Hi all,
got the Flyer today, after some hours of playing around I'd like to share my thoughts with other users:
- solid thing, just opening the top to insert the cards was a bit tricky for me
- very fast, no problems with the HTC Sense interface, works perfectly fine. Still in applicaitions like Google Maps a bit slower than the Xoom I'm testing in parallel.
- I like the new e-Mail client and calendar application a lot.
- Being an intensive evernote user, I am happy that there is a good direct integration, also with the notes you can take with the pen. Well done!
- The speakers are great, one of the few things where I don't agree with the Engadget review which has been posted today. And: They are extremely loud, louder than any of the - many - devices I could test up to now, including iPad, iPad2, Galaxy Tab and Xoom.
- The screen is great and very bright, together with the loadspeakers a great experience in Youtube or watching one of the HQ movie trailers which came with the Flyer.
- Generally, I prefer the 7'' format over the 10'' of the Xoom and the iPad. I think it is the best tablet format for me. The weight lets you hold it for a very long time without getting tired, the Xoom (which I like a lot because of Honeycomb and the incredible speed) is too heavy for me.
- the typing experience is excellent, the Flyer has the right balance between being responsive, but not over-responsive. The Xoom seems to react to even the slightest touch, this was almost a bit too much for me in the beginning
- there is a significant frame around the screen, much larger than the Xoom has. This is sometimes a problem when using the Xoom because it is hard to hold without touching the screen (and eventually doing something unwanted), but the frame around the screen of the Flyer is really huge. This makes it easy to hold the device in several ways, though.
- The bag shipped with the device is a joke from my point of view, first of all it does not allow you to use the device when in the bag, second the pen is attached outside and somehow always disturbing; also I guess it will be lost soon. I will wait for something which holds the pen inside and can be opened to use the Flyer without taking it out.
- Mixed feelings about the pen: The setup in the bottom right corner is excellent and intuitive and the pen seems to react quite quickly, it is fun to use. But: The hardware is not my favorite at all. Especially the buttons on the pen are hard to reach and it is not easy to hold it naturally
- Some new functionality in the browser including small thumbnails of the open windows, well done. Also pinch out works. I like it, it seems to be very fast and the re-arrangement of the text when zooming seems to be excellent.
- Although I don't need a camera in a device like that and I really don't care, still to mention that the camera seems to be really terrible.
- Installed tons of apps, everything works great, no speed issues at all.
- HTC Sense in the tablet edition is great. Some new additions for books, notes,... first impression everything well done, HTC
My first summary after a couple of hours is very positive. Let's see how I think after a week or two. No comments at that point about battery life for sure, but the Engadget review (and the very first, non-reliable own impressions) give me a good feeling.
Questions anytime, for sure! And appologies for my German English
Got mine today too.
I am fairly impressed and looking forward to taking it out and about with me tomorrow. I am curious to see if I can get 2 days battery life out of it or not.
The screen is wonderful. No other word for it. I used to think Super AMOLED was the best, but this is the best screen I have seen on an Android device.
The browser is excellent. Fast, stable, easy to use.
I find the pen fairly good. Though I keep pressing the buttons when I dont mean to. I cant wait to use it in a meeting!
Using Kindle on the device seems to be a great experience. The inbuilt ebook reader is really nice, but I am a Kindle user.
The updated HTC mail app is lovely as is the weather and calendar. But the software is not particularly tablet friendly otherwise. I like Sense and am using friend stream for the first time on at HTC device (this is my 3rd) and it works well.
The form factor is excellent. Easy to hold in one hand. It is quite a bit heavier than a Kindle despite not being much larger, but I am sure I could hold it all day without too much trouble unlike a 10" 700g device like the ipad2.
It's not all great though. I have had a few crashes through the day and the performance is not always silky smooth. I find the volume buttons a bit rattly and whilst the speakers are good, they are really not that good. There is no search button which I definitely miss and it is a major fingerprint magnet.
Overall, I am really pleased with the device so far. Feel free to ask any questions.
Hi Onkel,
Can you say a bit more about how writing with the pen feels like? The reviews are all saying that it's not that great for regular note taking (as opposed to doodling/drawing), especially in comparison with wacom digitizers on windows tablets. I have a win tablet right now and this makes me a bit
hard to tell for me, as my personal tablet experiences come from an IBM Thinkpad a couple of years ago.
Generally, I guess the Flyer will be for short note taking rather than replacing a tablet Pc. There is no handwriting recognition for the Flyer yet, and even if it will be available later, I think the handwriting quality I produce on the device will not be good enough.
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use. Other example, for our corporate website I do a lot of commenting on improvements and bugs, the screenshot & comment feature with the pen is simply wonderful...
thoughts on performance?
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
I am a little worried about purchasing a device that is already outdated, especially when there are rumors of amazing releasing both dual core and quad core tablets before the end of the year, the scribe tech has be pretty excited about this tablet, but i think i'm reeling in my expectations after reading some reviews.
thanks!
kborer22 said:
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was me. If you start to go into 3D and then turn the map with the finger, I see a difference. No issue at all. As usual, once you have used a device like the Xoom, which is setting a new standard as I think, you get used to it.
This is a 1.5 ghz device and couple of months ago I thought 1 ghz is all I will ever need
I an very pleased with the performance up to now, and I started tons of apps yesterday and it works great. SlideIT keyboard, which I am using right now, is a great performance test and it works great also.
The bigger question for you will be whether the pen turns out to be a toy or an important tool. I am not sure yet...
kborer22 said:
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
I am a little worried about purchasing a device that is already outdated, especially when there are rumors of amazing releasing both dual core and quad core tablets before the end of the year, the scribe tech has be pretty excited about this tablet, but i think i'm reeling in my expectations after reading some reviews.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would describe the performance as similar overall to my Desire HD. It is all the speed you would need, but not the fastest thing out there. I have found it does bog down sometimes which a dual core might not, but nothing to cause me concern personally.
OnkelAlbert said:
hard to tell for me, as my personal tablet experiences come from an IBM Thinkpad a couple of years ago.
Generally, I guess the Flyer will be for short note taking rather than replacing a tablet Pc. There is no handwriting recognition for the Flyer yet, and even if it will be available later, I think the handwriting quality I produce on the device will not be good enough.
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use. Other example, for our corporate website I do a lot of commenting on improvements and bugs, the screenshot & comment feature with the pen is simply wonderful...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I mainly want to use it as a substitute notebook for my college classes so how well it emulates pen and paper is something to think about.
Any impressions on the battery life? The reviews say you get a full day and more of standard use. Is the only batter hog video playback (the stated 4 hours of playback time)?
OnkelAlbert said:
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also looking forward to usage of the pen and found your PDF comment interesting. Did you have to take a screenshot and work with that, or could you open the PDF in the book reader, which I know has added pen applications?
veethree said:
I'm also looking forward to usage of the pen and found your PDF comment interesting. Did you have to take a screenshot and work with that, or could you open the PDF in the book reader, which I know has added pen applications?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a document which I recieved as an attachment. I opened it, wrote on it, press save, email. Simply great, no screenshot necessary...
Bigmuzzy said:
Thanks. I mainly want to use it as a substitute notebook for my college classes so how well it emulates pen and paper is something to think about.
Any impressions on the battery life? The reviews say you get a full day and more of standard use. Is the only batter hog video playback (the stated 4 hours of playback time)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
regarding battery life, I am on a conference all day and the Flyer was with me all day, pushing and answering emails, taking notes and doing Demos for my collegues...
after half day battery says 76%. So I guess running out of battery during the day seems impossible to me, as long as you don't spend most of the day with Angry Birds and movies
Did anyone manage to use the flyer in making gsm calls???!!!!!
Hi
Wants about video streaming to TV , does it have HDMI via USB cable or DLNA . HTC web site in official specs does not mention anything about it.
ahm1010 said:
Hi
Wants about video streaming to TV , does it have HDMI via USB cable or DLNA . HTC web site in official specs does not mention anything about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It definitely supports DLNA although I havent tried to get it working yet. I have heard there is meant to be HDMI out through the USB port and the fact the port is Ext-MicroUSB suggests as much, but I haven't seen the cable for sale anywhere.
The Jones said:
It definitely supports DLNA although I havent tried to get it working yet. I have heard there is meant to be HDMI out through the USB port and the fact the port is Ext-MicroUSB suggests as much, but I haven't seen the cable for sale anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen some EXT-microUSB tot hdmi cables somewhere... So yes, it'll be able to work trough usb port
OnkelAlbert said:
regarding battery life, I am on a conference all day and the Flyer was with me all day, pushing and answering emails, taking notes and doing Demos for my collegues...
after half day battery says 76%. So I guess running out of battery during the day seems impossible to me, as long as you don't spend most of the day with Angry Birds and movies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that I now use my Flyer too much! Love the note taking and ebook reading. The size is perfect. So the battery does last a day, but I always give a quick charge during the day just in case.
Hi. With regards to the Evernote integration on the Flyer, is it possible to maintain a copy of the created notes locally on the Flyer in addition to having them synced with Evernotes on the web ?
Having a local copy on the device will definitely speed up the retrieval of created notes and give you access to these notes when there is no internet access available.
A suggestion and a question.
The suggestion is for those who keep clicking the button inadvertently. There are pen/pencil grips you can buy that will cover the button so you have to press down firmly to activate it.
The question is whether there are any options to control pen vs. finger input. For example, on my tablet, I can set the N-Trig control to "auto." At this setting, the tablet will recognize finger input until I use the pen, at which point it will switch to pen-only input. When I want to use my finger again, I just tap twice on the screen with my finger. That way there's never any palm recognition issues.
sevoflurane said:
Did anyone manage to use the flyer in making gsm calls???!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As others have said elsewhere, NO you don't even have the dial button or app in the list of applications to make a gsm call.
Perhaps when the flyer is rooted we will have some devs working on that.
OnkelAlbert said:
Hi all,
got the Flyer today, after some hours of playing around I'd like to share my thoughts with other users:
- solid thing, just opening the top to insert the cards was a bit tricky for me
- very fast, no problems with the HTC Sense interface, works perfectly fine. Still in applicaitions like Google Maps a bit slower than the Xoom I'm testing in parallel.
- I like the new e-Mail client and calendar application a lot.
- Being an intensive evernote user, I am happy that there is a good direct integration, also with the notes you can take with the pen. Well done!
- The speakers are great, one of the few things where I don't agree with the Engadget review which has been posted today. And: They are extremely loud, louder than any of the - many - devices I could test up to now, including iPad, iPad2, Galaxy Tab and Xoom.
- The screen is great and very bright, together with the loadspeakers a great experience in Youtube or watching one of the HQ movie trailers which came with the Flyer.
- Generally, I prefer the 7'' format over the 10'' of the Xoom and the iPad. I think it is the best tablet format for me. The weight lets you hold it for a very long time without getting tired, the Xoom (which I like a lot because of Honeycomb and the incredible speed) is too heavy for me.
- the typing experience is excellent, the Flyer has the right balance between being responsive, but not over-responsive. The Xoom seems to react to even the slightest touch, this was almost a bit too much for me in the beginning
- there is a significant frame around the screen, much larger than the Xoom has. This is sometimes a problem when using the Xoom because it is hard to hold without touching the screen (and eventually doing something unwanted), but the frame around the screen of the Flyer is really huge. This makes it easy to hold the device in several ways, though.
- The bag shipped with the device is a joke from my point of view, first of all it does not allow you to use the device when in the bag, second the pen is attached outside and somehow always disturbing; also I guess it will be lost soon. I will wait for something which holds the pen inside and can be opened to use the Flyer without taking it out.
- Mixed feelings about the pen: The setup in the bottom right corner is excellent and intuitive and the pen seems to react quite quickly, it is fun to use. But: The hardware is not my favorite at all. Especially the buttons on the pen are hard to reach and it is not easy to hold it naturally
- Some new functionality in the browser including small thumbnails of the open windows, well done. Also pinch out works. I like it, it seems to be very fast and the re-arrangement of the text when zooming seems to be excellent.
- Although I don't need a camera in a device like that and I really don't care, still to mention that the camera seems to be really terrible.
- Installed tons of apps, everything works great, no speed issues at all.
- HTC Sense in the tablet edition is great. Some new additions for books, notes,... first impression everything well done, HTC
My first summary after a couple of hours is very positive. Let's see how I think after a week or two. No comments at that point about battery life for sure, but the Engadget review (and the very first, non-reliable own impressions) give me a good feeling.
Questions anytime, for sure! And appologies for my German English
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the multitouch? How much points does it have? Could you test it for me? I want to buy one too.
Thanks Tbo-art
Related
I won't go over describing details of the product, other reviews/unboxings can provide that... only my thoughts after owning it for over 36-hours. This is the Best Buy 16GB WiFi model.
Hardware and Accessories
Great design that feels good in the hand. Although dense, and not as light as some, it did not ever feel heavy in my hands. I usually use it one handed. It always feels fast and responsive.
After owning mainly Apple products the last several years, the quality of the HTC Flyer is as close to A-level as I have seen in a competitor. (It does look like Samsung's new Galaxy Tab molds are just as good if not better.)
Only a power adapter and USB sync cable are included in the box. A simple pocket sized user manual, an HTC warranty, and contact information are included as well. No pen, no case, and no earbuds are in the box. We knew that no pen would be in the box, and the earbuds would have been subpar, but the case would have been really nice to have.
Software
It booted quickly and walked me through linking all of my accounts. Only the Reader application, powered by Kobo needed to be setup separately. I absolutely love HTC Sense. The bundled widgets, themes, wallpapers, sound sets, and application really make the device. If I have to have something wrapped around Android, I pick HTC Sense. Shipping the tablet with a "vanilla" version of Android would have left me wanting more. The third-party applications that were bundled are useful and fill in the gaps nicely. Polaris Office integrates with Notes (powered by Evernote) nicely. They work hand in hand.
Notes is a great app that works well on this tablet, and the syncing with Evernote is a key feature. I haven't tried Timemark yet, and don't see needing it much. I will give it ago at my next staff meeting however, just for fun. HTC Watch works well, although their selection of movies is quite sparse. Since some HTC phones are now Netflix-ready, I am hoping the Flyer will be as well. I tried streaming Amazon On Demand content, but the movies would never load. (I might try updating Flash and see if that helps.) The Reader app supports Kobo purchased/download books. A Kobo account and an Adobe ID is required for using. The pen is not required to highlight content in the Reader app, not any other app for that matter. Friend Stream and the Music applications are cool, and their widgets work well. Mail and Calendar seem to support my work's Exchange account very well. Gmail's application is the standard fair, and get the job done. Maps and Locations work great, with excellent GPS response times and accuracy. Some Market downloaded apps aren't pretty when resized to a 7-inch screen, Pandora for example, but most seemed acceptable. The built in Gallery apps supports the video formats I need it to... MP4 and AVI and the interface/playback is great. However, it won't see the media on my DLNA compatible Buffalo NAS. It sees the NAS, but not the files.
The Pen
In short, it just works OK. Accuracy and pressure response is good, but it seems to take longer to write on the screen that I would like. Definitely try before you by, or be ready to return after trying at home. It would seem better if it was free, or in the $20-40 range. $80 is just too much for something that can only be used in 2-3 applications. I also feel it will take some getting use. Writing on glass is a unique experience. My handwriting looks worse that when using ink on paper.It is nice to mark up documents with the pen, or to draw shapes, maps, and diagrams. But I think typing on the keyboard is so quick and easy, it will be my referred method of note taking. Although a unique accessory, the optional pen is my least favorite aspect of the device. I should probably return it, but I might find uses for it down the road.
Overall
I love the HTC Flyer. I will probably keep it and get enjoyment using it at work, on the road, and from the comfort of my couch.
I sold my iPad earlier this year. I wasn't impressed with the iPad 2. The Nook Color is a great value, but I returned it as although the mods work well, their always seems to be something missing feature wise or with application support.
The two biggest draws (uniqueness) to the HTC Flyer for me that have let me down so far are the pen, and On Live supporting being nonexistent. The other draws of size, build quality, and software integration have all met or exceeded my expectations.
I am slightly concerned that the upcoming Galaxy Tab 8.9" might be the winner of the small tablets. The industrial design and native Honeycomb support could make it the best choice. And the lack of On Live gaming support and the arguable usefulness of HTC Scribe make it look even more appealing. However, I was tired of waiting for a tablet that made me happy. And Honeycomb application and developer support is extremely light. I think HTC Sense is needed to make a tablet this size truly useful.
Hardware = 9
Software = 10
Uniqueness = 3
Overall = 7
jwiskowski said:
I won't go over describing details of the product, other reviews/unboxings can provide that... only my thoughts after owning it for over 36-hours. This is the Best Buy 16GB WiFi model.
Hardware and Accessories
Great design that feels good in the hand. Although dense, and not as light as some, it did not ever feel heavy in my hands. I usually use it one handed. It always feels fast and responsive.
After owning mainly Apple products the last several years, the quality of the HTC Flyer is as close to A-level as I have seen in a competitor. (It does look like Samsung's new Galaxy Tab molds are just as good if not better.)
Only a power adapter and USB sync cable are included in the box. A simple pocket sized user manual, an HTC warranty, and contact information are included as well. No pen, no case, and no earbuds are in the box. We knew that no pen would be in the box, and the earbuds would have been subpar, but the case would have been really nice to have.
Software
It booted quickly and walked me through linking all of my accounts. Only the Reader application, powered by Kobo needed to be setup separately. I absolutely love HTC Sense. The bundled widgets, themes, wallpapers, sound sets, and application really make the device. If I have to have something wrapped around Android, I pick HTC Sense. Shipping the tablet with a "vanilla" version of Android would have left me wanting more. The third-party applications that were bundled are useful and fill in the gaps nicely. Polaris Office integrates with Notes (powered by Evernote) nicely. They work hand in hand.
Notes is a great app that works well on this tablet, and the syncing with Evernote is a key feature. I haven't tried Timemark yet, and don't see needing it much. I will give it ago at my next staff meeting however, just for fun. HTC Watch works well, although their selection of movies is quite sparse. Since some HTC phones are now Netflix-ready, I am hoping the Flyer will be as well. I tried streaming Amazon On Demand content, but the movies would never load. (I might try updating Flash and see if that helps.) The Reader app supports Kobo purchased/download books. A Kobo account and an Adobe ID is required for using. The pen is not required to highlight content in the Reader app, not any other app for that matter. Friend Stream and the Music applications are cool, and their widgets work well. Mail and Calendar seem to support my work's Exchange account very well. Gmail's application is the standard fair, and get the job done. Maps and Locations work great, with excellent GPS response times and accuracy. Some Market downloaded apps aren't pretty when resized to a 7-inch screen, Pandora for example, but most seemed acceptable. The built in Gallery apps supports the video formats I need it to... MP4 and AVI and the interface/playback is great. However, it won't see the media on my DLNA compatible Buffalo NAS. It sees the NAS, but not the files.
The Pen
In short, it just works OK. Accuracy and pressure response is good, but it seems to take longer to write on the screen that I would like. Definitely try before you by, or be ready to return after trying at home. It would seem better if it was free, or in the $20-40 range. $80 is just too much for something that can only be used in 2-3 applications. I also feel it will take some getting use. Writing on glass is a unique experience. My handwriting looks worse that when using ink on paper.It is nice to mark up documents with the pen, or to draw shapes, maps, and diagrams. But I think typing on the keyboard is so quick and easy, it will be my referred method of note taking. Although a unique accessory, the optional pen is my least favorite aspect of the device. I should probably return it, but I might find uses for it down the road.
Overall
I love the HTC Flyer. I will probably keep it and get enjoyment using it at work, on the road, and from the comfort of my couch.
I sold my iPad earlier this year. I wasn't impressed with the iPad 2. The Nook Color is a great value, but I returned it as although the mods work well, their always seems to be something missing feature wise or with application support.
The two biggest draws (uniqueness) to the HTC Flyer for me that have let me down so far are the pen, and On Live supporting being nonexistent. The other draws of size, build quality, and software integration have all met or exceeded my expectations.
I am slightly concerned that the upcoming Galaxy Tab 8.9" might be the winner of the small tablets. The industrial design and native Honeycomb support could make it the best choice. And the lack of On Live gaming support and the arguable usefulness of HTC Scribe make it look even more appealing. However, I was tired of waiting for a tablet that made me happy. And Honeycomb application and developer support is extremely light. I think HTC Sense is needed to make a tablet this size truly useful.
Hardware = 9
Software = 10
Uniqueness = 3
Overall = 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed on most points but HIGHLY disagree on the uniqueness since there are no android tablets released with the same functionality. The scribe pen can be better but other devices have NO pen.
The lack of OnLive support that was once promised really bothered me. And I felt that lack of the pen being bundled, and costing $80 hurts the device. Let alone it not being terribly necessary.
Good review I don't have a problem with the pen being a seperate item. It keeps the.cost down for people who don't need it. The mighty dollar isn't what it use to be.
jwiskowski said:
The lack of OnLive support that was once promised really bothered me. And I felt that lack of the pen being bundled, and costing $80 hurts the device. Let alone it not being terribly necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I somewhat agree with both points. Keep the cost low for those who don't want the pen but at the same time its the selling point for the device. To be honest without the pen its just a gtab.
Bxsteez said:
Agreed on most points but HIGHLY disagree on the uniqueness since there are no android tablets released with the same functionality. The scribe pen can be better but other devices have NO pen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree also. Uniqueness should score a little higher due to the pen. The pen integration seperates this device from all other tabs on the market. It could bring this device into the boardroom. I'm finding that writing on glass is difficult, and hoping a screen protector will help. Unfortunately we may be at the whim of HTC for pen support in apps (they have released the SDKs, but will depend on the popularity of the device). PDF Viewer seem suitable to get around PDF docs. I also like the "livescribe-esque" capabilities of recording and time-syncing meeting notes. Yet to tell if this device will make it into my daily workflow... We'll see in the upcoming week(s). I'm hoping for the best.
Prime first Impressions. Well gang I have had this since the 23rd and played with it over the holidays. I am sorry to report that so far I am not very impressed with this tablet.
First, While I guess thin is good in some ways, it presents problems in others, especialy when the back is smooth metal. This tablet is REAL hard to hold onto. I just can't beleive that none of the initial early reports out there mention this. Everyone that has held mine has the same comment about being hard to hold onto and afraid of droping it. Also the edge is rather abrupt and not rounded or smooth, which is not pleasant. I get hand craps trying to hold it while laying in bed reading at night. You will need a cover for this thing just to make it "Holdable"
The next big let down is the the keyboard. There are two options and they both are very lacking in my optionion. Niether of them have push to hold keys with special characters so that is a real PIA always having to switch modes when you want a special character. No cursor movement keys which is nuts on a big keyboard like this. They have a light version of swype, but that is missing some of the better features that normal swype has. Of couse you can get another keyboard on the market. I am sort of liking HACKER keyboard at the moment.
The biggest let down is performance. I can't tell a bit a difference between this and my Toshiba Thrive. In fact, I suspect my Thrive is equal to or faster than the prime. I will have to run some timing tests and get back to you on this to verify, but the impression says it all. I base this comment on Web Browsing, which to me is one of the primary attractions to using tablets. This think can't hold a candle to IPAD2 in WEB performance I am sorry to say. Even general tablet navaigation speed is not impressive, again, not noticably different than my Thrive. I am really let down by the QUAD CORE hype because I see no noticable speed improvements. Even screen touch responsiveness seems to be slow. Thinking back, many of the early video reviews showed the user having slow response or tapping twice at times to get the tab to respond.
Lastely, the battery life is not impressive at all. It seems to be about 5-6 hours. I can run all day on my Thrive. This unit needs to be recharched before the day is over.
I really hope either updates or ICS come out and fix some of this because I am not happy that I just paid $500 for this tablet.
Sorry for the negative report, but I suspect you are going to start seeing a lot of them unless maybe I just got a lemon, which I doubt. I am not sure anyone should be upset about missing this for XMAS, or at all. I may even sell mine if anyone is interested. It is just not that much better than my Thrive. It is smaller and lighter, but you can't hold the darn thing so that ruins that, and general performance is not noticably better. I am afraid this tablet is mostly hype from what I am seeing and does not deliver much over existing dual core tablets.
1. I don't find it too terribly hard to hold, but I suppose if your hands get sweaty easily you may have to get a cover. Easy fix.
2. Stock keyboards usually suck, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Fortunately on Android you have a metric ton of options for keyboards. Again, easy fix.
3. Performance, with HC it seems to be the same old song and dance...slow. I agree there isn't anything groundbreaking about the interface fluidity. Browser sucks, it's no iPad (and never will be due to the Andorid framework) and everyone knows it as it has been mention umpteen times before. There are alternatives to the stock browser such as Opera that make things smoother but they all have their own shortcomings.
--As far as comparing it to the Thrive, performance could be similar or night and day depending on what you're doing with the device. For example, with simple media consumption you won't see much difference, but I've yet to see the Thrive play 1080p. Additionally, like it or not, but the Thrive is a dead platform as far as development (I'm sure you've seen the forums).
4. Battery, I cannot make a fair observation yet as my battery hasn't been broken in yet. But so far I'm averaging 6-7 hours of good use.
Asus has some serious bugs to work out, there is no denying that. But, in my opinion the biggest issue with the Prime is the level of hype this thing has received,which led to unrealistic expectations.
Oh dear... I just sold my TF101 because of browser lag and general sluggishness, and pre-ordered one of these. looks like I may be disappointed when it turns up (3x weeks here in UK).
So let's summarize:
_ The form factor is a copy cat of the ipad2 which is praised by everyone but for the Prime it's not a good thing.
_ The virtual keyboard, which can be change whenever with whatever in a blink of an eyes, isn't good enough for you.
_ Perfomances of Tegra 3 are egal or worse than those of Tegra 2. Yeah right.
_ Battery life doesn't hold more than 6 hours.... Are you stuck in Super IPS+ mode ?
I don't have the prime, sure, but strangely enough I have a hard time believing you.
I'm not particularly bothered by stock keyboards, since you can install others, and the battery life sounds a little low compared to what I've heard before?
But as for performance, as I was just writing in another thread, I think that the problem is that people who already have dual-core tablets were looking for an instant speed boost here and not finding it. If you already have a dual-core tablet, I'd stick with that for now and see what comes out in the coming year. For now, Tegra 3 has at least as much power as Tegra 2 in applications which are not highly multithreaded, while using less power. Hopefully we will see threadedness become more of a priority as more devices with more than two cores come out, and more of the dormant power of the Prime will be realised.
(This is just what happened on desktops, of course: when quad-cores came out, people were divided on whether it was worth having two extra cores or having a faster-clocked dual-core chip. Faster dual-cores were winning at the time, because most applications couldn't make use of a quad-core. The balance has been tipping in favour of quad-cores ever since, and they're now essentially standard on the desktop, and my quad-core Q6600 has aged much better than the "faster" dual-cores of the time.)
kokusho said:
So let's summarize:
_ The form factor is a copy cat of the ipad2 which is praised by everyone but for the Prime it's not a good thing.
_ The virtual keyboard, which can be change whenever with whatever in a blink of an eyes, isn't good enough for you.
_ Perfomances of Tegra 3 are egal or worse than those of Tegra 2. Yeah right.
_ Battery life doesn't hold more than 6 hours.... Are you stuck in Super IPS+ mode ?
I don't have the prime, sure, but strangely enough I have a hard time believing you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kokusho,
Beleive me or not, start reading other posts and you will see similar reports already. If you think I broke my butt stalking my local gamestop daily to spend $500 hard erned money to bash it, think again. Your response it rather aggressive considering I took time to document my impressions to help people
To answer your points:
Form factor - the metal back is slick and of course glass is slick. You will see for yourself if/when you hold one. It is not horrible, but very much something that gets noticed buy everyone that has held this.
Keyboard - My keyboard on my HTC phone is better than this. You would just think that when you pay $500 for a nice tab, and the keyboard is the primary interface to it, they manafacturer would spend some effect to make sure it is a good experience and not drive us to search the market for something better.
Performance - I SPECIFICALLY said in my post that this was a WEB observation. I am sure that for other more CPU intesive apps like games, this will perform better. I have Shadowgun on my Thrive and will compare as time permits. Again, the title here is INITIAL impressions
Battery Life - Screen brightness is about 1/2 and I have had it mostly in balanced mode and then go to power saver when I see it getting real low. Again, this is new and the battery has not come to life yet so that may improve.
The camera is also pretty good which was important to me. The other thing I really wanted was the SUPER IPS to read in the sun (I can barely see my Thrive in the sun) since I now use tablets for my book reading and want to be able to read outside. I still have to test this later today.
To be clear to all, I am not trying to bash this unit. To the contrary I am trying to talk myself into it was worth all the effort and cost to get it. It is probably is the best tablet out there at the moment, but it is just not living up to the hype. Also, is it that much better than the dual cores out there? Maybe if you are a gamer it would make a difference. For an average user, I would recommend saving the cash and getting a Thrive or previous ASUS TF101 model. Maybe ICS will make a difference.
From my one day use of the Prime:
I got the smart cover for prime, so holding does not seems to be an issue. But, then I again it is not a drawback as such. Anything which is thin and wide will be difficult to hold. Comparison to iPad2 is not accurate it would seem, because holding it in portrait mode seems pretty fine, but landscape mode may be difficult owing to the width of this thing.
Keyboard is a non-issue. you can always switch to honeycomb keyboard, which is way better than the Prime's default properitay keyboard, in which for some reason I dont feel the keys are placed properly, more often than not I end up hitting wrong letter. But, as I said it is a non-issue, Thumb keyboard works perfectly.
Did not have much experience with the browser yet, as I was busy installing apps mostly. But, from what I saw little bit, it seems to be fine, if you dont draw comparison against any other tablet. Should wait for ICS to really judge its performance.
Battery, since I inadverently left it at power saving mode, it was left with 50% charge after about 4-5 hours with screen on and playing and browsing.
I would rate it as 4/5 pre-ICS. But with the scope of getting ICS sooner, which will make the best use of Tegra 3, it might end up with 4.5/5.
And let's not forget why Prime is still a great tablet even without taking advantage of Tegra 3:
+Awesome build quality
+Great display with super IPS
+Gorilla glass panel to protect
+ 8 MP camera
+32GB for the sub $500 price range
I was paying for the hardware, more than the software and I am not disppointed. If I say, this is the best 32GB tab you will get for under $500 in 2011 or in Q1 of 2012, can anyone object it?
these negative first impressions are really getting old and annoying.
hard to hold? really? thing is ligher than a feather with a nice bezel for your thumb.
your thrive is faster? really? lol the thrive? lord.. this thing navigates through honey comb like butter while every other first gen tablet with more than 20 apps on it can't handle it
your keyboard stinks? and you are an android fan? just get a new keyboard. first thing i did was install swiftkey.
I appreciate the honest review.
For the average consumer, sure, the stock keyboard should probably be really good. But given you're on XDA, you should know how to install a *much* better keyboard... issue solved.
As far as speed - did you test out Opera browsing speed? Very smooth. Yes, there are quirks with it, and still probably not as smooth as an iPad, but it works great.
I haven't had any laginess in my interface speed at all (i.e. screen transitions, app drawer opening, etc.), even with HD live wallpaper on.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - to me, iOS and Apple products work much better straight out of the box if you don't want to fool with anything. Android devices require a little work with downloading third party keyboards, different roms, etc. But when all is said and done, that IS the fun part of Android for me! Maybe not for the average consumer, but jus' saying.
About performance - HC browser has some huge bug which causes it to sleep for a moment sometimes. Solution: use any other browser (Dolphin or Opera work best for me). Don't judge the tablet on HC browser - if it lags on Tegra2 device it will lag on Tegra3 device too, just for a shorter time (still noticable though, on my Transformer HC browser lags sometimes for 10 seconds, haha, that is why I don't use it).
About keyboard - I prefer the stock HC, I agree that the one from Asus is quite horrible. All of this could be fixed by you in 1 minute and the browser will almost certainly be fixed by ICS update.
Why do people keep complaining about the keyboards in TP, is this your first Android devices? Just go the market and download a ton of keyboards.
And same with the browsers.
yumms said:
why do people keep complaining about the keyboards in tp, is this your first android devices? Just go the market and download a ton of keyboards.
And same with the browsers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
yumms said:
Why do people keep complaining about the keyboards in TP, is this your first Android devices? Just go the market and download a ton of keyboards.
And same with the browsers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, sure you can download a ton of keyboards. But a strong majority of them simply are not good. I don't like Swype or Swift-X and I gave both of them a good run. I've liked HTC's keyboard the most, but on phones. And I do like stock Android keyboard on ICS, which will come to Prime at some point.
Same with browsers? Don't think so. I prefer the original browser in that it is not bloated at all compared to Opera or Dolphin. I want bare-bones browsing that is fast, I don't want to be cluttered by features I don't use.
Simply because you can get another browser or keyboard for Prime does not mean that the other one is necessarily better for you or without problems.
kristovaher said:
First of all, sure you can download a ton of keyboards. But a strong majority of them simply are not good. I don't like Swype or Swift-X and I gave both of them a good run. I've liked HTC's keyboard the most, but on phones. And I do like stock Android keyboard on ICS, which will come to Prime at some point.
Same with browsers? Don't think so. I prefer the original browser in that it is not bloated at all compared to Opera or Dolphin. I want bare-bones browsing that is fast, I don't want to be cluttered by features I don't use.
Simply because you can get another browser or keyboard for Prime does not mean that the other one is necessarily better for you or without problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can download the ICS keyboard from the market.
What makes you say that Opera or Dolphin browsers are bloated?
yumms said:
You can download the ICS keyboard from the market.
What makes you say that Opera or Dolphin browsers are bloated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure he knows that.. he is a 'tech wizard'...
@OP yup battery life really sucks #sarcasm. Stick to ur thrive then
kristovaher said:
First of all, sure you can download a ton of keyboards. But a strong majority of them simply are not good. I don't like Swype or Swift-X and I gave both of them a good run. I've liked HTC's keyboard the most, but on phones. And I do like stock Android keyboard on ICS, which will come to Prime at some point.
Same with browsers? Don't think so. I prefer the original browser in that it is not bloated at all compared to Opera or Dolphin. I want bare-bones browsing that is fast, I don't want to be cluttered by features I don't use.
Simply because you can get another browser or keyboard for Prime does not mean that the other one is necessarily better for you or without problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each person has their own needs, so it's totally fair to say that the prime is not what you expected. I'm a little disappointed myself at the fact that there are no good academic research paper organizing apps for Android tablets.
However, saying the stock browser is not bloated compared to Opera... come on. I wouldn't expect my parents to download third party browsers, keyboards, etc. to make their device satisfactory - but you're clearly somewhat of a tech person, so your comments are kind of strange to me. You can download just about any keyboard possible. If you aren't satisfied with ANY of them, I don't think you're trying hard enough, or you are just set on being unhappy with the stock keyboard. And that's fine. Each to his own.
yumms said:
You can download the ICS keyboard from the market.
What makes you say that Opera or Dolphin browsers are bloated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped using Dolphin once they let this eZine (or whatever it was called) happen to my browser. I like Opera much more and the mini version is not bloated, but Opera mobile browser does not listen to 'Enter' key as the submitting command on forms that do not have separate button on websites for it. As a result I found myself jumping back and forth between native browser and Opera one, which obviously sucks.
After using Galaxy Nexus for a while and since I use Chrome at home, the bookmark and other sync options natively are much preferred as well.
flak0 said:
@OP yup battery life really sucks #sarcasm. Stick to ur thrive then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn! lmfao is that on battery savings mode? no other tablet has even touched that kind of battery life. I just switched from normal to battery savings mode to see if I can pull those numbers. actually thrive has one of the worst batteries of any tablet. its replaceable but very small. that was the main gripe about the thrive, its horrible battery life and that it was the thickest and heaviest of all tabs. now the newer 7 inch is very thin and light but still plagued by dismal battery life.
flak0 said:
@OP yup battery life really sucks #sarcasm. Stick to ur thrive then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh? You barely used it mate. Look at the battery drop while you actually used the device. Of those 14 hours you did not use the device for 11 hours. According to that graph your actual 100% in-use battery time is about 7-8 hours.
demandarin said:
damn! lmfao is that on battery savings mode? no other tablet has even touched that kind of battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please pay attention to what the graph actually says. It shows that he had the device inactive for 11 hours. He only used it for 3 hours.
This is for the people Satisfied with their device. People that are happy with device. THE ones who were glad to make their purchase and would do it all over again. Basically for those with a more Positive outlook on life n doesn't let little things get to them
This thread will be an expansion of the Positive Transformer Thread going in a more detailed direction. I'm sure a majority of you, like myself are tired of all the complaint threads about what Prime doesn't do well or not at all. Soo.....
This thread is to list "What does work great on your Prime". Also how does Prime help you in day to day functionality? Like examples of the Prime being very useful or coming in handy in everyday scenarios. How do your friends, family, and peers react when showing off the power of Prime? What are some standout features on Prime? Positive stories n testimonials fully welcomed. All others will be Charbroiled! Lol
So you can see the direction this thread is trying to take. To expand on the great form factor and functionality of a device that works well for you. With so many issue threads, its time to expand on the flip side, the Majority side, that most here in Xda actually love their device and keeping it.
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There's more than enough complaint threads as there is. This is another way of letting new people know that things on the surface aren't always what it seems. There's a flip side to every story.
"EVERYTHING IS NOT AS GOOD AS IT SEEMS AND EVERYTHING NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS, SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN, REALITY FALLS" Remember that with anything in life
Update: We now have Official Bootloader Unlock Tool. More reason to be happy to own a Prime. Custom roms will be here b4 you know it!
Everything works on my prime except GPS. Serial # BC, still running .11 stock.
I sit at a computer all day for my job, so I really just wanted a device that I could plop into bed with to surf the web and watch videos. In that respect, the Prime is perfect. Web browsing is as fast or faster than my netbook, and I really like physically interacting with web pages - a touch interface is the way to browse the web, IMO.
Considering I have yet to use my prime while not laying in bed, functional GPS is obviously a non-issue for me. This is a good thing, since the GPS on mine is entirely broken.
My biggest concern was WiFi performance, but I have to say I've never noticed a problem. I sit fairly close to my router in my small studio apartment, so it's possible I've never gone far enough away from it to notice signal degradation. However, I can routinely achieve speeds of > 15Mb / 5Mb down/up anywhere in my apartment, which is more than sufficient for my means.
Gaming was another big selling point for me, and not much needs to be said about the Tegra 3. Thing is a beast. We all know Android doesn't even fully utilize that horsepower, so I'm pretty excited to see what the dev community comes up with after we unlock the BL
Finally, I love the form factor. The thinness and lightness of the TP astounds me every day. And signal attenuation aside, I love the spun aluminum case. It looks and feels premium, durable and high quality. I may be an Android fanboy, but I have to give Apple props for their solid build quality - now I have to give Asus props as well, because the TP is probably the prettiest piece of Kit I've seen in the Android world so far.
I've been very happy with my unit so far. I know I got lucky by avoiding many of the most serious problems - lockups and whatnot - but in many ways I'm impressed that ICS has as few problems as it does, what with being brand new and all that. In contrast, I had to engage in a much greater level of hackery with my Epic 4g to get it to a workable condition, and that was after Froyo had already been out for almost a year.
Picked up my C1-serial Prime end of January at BestBuy.
Mine basically has no usable GPS to speak of. It works outdoors for geo-location to about 50', but loses lock as fast as it gets it. Navigation is impossible. But, I knew that going in and didn't care that GPS might be problematic. I looked at it as a "value added feature that might not work". My box doesn't state GPS as a feature anyhow, so I can't complain too loud.
Beyond that, everything else is pure awesome. I have a 17" widescreen laptop that is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop, and it's definitely not that portable (The battery dies in about 90 minutes of use without being plugged in, even on the "power saving" setting in Win7) so having the prime for web surfing and reading on the couch or in bed is awesome.
I haven't come across a task that I couldn't perform on the Prime that I could on my laptop. Sure, some things are more difficult to accomplish on the tablet (Especially since I don't have the keyboard dock for it ... yet) but I could still do them in a pinch. I even used TurboTax online on it and managed to get my taxes done.
I like that Polaris Office is installed as well, as it gives a quick way to view MS office documents out of the box when needed. I usually just import them to my Google Docs, but if I'm even in a location without 'net access, it's nice to have something that works offline.
The other thing I REALLY appreciate is OTA updates. My Galaxy S phone never had that until I migrated to CM7, and I'm missing OTA horribly on it too since I moved to CM9. Not having to tether to keep it updated is pure awesome.
I can't say enough good things about this device.
anti09 said:
Everything works on my prime except GPS. Serial # BC, still running .11 stock.
I sit at a computer all day for my job, so I really just wanted a device that I could plop into bed with to surf the web and watch videos. In that respect, the Prime is perfect. Web browsing is as fast or faster than my netbook, and I really like physically interacting with web pages - a touch interface is the way to browse the web, IMO.
Considering I have yet to use my prime while not laying in bed, functional GPS is obviously a non-issue for me. This is a good thing, since the GPS on mine is entirely broken.
My biggest concern was WiFi performance, but I have to say I've never noticed a problem. I sit fairly close to my router in my small studio apartment, so it's possible I've never gone far enough away from it to notice signal degradation. However, I can routinely achieve speeds of > 15Mb / 5Mb down/up anywhere in my apartment, which is more than sufficient for my means.
Gaming was another big selling point for me, and not much needs to be said about the Tegra 3. Thing is a beast. We all know Android doesn't even fully utilize that horsepower, so I'm pretty excited to see what the dev community comes up with after we unlock the BL
Finally, I love the form factor. The thinness and lightness of the TP astounds me every day. And signal attenuation aside, I love the spun aluminum case. It looks and feels premium, durable and high quality. I may be an Android fanboy, but I have to give Apple props for their solid build quality - now I have to give Asus props as well, because the TP is probably the prettiest piece of Kit I've seen in the Android world so far.
I've been very happy with my unit so far. I know I got lucky by avoiding many of the most serious problems - lockups and whatnot - but in many ways I'm impressed that ICS has as few problems as it does, what with being brand new and all that. In contrast, I had to engage in a much greater level of hackery with my Epic 4g to get it to a workable condition, and that was after Froyo had already been out for almost a year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, Tegra3 is a beast.
m3t4lw01f said:
Picked up my C1-serial Prime end of January at BestBuy.
Mine basically has no usable GPS to speak of. It works outdoors for geo-location to about 50', but loses lock as fast as it gets it. Navigation is impossible. But, I knew that going in and didn't care that GPS might be problematic. I looked at it as a "value added feature that might not work". My box doesn't state GPS as a feature anyhow, so I can't complain too loud.
Beyond that, everything else is pure awesome. I have a 17" widescreen laptop that is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop, and it's definitely not that portable (The battery dies in about 90 minutes of use without being plugged in, even on the "power saving" setting in Win7) so having the prime for web surfing and reading on the couch or in bed is awesome.
I haven't come across a task that I couldn't perform on the Prime that I could on my laptop. Sure, some things are more difficult to accomplish on the tablet (Especially since I don't have the keyboard dock for it ... yet) but I could still do them in a pinch. I even used TurboTax online on it and managed to get my taxes done.
I like that Polaris Office is installed as well, as it gives a quick way to view MS office documents out of the box when needed. I usually just import them to my Google Docs, but if I'm even in a location without 'net access, it's nice to have something that works offline.
The other thing I REALLY appreciate is OTA updates. My Galaxy S phone never had that until I migrated to CM7, and I'm missing OTA horribly on it too since I moved to CM9. Not having to tether to keep it updated is pure awesome.
I can't say enough good things about this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The constant OTA updates is a luxury we enjoy more compared to other makers or devices. We have seen more updates n a lil over a month compared to others in a whole year..lol. always good to have tthe latest firmware and drivers on device. It is good we have a way to roll back to a previous version if needed.
The battery life is great on Prime and will only get better as more updates roll out and custom roms arrive. Even overclocked prime gets good battery life. Plus like you said, there's nothing out there to really even make the Prime bust a sweat yet. So power of Tegra3 hasn't even been really tapped into yet. As far as these newer more powerful chips on the way, I'm not worried or pressed at all. As long as i have overclocking, we can easily match or surpass power of those chips.
The mobile scene may about to change up big time with the Announcement of Ubuntu Desktop OS being introduced into Android. Plus it will be officially supported and brings a true desktop experience to mobile devices. This might be the start of the home PC disappearing. Can't wait till we get this integrated into Prime. Its not even a hack. Ubuntu officially supporting Android and hopes this will integrated into 2012 and later mobile solutions. So Win8 better watch out. Android about to officially have Ubuntu desktop support and experience.
Some might say the constant updates are a symptom of a problem at Asus. I say they are a company trying their best to fix users problems.
I really don't believe there's some grand conspiracy going on.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
What i REALLY like on my Prime + dock:
- Great battery life
- keyboard very usable
- Fast
- I am able to print and scan on my Canon Pixma (using PrinterShare and Canon apps)
- Instant on (awesome)
- Bright and colorful screen
- Comes with some good useful apps (Backup, MyNet, Polaris, etc)
- Thin and lightweight
- Android ICS and Google Market (definitely not an iOS fan here)
- I can use my QNAP torrent with the QGET app
Unfortunately my unit has a bright spot on the LCD and I am sending it back to the store. Also has weak WiFi and BT+WiFi dropout. I don't need offline GPS.
Things that could be better on Prime:
- Speakers, trackpad must be disabled to avoid cursor jumps
Things that need improvement on Android:
- Chrome, Docs.
I love the screen on my prime. During bootup I can see a couple spots of light bleed but during any use it is completely invisible. The screen is bright and clear and just looks generally amazing. I have zero dead or stuck pixels, no bright spots or any discernable defect whatsoever when using it.
I love its abilities to play video, it has chewed up and swallowed absolutely everything I have thrown at it so far including 14gb 1080p move files without a single problem.
I love its portability and take it with me to the university and use it all the time. Locks onto wifi without a hitch in the multitude of places I use it there. With it and the dock it is very useful for SSH into the universities Linux system to do some light Java and c programming in VI. I do wish there was an eclipse ide available for android and cannot wait for it to be available.
I also love to use its Bluetooth abilities to sync up my PlayStation controllers and play all my favorite oldschool games through its amazing ability to run many emulators. It also plays new games built for android some of which have tegra 3 specific versions and simply look amazing.
Lastly, I love how fast I can type on a screen holding it in portrait view and using thumb keyboard. The touchscreen is extremely responsive and I can type long posts, such as this very one, with speed and ease.
There are many other things use it for that i cannot recall from my very taxed brain at the moment but it goes without saying that I have no need for a laptop since I can carry this around and easily vnc into my home desktop Linux for any heavy lifting and use dropbox to easily get to any powerpoints or documents I may need on the go.
One last thing, its pure contentment for me to lay back on the couch while the wife does her thing and I can sit and browse the web with ease using boat browser. Never have I had a more satisfying way to consume the ol www.
rand4ll said:
I love the screen on my prime. During bootup I can see a couple spots of light bleed but during any use it is completely invisible. The screen is bright and clear and just looks generally amazing. I have zero dead or stuck pixels, no bright spots or any discernable defect whatsoever when using it.
I love its abilities to play video, it has chewed up and swallowed absolutely everything I have thrown at it so far including 14gb 1080p move files without a single problem.
I love its portability and take it with me to the university and use it all the time. Locks onto wifi without a hitch in the multitude of places I use it there. With it and the dock it is very useful for SSH into the universities Linux system to do some light Java and c programming in VI. I do wish there was an eclipse ide available for android and cannot wait for it to be available.
I also love to use its Bluetooth abilities to sync up my PlayStation controllers and play all my favorite oldschool games through its amazing ability to run many emulators. It also plays new games built for android some of which have tegra 3 specific versions and simply look amazing.
Lastly, I love how fast I can type on a screen holding it in portrait view and using thumb keyboard. The touchscreen is extremely responsive and I can type long posts, such as this very one, with speed and ease.
There are many other things use it for that i cannot recall from my very taxed brain at the moment but it goes without saying that I have no need for a laptop since I can carry this around and easily vnc into my home desktop Linux for any heavy lifting and use dropbox to easily get to any powerpoints or documents I may need on the go.
One last thing, its pure contentment for me to lay back on the couch while the wife does her thing and I can sit and browse the web with ease using boat browser. Never have I had a more satisfying way to consume the ol www.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I love about my TP...
Screen > clear, sharp and very bright
Battery > Outstanding especially when you combine it with the dock
Design > clean, light and sturdy. I love the choice of colors
ICS > runs smoth and quick... the only issue so far after upgrading to ICS is the flickering screen
GPS/Wifi > Works very well and consistent... I don't understand all the hoopla surrounding the issues with GPS... if I really need to use GPS I use my Thunderbolt
Apps > Polaris Office, Backup, Cloud
My TP is like my Amex... I don't leave home without it!
I really hope Gary and Asus can fix the flickering screen issue
Well, I've had my Prime since 12/21/11, and to this day I have no complaints. In fact, I look back on the HC days and realize how killer this thing runs on ICS. Good support from Asus with consistent updates too.
Tegra3: Lag? Never heard of it. Impressive graphics, what more could you want from a tablet.
Screen: IPS+ is great, even in the sunlight (much better than I expected!) and is not fatiguing after extended use. I personally leave it on IPS+ mode with Auto Brightness and it's perfect.
Form Factor: This thing is so well conceived and executed. Quality build, everything just fits so well, especially with the dock.
Connectivity: Especially with the dock, having the USB and SD. HDMI out has turned out to be a better alternative than the built in USB on my TV, better image and sound quality.
Is it perfect? Maybe not, but as close as I could have really hoped. The things that matter to me are: 1) Highly useful day in and day out; 2) I enjoy using it day in and day out.
I was one of the lucky guys getting a solid TP since day 1, I honestly don't have complaints, this is a wonderful piece of technology in every aspect, it has everything I wanted on a tablet. The GPS isn't great yes, only performs outdoors, but hey, I don't really care, as I only used it to test for feedback here on XDA, I own a specialized navigation device for my car and a smartphone when walking in case I need, therefore, I don't need a tablet for such tasks. I wanted a Prime for other things, email, notes, video, surfing and most of all, a portable yet powerful machine to carry around. The flexibility is incredible and the battery life ridiculous, please name a device on the market with this characteristics?! Yep, the TP is unique, enough said...
Cheers
Another happy camper. I have not had any problems with my prime at all. I've used it 60' from my router with BT enabled and disabled. Made no difference.
It works great for me, no matter where I take it as long as there is a wifi signal.
I just wish my keyboard dock would show up after being on backorder for over two months.
I use my Prime mainly for watching worldwide cams, listening to radio/police scanners in my local area, reading emails, cloud printing, drop box, remote access to my PC and other client PC's.
I wouldn't trade this Tablet for any other available on the market at this time. I love it. It's fast, great resolution, handles every app that I've thrown at it. I'll hang onto it until ASUS comes out with a 6 or 8 core Tablet.
I love my TF PRime!
demandarin said:
This is for the people Satisfied with their device. People that are happy with device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my prime since the 4th of January, and just recently found a dock in stock. Mine is one of the early BCO* machines. (BCOKAS005) but works like a charm. No screen bleed through, the speakers after rooting and applying the help here are far better.
First, I absolutely love ICS and the ASUS' screen quality. It's outstanding! The GPS on my unit has the usual issues, but why would I want to lug around a tablet for GPS! I also looked at is a value-added feature. It works, good. It doesn't, that's fine too.
What astounds me is the sleek design of the slate. I have mine Docked most of the time and love the "netbook" look. It's the center of conversation whenever people come by.
I've used it as a VNC client and server. I ran FTP servers, IRC clients, even a bittorrent client. I absolutely love it's ability to not only stream from DLNA, but actually run as a DLNA server. There's so much this little piece of kit can do, and so elegantly, it daily points out to me just how far personal computers have come from their humble beginnings in the late 70s.
I LOVE MY PRIME. If I was to change something, I would get the 64gig model, but I spent a few minutes moving large media files to microSD and USB connected drive, and have much more memory for software.
Long posts like this one would be difficult using the virtual keyboard. I touch type and the base's keyboard, even though it's chicklet is more than enough to type well.
This slate was a gift from my wife. I bought the dock; and have been loving my little netbook ever since
I love my Prime, like no other
I love my Prime, like no otherself, really. I use it CONSTANTLY, pretty much most of the day at work (I had to justify the cost by doing SOME work with the thing) I basically take all my meeting notes with it, and I have all my company appointments come through using Google Sync to Outlook on my desktop.
Thank God for ICS we use a Cisco VPN solutionat work, and on Honeycomb, getting a VPN connections was never gonna happen. I knew the solution was in ICS, so I was super happy that Asus got it out even earlier than scheduled.
I do get pissed about GPS, and will never let Asus off the hook for that screw up, but that does not negate the fact that My Prime is a stellar device. I take it down to breakfast at work and read news (News 360, News Republic, Pulse, PressReader, USA Today and Google Currents. That enough NEWS for ya?
The only current issues are that .15 blew away whatever GPS I had (it comes and goes with these frequent updates.) While that makes me a bit grumpy, as I don't have any major issues, it's a necessary evil, as Asus busts their collective butt to fix the serious issues that affect some users. These are almost a "rite of passage" for the first Tegra 3 Tablet in existence.
The other issue I see is stuttering/freezing on Riptide and Shire Runner. I am still trying to get a fix for that. Best I can do is reboot just before playing as a workaround for the present.
Why mention these things in a "What works great on your Prime" thread? Easy one. BALANCE.
It's not all a bowl of cherries running at the bleeding edge, sometimes the teething pains are quite dreadful, but a small price to pay to "boldly go where no tablet has gone before".
And no stealing my slogan there, Demandarin! Excuse me while I go see about rolling back to .14. Maybe. I have to decide on that still.
SmartAs$Phone said:
I love my Prime, like no otherself, really. I use it CONSTANTLY, pretty much most of the day at work (I had to justify the cost by doing SOME work with the thing) I basically take all my meeting notes with it, and I have all my company appointments come through using Google Sync to Outlook on my desktop.
Thank God for ICS we use a Cisco VPN solutionat work, and on Honeycomb, getting a VPN connections was never gonna happen. I knew the solution was in ICS, so I was super happy that Asus got it out even earlier than scheduled.
I do get pissed about GPS, and will never let Asus off the hook for that screw up, but that does not negate the fact that My Prime is a stellar device. I take it down to breakfast at work and read news (News 360, News Republic, Pulse, PressReader, USA Today and Google Currents. That enough NEWS for ya?
The only current issues are that .15 blew away whatever GPS I had (it comes and goes with these frequent updates.) While that makes me a bit grumpy, as I don't have any major issues, it's a necessary evil, as Asus busts their collective butt to fix the serious issues that affect some users. These are almost a "rite of passage" for the first Tegra 3 Tablet in existence.
The other issue I see is stuttering/freezing on Riptide and Shire Runner. I am still trying to get a fix for that. Best I can do is reboot just before playing as a workaround for the present.
Why mention these things in a "What works great on your Prime" thread? Easy one. BALANCE.
It's not all a bowl of cherries running at the bleeding edge, sometimes the teething pains are quite dreadful, but a small price to pay to "boldly go where no tablet has gone before".
And no stealing my slogan there, Demandarin! Excuse me while I go see about rolling back to .14. Maybe. I have to decide on that still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good post. Last part made me grin..lol.
I think you should just stay on .15. The stuttering in games not caused by update. I had that happen randomly even on honeycomb and early ICS builds. Not sure what exactly causes it. I know once it goes away or I get it to go away, it usually doesn't come back. I had same deal happen with 9mm game. As soon as i started up the stage, I could play for a few seconds then screen/game would stutter n start flashing. Happened several times in a row. I was about to give up on it but tried a few things first. First I made sure I had no b.s. apps or anything running. To make sure game had as much ram as possible to run with. Then I rebooted the tablet. Issue went away and has been good ever since. Even beat the game. Similar thing happened with my shadlwgun THd that came with prime, since I bought it at Gamestop. I could play for a while then game would stutter n freeze. I just exited out the game completely then relaunched it and everything was well. All my games play very good now n i have alot of them.
Have most of all the heavy duty, good graphics games. Like 9mm, Asphault6 HD, Dead space, Madden 2012, new sonic(not b.s. sonic cd..lol), Sprinkle, Backstab HD, Samurai 2 vengeance, Shine runner THD, Riptide GP THD, air attack HD, Grabitron, Osmosis HD, Sentinel, Neo Geo emulator, PlayStation emulator, Snes emulator, genesis/Sega master system emulator, OnLive....and lotz more...lol
Gaming is a blast on this device. I have the iControlPad a bluetooth gamepad for mobile devices. Works beautifully, and the popular emulators work just 100% perfect on the tegra3 while having great battery life.
I can even output it to a TV and play all those great classics like FF7, Zelda OOT, Tony Hawk 2, Starfox in HD.
Also i think point and click adventures are perfect for a touchscreen device. I hope devs see this as well and release lots of them to the market
My wife and i really love to play stuff toghether cuddled up on the couch, and adventures are the perfect games for that.
Browsing of course is superb and i like it even more than on a regular PC.
And its just something else to watch movies wherever i want. I mean yeah i could hook up a laptop to my TV before, but ah its always a hassle. Then the battery runs out after you're half way through, you need to look for a cable, then the cable is not long enough etcetc. Having the screen just in your hands, is something else.
Oh btw i dont have any issues so far. GPS works as i expected - gets a lock everytime but wont be usable for navigation. Wifi is strong all over my place.
Oh and a little bonus - my electric bill is cheaper because i dont use my PC all that much anymore
And when i'm using the prime it feels like the future has arrived. If you know what i mean
Most of you probably don't recognize my name because I only posted while we were waiting for the release of the Prime.
I generally don't post because almost everything I would post about already has a thread. And we all know how congested this forum is with useless posts.
This time I was prompted to post because I wanted to share a nice experience I had, albeit small compared to what others have posted in this thread.
This morning I spent two hours playing Riptide GP. I usually play this on balanced mode, but today I forgot to change the setting and it was in power saver mode as I played. To my surprise the game functioned great, even in power save mode! I played for a good two hours straight and I took less than 20% of my battery.
Like I said this is a small thing but as I use my Prime more and more I am realizing just how premium this device is. I'm soooo happy with my purchase.
Dock is on its way to me is a couple if weeks! Icing on the cake at that point.
desert_mouse said:
Most of you probably don't recognize my name because I only posted while we were waiting for the release of the Prime.
I generally don't post because almost everything I would post about already has a thread. And we all know how congested this forum is with useless posts.
This time I was prompted to post because I wanted to share a nice experience I had, albeit small compared to what others have posted in this thread.
This morning I spent two hours playing Riptide GP. I usually play this on balanced mode, but today I forgot to change the setting and it was in power saver mode as I played. To my surprise the game functioned great, even in power save mode! I played for a good two hours straight and I took less than 20% of my battery.
Like I said this is a small thing but as I use my Prime more and more I am realizing just how premium this device is. I'm soooo happy with my purchase.
Dock is on its way to me is a couple if weeks! Icing on the cake at that point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recognize the name but yes, games play great on prime in power savings mode also. I think I remember seeing that the power settings doesn't exactly apply 100% to playing games or watching movies. The processor will scale as needed to push the games. That's why you played game with no issue on power savings mode. Also why you can throw any type of HD movie at prime and it'll play fine even on lowest power setting. I've seen it actually recommended to play movies in that mode for the longest battery life.
No experience is too big or too small. Glad this thread made you come out and post on the experience. We need more positivity or good experiences being let known to others. Lots of people tend to think its just issues surrounding this device. Which is far from the truth. We have this thread and the Positive transformer thread to show the flip side to this madness.
demandarin said:
I recognize the name but yes, games play great on prime in power savings mode also. I think I remember seeing that the power settings doesn't exactly apply 100% to playing games or watching movies. The processor will scale as needed to push the games. That's why you played game with no issue on power savings mode. Also why you can throw any type of HD movie at prime and it'll play fine even on lowest power setting. I've seen it actually recommended to play movies in that mode for the longest battery life.
No experience is too big or too small. Glad this thread made you come out and post on the experience. We need more positivity or good experiences being let known to others. Lots of people tend to think its just issues surrounding this device. Which is far from the truth. We have this thread and the Positive transformer thread to show the flip side to this madness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah I remember reading about that as well, regarding the scaling when gaming. More important was the battery life it took while playing. Impressed that it didn't suck away more.
I'm one of the very pleased with this Prime who doesn't post much but reads almost everything here. I'm annoyed that GPS doesn't work and principally I think Asus should be accountable for this. With that being said, at no time have I ever considered returning my Prime. This thing blows away anything out there.
I wish it were bigger..
My primary goal for a tablet is to read technical PDFs and its just a tiny bit
too small for my old eyes. close though and better then my ipad.
But that aside everything works great on this beast. My device never had
any wireless or gps issues. It can see as many gps satellites as my phone
does. Playing games is fabulous on it. I stream my media collection to it with
'emit'.
battery life is great with .14 and .15, no complaints at all with the thing.
Have noticed the occasion game stutter but only in "stupid zombies"
everything else even graphically intense games dont have the issue.
still need a jabber client that supports muc..
Serial BCOK - bought online at office depot mid January update .14
My biggest complaint is that the TFP has WiFi connectivity issues. I go to the university and there are areas where other android tablets and the iPad have signal allowing people to use the internet and mine simply refuses to connect or has random slow connections.
Hello,
I'm searching my first tablet, and i've stumbled onto the tablet s. What are pro's and con's of this tablet?
Has it a good screen? Are there some things i need to know before i buy one?
Read it has wifi reception issues but don't know if it is.
For about 40 more i can buy an asus tf300, better performance, but i'm a bit afraid of build quality, and think the tablet s will be better in hand.
Can i upgrade to ics and have it work trouble free?
What about the playstation games to play on the tablet, are they worth it? do the have many titles?
Thanks in advance for the responce.
Regards,
Adam
That is al whole list of questions i will try to answer them all
1. Does it have a good screen.?
- Well.. Yes it has but its not gorilla glas that means it can break faster then other tabs.
- There's already a screen protector on the creen before you buy it.
2. Wi-Fi Reception Issues.?
- If you don't use your tab then your internet is dead, which means that you
must keep the tab awake (not in stand by) till you download has finished.
- The internet browser app crashes somethings but since ICS its not such a huge problem.
anymore because the tablet keeps the browsing history so you don't loose your
last viewed page.
3. SONY Versus ASUS.?
- Every tablet has its own Ups and Downs.
- Correct me if i am wrong, but the ASUS Transformer has a Tegra 3 Chip in it so that means much more power.
- I suppose you will buy the keyboard aswell and thats a huge benefit,
- Sony Tablet S is quite much plastic feeling and the ASUS not that much
4. Can you upgrade to ICS.?
- Yes you can, if you are in a supported country, it doesn't take long anymore for Europe.
- If you can't wait and want root you must follow Condi's Topic in Android Development
5. What about Playstation Games.
- Dont expect to much of it there are to less games.
- Quality is bad, but ok its PSOne understandable right?
- Like I remember Its $5.99 per game.
Success.!
I have bought the S for my father.
Would definitely not get it again. It has a nice design, the IR remote feature is nice, but that is not enough.
The Tegra 2 chip can't even fluently play YouTube videos in the Webbrowser, something my S2 laughs at even at 1080p. (I use the Webbrowser because the app is a bad joke)
The lack of an hdmi output is also very unpleasant. You lose the possibility to watch a movie, play a game on a big screen.
Being used to gorilla glass on my phone, the Tablet S' screen feels kind of cheap and inaccurate in comparison. It often registers double taps that were not intended.
For just 40bucks more I would go with the Asus without hesitation.
With its quadcore its future proofed, Although if I am not wrong it's GPS ducks, if that's a needed feature I would avoid the transformer.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
thoughts
I mostly agree with Mahaco and his thoughts, but would add a few of my own thoughts.
I am 90 percent happy with my Sony S.
I am able to stream movies and watch videos with ease, perhaps xEraseRx has a poor WiFi signal.
I personally have two complaints.
1- The lack of HDMI output as mentioned. Sony provides an interface that allows you to share with connected devices, but there is no "live" interface. By that I mean you can not stream a movie and view it on your devices.
2- The unique charging port. it is big and bulky and there is no 12V option.
Other than those two complaints I have no real issues. I love the form and would highly recommend the Sony S.
thanks for the reply!!
Need to say that the tf300 also doesn't has the gorilla glass (the prime has but this one does not). This is a difficult one for me, i hope the normal glas feels ok when used.
it has the advantace of the Quad core, but both are "plastic". It's the "cheap" plastic build of the prime, and therefore it has good gps reception.
need to check for the hdmi out doh.
Cheers,
Adam
The dlna service works fine, but it is not a replacement for a hdmi out.
Dlna allows you to stream the content (pictures, music and video only) stored on your device to other devices supporting the dlna standard. No more no less.
It's great to enjoy the pictures and videos I took on my last holiday trip on a big screen, but it only works because the pictures are stored locally on the device.
You can't play a game on a big screen over dlna.
You can't play a movie from the Internet browser, or YouTube or whatever application but the stock video player (well actually there should be others that support dlna as well).
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
I'm incredibly happy with my Tablet. Since my house is full of DLNA devices, the lack of HDMI out doesn't really bother me. I don't use the PS games much either.
I absolutely love the design that always feels light and comfortable in your hand. The screen is very good (but be wary of screen protectors as some add impractical amounts of glare). I've never had the WiFi problems some users complain of, and I'm still using Honeycomb, but I love it. The IR blaster is brilliant, and the Tablet experience as a whole has been great.
In my opinion, the decision should come down more to what you're going to use it for. The TF300 has the keyboard and the larger screen, plus the extra horsepower, so if you're looking for a laptop replacement, the TF300 is probably the go. If you're looking for a portable tablet that's great to use and is perfect for watching your media on the go etc, I would go for the Tablet S. That's just me, however.
Only annoyance with my Tablet: Weird power connector. Not a huge fan.
agree
agc93 said:
I'm incredibly happy with my Tablet. Since my house is full of DLNA devices, the lack of HDMI out doesn't really bother me. I don't use the PS games much either.
I absolutely love the design that always feels light and comfortable in your hand. The screen is very good (but be wary of screen protectors as some add impractical amounts of glare). I've never had the WiFi problems some users complain of, and I'm still using Honeycomb, but I love it. The IR blaster is brilliant, and the Tablet experience as a whole has been great.
In my opinion, the decision should come down more to what you're going to use it for. The TF300 has the keyboard and the larger screen, plus the extra horsepower, so if you're looking for a laptop replacement, the TF300 is probably the go. If you're looking for a portable tablet that's great to use and is perfect for watching your media on the go etc, I would go for the Tablet S. That's just me, however.
Only annoyance with my Tablet: Weird power connector. Not a huge fan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that a lot depends on your usage. There are a few more powerful, and a few like the TF300 that come with a keyboard.
I use my tablet primarily as a media viewer, book reader and watching TV web surfer and for that it is perfect.
I especially love the folded edge for reading. Seriously this is a huge selling point for me. Try and hold any other devices for more than ten minutes and you will get serious cramps. I can read for an hour straight and be totally comfortable.
Get the tf300.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA
So ... long time Android user, got my Nexus 1 20 minutes into the Google press conf (3 years ago, for those who no longer remember), upgraded to S2 2 years later. On tablet front, had 2 TF101s. Everything rooted, custom ROMs, used daily, especially tablets.
Ordered N10 right after it became available, wisely cancelled the order minutes later.
Sat on the fence awhile . Waited for CES - T4 looks exciting, Exynos 4+4 less so (same graphics as in N10). Bottom line - not likely to see actual HW till much later in the year. Vizio didn't commit to anything. Awkwardly, their demo T4 tablet wasn't even mentioned during Nvidia's T4 presentation.
So, decided to pull the trigger, can always sell if anything markedly better appears in Q3/Q4 2013. Life is too damn short.
What bothered me with TF101 is the slower overall performance, especially browsing. As an ebook reader, these are still perfectly fine. Best overall tablet design - dock with extra battery, MicroSD and SD cards etc. Hopeful they will get us T4 devices at some point - with FIXED internal flash performance.
Upon getting N10, promtly unlocked, installed TWRP and custom ROM. Went with Boat browser - not sure if it is markedly faster than the alternatives, but I love the full screen interface.
So what do I think ?
- I dont see any obvious issues with mine. Hasn't crashed/rebooted/freeze. Didn't do any formal testing for bleeding, none is visible to naked eye.
- BS Player plays 1080P video just fine from network shares (ES File Manager, simply navigate to a net share, open your MKV with BSP and viola). I don't really use my tablets as playback devices, but it is nice to know you could do it.
- sound ... definitely very nice for a device this thin. Big upgrade compared to Transformer
- web performance ... Mixed bag. Expected instantaneous loading of the pages ( I am on 300Mbps connection). She is definitely faster than TF101, but instantaneous she aint. TF101 would take 4-6 secs, N10, may be 2 secs, for regular sites. Tried 4 different browsers - stock Chrome, Chrome 25, Boat and the one that came with the ROM.
- overall, feels snappier. Flipboard tablet-edition is finally useful. Zinio continues to suck badly (done with it when my subscription expire). Flash (storage) performance is great , real ez to copy stuff in and out - over USB or using ES File manager to access Net shares (she does Dropbox, Skydrive and everything imaginable, LAN shares).
- screen. This is where I had the biggest surprise. (disclaimer: I use reading glasses). I just can not see ANY difference between N10's 2560x1600 and TF101's 1280x800. The 10" is too small to discern the difference. YMMV. BTW, my work setup is 3 of 30", each at 2560x1600, so I do like my screen real estate and rez.
- overall feel. Definitely feels nicer in hand compared to TF101. Thinner, lighter, gripper, curvier
- About expandable storage. Haven't missed it as much so far. As built-in flash is so much faster, it will be easier to joggle heavier content, but so far it hasn't been an impediment.
- charging. Like some of us, I can always plug er in overnite. Not an issue for me.
- battery life. Was amazed to open the box and the see the tablet was at 70% out of the box . She seems to last forever.
Bottom line: mixed bag. Keeping it reluctantly, hoping for better stuff to become available later in the year. Unlike some of us here, I have no illusions as to the accessories for this one. We shall see zip, zilch, babcus from Goog/Sammy. All of the Nexus devices are bastard children, dropped at nearby community hospitals right after birth
rashid11 said:
So ... long time Android user, got my Nexus 1 20 minutes into the Google press conf (3 years ago, for those who no longer remember), upgraded to S2 2 years later. On tablet front, had 2 TF101s. Everything rooted, custom ROMs, used daily, especially tablets.
Ordered N10 right after it became available, wisely cancelled the order minutes later.
Sat on the fence awhile . Waited for CES - T4 looks exciting, Exynos 4+4 less so (same graphics as in N10). Bottom line - not likely to see actual HW till much later in the year. Vizio didn't commit to anything. Awkwardly, their demo T4 tablet wasn't even mentioned during Nvidia's T4 presentation.
So, decided to pull the trigger, can always sell if anything markedly better appears in Q3/Q4 2013. Life is too damn short.
What bothered me with TF101 is the slower overall performance, especially browsing. As an ebook reader, these are still perfectly fine. Best overall tablet design - dock with extra battery, MicroSD and SD cards etc. Hopeful they will get us T4 devices at some point - with FIXED internal flash performance.
Upon getting N10, promtly unlocked, installed TWRP and custom ROM. Went with Boat browser - not sure if it is markedly faster than the alternatives, but I love the full screen interface.
So what do I think ?
- I dont see any obvious issues with mine. Hasn't crashed/rebooted/freeze. Didn't do any formal testing for bleeding, none is visible to naked eye.
- BS Player plays 1080P video just fine from network shares (ES File Manager, simply navigate to a net share, open your MKV with BSP and viola). I don't really use my tablets as playback devices, but it is nice to know you could do it.
- sound ... I expected more from built in speakers. Didn't impress me that much - which is weird, coming from TF101 that has notoriously bad sound
- web performance ... Mixed bag. Expected instantaneous loading of the pages ( I am on 300Mbps connection). She is definitely faster than TF101, but instantaneous she aint. TF101 would take 4-6 secs, N10, may be 2 secs, for regular sites. Tried 4 different browsers - stock Chrome, Chrome 25, Boat and the one that came with the ROM.
- overall, feels snappier. Flipboard tablet-edition is finally useful. Zinio continues to suck badly (done with it when my subscription expire). Flash (storage) performance is great , real ez to copy stuff in and out - over USB or using ES File manager to access Net shares (she does Dropbox, Skydrive and everything imaginable, LAN shares).
- screen. This is where I had the biggest surprise. (disclaimer: I use reading glasses). I just can not see ANY difference between N10's 2560x1600 and TF101's 1280x800. The 10" is too small to discern the difference. YMMV. BTW, my work setup is 3 of 30", each at 2560x1600, so I do like my screen real estate and rez.
- overall feel. Definitely feels nicer in hand compared to TF101. Thinner, lighter, gripper, curvier
- About expandable storage. Haven't missed it as much so far. As built-in flash is so much faster, it will be easier to joggle heavier content, but so far it hasn't been an impediment.
- charging. Like some of us, I can always plug er in overnite. Not an issue for me.
- battery life. Was amazed to open the box and the see the tablet was at 70% out of the box . She seems to last forever.
Bottom line: mixed bag. Keeping it reluctantly, hoping for better stuff to become available later in the year. Unlike some of us here, I have no illusions as to the accessories for this one. We shall see zip, zilch, babcus from Goog/Sammy. All of the Nexus devices are bastard children, dropped at nearby community hospitals right after birth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see you become a Nexus 10 owner. Coming from a Xoom I think this tab is great. Does everything I used to do with the Xoom but only lots faster. Browsing the internet with chrome is painful. I use Ocean browser. It has full screen and gestures and is by far the fastest I have tried (boat, naked, dolphin, boat, firefox, even aosp). Good luck with your new toy.
Hey, thanks for your point of view have you tried naked browser? It's really the fastest, although not with a very pretty interface
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
The quickest browser is AOSP. Most of the others mentioned (naked, boat, ocean) are just different UI's on top of webview (the AOSP browser engine) though anyway...
I also came from a TF101. I miss the keyboard dock and expandability, but I don't miss the tegra 2 and the i/o lag. Anytime you installed an app or updated an app, the tablet was frozen until it finished. It was such a pain trying to get HD videos to play and web browsing was sloooow. I agree that the Nexus 10 isn't perfect, but web browsing is much faster, no lag in the interface (I still experience it in some games like theme park), and the overall experience for me has been more stable. I love streaming 1080p videos to the tablet through plex. I was suprised that the weight difference made a significant difference as well. It makes the nexus much more comfortable to hold.
Came from a TF300 with Tegra 3 and even then I am super glad I did. It was getting so painful to use when my even my Nexus 4 or other people's GS3 with Snapdragon S4 was outpacing it by a lot. Never buying anything Android with Tegra again (also had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Tegra 2).
quickly turning into Transformer Owner Anonymous meet. Pass the napkins around
I spent prolly ~$2K on ASUS mobos over last ~15 years or so - they are stellar in that dept. How they managed to get world's slowest "eMMC" flash into otherwise great product line (Transformers) ... shall forever remain a mystery.
We are sheep ... lets admit it When ASUS figures out the eMMC issues out and gets T4-based Transformers out, docks, micro and SD expansion slots, USB 3.0 etc etc , we will be promptly forking over our hard earned bux ... again
This thread is awesome...
...for all of us recovering TF101 owners! Lol. I sold my TF101 and just got my Nexus 10 three days ago. Love it!! I haven't noticed anything "off" with my unit, except for the expected "bubbly" feel of the rubberized backing. I'm OK with that, though. The tablet itself has met all of my expectations, and that's saying something. Glad to be here; hope all you recovering TF101-ists are having a great day... I know I am!
Web performance is probably not entirely the fault of the device. It takes a lot less work on a tablet to make a site seem slow vs a desktop, but many send both the same experience. Concurrent connections and network management are a big part of the issue in android from what I've been able to determine so far. JavaScript and what appears to be poor 2d hardware acceleration also play a role - the latter being a huge difference vs iOS in practice, and possibly THE reason android doesn't feel as smooth.
I don't have an N10 yet and this is based mostly on older JB, but a little on the latest... also still ongoing investigation. So don't hold me to this. Probably not at all important.
Anyway, enjoy what you have. Tomorrow's upgrade is always faster.