In case you missed it in the news last year, I was an unhappy iPad owner. Bought version 1 and found it to be just an expensive toy with very few features and incredibly overpriced. But that’s just me. Clearly. 
I found some sucker to take it off my hands (thanks Witt), and continued on just fine with life after the iSpaz. During that same time frame I was loving my Droid phone – and have found the Android OS to be what I want it to be – which really just means that I’m not tied to Apple and the much-hated (by me) iTunes.
So I’ve been keeping my eye on the many different Android-based tablets that have been coming out. I was taken by the Toshiba, interested in the IBM, and amazed by the ASUS (Flickr-CC photo at left by blogeee.net).
I figured that amazement was better than being taken or just interested – so I got transformed by the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. Here’s a little collage that shows my delight in getting it ready for use. Click on the graphic below to enlarge it.
So what’s to like? How about:
- Screen: The Asus is larger (10.1 vs. 9.7) with more pixels (1280X800 vs. 1024X768)
- Design: The Eee Pad has a far less slippery backside
- Cameras: Both front-facing and back-facing cameras on EeePad have more megapixels than iPad2
- Storage capacity: i bought the 16GB version, but it has a microSD slot that can hold another 32 GB – so the iPad loses on that front as well
- Battery life: with the optional keyboard/case, the Asus can give you 16 hours of unconnected usage. Comparing just the tablets themselves, the iPad2 eeks out a small win here
- Apps: I was surprised to find that it automatically installed all the apps that I have on my Droid. That was a great time-saver for me because I would want most of them on the tablet as well.
- Freedom: I still have no need to reinstall iTunes (ever again)
- One word: Flash
What are my first-day beefs with the EeePad?
- The built-in speakers sound terrible. haven’t hooked up my ear buds yet, but they have to sound better (I hope)
- The Eee Pad weighs an extra 2.5 ounces – which is sure to cause me severe back pain
- Okay – who decided that Eee Pad was a good name? Eeeeeeeekkkkk
Filed under: Computing |
Barry Dahl dot com 
Would love to see it in action the next time we hang out
What are your thoughts after 7 months of living with the Transformer? If you were suddenly trapped in some sort of Bill Murray-esque Groundhog Day hell that had you continuously revisiting early August of 2011, would you buy the device again? (and again, and again, and again …. 😉
-Chris
[…] by barrydahl I bought an ASUS Transformer back in August, 2011. My post at that time was titled “Lovin the Eee Pad. So far” and covered my initial thoughts about the Android-based tablet. The more I use the Transformer, […]