Thursday, April 18, 2013

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700
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The Transformer range of Android tablets has become the jewel of Asus's crown and the best alternative to Apple's new iPad.
Along with the Asus Transformer Prime and the Asus Transformer Pad 300, the most recent tablet – the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity – keeps the excellent keyboard docking station that made the range famous and adds (among other things) a much improved high resolution screen.
Outwardly, the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity is almost identical to its predecessor, the Transformer Prime. The tablet - highly priced at £600 in the UK and $600 in the US for the 64GB version - has the same brushed metal and concentric circle design.
The chassis is crafted from aluminium and you'll find a 10.1-inch Gorilla Glass display staring up at you when you lift the tablet out of the box.
There are subtle differences, however. The Transformer Pad Infinity is a hair thicker, with 0.2mm of added girth, although weight-wise it stays at the same 635g as the Prime – lighter than the new iPad.
The real difference lies in the beefed up resolution of the screen. As with Apple's new iPad, Asus has taken its original model and crammed more pixels onto the display.
You're given a 1920 x 1200 resolution in place of the Prime's 1280 x 800, although the brightness has been kept at 600nits.
Elsewhere, the similarities continue. The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity runsAndroid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We haven't heard yet whether anAndroid 4.1 Jelly Bean update is inbound, although it's sensible to assume we will see one before the year is out.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
Power is provided courtesy of the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU - which has become de rigueur for top-tier Android tablets. Special mention goes to the Infinity Pad's gaming prowess, since the fantastic screen and beefy processor will combine to run any game you'd care to download from the Google Play store.
Any Android fan should undoubtedly have this at the top of their next-purchase list, but for those who still aren't too certain, there's plenty here that sets this aside from the glut of other tablets on the shelves. Read on to find exactly what makes this so special.
The 10.1-inch form factor from the original Asus Transformer Primecontinues with the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, and among the new crop of 7-inch tablets such as the Google Nexus 7 and the rumoured iPad Mini, there's still a lot to be said for having a larger device.
Portability might be compromised, but if you want to browse Flipboard or play a game on the sofa at the end of the day, that larger display will come in handy.
The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity is 8.5mm thin by itself, and a chunkier 17mm when you connect it to the keyboard dock. The aluminium frame is very attractive, and the concentric circle design will throw off the light like spokes on a bicycle wheel.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review
The only downside to this design, as far as we can tell, is that the grip isn't as firm as when the rear of the tablet is given a slight rubberised coating, à la the BlackBerry PlayBook or Fujitsu Stylistic M532.
The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity is heavier than other tablets – such as the Fujitsu – but it won't cripple your biceps after 30 minutes reading an ebook.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review
The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity is also a well-built device. The aforementioned Gorilla Glass display will stand a real pounding, and the rest of the chassis feels like it can take the inevitable knocks that occur out on the road.
You won't find any physical buttons on the front of the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, thanks to Ice Cream Sandwich's soft key arrangement, and even the sides of the tablet are relatively free from clutter. On the left-hand side is a micro HDMI port, next to the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review
There's also a slot-loading microSD port that enables you to ramp up the storage space by 32GB. Without the microSD, you get 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, depending on which model you opt for.
The volume rocker and power button are both located on the top of the tablet, while the bottom is reserved for the Asus proprietary port that connects the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity to either a charger or the keyboard dock.

Keyboard dock

Like previous Asus Transformers, the keyboard dock is the ace-in-the-hole with this tablet, enabling you to turn it into a Tegra 3-powered netbook. The dock locks into place firmly, and to release it you simply flick the switch at the base of the hinge.
Beyond an extra input method, the dock also gives you a full-sized SD port, a USB port and a second Asus port for charging both the dock and tablet together.
The keyboard boasts its own battery that extends the battery life of the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity to around 14 hours.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review
It should also be mentioned that it is a fantastic keyboard in its own right. The isolation-style keys give you enough travel to be comfortable and Asus gives you as much spacing as possible between the keys.
The trackpad is, understandably, a little on the small side, and using a cursor on Android takes some getting used to. More than once we found ourselves using the keyboard along with the touchscreen for navigation.

Screen

We've touched on the screen already, but it really is the standout feature of the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, and deserves closer scrutiny.
Firstly, it won't touch the new iPad's mammoth 2048 x 1536 resolution, but for the majority of consumers that shouldn't be much of an issue.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity review
You get crisp, clean 1080p video on the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, and the colour balance is excellent. The reflective screen will cause you problems if you try using it outside, but then show us a tablet where this isn't a concern.
If we were to gripe, it would be that the connections could be improved. The single USB port is USB 2.0 and, ideally, we'd have it upgraded to 3.0, which would enable us to read/write data to the tablet 10 times faster. Also, we give you 24 hours before you lose the unsecured rubber cap that covers the port.
Full Spesification's For Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
GENERAL2G NetworkN/A
SIMNo
Announced2012, February
StatusAvailable. Released 2012, July
BODYDimensions263 x 180.8 x 8.5 mm (10.35 x 7.12 x 0.33 in)
Weight598 g (1.32 lb)
 - Optional mobile dock with standard QWERTY keyboard and trackpad
DISPLAYTypeSuper IPS+ LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size1920 x 1200 pixels, 10.1 inches (~224 ppi pixel density)
MultitouchYes
ProtectionCorning Gorilla Glass 2
 - ASUS Waveshare UI
SOUNDAlert typesN/A
LoudspeakerYes
3.5mm jackYes
MEMORYCard slotmicroSD, up to 32 GB
Internal32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
DATAGPRSNo
EDGENo
WLANWi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
BluetoothYes, v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
USBYes, v2.0
CAMERAPrimary8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
FeaturesGeo-tagging
VideoYes, 1080p@30fps
SecondaryYes, 2 MP
FEATURESOSAndroid OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable to v4.2.1 (Jelly Bean)
ChipsetNvidia Tegra 3 T33
CPUQuad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9
GPUULP GeForce
SensorsAccelerometer, gyro, compass
MessagingEmail, Push Mail, IM
BrowserHTML5, Adobe Flash
RadioNo
GPSYes
JavaYes, via Java MIDP emulator
ColorsAmethyst Gray, Champagne Gold
 - SNS integration
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- HDMI port
- MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC player
- MP4/H.264/H.263 player
- Polaris Office editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint; PDF viewer)
- Photo viewer/editor
- Organizer
- Predictive text input
BATTERY Non-removable Li-Po battery (25 Wh)
Stand-by
Talk timeUp to 9 h 30 min
MISCPrice group

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