Asus recently dropped by our labs with a whole load of products, including a smartphone, a tablet and an ultrabook. The firm had initially planned on bringing a Transformer Pad Infinity too, complete with Full HD screen, but that wasn't possible in the end. However, we still managed to get a decent hands-on with the Transformer Pad TF300 tablet and the Padfone.
We had the products for long enough to run the three screens (TF300, Padfone handset and Padfone Station) through our test lab, while also getting a decent first impression of performances.
Although the Padfone immediately looked like an innovative and interesting idea when it was presented earlier this year, we were keen to get a closer look at the smartphone itself—the basis and cornerstone of the whole concept—to find out whether this seemingly original system masked a disappointingly average mobile. After all, Asus is yet to prove itself in the mobile phone market.
The handset (and we saw a final retail model) feels nice to handle. Similarly, the build and finish are very good. The phone is light (129g), the Super AMOLED screen packs a real punch and the casing is really quite stylish (even though it's made from plastic) with a subtle concentric circle pattern.
The Padfone has two connections on its left-hand edge—a micro USB port and a port for connecting to the accompanying tablet.
When surfing the web and navigating through Android 4.0 ICS, the Padfone and its 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor prove particularly fast. However, the screen resolution is a let-down, as the Padfone uses a qHD AMOLED screen with 960 x 540 pixels.
The problem is that on a 4.3-inch screen, reading text on a web page is about as easy as reading your doctor's handwriting. Unless you zoom in, pages just look like they're comprised of lines rather than individual letters, no matter what site you happen to be looking at. Things do get slightly better in landscape mode, though, as text becomes a bit easier to decipher. Like many smartphones with screens 4.3 inches or larger (e.g. Galaxy S II, HTC Titan, etc.), the Padfone ups screen size without actually making web pages any easier to read.
In terms of calibration and display quality, the Padfone has a classic Super AMOLED display, with the same kind of characteristics we've seen in other handsets with this kind of screen—a perfectly deep black but slightly crazy colours.
By default, then, the Padfone screen has infinite contrast. Plus, an 'Outdoor' mode is also on hand for boosting light tones and improving visibility. That's a function we'd like to have running all the time but it unfortunately drains the battery more quickly!
Colour fidelity could certainly be better, as we measured an average Delta E of 12.5. Basically, the colours all look a bit disco. It's definitely AMOLED ... That said, Asus has managed to avoid a blip we picked up on in the Galaxy S II, Nokia Lumia 800 and Galaxy Note, as there's no heavy blue overtone in the Padfone. No sir—there's no sign of that here ... just a very slightly dominant red.
We measured the ghosting time at 18 ms. Movement does tend to look a bit progressive so images don't always seem perfectly smooth.
The Padfone pairs up with its tablet in a practical and well-thought-out way. You simply open a cover on the back of the Padfone Station, slide in the mobile (the right way round so the connectors meet) and the tablet comes to life instantly. The two devices seem to communicate seamlessly. You can even start watching a video on the smartphone and continue it instantly on the tablet with no down-time. Note that the tablet also has its own built-in battery. The Padfone Station handles Ice Cream Sandwich in a similar way to the Transformer Prime—delivering good, fast, smooth Android. Using the tablet adds an extra 724 grammes to the product weight.
.jpg)
The Padfone Station looks a lot like the first EeePad Transformer but with an added bump on the casing. The Padfone's 8-Megapixel camera and flash are still accessible in tablet mode (see above) and you can choose to only display Android apps designed for the tablet when using the Padfone Station.
The tablet screen, like the TF300 below, continues the Asus tradition for good-quality IPS tablet displays. We measured average contrast at around 850:1, while the maximum brightness reaches around 330 cd/m². It'll therefore be reasonably easy to see what's going on onscreen when using the Padfone Station outdoors.
Colour reproduction in the tablet is quite different to the Padfone mobile. While colours still won't be accurate enough to please photo editors or graphic designers, the average Delta E of 6, with many colours brought at least a little closer to earth, means that the tablet displays more accurate images, even if they won't be as eye-catching as on the mobile screen.
Left: colours on the Padfone. Right: colours on the Padfone Station tablet.
Like the mobile, the tablet has a constant colour temperature—8000 kelvins for the 10.1-inch IPS tablet screen and 7168 K for the Super AMOLED smartphone screen.
We measured a ghosting time of 23 ms, which could be better. However, Asus effectively tricks your eyes into seeing a smoother image by inserting one black frame every four frames. This in turn makes the onscreen image look fluid in most conditions.
In the end, the Padfone looked like an attractive enough concept on paper, and it doesn't disappoint after this first hands-on.
The first Transformer keyboard is due to get relaunched with added compatibility for the Padfone tablet. A Bluetooth stylus-headset should also complete the range of Padfone accessories.
The Padfone was initially due to launch in April in the UK but delays in sourcing the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor caused Asus to push back its release. The Padfone is therefore down as 'coming soon'.
Designed to replace the original EeePad Transformer, the TF300 is an entry-level tablet with an all-plastic casing but decent build quality. Being a 'Transformer' means you can obviously hook up an external keyboard/battery dock.
The TF300 runs on a 1.5 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM, Android 4.0 ICS and has a 32 GB internal memory. Those are actually quite similar tech specs to the EeePad Transformer Prime. The TF300 sells alone or bundled with its keyboard dock and there are Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/3G versions to choose from. Prices start at around £399 for the tablet + dock.
The dock is very light, but it seems to have some trouble keeping balance when the tablet is connected and tilted quite far backwards. The model we saw was a blue TF300 with Wi-Fi and 3G, and the casing had a similar concentric circle pattern to the Padfone. Note that SIM cards are loaded lengthways into a port on the left edge.
The TF300 tablet has an IPS screen with specs that don't sully Asus' track record for top-notch tablet screens. We measured an average contrast of 1106:1, which puts the TF300 up there with the best tablets on the market right now.
Colour fidelity is similar to other Asus IPS tablet screens with an average Delta E of 7.3 (the closer to 0, the more accurate the colours), with red, yellow, as well as black and grey tones reproduced particularly well.
The colour temperature is relatively even over the entire spectrum, with an overall average of 8171 kelvins. No cold overtone is therefore noticeable onscreen.
The ghosting time of 28 ms isn't great. In fact, it's the kind of reading we get from poor-quality tablet screens. However, Asus insets an extra image after every three frames, which effectively tricks you into seeing a smoother, more seamless onscreen image.
Asus confirmed that the model we saw was a near-final prototype that could still differ slightly from the version actually available in stores. Bear in mind, then, that these results are only valid for this particular version of the TF300. We'll check them again when we get our hands on a final version of the tablet.
Asus Transformer
Pad TF300
The Transformer Pad TF300 is already starting to crop up in certain online stores, in various colours both with and without its keyboard dock. Note that the TF300 keyboard dock is specific to this tablet and isn't compatible with other models in the Transformer Pad and Transformer Prime series, as each tablet is a slightly different size (apart from the Prime and the Infinity).
We should be getting our hands on a final version of the Transformer Pad TF300 in the next few weeks so stay tuned for a full review.
We had the products for long enough to run the three screens (TF300, Padfone handset and Padfone Station) through our test lab, while also getting a decent first impression of performances.
Padfone: A Sound Base
Although the Padfone immediately looked like an innovative and interesting idea when it was presented earlier this year, we were keen to get a closer look at the smartphone itself—the basis and cornerstone of the whole concept—to find out whether this seemingly original system masked a disappointingly average mobile. After all, Asus is yet to prove itself in the mobile phone market.
The handset (and we saw a final retail model) feels nice to handle. Similarly, the build and finish are very good. The phone is light (129g), the Super AMOLED screen packs a real punch and the casing is really quite stylish (even though it's made from plastic) with a subtle concentric circle pattern.
The Padfone has two connections on its left-hand edge—a micro USB port and a port for connecting to the accompanying tablet.
When surfing the web and navigating through Android 4.0 ICS, the Padfone and its 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor prove particularly fast. However, the screen resolution is a let-down, as the Padfone uses a qHD AMOLED screen with 960 x 540 pixels.
The problem is that on a 4.3-inch screen, reading text on a web page is about as easy as reading your doctor's handwriting. Unless you zoom in, pages just look like they're comprised of lines rather than individual letters, no matter what site you happen to be looking at. Things do get slightly better in landscape mode, though, as text becomes a bit easier to decipher. Like many smartphones with screens 4.3 inches or larger (e.g. Galaxy S II, HTC Titan, etc.), the Padfone ups screen size without actually making web pages any easier to read.
In terms of calibration and display quality, the Padfone has a classic Super AMOLED display, with the same kind of characteristics we've seen in other handsets with this kind of screen—a perfectly deep black but slightly crazy colours.
By default, then, the Padfone screen has infinite contrast. Plus, an 'Outdoor' mode is also on hand for boosting light tones and improving visibility. That's a function we'd like to have running all the time but it unfortunately drains the battery more quickly!
Colour fidelity could certainly be better, as we measured an average Delta E of 12.5. Basically, the colours all look a bit disco. It's definitely AMOLED ... That said, Asus has managed to avoid a blip we picked up on in the Galaxy S II, Nokia Lumia 800 and Galaxy Note, as there's no heavy blue overtone in the Padfone. No sir—there's no sign of that here ... just a very slightly dominant red.
We measured the ghosting time at 18 ms. Movement does tend to look a bit progressive so images don't always seem perfectly smooth.
The Padfone pairs up with its tablet in a practical and well-thought-out way. You simply open a cover on the back of the Padfone Station, slide in the mobile (the right way round so the connectors meet) and the tablet comes to life instantly. The two devices seem to communicate seamlessly. You can even start watching a video on the smartphone and continue it instantly on the tablet with no down-time. Note that the tablet also has its own built-in battery. The Padfone Station handles Ice Cream Sandwich in a similar way to the Transformer Prime—delivering good, fast, smooth Android. Using the tablet adds an extra 724 grammes to the product weight.
The Padfone Station looks a lot like the first EeePad Transformer but with an added bump on the casing. The Padfone's 8-Megapixel camera and flash are still accessible in tablet mode (see above) and you can choose to only display Android apps designed for the tablet when using the Padfone Station.
The tablet screen, like the TF300 below, continues the Asus tradition for good-quality IPS tablet displays. We measured average contrast at around 850:1, while the maximum brightness reaches around 330 cd/m². It'll therefore be reasonably easy to see what's going on onscreen when using the Padfone Station outdoors.
Colour reproduction in the tablet is quite different to the Padfone mobile. While colours still won't be accurate enough to please photo editors or graphic designers, the average Delta E of 6, with many colours brought at least a little closer to earth, means that the tablet displays more accurate images, even if they won't be as eye-catching as on the mobile screen.
Left: colours on the Padfone. Right: colours on the Padfone Station tablet.
Like the mobile, the tablet has a constant colour temperature—8000 kelvins for the 10.1-inch IPS tablet screen and 7168 K for the Super AMOLED smartphone screen.
We measured a ghosting time of 23 ms, which could be better. However, Asus effectively tricks your eyes into seeing a smoother image by inserting one black frame every four frames. This in turn makes the onscreen image look fluid in most conditions.
In the end, the Padfone looked like an attractive enough concept on paper, and it doesn't disappoint after this first hands-on.
The first Transformer keyboard is due to get relaunched with added compatibility for the Padfone tablet. A Bluetooth stylus-headset should also complete the range of Padfone accessories.
The Padfone was initially due to launch in April in the UK but delays in sourcing the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor caused Asus to push back its release. The Padfone is therefore down as 'coming soon'.
Transformer Pad TF300
Designed to replace the original EeePad Transformer, the TF300 is an entry-level tablet with an all-plastic casing but decent build quality. Being a 'Transformer' means you can obviously hook up an external keyboard/battery dock.
The TF300 runs on a 1.5 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM, Android 4.0 ICS and has a 32 GB internal memory. Those are actually quite similar tech specs to the EeePad Transformer Prime. The TF300 sells alone or bundled with its keyboard dock and there are Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/3G versions to choose from. Prices start at around £399 for the tablet + dock.
The dock is very light, but it seems to have some trouble keeping balance when the tablet is connected and tilted quite far backwards. The model we saw was a blue TF300 with Wi-Fi and 3G, and the casing had a similar concentric circle pattern to the Padfone. Note that SIM cards are loaded lengthways into a port on the left edge.
The TF300 tablet has an IPS screen with specs that don't sully Asus' track record for top-notch tablet screens. We measured an average contrast of 1106:1, which puts the TF300 up there with the best tablets on the market right now.
Colour fidelity is similar to other Asus IPS tablet screens with an average Delta E of 7.3 (the closer to 0, the more accurate the colours), with red, yellow, as well as black and grey tones reproduced particularly well.
The colour temperature is relatively even over the entire spectrum, with an overall average of 8171 kelvins. No cold overtone is therefore noticeable onscreen.
The ghosting time of 28 ms isn't great. In fact, it's the kind of reading we get from poor-quality tablet screens. However, Asus insets an extra image after every three frames, which effectively tricks you into seeing a smoother, more seamless onscreen image.
Asus confirmed that the model we saw was a near-final prototype that could still differ slightly from the version actually available in stores. Bear in mind, then, that these results are only valid for this particular version of the TF300. We'll check them again when we get our hands on a final version of the tablet.
Asus Transformer
Pad TF300
607 readers want this Me too!
| STORES | £ |
|---|---|
| Amazon mark... | 350.00 |
| Amazon mark... | 383.52 |
| Amazon mark... | 633.44 |
| Compare prices |
|
We should be getting our hands on a final version of the Transformer Pad TF300 in the next few weeks so stay tuned for a full review.
DigitalVersus on...