposed to be. i find Dolphin HD works well on my transformer with few perforamce issues.
6 &7) i agree, the transformer is much better after rooting etc but then so it the ipad, your battery issues are conderning though as i find the battery life while playing games on my transformer to be equal with apple stuff i have owned in the past.
i dont crave for any closed API system like you suggest where people are forced to make decisions and the choice provided is just a monetised illusion, been there and done that with apple im afraid..
at the end of the day its a personal choice but the fact that the ipad is such a closed system( no usb port ffs!!) is the exact reason i dont want anything to do with it.
I agree with the browser point.
I have 5 browsers installed and I use different ones for different sites.
The stock browser crashes too damn much as well.
I haven't used the ipad to know how good/ bad their browsers are.
iPad2 Camera resolution 750kp
Asus Transformer 5MP
Asus Transformer 30% screen resolution than iPad2.
Transformer: More ports, more slots, non-restrictive OS.
MOD EDIT: EVIDENTLY YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH SOMEONE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT
This largely conflicts with my experience. When I first cracked open the box to my TF101 and fired it up... I was shocked at how much it crashed and lagged. Then I updated it. Then it was solid. I soon after rooted and installed the latest revolver rom.
I didn't overclock and I get amazing battery life. All weekend I watched about 8 episodes of TV shows (about 20 min each), surfed the net for probably an hour, played some games... all while wifi was connected for hours. My battery at the end of the weekend? 27%, from 100% on the friday.
I've used an iPad and the iPad _really_ does feel like a giant iPhone to me (I used to own one). Android on a tablet feels completely different to me and I love it.
So, just wondering, does the ipad play all types of video files, or are they converted by itunes to play on the ipad? --- sincere question.
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
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1.Quality control has always been a little up and down with ASUS. I have owned a Laptop/Netbook/Tablet from them with no problems but searching through their forums see tons of people with issues. Again no problems here.
2. ICS is definately coming to the TF101 one way or another. ASUS guaranteed it and even if they back down we already have a couple ports in the process of being made. But, to your actual point, I have seen very little lag in the Honeycomb interface and have had an iPad 2 side by side with the TF101 and couldn't tell the difference (I work in IT and would be able to tell if one was "Slower" than the other). You may have a bad app/setup causing this but don't blame the OS as stock it runs buttery smooth and rooting it should add to it's speed.
3. Again, never noticed any playback issues watching all different kinds of videos from different locations. I would check for a bad app or maybe you set something up wrong. The Tegra2 processor (Albeit old) still holds its own.
4. $400 is a steal for a device of this quality/specs. Looking at the specs of the iPad 2 vs the Transformer they are much of the same. Of course the TF101 has a better res screen, can capture 1080p video vs the iPad2's 720p, ability to add USB ports to the TF101.... I could go on. Also, noticing a reacurring theme of you blaming the OS, for the TF's shortcomings. Should have named this thread iOS vs Honeycomb.....
5. Again, web browsing corresponds to the OS not the device itself. But at least on android you have the ability to have multiple browsers (With flash support) compared to iOS. I would like to see you put some examples of websites that requires you to have these browsers on the TF.
6. Another OS issue.
7. Another bad app most likely.
Please come back with more valid points. As of right now you hate android not the tablet.
(6. If the device didn't work on stock the way you wanted it to then why didn't you return it? Personally the second I booted it up it blew me away with it's speed / functionality even coming from CM on my phone, and obviously it was still running stock non rooted.)
Quality control is the only issue I have had so far..first TF101 had light bleed, second one does too, just not as pronounced and I can ignore it, and the first dock I got squealed annoyingly when charging the TF, other than that, it seems to work a dream, and the dock-laptop hybrid blows any ipad out of the water- two full size USB ports and an SD card reader? Plus a multi-touch mouse/full keyboard!!?? Hands down- ipad can suck it lol speed and hardware aside, I'll take the TF for the dock alone any day (I mean the TF has to function of course! But as I have seen it is comparable in speed to ipad2, plus OC and UV kernals YAY)
BTW, I had over 36hours on a full charge, dock included, before I had to charge the TF again, and I decided to charge at 15%. so I could have had another hour+ if I had let it sleep..honestly, don't see how someone can play a game on the TF for a solid hour, but I watched 4+ hours of news last night via WiFi on autobright and it didn't drag my battery below 50% even..and I don't think it was on a full charge when I started..I should really test it out more thoroughly, but so far it's the best battery life of any device I have seen ANYWHERE.
miketoasty said:
vs the iPad2's 720p,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
720p from a 0.7MP camera.. (and 0.3MP front facing)... That's going to look REALLY crappy unless you are wearing your supplied Apple Rose Tinted Glasses.
My Nokia 6300 from 4 years ago has nearly 3x that resolution, and it's considered obsolete by now.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ipad-ipad2-tablet-ios,news-10393.html
I agree with the OPs criticisms pretty much 100 percent. Although my time with Android has been fun, unless the usability, speed, and stability blow me away compared to Honeycomb I will probably look to switching to a Windows 8 tablet or whatever iPad is available down the line instead of purchasing another Android tablet.
Reproduction of regular videos from youtube on the tf101 are fine, I'm talking about matroska mkv and AVI videos(720p) here, those can be played fine on my nettop devices with single core atom and dual core atom with broadcom decoder cards, I paid for those nettops ($189 and $289 respectively).
in comparison the ipad 2 can play those videos(w/ Cinexplayer, XBMC and even the discontinued VLC for ipad 2)absolutely perfect, I can play my mkv and avi 720p movies on the ipad 2 without any drop frames, getting consistent 30fps without any sync issues as I have them randomly on my tf101 all the time(below 25fps and out of sync audio/video issues). I have tried the mx video player pro on the tf101, still doesn't work smoothly enough, getting there but have to constantly be switching audio/video modes, and most of the time have to select the fast mode on 720p playing which has a highly noticeable lower quality detail, and sometimes don't get any sound, have to switch to another audio codec to make it work. It's worth to mention mx video player pro application looks very promising.
Again, I guess tegra 2 is an underpowered SoC.
I'll explain just one single issue here: Just for the record, I encode my own videos, have several years of experience working with video editing at professional level, I take my blu-rays movies and tv series(blu-ray) and encode them using a state of the art video PC workstation, I use the x264 codec and utilize open source and proprietary libraries(H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) for the encoding. Result is a 100% perfectly encoded mkv and avi file in 720p resolution that can be played smoothly on my slowest nettop device w/single core atom CPU at 1.0 Ghz and of course on the Ipad 2 as well, I mentioned the word "of course" just because the ipad 2 is a dual core device running at 900 Mhz with a monster Dual GPU. My nettops have ubuntu linux for netbook and windows 7 starter operating systems.
I don't even want to mention the hdmi to TV output limitation(for videos) on tf101, it's completely laggy and simply slow and unplayable, I have 2 LCD tv's at home, 47" and 70" screen size at 60hz and 240hz respectively, my ipad 2 and my nettops can handle it thru hdmi at 720p and even at 1080p on both tv's. My Oc'd tf101 cannot handle properly my movies, any movie not even a 360p youtube video on my tv's. I found out, my tf101 can handle an acceptable output experience on my Asus 24" LCD monitor , as long as you don't play videos.
tf101 has serious issues for video reproduction, you can blame honeycomb or asus, I'm encourage to accept this fact as a current limitation on tegra 2 devices, will see how it does perform on ICS, not having hopes for it either. I'm starting to believe tegra 2 SoC is a poor chip for video reproduction. I'm not going to tolerate that, video reproduction is suppose to be perfect(like watching a regular bluray or dvd movie at home), no more no less.
Well, guess I'm done here since you still haven't admitted that it may possibly be what you have running on your device or any number of other issues. Again, video's run fine on my device and I am able to game using MiniHDMI - HDMI on my 52" TV using an emulator. Lag would be extremely noticeable here and like I have said, I have seen.... none.