yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Eee Pad Transformer General] phil-t:
I just wandered into Comet today, was looking at the iPad2 (Just as I'm always impressed with how 'smooth' the OS renders at all times).. when the sales assistant comes over, I laughingly mentioned the new Asus Transformer, and due to them not realising, they had just had 2 booked in stock, 1 had gone immediately, the other was for display, but said if I wanted it, she'd ask, and so it seemed rude not to buy it when offered!

I've had a Vega (I really missed a lot about it), and I have a Desire HD with CM7 RC4/Launcher Pro, so I just about know my way around Android!

Since I haven't got any time until tomorrow, but have powered it on, connected the charger to get it all nice and ready for playing with whilst watching F1 in the morning!

My immediate reaction was 'wow! What a screen!'.. and lots of nice HC stuff, and the build quality is superb..

My only question/observation is that swiping between home screens (And it's fresh out the box, nothing installed) is that it's a little disappointing, it's not hyper smooth, I'd say it looks 20-25fps.. I've been using Launcher Pro on the Vega and now my Desire HD and kind of got used to the almost perfectly smooth rendering..

I'm sure it'll get tweaked over time, I'd love if someone could allow the kernel to overclock, and once rooted, we could use SetCPU, my DHD is at 1.5Ghz, and it's amazingly smooth..

Unless I have a duff Transformer, I'll have to assume everyones is like it? or am I missing anything? If I can get the desktop screen transitioning silky smooth, this would be the absolute best experience I've ever had, as HC is very very very good..
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
I've had a couple of occasions where screen scrolling isn't smooth - it can happen if you have a live wallpaper (is a known honeycomb defect, so will hopefully be fixed soon). The other time i've seen it is where i've run an app which isn't honeycomb friendly and the tablet has gotten into a "bad state" - restarting it fixed the transitions to be silky smooth again.

It can also be a little iffy when copying data from a computer to it over the USB cable, but the screen transitions are normally ok and it's just apps taking a little longer to load (due to the memory bandwith being used to save data from the PC).
[Eee Pad Transformer General] darrenjdoc:
I see its now online with Carphonewarehouse. Wonder when they or PCW/Currys will have them instore ? Would love to have a play with one before i purchase. There are no Comet's over here in Northern Ireland.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] yoda715:
FYI, I've had those experiences on my Xoom as well. Most likely issues with honeycomb that will be hammered out over time.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] ZaelFaroe:
Has anybody who has the transformer tried using a bluetooth mouse with it? I am not one for trackpads, but I like the idea of a mouse for office work and rdp/vnc remote work.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] melax:
Pulse is priceless.. You can select amazing news sources, then just one push of the icon.It updates all of them and then late at night I read em all.. Very cool program.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] austinchimp:
In stores in London?

I'd like to examine one of these smart new things with my own hands before laying out cash online - does anybody happen to know of any stores in the West London area which have them?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] melax:
You Tube has a few diff clips of it..the screen looks beautiful. Be interesting to get more info on it very soon.. it has a docking port as well. · The dock with IR remote securely holds the Acer Iconia Tab A500 into a secure position with two tilt angles. The dock charges the unit and includes a connection for an external speaker or headphone. MSRP is $79.99.

This is the best site I could find, has lots of info on it..

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/04/08/acer-iconia-tab-a500-features-honeycomb-1ghz-processor/

Fun fun..
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
Thanks. Trying pulse, looks great
[Eee Pad Transformer General] wtek:
In a dilemma whether to get this, the Toshiba tablet or the Samsung which they claim will be thinnest and lightest tablet. Head says wait, heart says to get the first one out which maybe the transformer in the US.

Just a couple of quick questions to those in the UK with the transformer. Is the screen gorilla glass? I heard it mentioned in a video, but the specs i look at doesn't specifically mention that. Second thing, does it have adobe reader installed to read pdf documents/books? TIA
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Suntarus:
Another question for those Transformer owners (I can't wait to get mine in the US!) but is PlayOn tablet optimized, and/or does it run?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
So far i have found 2 separate apps installed that open pfd but not adobe reader. All the specs ive seen are for gorilla glass, not sure how to test it without risking damage to my new toy!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
It is gorilla glass - they name is specifically on their spec sheet and in numerous videos. It doesn't have adobe reader as it isn't ready for tablets, however polaris office natively supports reading pdfs so it can read them out the box. It also has a book reading app installed out the box too.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] bplewis24:
For those of you noticing input lag with the stock browser, have you noticed any effects from disabling Google Instant Search?

Brandon
[Eee Pad Transformer General] italia0101:
Hay just got the transformer today and its great. Just wondering as the Google books app isn't installed. Can it be downloaded?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
keyboard dock

I remember seeing a post about being able to order a keyboard direct from asus (sorry cant find it as thread search doesnt work on this thing). The link was not fom asus - does anyone have an asus link about how to order the keyboard?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
http://techinstyle.tv/news/eee-pad-transformer-keyboard-dock-offer/

that's where asus point you to if you ask them. i've already ordered mine - £54 including shipping and VAT.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dreadnought001:
I sent off all the information they required (serial number, receipt etc) but haven't heard anything back from them. Did you get a response from them to place your order?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] niallmal:
I'll be getting this I think instead of the Xoom. Need to get a confirmed price on the keyboard though.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mrgrey1701:
Seriously considering one of these so a +1 for the request
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stuntdouble:
+1 from me too. Needs root asap. :)
[Eee Pad Transformer General] redmongoose:
Pre ordered 2 from Amazon (with keyboard £429) due 18th April

Although Asus twitter has confirmed they will be in shops from next wednesday (6th) with internet retailer getting stock later.

No xoom for me now - bye bye moto :)

+ 1 for transformer section - need to get some devs on board for this!!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mamoulian666:
Comet also have it up for £450:

http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Tablets/buy-ASUS-TF101-1B028A-Tablet/717711

It doesn't say it but as they're both 16GB I'd take a stab at that being the one with the keyboard included.

Seems odd that a bricks-and-mortar retailer is selling it for more than RRP?

I've seen rumours that it's going to be $400 without keyboard in the US, roughly £330 inc VAT and shipping. Compare to our best price (Amazon/eBuyer) of £380.

Rip off Britain at it again?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stuntdouble:
Your maths is off by a fair bit. $400 is currently about £250 (link) unless you mean if you bought it via ebay or something from the US, which is obviously a lot cheaper, but we have VAT, etc. here so that's why things are always so much more costly. Unfortunately the USA aren't getting this before the UK so we cant import them for a lot less as we can with other items.

I'm sure the price will drop fairly fast shortly after release as April seems to be the time a lot of honeycomb tablets are being released. Well...at least I hope that's going to happen. ;)
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mamoulian666:
allowing $30 for shipping, then adding on 20% VAT

$400 + $30 = $430 = £268, £268 * 1.20 = £321.6

I was thinking of just getting it from some US store like best buy and then paying them for DHL to UK. Maybe $40 for shipping, not more than that though.

Dunno if the price will come down. The little netbooks started at a good price and didn't fall much until they'd been replaced by better models.

To be fair there isn't anything to compete with this price, the Xoom is more expensive, the cheaper devices aren't as good. But it's annoying that the UK price is more than US!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] bonikowsky:
here's fuel for the rumor...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20049400-1.html

course it's hard to trust anything today... lol
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mias1:
+1 for Asus eee pad. Will def get one from PC World/CPW/Comet next week
[Eee Pad Transformer General] shreddintyres:
+1 on a section for the EEE Pad Transformer

i will definitely be getting this amazing looking device
[Eee Pad Transformer General] redmongoose:
Thanks this is good news......:D
[Eee Pad Transformer General] mrgrey1701:
ebuyer preorder

http://www.ebuyer.com/asus-transformer?hpb=1

Now showing up for preorder on ebuyer.com dated for release on the 18th April. Prices are £379.98 for the 16gb tablet or £429.99 complete with keyboard dock. :D
[Eee Pad Transformer General] GtaSpider:
+1 - i would realy enyjoy a transformer section :>
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
+1 would appreciate a section for the transformer.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] roebeet:
Add me to the request list -- if this thing shows up in the US in the next week or two at $400, I will probably buy one.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Bassomatic:
Please do add a Transformer section. It would be great to start collecting info about the device and have it in one place and not scattered around. I was sort of waiting on the Elocity A10, but if this little guy comes anywhere near it in terms of price, this is the tablet I'm going to get. The docking station is a huge plus for me.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] rhoads5150:
+1

This is the Honeycomb tablet I'm buying, definitely!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] drummr8:
+1

awesomeness.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Bumble-Bee:
As this is the only place on here for transformer stuff looking at the USB drivers from asus support we will have

Add NVIDIA USB Boot-recovery driver for Mobile devices == nVflash

and

Add ASUS Android Bootloader Interface for fastboot == fastboot

witch means this device should be very developer friendly :) as e should be able to flash to any partition :)

i guess this another +1 for getting a section for this device :D
[Eee Pad Transformer General] neotekz:
pls open a section for the transformer. i dunno about you guys but i will only be buying this tablet if it can be rooted and bootloader unlocked.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] yoshitweaky:
OK so i am still waiting for news on my xoom delivery but am super duper tempted by the transformer, even though it has less inbuilt storage (as of now), it does have a working sd slot, screen seems better and the power extending dock with usb slots is really tempting, the only thing that bugs me is a lack of usb of any kind on the tablet itself (unless I missed it in the spec) has anyone here had the xoom and are now looking to switch to the transformer?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] htc6500uk:
I got an invoice from them within ten minutes of ordering but this was during office hours on friday afternoon.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
Thanks. Just seemed strange that it wasnt on an asus url! For a launch, this all feels a bit half ars*d. Will email them and see what happens. What payment method did they offer you?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Magnesus:
How much space is left on the device? I don't have experience with Android devices. How much of 16GB does the system take?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dreadnought001:
Ah, that might explain it then, I sent off my email about 6 in the evening, presumably they'd all gone home by then!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] shin lucifer:
I think it has 2xUSB2.0 on the tablet its self, and more when docked with keyboard.

I don't have Xoom anymore, but if i still did. I would be switching to Transformer. Better screen, working SD and between Motorola and Asus, i trust Asus alot more. Motorola making no effort at all with information about working updates that will allow use of SD slot. Whether its Google problem or not, to me the company that puts its name on the Hardware is responsible for every thing on their own hardware they produce.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] djklmnop:
The bottom line is, apple has done great on their interface responsiveness. Every touch registers and follows you effortlessly. But the Android tablet wins over in functionality, multitasking, etc which alone is worth the minor quirks. One thing I notice is that the Ipad's scroll has a longer stop decay which doesnt require you to scroll again so soon. I really wish the android does that.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
There are no usb lots on the tablet. Only on the keyboard
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Magnesus:
Nope. No USB on the tablet. The 2xUSB porsts are on the keyboard dock only.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] shin lucifer:
Thanks man, on spec sheet they have stated USB2.0 in such way, that it made it seem like, the tablet has USB...

Ty again for correct info man.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] yoshitweaky:
hmm, very tempted to order one of these from comet and cancel my xoom order from dixons, with the support of you guys here, I am sure it wont be long before root is found
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
They give you an account number, sort code and invoice ID and you need to setup a bank transfer to their account with the invoice ID and that's it. There are no other methods offered.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] czm:
Thanks. Never seen such a half arsed way of doing things. Not even a genuine store on their website or even a link to the website. Will order it anyway.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] raaaaaaaaaaa:
How do u root the optimus
[Eee Pad Transformer General] htc6500uk:
I get the feeling that there are limited stocks of addon keyboards at the moment and that maybe they weren't originally planning to offer them for sale so soon. I think that's why it seems a bit strange. The bank account is Asus themselves and they do not normally sell direct to end users. I think it excellent that they got it organised so quickly after they realised so many users wanted the keyboard as well.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Dulanic:
God I want one of these so bad. +1 for the forum also. Please Asus get this thing to the US already!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dmoney94:
You not the only one!

Trust me, i cant even sleep because of this Tablet.

Asus come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stuntdouble:
While I love my new eee pad, I'm very disappointed by the amount of apps that are available for honeycomb. Thought there would be more by now as the Americans have had the Xoom for a good while. Also annoying is seeing so many devs have not updated their original apps for honeycomb, or made versions specific for it yet. I'm expecting a lot to flood the market from this month onwards, but still, it is disappointing at the moment.

Still undecided on whether I should buy the keyboard dock or not. Although the SDXC slot would be handy for future massive storage upgrades.

We seriously need a nice new forum. This thread being the only thing for the tablet, while interesting, and still useful for people, is a bit all over the place. :cool:

EDIT:

Thought a few might find this useful. I've tested a lot of stuff so far. Lots have loaded but not worked very well. Here are some apps and games that seem to work fine with the eee pad. It's not a long list, I'm just listing the ones that have worked perfectly for me, but I'm sure people can add their suggestions.

Apps

----

Aldiko

Advanced Task Killer

Dropbox

ezPDF Reader

Firefox

Google Body

Google Earth

Google Sky Map

Pocket

Remote Desktop Client

Sketchbook Mobile - only in portrait mode

Tasker

Wifi Toggle

Games

-----

All the Angry Birds games

Cordy

Dungeon Defender

Fruit Ninja THD

Hardwood Solitaire

Shortyz Crosswords

The Elements

Zombie Defence

Emulators:

ScummVM

PSX4Droid

UAE4Droid
[Eee Pad Transformer General] italia0101:
Stuntdoublr does your eee pad have Google books? Or is that only for US
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stuntdouble:
It's not pre-loaded on it... I can see it on the market via pc but not from the device. It says 'not available for your carrier', so it looks like it's locked to the USA only. However Aldiko lets you browse all the free books I think too.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stridger:
root (work in progress)

For everyone interested in root: It doesn't seem to be easy. NVFlash is not working right, we're still trying to fix that. All the known exploits seem to have been patched (just like in 2.3.3). There is still lots of things to try, but it doesn't seem straight forward unfortunately :(

On the upside, root won't gain us much at this point in time, there are no custom ROMs etc. So it's only the freedom and a few things like Titanium and Nandroid which would be nice. But I'm sure we'll get there soon.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] phil-t:
Further to my previous post, there is something weird with the framerate on the desktop, this is with no apps installed and fresh out the box...

If you bring up the open app overlay (bottom left) then press home, swiping between screens shows framerate issues, if however you go into settings as an example, and then press home, its then silky smooth. It seems any action that causes something to overlay on the desktop is then causing the issue, going to an app that is full screen and then back to the desktop makes it super smooth.

When it is smooth, its really impressive, but it does grate a little when things like the app drawer are a bit low rent, or the bubbles on the live wallpaper. I'm just sticking to static wallpapers for now!

Finally I do have backlight bleed in 3 or 4 places on the bottom, which is a bit of a tiny downside to the otherwise really nice screen.

When more widgets come about, hc is the way forward, the new apps are a revelation, and I'm still quite impressed, I'll order the keyboard and hope the tiny glitches get fixed over the coming months.

[EDIT] ok, the framerate test does require the animations set to none under settings, screen, animations, then pressing home 'jumps' back to the desktop,withno animation, and its amazingly smooth, anything that triggers an animation effect seems tocause the issue. Can anyone confirm this as well? ( I put a shortcut to settings on the desktop to be able to quickly reset the problem by just going into settings and pressing the home key, which works everytime)
[Eee Pad Transformer General] dreadnought001:
Yeah, I would definitely agree with this. I can't believe, for example, that there is not one Twitter client optimised for tablets. And I know that a lot of the phone apps should naturally scale, but they don't always terribly well.

A few further thoughts about the Transformer based on future usage:

- Google video chat is excellent, tried it out with a friend of mine via wifi and there was little lag.

- Battery life seems very good. I've never actually gotten round to fully charging it, I've been doing top up charges but it still runs down very slowly even under fairly heavy usage.

- although I love the Chrome-esque browser, I do find it a little laggy at times. I've been playing with Opera and Dolphin HD and although they don't offer that full desktop experience, they seem to run a little better than the stock one. I'm wondering whether I need to change some settings to get the stock browser to run smoother.

- Coolest thing to do is to play N64 games full screen on your tablet using your wii remote (need Wiiremote control app, N64oid and a wii remote). Those games play poorly on my HTC Desire, but obviously the Tegra 2 has a bit more oomph and can power these emulated games. Amazing to play Super Mario 64 on the tablet..

- Still really can't get to grips with typing on the virtual keyboard - couldn't on the ipad and can't here - so I'm really looking forward to getting the keyboard dock, not only for typing but also for being able to hook up a variety of storage options to it via usb.

- For me it's just great to be away from the walled garden of iOS. Got a lot of admiration for the way Apple does things, but I was constantly frustrated when trying to get things (e.g. pictures/docs) either onto or off my ipad. It always seem to be so complicated. Here everything seems so easy. I took a picture with my phone today I wanted to look at on the tablet, no problem, just sent it across via bluetooth to view on that big screen.

Will keep updating as I explore it more...
[Eee Pad Transformer General] htc6500uk:
Has anyone noticed any 'missing' widgets that you might have expected from using previous versions of Android?

I ask because I use the Latitude widget on my Nexus One but it does not seem to be available on the Transformer. The Map application seems as to be a special version for Asus if one checks the 'about' in the Maps app.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] yoda715:
Playon works for my Xoom, but it doesn't seem really optimized for it. Video is a bit "blocky" as in it's definitely not HD.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] yoda715:
Yep, I have a Xoom and I'm going to switch when the Transformer is available in the US. Tons more potential with the Transformer IMO.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] human_error:
I've been playing glow hockey on my transformer and it's a very fun table hockey style game.

Movies has got some decent work on their tablet interface as well, and it is the same version as the phone app but selects a different UI, which is nice.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] stuntdouble:
Vplayer has just been updated to support tegra 2. It's running most formats pretty well. Mkv files are the exception.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Zazibar:
How is Flash performance on the tablet? If anyone could test a livestream channel I'd be very grateful.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] htc6500uk:
There has been much complaining in the Xoom support forums on the Motorola site that the card slot is not functioning yet on the Xoom. A number of people stated that it needed an update of Honeycomb by Google before it would work.

The situation has been made worse for Xoom owners with the Asus Transformer having a working card slot. There has been some comment that Asus have wriiten some sort of "kluge" to get the slot working on the Transformer.

My suspicions have been aroused after trying the App2SD app which, on my Nexus One, will move a majority of apps to the card slot.

When run on the Transformer, App2SD identifies a number of apps that can be moved but when one clicks on the App to move, one is taken to the normal "Applications Management" for the app that one is trying to move but there is no "move to SD" option. So maybe Asus have used some temprary workaround to get the problem. Perhaps this was only possible due to the smaller amount of memory on the current Transformer compared with the Xoom.

Incidentally, for those that do not know, due to an "bug" in Android (all versions I have tried) - moving an app to the card prevents any widgets for that app from functioning any more. This affects apps like Springpad.