Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 Review

Asus surprised everyone with the aptly Transformer tablet in early 2011 which combined a 10.1 inch Android tablet and a dock that added a keyboard straight out of a netbook and a battery pack for valued battery life. Since then Asus announced the successor to the original TF101 Transformer and gives us the what is today known as the Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201. So is it the Prime cut of meat we love to devour?

The Asus Transformer Prime was the first device to launch that ran Nvidia's Tegra 3 mobile system-on-chip solution and surprisingly is still one of the only devices shipping with the quad core processor. The most notable other device being the HTC One X smartphone.

Keeping things running smoothly behind the show include a full gigabyte of RAM, a ULP GeForce GPU and either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage. The tablet is available in “amethyst gray” and “champagne gold” colour schemes; we reviewed the champagne gold, 64 GB SKU. Price-wise, the 32 GB models will set you back £499.99, which includes the keyboard dock.

Software wise, the Prime launched with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and was the first Android device of great interest to get updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Endless specifications on paper will only get teach you so much however, so I advise you read onwards.

Key Specifications:

• 10.1 inch Super IPS+ 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen display
• 10 finger multi-touch support plus Corning's Gorilla Glass
• Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
• 1.3 GHz quad core ARM CPU with a ULP GeForce GPU
• 1 GB of RAM
• 32 GB or 64 GB (reviewed) of internal storage plus a MicroSD slot
• Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 8 MP rear facing camera with F2.4 aperture and LED flash
• 1080p video recording
• 1.2 MP front facing camera
• WLAN 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth V2.1+EDR
• Micro HDMI port
• 25Wh Li-Polymer battery
• Weighs in at 586 grams
• Just 8.3mm thick, full dimensions are 263 × 180.8 × 8.3mm

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