Asus Eee Pad Transformer

June 18, 2011 – 12:43 pm

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer stands well out from the crowd in the tablet market because of Asus’ innovative design that allows the Transformer to be both a laptop and a tablet at the same time. We’ve seen dual mode laptops before, these were essentially laptops which could be converted to tablet mode but what Asus have done with the Transformer is to create a tablet which can easily be converted into a laptop.

The Transformer is firstly a tablet with a 10.1″ screen, a direct competitor for the Motorola Xoom, Ipad and Playbook, where the Transformer differs is normal tablets is that has an optional keyboard. The tablet can be docked into the keyboard and then the Transformer can be used a laptop. Asus have broken into the netbook and laptop market by being creative and unrestricted in their designs, the Transformer delivers more of the same and could give them a competitive edge going forward in the tablet market.

The Transformer runs on Android Honeycomb 3.0 which we know is optimised for tablets and delivers fast performance, which is even faster once upgraded to Honeycomb 3.1 version. The tablet is well constructed and feels slimline even though it’s a little thicker than most of the competitors. The Transformer comes in 16GB and 32GB variants and is powered along by a NVidia Tegra 2 processor which delivers real speed. The 10.1″ screen has a 1280×800 pixel panel giving a great hi-res display which won’t disappoint.

Where the Transformer sets itself aprt from the rest of the field is when used with the keyboard dock. The tablet slides into a dock on the keyboard and is secured by a locking bar. The keyboard has been fitted with some special Android shortcut keys for functions like home and search, it’s also generously sized unlike some netbook keyboards. The keyboard also has a different battery power cell from the tablet with enough juice to power both for 6.5 hours and when combined with the 9 hour battery life on the tablet this gives an awesome battery life of over 15 hours. The only downfall of this great new keyboard design is that Android just isn’t ready enough to handle the hardware combo, it’s usable but you’ll miss out on features you’ve become used to on Windows systems although no doubt Android will adapt soon.

The Transfomer is a damn good tablet and when combined with the keyboard option is becomes even more attractive, especially if you need to type a lot and have reservations about using touchscreens for a lot of typing.

Another stunner from Asus in our opinion.

Posted in Dual mode tablets, tablets | Comments Off

Toshiba Thrive

June 18, 2011 – 10:36 am

The Toshiba Thrive will be Toshiba’s second venture into the tablet market coming after the Folio 100 which was released in late 2010. The Thrive will address the much reported failings of the Folio 100 and Toshiba has hopes it will offer true competition to the Apple Ipad 2.

The Thrive will run on Android Honeycomb 3.1 and withit’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor you can expect the Thrive to be lightning fast, with Honeycomb 3.1′s improved multi-tasking and increased app list. Thrive’s 10.1″ screen will feature a 1280×800 panel and Thrive will use Resolution+ video upscaling to improve standard video to near HD quality so you can expect anything watched on the Thrive to look pretty damn good. The Thrive will come in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB options with expected prices stepped from around £260 to £360 in the UK which makes the Thrive a cheaper alternative to the Ipad and Motorola Xoom.

The Thrive features a rubber EasyGrip backing which will allow it to be safely held with one hand, the backing will also comes in a variety of different colours. Other features include front and rear cameras, full size USB ports and a SD slot for an added storage option.

Lets hope the Thrive lives up to expectations when it finally hits the shops later this month.

Posted in tablets | Comments Off

Toshiba Libretto

June 11, 2011 – 5:05 pm

The Toshiba Libretto W100 was a dual screen touchscreen laptop which featured a touchscreen in place of a keyboard. Toshiba described it as an ultra-mobile concept and it was a great concept. Libretto has historically been the name used by Toshiba for their range of small notebook type laptops and the W100 used the Libretto name, after a 5 year gap, to present an awesome new notebook concept.

The W100 featured twin 7″ screens, a Pentium U5400 dual core 1.2Ghz processor, 2 GB RAM and 62GB solid state drive for storage.

As far as we’re aware the Toshiba Libretto W100 is no longer in production however there are still W100′s out there if you search hard enough available for around £650.

Posted in concepts, Dual screen, mini tablets | Comments Off