Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32GB, gray)

Pros: Aesthetics and design
Available connections
Keyboard dock

Cons: HC is not optimized for quad core, hopefully ICS eill be

Summary: I think I may be one of the first actual owner of this tablet. I am currently visiting Taiwan, and per-order for the device started way before than in the States, and actual delivery started on the 3rd. I took delivery of my Prime at 2pm. I preorder mine through TKec here in Taiwan. Taiwan is home to Asus, after all, and it seems Asus really takes care of its fans in its home base.

I have several tablets currently, both iOS and Androids, and have had more. Of course, this is only my personal opinion of the device, and you should take it with a grain of salt as with any other reviews. I am not associated with Asus nor cnet.

Ok, first thing first: I am reviewing this for those that are tablets pros, those who have had several tablets of all competing platforms, and who are wondering what Prime is bringing to the table. Looks elsewhere if you do not already have several tablets of made by Apple, HTC, or HP, etc.

I think I am not out of line when I say that I believe of all platforms out there iOS is the most mature, androids has the most potential and others are just also ran. With that being said, I have to say I am disappointed with just playing HC on my Prime instead of ICS. All the little annoyances of HC are still there, even the bad optimization. Home screen switching is very smooth, and so are apps launching. But every so often, there will be stuttering performing either tasks, just like what HC has always done. I am beginning to believe that all those performance issues really are Google's bad coding, as the hardware of this tablet is not in question. It's is a freaking quad-core! Until ICS ships, I believe, do not think that all the stuttering will be gone. Compare to iOS, sadly, iPad 2 still wins in the consistent smooth operation for now. ICS may very well change that quickly.

Aesthetically, this thing is the best looking tablet there is, bar non. Yes, it is prettier even than the iPad 2. It is thinner as you probably know, but what really strikes me is how solid the tablet feels. The flexing problem or the previous transformer are gone. This thing feels like a solid forged piece of metal when you hold it in your hand, and it exudes expensive and sophistication with aplomb. Design cue pays more than a nod to its Apple competitor, but that is not necessary a bad thing. It is different enough that no one will confuse the two, so on the aesthetic side this thing is the best looking Androids tablet there is. Compare to iPad 2, it is on par with the Apple on looks alone. Prime does feel more "expensive" than even the iPad, so combined with that aspect then it trounces even the Apple offering.

I bought my champaign gold Prime with the dock, so I'll go over a little bit about operation with the dock attached. The dock feels very much like the tablet: thin, light and high class. The keyboard layout is the same as the first gen dock, so if you're already comfortable with that, you'll be at home here. Two cons about the docks are that it is not backlit, and it is not as solid as the tablet itself. Don't get me wrong, it's not that the dock is of low quality, but compared to the tablet it does feel lower. An analogy would be like if you have been driving your Ferrari all day, stepping into your Mercedes S class feels like a let down. To match the quality of the Prime, I would've loved for the dock to be backlit, and the chicklet keys bigger. Maybe even for the keyboard to be thinner,I don't know. All I know is that I was blown away by the tablet. The keyboard, not so much. The top heavy comments made by several reviewers do ring true, Prime does tip over very easily. Be careful.

I have not had my Prime for that long to give a full review. Once I do, then I'll update my findings.