New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

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Digital Dolphin
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New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Digital Dolphin » 02 Feb 2012, 00:11

Well, I just got my Transformer Prime tablet about 3 hours ago, and I've barely stopped playing with it since I took it out of the box. I don't want to even put it down to write this... but I have to go to sleep, and writing this seemed like a good way to ween myself off of it.

Firstly, I'm still annoyed it doesn't have an onboard USB port (the keyboard dock has one though).

After that... wow.

Booting the thing up was amazingly fast, I didn't even know it was booting. It seemed more like waking up from being put into sleep mode.

The first thing you do is enter your main google account login info, and it connects to your account.You also have the opportunity to connect to local WiFi internet.

The first thing I did after getting to the home screen was update the firmware for the device. I didn't know that meant also updating the OS... so that happened a little unexpectedly, right at the beginning.

Shortly after that, all the apps I'd bought/downloaded on my android phone began auto-downloading and installing. I had JUST been in the process of going to do that.

After getting bored of watching it do all my work for me, I decided to try out how it faired with apps that kinda annoyed me on my phone. GMail and Google Docs are AMAZING. Google Docs especially is night and day different, and actually easier to work with on some over-sized spread sheets than on my PC. I'm not even kidding. Gmail is still better on my PC, but it's actually GOOD on my tablet (and disappointing on my phone).

I'm still playing with it, but my initial impression is that it has a mind of its' own, can read my thoughts and do things for me before I start trying to do them, and is BLINDINGLY FAST.

I'm looking forward to incorporating my tablet into my weekly D&D sessions, and using it for business purposes.I'm also going to snag the current humble indie bundle for android devices, and try out some gaming on it.

What can I say? I love it just as much as I hoped I would, and more! :D

(I also enjoyed watching Escapist videos on it in full screen. It's nice having proper flash support :D)
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rustak
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby rustak » 02 Feb 2012, 07:25

Very nice! I've had an original Transformer for a bit now, and was considering upgrading to a Prime... though the original does everything I want it to, and it should be getting an ICS update very soon. The tablet gmail experience is definitely great. There are also a bunch of tablet-optimized Android apps showing up that are nice, though fairly slowly.

Oh yeah -- if you haven't yet, try SplashTop HD (I think it's preinstalled, or at least it was on my Transformer?) for connecting to your PC. It works really well, to the point where I will often use it to browse the web or watch movies, just so that I can use the faster browser on my desktop. It probably needs the keyboard dock to be really useful though, not sure if you grabbed that.
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Metcarfre » 02 Feb 2012, 07:30

Can you really 'own' a Transformer? Aren't they sentient beings?
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Digital Dolphin » 02 Feb 2012, 12:11

rustak wrote:Very nice! I've had an original Transformer for a bit now, and was considering upgrading to a Prime... though the original does everything I want it to, and it should be getting an ICS update very soon. The tablet gmail experience is definitely great. There are also a bunch of tablet-optimized Android apps showing up that are nice, though fairly slowly.


I would suggest waiting for the newer version of the Transformer Prime, which will have fixed the GPS problem that exists in the current model.

rustak wrote:Oh yeah -- if you haven't yet, try SplashTop HD (I think it's preinstalled, or at least it was on my Transformer?) for connecting to your PC. It works really well, to the point where I will often use it to browse the web or watch movies, just so that I can use the faster browser on my desktop. It probably needs the keyboard dock to be really useful though, not sure if you grabbed that.


I just bought that app on your recommendation! I won't be able to try it out until I get home on Sunday evening, but I'm looking forward to it!

I'm getting a keyboard dock next week probably.

The one thing that blew me away was the panorama image taking function. I'm going to show it to my photographer friends at GottaCon tomorrow, and see what they think.
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Xix » 02 Feb 2012, 14:11

Make sure to get the latest firmware update which supposedly "fixes" the GPS issue.
For those who want a tablet now, just this one. The TF700 won't be available till summer and by then even crazier tablets will be out.
I'm personally waiting for it cause I have owned the original and wanted the higher res for a while now.
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby rustak » 02 Feb 2012, 17:42

Digital Dolphin wrote:I just bought that app on your recommendation! I won't be able to try it out until I get home on Sunday evening, but I'm looking forward to it!

Cool, let me know what you think! It also has a really handy mode where it integrates with a google account (via a google app) so that you can get to your desktop from anywhere. Performance then isn't good enough to watch movies, but I've used it to start downloads/grab files/etc.

I'm getting a keyboard dock next week probably.

I'm actually torn on the keyboard dock. It's really handy, but I find myself just leaving the laptop docked... and then it sort of turns into a weird netbook-type thing. When I do undock it and just leave the tablet on the table, I find that I use it a lot more for just casual things.

The one thing that blew me away was the panorama image taking function. I'm going to show it to my photographer friends at GottaCon tomorrow, and see what they think.

Nice! That's a standard ICS thing, I guess it makes sense that it's on the TF Prime. I always felt a little silly taking pictures with a tablet, but meh :)
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Rikadyn » 02 Feb 2012, 18:11

Have you had any issues with the wifi.

I'm looking at getting one, but then Endgadget post pics of a "TF300T" today...
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby gcninja » 02 Feb 2012, 22:38

I was so looking to get one with my tax refund, but it went from 600 to 200 <_< DAMN
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Digital Dolphin » 08 Feb 2012, 14:24

Update time!

So I've had the tablet for about a week now, and I've had the opportunity to spend a LOT of time using it, and think I have a pretty decent understanding of its performance.

The first thing I should say is that it averaged 1.5 days per full charge, while being used HEAVILY during GottaCon, primarily for picture taking and uploading/downloading. I consider that battery life to be unreasonably good, and well beyond my expectations. For comparison's sake, my phone needed to be charged 3x a day with much less use (although when I was using it, it was usually to make a hotspot for my tablet).

Next up, the camera. The camera is amazing, although it's VERY odd to be holding up a tablet to take pictures. I quickly learned to ignore the awkwardness and embrace the tablet (sometimes literally :P). It's worth noting that the camera is not as high quality as some other devices out there, it is in no way poor quality and would only disappoint the most picky of individuals. My only major gripe is about a second delay between pressing the button and the picture being taken. I quickly learned to compensate for it, and at least it is consistent.

Wifi. Yes, this kinda sucks. The GPS doesn't connect, and Wifi signal is tricky to catch. It doesn't bother me even slightly though because I just use my phone's mobile network, by making a hotspot. It takes almost no time at all to connect to my phone's hotspot, and it has become an easy routine to create them as needed (the only trick is keeping my phone charged!). I should mention though that I have no problems connecting to my house WiFI either, so it's not like it NEVER works otherwise, just when the signal is weak to begin with. It's not really any worse than my old Asus Eee Netbook in this regard.

Yesterday I purchase the keyboard dock for it, and my impression of it has been quite good thus far. It allows for the connecting of a mouse too, so you can actually turn the tablet into a netbook on demand... only it's running android instead of Windows or Linux. The keyboard dock also roughly doubles the battery life of the tablet, making it the single most godly battery life'd tech toy I've ever seen or had the pleasure of playing with. I believe the official rating is 18hrs of battery life, which is crazy. Also, even with the keyboard dock attached, the Transformer Prime is about half as thick as my Eee Netbook.

I should also point out that Google Docs on this tablet is better than any other version I've worked with. It's better than using it on a PC. It's smoother, and easier to work with. It's hard to believe, but it really is the best form of the app I've seen anywhere. It's even better yet when you have the keyboard and mouse attached!

I should also mention that over the course of owning one of these and showing it to people, I have already caused at least 1 person to buy one (he was at Bestbuy when I bought my keyboard dock) and 2 more people are now currently saving up to buy one each.
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Digital Dolphin » 10 Feb 2012, 10:18

I'm now entering my third day since the last time I charged my tablet (and the first time since getting the keyboard dock).

I'm expecting this thing to be about 4 days total between charges, with moderate use each day.

I am blown away by this thing's battery life.
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Rikadyn » 10 Feb 2012, 15:20

Well I'm drunk, so that killed the debate and i ended up grabbing one from Amazon
the heart knows no greater tragedy than a breath that begins in love and ends in grief...
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Re: New Transformer Prime owner - Experience

Postby Rikadyn » 18 Feb 2012, 06:24

Got mine Thursday, I agree with OP statements completely
the heart knows no greater tragedy than a breath that begins in love and ends in grief...

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