Asus Transformer T100 Tablet/Laptop

My daughter Alexandra just got an Asus Transformer 10.1" tablet/laptop from Amazon. This post will offer my initial impressions.

A couple notes: First, this is the older model that comes with MS Office 2013, instead of an Office 365 subscription, which is a plus in my book. Second, she spent her own money on this. She already has an iPad but they use Windows in her school district.

Up until now I have not been a fan of Windows 8.x. Having used the Asus briefly, I can say that with a touchscreen it doesn't totally suck. If it was mine I'd still probably install Classic Shell so that I could have a Windows 7-like user interface, if my primary use involved the keyboard. Without a touchscreen, the Metro UI (or whatever MS calls it nowadays) blows.

During the initial setup I let it scan my home network, where it automatically detected my Brother HL-2270DW printer and installed it. Pretty slick.

You almost have to have a Microsoft account (e.g., hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com) to use the full features of Windows 8.1. I set Alexandra up with one and she got 15 GB of cloud storage for free. She's going to be using the Asus for schoolwork so by having her save everything to her OneDrive it will be automatically backed up.

I was able to set her MS account as a child's account. I'll get notified of her usage and they will filter inappropriate content. To do this I had to sign in with my live.com account and let them charge $0.50 to my Discover to confirm that I'm an adult.

Alexandra uses a GMail account and the Windows 8.1 Mail app was able to connect to it with no problems.

There's a USB 2.0 port on the tablet itself and a USB 3.0 port on the docking station/base/keyboard unit. The tablet has HDMI out, too. Network access is strictly via WiFi.

The machine seems to be pretty responsive. Considerably more responsive than my 2008-vintage MSI Wind U100 running Windows XP, 7, or Ubuntu. It came with Office 2013 Home and Student, and both Word and Excel launch quickly. The CPU is a quad-core Intel Baytrail and the tablet has 64 GB SSD, but C: shows a capacity of 49 GB, and about 35 GB free. It didn't come loaded down with too much bloatware, but there is a recovery partition.

The screen quality is excellent. Images are very sharp and text looks crisp.

It was about $350 after tax from Amazon. The combination of its size, light weight, and the ability to run most Windows apps is very appealing. It would probably make a good machine for portable ham radio digital mode use, or if you want something light for travel. Hopefully it’ll hold up well and the battery life will be good. Asus claims an 11 hour battery life, but I expect this varies widely depending on usage.

One caveat to be aware of with the Transformer is that if you put it in a case like this one and aren’t careful to reconnect the keyboard, you’ll have to reseat it firmly or you’re stuck with just a touchscreen. For that reason, for my own use I’d probably rather have a more conventional laptop if I could get it in the same size. It would be a great evolution of the netbook concept.

If the Asus develops any problems I’ll post a follow up.

iPad 2

At work my department will soon be receiving about 20 iPad 2s for development use. Since I'll be managing them, my boss felt I should have one for my own use. So, on Monday I came home with a shiny new white 64 GB iPad 2 with both WiFi and Verizon 3G capability. (If I want to use the 3G I'll have to pay for it myself.)

So far, I've been using the heck out of it. The screen is very nice and clear, displaying both text and graphics nicely. Speed seems good for the apps I've used. On my home network I'm getting about 12 to 14 megs down, about 10 mega slower than what I see with my MacBook Pro. The iPad has a slower processor, so that makes sense.

When typing I find that it's much easier if I put the iPad in landscape orientation, providing that the app I'm using supports it.  The onscreen keys are larger in this mode.

My use has primarily been for browsing, reading a couple forums using Tapatalk, and using the Amazon Kindle app. Compared with a Kindle, the iPad is more versatile since it allows you to do more than read books, but as an e-book reader, the hardware Kindle is superior. The grayscale Kindle screen, which isn't backlit, is superior for reading in bright light; there is more glare on the glossy color screen of the iPad. However, the iPad is superior for viewing PDF files, which don't display well on the Kindle.  The Kindle's e-ink display uses a lot less juice than the iPad's backlit LED. A Kindle can go weeks between being charged, while an iPad will go about 8 hours of active use.

Compared with the Samsung Galaxy tablet I got to play with a few weeks ago, the iPad is better. The iPad's larger screen versus the Galaxy's 7" display is more usable. (Obviously a 10" Galaxy would fare better in this regard.) The OS feels smoother, and Safari is overall a better browser than the stock Android 2.2 browser, with at least one caveat, see below.

So far I've bought a couple applications through iTunes: iSSH and GoodReader. I've also installed Noterize, Evernote, an RDP client, and Dropbox. ISSH allows me to access my servers at work over a WiFi bridge onto my lab network. GoodReader allows me to view many file types, including .doc, .xls, and PDFs, and manage files. It also integrates well with Dropbox.

I mostly typed this post in Evernote on the iPad with some final touches on my Mac.  Evenrote is an extremely neat notes and clipping program which can sync your files across multiple platforms and the cloud. (I used Evernote for this post because Safari on the iPad doesn't work with Blogger for some reason.)

Taking notes is something I see as becoming one of my main uses for the iPad, so I need to settle on a good solution for it.

Since this is a company owned device, I was able to get approval to have ActiveSync enabled on my Exchange account, which means I can now get my work email and calendar on it. I'm going to like not schlepping my laptop to meetings.

When I first handled an iPad last year I was a bit underwhelmed. I didn't like how it felt. The iPade 2 is noticeably slimmer and lighter and feels a lot better in the hand.  I can see why Apple has had a he'll of a time keeping up with demand.

For heavy content creation a laptop or desktop remains superior to the best tablet. But for note taking, email, checking my calendar, or light web surfing, the iPad works extremely well.

Samsung Galaxy Tablet

Over the past couple of days I got the chance to play with a 7" Samsung Galaxy tablet with WiFi and 3G from T-Mobile at work. We haven't activated the 3G so I only got to use the WiFi.  This isn't a full review, just some first impressions.

The overall feel of the Galaxy is much like a large Droid phone.  The OS is Android 2.2 "Froyo."  I mainly used the Android browser, Firefox, Opera Mini, and Facebook.

Size of the Galaxy is almost the same as my Kindle, but it's heavier because of the glass touchscreen.  Workmanship is solid and the device feels well made.   The screen looks very good and the device feels pretty speedy in most applications.  With a 7" screen it's larger than the big Android phones like the HTC Thunderbolt but it can still fit into a back pocket of one's jeans.  However, this is small enough that you'll often want to zoom in on web pages to read what displays as fine print.

AIUI, the WiFi-only version of the Galaxy has a slower processor than the 3G/WiFi version.  Something to consider if you're in the market for a tablet and considering the Samsung.

I did a little bit of reading using the Kindle app.  Text displays nicely but for reading a Kindle device is still better due to the lack of a backlit screen.  The Kindle's e-ink technology provides a non-glare screen that doesn't cause eyestrain like an LCD display. I found that when using the Kindle app on the Galaxy I preferred it set to have a black background and white text, since this was easier on my eyes.

The Galaxy comes with a USB charger but uses a proprietary connector on the device itself. The connector looks much like an Apple Dock connector but they are not compatible. IMO it would have been better for Samsung to have used a regular Micro-USB connection.

Other ports on the Galaxy are a microSD card slot which supports up to a 32 GB card, and a SIM card slot.  The microSD card slot is the biggest advantage devices like the Galaxy has over an iPad, IMO.

The stock Android browser sucks. I didn't realize how badly it sucks until I changed my cell phone from an original Droid to an iPhone 4 back in April.  In my experience, the Android browser doesn't render pages as nicely as Safari on the iPhone, or Firefox or Opera Mini on Android. It's also slower than the other browsers and scrolling on a page is frequently choppy, especially on pages with many objects, e.g., AR15.com.

The included YouTube app works well.

The stock Gmail application works as well on the Galaxy as it does on a Droid phone.  Compared with the unified mail app on iPhones I like the Gmail app better.  For example, I like being able to delete a message with one tap vs. two or more on the iPhone.

One advantage that Android tablets, including the Galaxy, have over iPads is that you do not need a specific application on your computer to manage the device.  IPads need iTunes for device activation and management, although it's my understanding that this will change in iOS5.  In contrast, an Android device can be activated by itself and if you do connect it to a computer, it mounts just like a USB drive, allowing you to drag and drop files right onto it.

Overall, my initial impression is that the Samsung Galaxy is a good tablet computing device.  How it'll hold up over the long haul I can't say. Both my wife and I have experienced increasing device flakiness with our Droid phones after about a year of use. How much of that is due to hardware and how much due to software I don't know.  Also, were I purchasing a tablet I'd want a 10" screen.