Asus Eee Android Tablet Confirmed $399 April 26th Release

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Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
Well technically that should be 666 Mhz Who wants to pay 500 dollars for the mark of the beast?


Anyways went to Microcenter in St. Louis Park MN. None in stock and the guy had no idea if and when it would arrive.
 

MarkLuvsCS

Senior member
Jun 13, 2004
740
0
76
Is there a reason everyone is ignoring the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvxth_Sxfps

that shows it with less lag etc?

Thank you for posting that link. I'll be honest I didn't go looking for one myself but I was extremely interested in this.

I think asus has created a new beast that others will start to contend with like they did with their netbook offerings long ago. It seems like they have learned from the first netbook offerings about keyboard layout and size because although I've heard the keyboard on the dock is fairly small it all seems in proportion. I know asus's initial 7" netbooks were really cramped (although for that size I guess that is all they could do!).

I'm thinking of purchasing one to take to campus and use for some classes. Size and weight seem good, and the ~14-16 hrs of battery life seems nuts. I know I wouldn't need more than 4-5 hrs realistically but it really bugs me to need to recharge after a few classes and not being able to just keep using it for random stuff. I think the price is pretty incredible $400 for a tablet that seems pretty solid and only another $150 to turn it into a notebook with an insane battery life. I'll be honest I considered purchasing a MacBook Air because I thought a solid 10 hr battery life and tiny form factor would be perfect. I just think for nearly half the price I'm going to get the same use out of it (some work, some play :p).

I may end up waiting for the second generation of these tablets primarily to get tegra3 (which my tegra2 atrix is pretty solid don't get me wrong) and possibly a slightly bigger keyboard or battery life.

If anyone gets one of these soon please report back to us! :D
 

s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
16
81
asus must hate money :(
The tsunami delayed their production schedule. Be glad we got any release at all this week: other countries had the whole launch delayed.

this post brought to you by Swype
 

dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
4
81
The tsunami delayed their production schedule. Be glad we got any release at all this week: other countries had the whole launch delayed.

this post brought to you by Swype

why should I be glad when I don't have one in my hands! i want it now now now waah :'(

anyway i'm not really familiar with the timing of the logistics. if it really was due to the tsunami I guess they can't be faulted.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
why should I be glad when I don't have one in my hands! i want it now now now waah :'(

anyway i'm not really familiar with the timing of the logistics. if it really was due to the tsunami I guess they can't be faulted.

yes i want one now because om going on vacation next week and this would be perfect for that
 

Uppsala9496

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 2001
5,272
19
81
This was going to be my wife's birthday gift....which is today.
Back up plan is a card.
 

jdobratz

Member
Sep 29, 2004
161
0
76
Thank you for posting that link. I'll be honest I didn't go looking for one myself but I was extremely interested in this.

I think asus has created a new beast that others will start to contend with like they did with their netbook offerings long ago. It seems like they have learned from the first netbook offerings about keyboard layout and size because although I've heard the keyboard on the dock is fairly small it all seems in proportion. I know asus's initial 7" netbooks were really cramped (although for that size I guess that is all they could do!).

I'm thinking of purchasing one to take to campus and use for some classes. Size and weight seem good, and the ~14-16 hrs of battery life seems nuts. I know I wouldn't need more than 4-5 hrs realistically but it really bugs me to need to recharge after a few classes and not being able to just keep using it for random stuff. I think the price is pretty incredible $400 for a tablet that seems pretty solid and only another $150 to turn it into a notebook with an insane battery life. I'll be honest I considered purchasing a MacBook Air because I thought a solid 10 hr battery life and tiny form factor would be perfect. I just think for nearly half the price I'm going to get the same use out of it (some work, some play :p).

I may end up waiting for the second generation of these tablets primarily to get tegra3 (which my tegra2 atrix is pretty solid don't get me wrong) and possibly a slightly bigger keyboard or battery life.

If anyone gets one of these soon please report back to us! :D

What do you want to know? I just got it today, haven't had much time to play. Sorry for the crappy pic, only camera I own is on my iphone.

transformer.JPG
 

Glitchny

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2002
5,679
1
0
What do you want to know? I just got it today, haven't had much time to play. Sorry for the crappy pic, only camera I own is on my iphone.

transformer.JPG

How is the screen responsiveness?
Did you get the Dock? If so have you used the included software? Impressions?
1080p playback performance?
General likes/dislikes?
Any apps having FC issues?
Build quality?
 

jdobratz

Member
Sep 29, 2004
161
0
76
The screen feels pretty good to me, there is a small amount of interface lag, but im hoping that improves with OS updates. No dock yet, I havent been able to find one, supposed to be in stock locally here on May 2nd.

Im ripping a DVD to 1280x800 right now, that will be the first local video I will have done with it. I did notice that HD videos thru the youtube app were really choppy on playback when I had it in full screen mode, they played much better when I shrunk it back to the standard player size.

Im guessing you mean Force Close/quit by FC? If so, then no, I havent had any apps crash on me, I tried installing an HBO app from the market and that one just said FU right off the bat and wouldnt start no matter how many times I launched it, I just gave up and uninstalled it, probably not compatible with honeycomb yet.

I like the build, the dark brown color of the back and anodized metal rim is nice looking. I also like the texture on the back, lets you know youre holding onto something when its in your hands.

The only issue Ive had so far is the card slot. I put my sdcard in for the first time and it read it fine, initialized it and mounted it to the filesystem. I could see it in file manager. I unmounted it to put something on it and now I am unable to get the tablet to see it again when I put the card in, still working on that, not sure why it wont see it now. Other than that im happy with it, I plan to mostly use it for surfing on the couch and it looks to be just fine for that.

Edit: A reboot fixed the sdcard, could have sworn I already tried that.
 
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you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
5,967
1,129
126
How's the screen compared to ipad 2 or xoom ? At the store when I saw the xoom I found it very dull and rather pointless (this is head on; not at an angle). One review suggested tha the asus screen was not very vibrant and dark - esp compared to the ipad 2 (even though it has an ips screen). Hence the question :)

I mostly want it for reading email and watching movies while traveling.

The screen feels pretty good to me, there is a small amount of interface lag, but im hoping that improves with OS updates. No dock yet, I havent been able to find one, supposed to be in stock locally here on May 2nd.

Im ripping a DVD to 1280x800 right now, that will be the first local video I will have done with it. I did notice that HD videos thru the youtube app were really choppy on playback when I had it in full screen mode, they played much better when I shrunk it back to the standard player size.

Im guessing you mean Force Close/quit by FC? If so, then no, I havent had any apps crash on me, I tried installing an HBO app from the market and that one just said FU right off the bat and wouldnt start no matter how many times I launched it, I just gave up and uninstalled it, probably not compatible with honeycomb yet.

I like the build, the dark brown color of the back and anodized metal rim is nice looking. I also like the texture on the back, lets you know youre holding onto something when its in your hands.

The only issue Ive had so far is the card slot. I put my sdcard in for the first time and it read it fine, initialized it and mounted it to the filesystem. I could see it in file manager. I unmounted it to put something on it and now I am unable to get the tablet to see it again when I put the card in, still working on that, not sure why it wont see it now. Other than that im happy with it, I plan to mostly use it for surfing on the couch and it looks to be just fine for that.

Edit: A reboot fixed the sdcard, could have sworn I already tried that.
 

bonkers325

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
13,076
1
0
The screen feels pretty good to me, there is a small amount of interface lag, but im hoping that improves with OS updates. No dock yet, I havent been able to find one, supposed to be in stock locally here on May 2nd.

Im ripping a DVD to 1280x800 right now, that will be the first local video I will have done with it. I did notice that HD videos thru the youtube app were really choppy on playback when I had it in full screen mode, they played much better when I shrunk it back to the standard player size.

Im guessing you mean Force Close/quit by FC? If so, then no, I havent had any apps crash on me, I tried installing an HBO app from the market and that one just said FU right off the bat and wouldnt start no matter how many times I launched it, I just gave up and uninstalled it, probably not compatible with honeycomb yet.

I like the build, the dark brown color of the back and anodized metal rim is nice looking. I also like the texture on the back, lets you know youre holding onto something when its in your hands.

The only issue Ive had so far is the card slot. I put my sdcard in for the first time and it read it fine, initialized it and mounted it to the filesystem. I could see it in file manager. I unmounted it to put something on it and now I am unable to get the tablet to see it again when I put the card in, still working on that, not sure why it wont see it now. Other than that im happy with it, I plan to mostly use it for surfing on the couch and it looks to be just fine for that.

Edit: A reboot fixed the sdcard, could have sworn I already tried that.

How does browsing feel? I played with the Acer Iconia A500 and the Moto Xoom in BB... and for both tablets the experience felt... slow. There is some UI lag and browser doesn't do well when opening full websites (laggy scrolling, slow loading times). I chalked it up to the fact that it's a display model and probably has all sorts of junk running in the background.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
5,967
1,129
126
Btw I stopped by best buy and they had the acer pad out on display. The screen on it was not bad; infact only obvious negatives were that it was a bit heavy and I could not get it to rotate.

Have you compared the asus screen to the acer ?
 

jdobratz

Member
Sep 29, 2004
161
0
76
I have little to no experience with other tablets, so I cant really comment on the quality of one screen versus another. Its a mobile device, I see it for what it is, im not expecting movie theater visuals from it :) Websites can be laggy if they are full of graphics and flash, but if a site is not overloaded with crap, it runs rather well.
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
There are some iOS device browsers out there that may work, but the problem is that you're still kind of limited without being able to use the iTunes software. To my knowledge, excluding the ATV2, you cannot update an iOS device without it.

Handbrake can re-encode a file to easily work with an iOS device, but for an arbitrary playback, you'd need something designed to play any file like XBMC. But... XBMC requires you to hack the iOS device, which last I checked (which it has been a few weeks), the iPad 2 hasn't had its bootloader cracked yet.

AVPlayerHD lets you upload via Wifi separate from iTunes and play most video formats...
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
I think Android is only about a year away from really competing with the iPad... I think they can crack 15% or so of the tablet market with what they already have. Which is more than enough to justify manufacture and development.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,079
136
I think Android is only about a year away from really competing with the iPad... I think they can crack 15% or so of the tablet market with what they already have. Which is more than enough to justify manufacture and development.

I've had the ipad 2, XOOM, Playbook, and a couple cheap ass Archos tablets.
I can already tell you which ones I'd prefer and the Apple stuff is towards the bottom of the list.
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
I've had the ipad 2, XOOM, Playbook, and a couple cheap ass Archos tablets.
I can already tell you which ones I'd prefer and the Apple stuff is towards the bottom of the list.

Oh... I don't disagree. I much prefer the Android OS in general. Feels more like a computer and less like a kids etch-a-sketch. However there's no doubt the iPad 2 is a superior platform right now... it's just so much more polished and has way better software support at this stage of the game.

I've owned the Galaxy Tab and now the iPad 2, so I speak from some experience as well.

I personally can't wait for Android to catch up... I anticipate ebaying my iPad in about 9-12 months time.
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
4,529
0
0
I've had the ipad 2, XOOM, Playbook, and a couple cheap ass Archos tablets.
I can already tell you which ones I'd prefer and the Apple stuff is towards the bottom of the list.

I haven't used a playbook, but you'd put up with that shitty lag and buggy software over a working fluid ui? Right...
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,989
852
126
I played with the Viewsonic 9 at J and R yesterday as I am awaiting my Asus transformer and the V9 is just way too laggy and slow. real laggy and slow even if it is under 300 bucks its just not worth it imo.