ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-GR Eee Pad 10.1-Inch 32GB Tablet (Amethyst Gray)

3 Responses to “ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-GR Eee Pad 10.1-Inch 32GB Tablet (Amethyst Gray)”

1. 

   H. Wang says:

   June 26, 2012 at 3:42 am

   761 of 779 people found the following review helpful

   
   Excellent laptop-replacement tablet, December 27, 2011

   By 

   H. Wang (Boston, MA USA) –

   Amazon Verified Purchase(http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/amazon-verified-purchase/187-8935910-6176520', ‘AmazonHelp’, ‘width=400,height=500,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,toolbar=0,status=1′);return false; “>What’s this?)

   This review is from: ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-CG 10.1-Inch 32GB Tablet (Champagne) (Personal Computers)

   I’ve extensively used a lot of tablets, due to both longtime interest in mobile technology, and my line of work. To give you an idea of my frame of reference, I’ve either owned or used the following tablets: Ipad 2 (owned), HP Touchpad (owned – 2011 firesale!), Motorola Xoom / Galaxy Tab 10.1, LG G, original Asus Transformer (work). Heck, I’ve owned the following Windows Mobile / PocketPC devices from back in the day – HP Jornada, Toshiba e800. My phone is the iPhone 4.

   With that said, this is one of the best tech gadget I’ve ever owned. The unanimous rave industry reviews (and very positive end user reviewers, even taking wifi issues etc. into account) aren’t wrong.

   * BUILD AND FORM FACTOR: evocative of but actually feels higher quality than the Ipad 2 and Macbook Air, which is a minor miracle at this price point. Beautifully machined aluminum, minimalist but not cold. The resolution of the screen is the best out of any current tablet, and can be crazily bright enough that it is useable outdoors in sunlight. It’s definitely a fingerprint magnet though.

   * COLOR – for those deciding between the gray or champagne, I received the champagne, and I actually called to confirm that I received the right one. It’s much more silver than gold, it’s basically silver aluminum with some gold highlights when the light catches it the right way. This is *exactly* what I wanted – it’s reminiscent of the classic aluminum MacBook Pros, but with a touch of warmth from the gold. In short – it’s not very gold at all.

   * PROCESSOR – the Tegra 3 quad core processor is noticeably snappy, making the whole experience (even with Honeycomb) feel next gen. I’ve been getting great battery life, ~ 10-12 hours of normal mixed used, on balanced setting. With the dock, you’re at 18+ hours. The NVIDIA fifth “stealth core” does its job seamlessly. It just works. For a quad core tablet with blazing power, this is again pretty mind-bending and next-gen. Is a quad core necessary? Strictly speaking, no. The Tegra 2 / OMAP / Snapdragon tablets do just fine, for the most part (although the un-overclocked Touchpad is noticeably slow), but every non ipad tablet lagged behind the iPad 2 in terms of real world performance (opening menus, browsing, launching apps). This isn’t because Apple’s processor is faster, but rather because if the sheer level of optimization between Apple hardware and software, which is industry-leading. With the Tegra 3 processor, though, this is the first non Apple tablet that both objectively is, and also noticeably feels, faster, more responsive, and more powerful than the iPad 2. It just brute forces past all of the Apple optimizations. For me, that is huge, especially if I’m going to be spending over $400 on something. Slowly but surely, more and more apps are optimizing for quad core (especially games), but even without that, I’d get a quad core for the general performance benefits alone, as it translates across every app.

   * OS / SW – I really like the iOS UI for phones, it’s simple yet powerful, but for a tablet it’s always just felt incredibly limiting / frustrating / slightly condescending. I even prefer WebOS to it. Android Honeycomb is a nice balance between power, customization and being relatively easy to pick up, just perfect for the tablet form factor. My 2 year old toddler figured out how to use it in about 20 seconds (similar to WebOS and iOS). That being said, I’m looking forward to ICS, which should make things even more stable (HC still crashes occasionally)and uniform. The fact that the Prime gets an ICS in a month or two is fantastic. The pre-loaded Asus apps are relatively minimal and unobtrusive, and some actually are quite nice, such as the Asus cloud. Polaris Office is solid. The Android Market could be improved though, especially in terms of sorting and organization. Finding the right app can be a bit of a crapshoot.

   CONS: Basically the same nits as others have pointed out.

   * SPEAKER: the rear-facing speaker placement is a bit dumb, because it gets covered up relatively easily by your hands or when you set it down. However, you can still hear it even if it’s completely covered, it’s pretty loud, and it’s located where the tablet tapers inwards so it doesn’t get completely covered by a flat surface when setting it down. I don’t mind the lack of a second speaker per se, as you hardly get stereo sound from any of the other tablets that have two speakers. I would say the sound quality of the Prime is on par with any other tablet, but it is just a bit easier to muffle. A jawbone jambox bluetooth speaker or the like works beautifully to supplement this tablet. It’s certainly not needed, but it’s a nice addition.

   * CHARGER – the proprietary charger really annoys me. Until Asus comes out with more accessories, I’m basically stuck with using my one charging cord. Even charging via the dock…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comments (62)

   reply
2. 

   R. Richelson "solar guy" says:

   June 26, 2012 at 3:56 am

   497 of 553 people found the following review helpful

   
   Asus Transformer Prime – IPAD killr ?, December 20, 2011

   By 

   R. Richelson “solar guy” (NJ) –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/amazon-verified-purchase/187-8935910-6176520', ‘AmazonHelp’, ‘width=400,height=500,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,toolbar=0,status=1′);return false; “>What’s this?)

   This review is from: ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-CG 10.1-Inch 32GB Tablet (Champagne) (Personal Computers)

   Hi guys,

   Figured I’d stop by since this is the hot toy for the Christmas season !
   I purchased the 32GB champagne color. I havent put T201 thru its paces yet but
   did perform some testing.

   Quality =
   Fit and finish is 100%, Very solid feel.

   Size =
   Very thin, kinda difficult to hold in hand, I’d recommend purchasing a gel case
   or something similar.

   Gaming =
   Played the pre-install games and they both ran with 0 stutters and were
   extremely fluid. did i purchase a a multipurpose tablet or a gaming tablet… i think the latter

   Performance =
   Tablet was completely fluid when changing from one screen to the next, i especially like the multi window
   tab on the bottom left, it will allow you to select anything previously opened (and will allow you to close too)

   Built in music player seemed basic and didnt appear to have the ability to download album art. I’ll stick with
   amazon cloud mp3 player.

   Web =
   (subjet to further testing) web browsing seemed to be alittle slow, this was experienced with java enabled… with disabled performance was snappy and good

   YouTube & amazon streaming =
   using the youtube app , it was a beautiful display and worked flawlessly. Amazon needs to make an app to stream their prime videos instead of going thru the web… however once a few buttons are pressed the video does fill the entire screen and works. Please note imbedded youtube in web DID NOT display any stutter or frame drops.

   Sound =
   Unfortunately this is what caused me to give 4 instead of 5 stars. The audio is quite loud and clear
   however only being emitted from a single speaker port does not provide the spartial/stereo sound. perhaps
   blue tooth or headset will eliminate this concern.

   Camera =
   Front facing 1.2MP camera provided acceptable image quality, however white balance should be adjusted to fully ensure quality (dont use automatic) , rear facing camera provided a good quality picture with decent focus and brightness… even in poor lighting conditions however any zoom used the image would be blurry depending upon x2 x3 etc. video mode was tested with low movement and provided a better quality then my nikon p500 (p500 seems to be abit jumpy).

   Battery life =
   Unable to report at this time since testing was limited to less then a full charge.

   Display =
   Was very colorful and bright, 600 nits of brightness will make it useable outside. normal amount of backlight bleeding (almost none but there’s always some). backlight bleed test was performed and two hot spots were identified one on bottom and other on right side. As mentioned previously the amount of light imo is quite minimal and i’ve seen far worse on other items. one of my apps displayed a completely white page and there was two hot spots (white slightly brigter then the rest of the page) this may be a fluke or not… i was able to duplicate the brighter pixel, its barely noticeable however is visable on default screen in other colors… not a deal breaker its about the size of a pin head with a slight glow around it, clarification you wouldnt know its there unless i told you to look for it.

   WIFI Range =
   two apps were used to test the wifi range speedtest (same test server) and wifi analyzer. I’ve only compared the two and not a laptop.. plus my house has about 800watts of electronic interference
   12 feet away from base station
   evo3d = 15.38 down 4.86 up signal str = -46 dbm
   prime = 20.50 down 5.00 up signal str = -43 dbm
   two walls, outside, about 85 feet away
   evo3d = 02.26 down 0.89 up signal str = -88 dbm
   prime = 05.50 down 3.00 up signal str = -75 dbm

   GPS =
   Best reception i got was 5/9 stable 4/8.
   UPDATE: Reports have been surfacing GPS isnt working or isnt working properly… When I performed the test it did find 4/8 and continued to have the searching graphic. Honestly I dont know what is normal for GPS reception with this device. Will compare against phone later.

   Operation & bugs =
   With any new device there will be patches and bug fixes, I dont assume any different with the prime.
   while transferring pictures via usb , i was viewing the pictures and multiple times it froze and displayed
   error resulting in restart of picture viewer. Another item was installation of a large gamesoft game dungeon
   runners 2, I had music playing in the background and every 15 seconds or so the music would stutter for a second or two
   and then continue playing. I’m sure this will be addressed with ICE and the use of 4/5 cores properly.

   I’ll update this review as time allows

   If you guys want specific info or test , please feel free to ask !

   01/09/12
   GPS has issues… perhaps big onces since Asus removed GPS from spec sheet. it appears the…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comments (86)

   reply
3. 

   Jason Harrell says:

   June 26, 2012 at 4:48 am

   187 of 205 people found the following review helpful

   
   Asus Transformer Prime 32 GB Champagne Gold – Review Updated 01/23/12!!!, December 21, 2011

   By 

   Jason Harrell (Pittsburgh, PA) –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/amazon-verified-purchase/187-8935910-6176520', ‘AmazonHelp’, ‘width=400,height=500,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,toolbar=0,status=1′);return false; “>What’s this?)

   This review is from: ASUS Transformer Prime TF201-B1-CG 10.1-Inch 32GB Tablet (Champagne) (Personal Computers)

   ****Update January 23, 2012: I thought I would post that I have decided to return my Prime TF201. I’m on my second one actually because of a few problems. I still think that this is a great device for those that aren’t having the problems. But for me, it just wasn’t worth the hassle.
   I have 2 problems. First are the physical defect on both that I received. The first one, as I mentioned below in my initial review, was the scratch on the Gorilla Glass. Had I put the scratch there, I wouldn’t have a problem because it isn’t scratch proof, rather, it is only scratch resistant. So I went on to tablet #2 and there are no scratches on the screen this time, however, there are dents on the silver border around the screen when looking at it straight on. One at the top and 2 at the bottom. While this may not bother some, I’m paying good money for this and I want it as close to flawless as possible. Also, the port for charging seems to be dented a little as well. It still fit the charger, but it looks like someone pressed really hard on the metal around the port and bent it downward. AGHH
   Problem 2: The second problem, on both devices is that once upgraded to ICS, I have numerous lockups and reboot problems. Too many to consider keeping it. I feel that this isn’t really the Prime’s fault but more an ICS problem, and may be fixed in a future update, but I can’t take it. On the first tablet, it happens while doing any simple task, like scrolling thru a page on the default browser, or playing a simple game, or using the camera. It is just not acceptable for me. It locks up for about what seems to be 20 seconds, then automatically reboots itself. Then it is good for a short while, like 15 minutes, and then it does the same thing. I really hate making this decision but it just has to be done. Also, for those concerned, the GPS update seemed to help mine slightly for locking onto satellites with no WIFI turned on, but was still not very strong. And the Wifi strength, after careful testing and review, was just too weak. Dropping it a star due to both of them having physical defects.

   ****Update January 9, 2012: I just received my Ice Cream Sandwich update to 4.0.3 and it went smoothly, plus there was another camera update as well right afterwards. When the tablet boots up now, it gives the option to unlock and go to the main screen if you swipe to the right, or go straight to the camera if you swipe to the left.
   I was hoping for the ability to move apps to the SD card, but no such luck yet. Mine is not rooted. Although my bootup time went from 3 mins 30 secs down to 1 min 31 secs with ICS then even down to 1 min 20 secs the next time I booted up. I like the long hold on the main screen for Live Wallpapers and plain photo wallpapers.
   For those that thought ICS may improve GPS functionality, it did not for mine. I figured as much, but thought I’d test it out. Wifi seems the same as before the update. Though mine seems very good cause I’m always near the router. (But like I said below, I’m NOT using this for GPS functionality. If you are, and you like the Prime for the specs, wait for the new Prime TF700t. Even though in my opinion, it doesn’t look as nice and it costs more. Or wait for the smaller 7″ tablet, unnamed as of yet, which will also run ICS and have the Tegra 3 processor. ANd it will only be $249.00. Or look around. Lots to choose from.)
   Looks like they also included an updated version of the web browser. I also see a Downloads App in the app section.
   I like the transitions from screen to screen in the app section as well. Although, while scrolling to the Widgets section after the apps, mine just locked up and this was after 5 mins from a fresh boot. Not sure what that was about. I couldn’t do anything but the tablet rebooted on its own. I’m sure there will be updates to come to clear any glitches.

   ****Update January 3, 2012: for those concerned about the locked bootloader, Asus made an announcement they they will provide an unlock key to allow root access at the risk of the user voiding the warranty. Here is hoping that Asus holds true to their promise, but they usually do. GPS is another issue for those concerned about it. I put my star rating back to 5 because Asus has been very good with updates and listening to the buyers. I just wish there was a way to get a plastic backing to replace the aluminum one for those that need GPS fixed to their wishes. I hope you all are enjoying your Prime as much as I am. And those of you waiting for yours to arrive, I’m sure you will enjoy it, just be aware of the issues before getting it. Or cancel your order and wait for a better option. Don’t forget CES 2012 is right around the corner Jan 10-13. Maybe there will be something more suited to your needs.

   ****Update January 1, 2012: I added a few photos to the image gallery here on Amazon that I took with the rear…

   Read more

   Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

   Was this review helpful to you? 
   

   
   |

    Comments (47)

   reply