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My A700 Review: Pros, Cons, & Heat

Amazon delivered my A700 last Friday, and spent most of Friday & Saturday messing with it. I've install a large number of apps & games to try out. I have NOT yet unlocked my bootloader/rooted, in case I do decide to return the A700. I did not do a full factory reset when I got the A700 either. Finally, I'm using my A700 in conjunction with a Poetic HardBack Case.
Pros: The HD screen is fantastic. I compared it against my gal's iPad 1 and iPad 3, and it is easily comparable to the iPad 3. The iPad 3's resolution is a hair better, but one can only tell if you are looking very closely - for all practical purposes, they are on par. I found that using auto-adjust brightness, left the screen too dim to my tastes. Instead I manually set the screen to approximately 30% brightness, and found that that setting is suitable for everything except outdoor direct sunlight. When I tested outdoors, I kicked up the brightness and found that 80% was the minimum needed to be usable in direct sunlight. Additionally, there is no backlight bleed.
As an Android fan, I like to tweak my devices & am a strong believer that Android's 3rd party offerings are one of its strong points. That being said, I've disabled Acer Ring, and installed Chrome & Dolphin to replace the stock browser, Nova Launcher to replace the stock launcher, and QuickPic to replace the gallery. It is also trivial to unlock the bootloader & a rooting method has already been released.
The A700 has a very solid heft and feel to it. It does not feel like it is cheaply-built. I like having dual speakers and found that the sound was good. Finally, per the Service Guide, the A700 is very easy to dismantle.
Cons: Acer did install some redundant bloatware apps, which I will immediately rip out when/if I commit to the A700 & root it. These include the Amazon App Store, an Acer Photo & Video app, Acer Ring, and a worthless anti-virus app. Thankfully, this is the only con I could come up with except...
Heat: This deserves its own section. The A510 had reported heat issues and the A700 definitely shares that as well. Due to the internal design, the CPU/GPU mainboard is on the lower right and when used heavily, can become unbearably hot. In my experience over the weekend, I found that casual use such as browsing, e-mail, & other productivity apps, only caused the A700 to get warm but not uncomfortable.
However, when I play-tested several games - Heavy Gunner, Flick Football, & Cut The Rope, the A700 got HOT. I use a Poetic HardBack Case, which "insulates" my hand but inhibits heat dissipation. Additionally, the A700 did crash on me a few times while gaming. I presume that the crashes were due to heat, but am uncertain. After each crash, I'd remove the A700 from the case to feel it back "naked," and it was excessively hot... hot enough that I wouldn't have continued gaming had the tablet been naked. I spent about 1 hour TOTAL, play-testing the above three games and all crashes occurred within that timeframe.
Studying the photos from the Service Guide, I'm curious to open up the A700. Looking at the back panel, it is lined with some sort of metal panel. Then there are several "pads" which contact different points on the mainboard. I'm curious to see if those "pads" are thermal pads and/or whether the metal panel on the back is supposed to act as a primitive heatsink to help disperse heat. If yes to both, I'm interested in experimenting with changing out/upgrading the thermal pads and using some paste. Additionally, I'm toying with the idea of modding the back panel to make a vent.
That's it for now. I'll be happy to field any questions & post more thoughts as the week goes on.
UPDATE:
My curiosity got the best of me, so I went ahead, opened up the A700, and added some thermal paste to the thermal pads. Check out my write-up here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1735318

Beknatok said:
Cons: Acer did install some redundant bloatware apps, which I will immediately rip out when/if I commit to the A700 & root it. These include the Amazon App Store, an Acer Photo & Video app, Acer Ring, and a worthless anti-virus app. Thankfully, this is the only con I could come up with except...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should know with ICS you can deactivate most of those apps without root.

I would rather have an hour or even two so less battery life to afford a smaller battery and then Acer would perhaps had space to accommodate a wider dissipation of heat.
The Infinity in spite of its thinner frame and higher clocked chipset apparently does not get hot. Price is $50 more, but to avoid the heat, seems a better option.

DЯΦ[email protected]П said:
You should know with ICS you can deactivate most of those apps without root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do this?

Quick Note: The Infinity is $150 more actually.
On the subject of heat dissipation, I was thinking about modding the back of this case for venting as well. I believe the crashes may just be from bad software programming for certain apps. I don't think the tablet is actually OVER heating just getting warmer than other tablets. It should be within the processor's limits. I was hoping to overclock this tablet in the future to pump up it's gaming capabilities since right now it's a bit slower than the other Tegra 3 tablets due to the resolution. Hence why I want to mod the casing to allow for venting. Maybe a few vent holes properly cut will allow for the processor to release a lot more heat.
To Disable Apps: Just goto Settings --> Apps --> ALL --> Select the App you want to Disable --> Click Disable -- If the app has had updates, Select Uninstall Updates then go back to that app again and choose Disable.
I disabled Virus Scanner, WildTangent, Face Unlock, Google+, Zinio, and Evernote. Those are the only ones I found I will never use.

32gb is $500 for Infinity and launching mid July. The 64gb version is $600.

Whoops, I see now that I was wrong. It IS only $500 for the 32GB version. That's a kick in the balls. I bought the A700 because it was thought to be so much cheaper than the Infinity, now that it's only $50 cheaper it seems a lot better. Oh well I still enjoy this A700 so I'll keep it, plus a new custom ROM will probably speed this up to Infinity levels anyways.

Heat issue fix
Some people are reporting that disabling McAfee will fix the heat issue, at least for the a510. Hopefully this will fix it for the a700 as well.

rushless said:
I would rather have an hour or even two so less battery life to afford a smaller battery and then Acer would perhaps had space to accommodate a wider dissipation of heat.
The Infinity in spite of its thinner frame and higher clocked chipset apparently does not get hot. Price is $50 more, but to avoid the heat, seems a better option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Devil is in the details. I'm considering A700 instead of the Infinity for two reasons:
- I/O problems: though associated with TPI's Tegra3, I've never read about similar problems with A700 in any of its reviews (browser hiccups and the like)
- Poor speakers: "stereo" speakers placed side-to-side under one (!) small grill located at the back (!) of the pad facing away from the listener and at the right (!) side of the pad. As a result, when you're playing\watching a movie, you're:
- getting mono sound
- the sound comes from the right, not perceived center, which is off-putting
- if you're watching it on the sofa with the pad lying on your knees, or in bed with it lying on the blanked, the speaker is muffled by the blanket\clothes so much it's a big problem.
So basically since one of the main functions of the pad I'm about to buy is to watch movies at home when the desktop PC is occupied, speaker quality is a big item in choosing the pad, and TPI loses to A700 hands down.
Of course, A700 also has speakers in the back (why in Lord's name can't they be in front?), but they're genuine stereo and have larger grilles.

All Tegra 3 devices have some form of occasional hiccups since single channel (this is why the new dual core S4 beats it- more than one channel memory). As per the Anandtech review (and others) the Infinity actually has less events since higher bandwidth from clock increase. In spite of the higher clock, the Infinity apparently does not get hot (if reviews are correct).
Acer should not have used the same exact chipset as the 510, but considering how hot the 510 gets, perhaps that would have been too much for the 700.
Will be nice to see a smack-down of both devices (Acer & Asus). Problem is finding the Acer in a store, since retailers have the 510 which is also new and the same price. Asus at least has an excuse, since the Prime is now "older" by electronic standards and will be price reduced (maybe the 510 should do the same).
Still, perspective is for $450 a person can get a 1920x1200 Android tablet that has good performance. If you can put up with the heat, or do not play many high resource apps, it would be web surfer or comic readers best cost option.
---------- Post added at 01:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 PM ----------
All Tegra 3 devices have some form of occasional hiccups since single channel. As per the Anandtech review (and others) the Infinity actually has less events since higher bandwidth from clock increase. In spite of the higher clock, the Infinity apparently does not get hot (if reviews are correct).
Acer should not have used the same exact chipset as the 510, but considering how hot the 510 gets, perhaps that would have been too much for the 700.
Will be nice to see a smack-down of both devices (Acer & Asus). Problem is finding the Acer in a store, since retailers have the 510 which is also new and the same price. Asus at least has an excuse, since the Prime is now "older" by electronic standards and will be price reduced (maybe the 510 should do the same).
Still, perspective is for $450 a person can get a 1920x1200 Android tablet that has good performance. If you can put up with the heat, or do not play many high resource apps, it would be web surfer or comic readers best cost option.
Added:
BTW, why no reviews yet? The 700 came out first- zero reviews, but the Infinity already has a bunch of reviews. Acer not send review units out?

rushless said:
BTW, why no reviews yet? The 700 came out first- zero reviews, but the Infinity already has a bunch of reviews. Acer not send review units out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why no reviews? Less, and mostly lacking detail and depth, but not nil:
http://www.slashgear.com/acer-iconia-tab-a700-review-25235533/
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/acer-iconia-tab-a700/4505-3126_7-35117923.html
http://androidheadlines.com/2012/06/acer-iconia-tab-a700-review.html
http://androidcommunity.com/acer-iconia-tab-a700-hands-on-and-unboxing-3-20120622/
http://enjoyit.ru/predvaritelnyy-obzor-acer-iconia-tab-a701-bolshoy-i-moshchnyy/
I've also seen some in-depth reviews (with charts comparing various aspects of A700 display with the new iPad, really technical and detailed), but they were all in Russian, so I won't link 'em here.

no reviews, no custom roms. Please developers begin cooking roms, the device has been out a month ago and the development section is still empty.

agdroubi said:
no reviews, no custom roms. Please developers begin cooking roms, the device has been out a month ago and the development section is still empty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that it was only very quietly released (in limited quantities via Amazon) here in the US last week.
Adoption takes time.

Our A700's were delivered on the same day... My review slash first thoughts would've been exactly the same as you (the OP). The heat is my number one concern. I did not buy this for gaming, but when I did install the car racing game that was already on it and a deer hunting game, I was totally hooked. Sadly, it crashes after the same amount of time passes playing each of these games. The back in each instance got very hot. I have been using mine with the Slim folio Case With Multi-Angle Stand that I bought on Amazon as well.
I really like this tablet--the speed is amazing, the display quality is excellent, the speakers are the best I have seen on a tablet (including iPad 3) even when compared to some laptop computers, and more... but if it's going to crash each time I play a game for, say, half hour, and gets hot to the touch, then I am not too sure what to do...

XooLoo said:
I really like this tablet--the speed is amazing, the display quality is excellent, the speakers are the best I have seen on a tablet (including iPad 3) even when compared to some laptop computers, and more... but if it's going to crash each time I play a game for, say, half hour, and gets hot to the touch, then I am not too sure what to do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a shame. I'm seriously considering buying A700 instead of Prime primarily because of the speakers; and though also not for gaming, this heat issue is still a concern. A device over $100 should be sensibly engineered.
Looks like I'll have to get a google pad for the meantime and wait for S4 Krait devices or even a w8 pad.

Shame indeed... I am literally one click away from returning it. As stated, my original intention was not gaming, but after having spent time playing games on this tablet, I find it a crime to not play games on it! And the thought of playing a game and losing it all in the heat of the moment (pun intended) just kills all the excitement for me. It's almost guaranteed to crash as the temperature rises. Also keep in mind that although it didn't crash, watching HD videos on YouTube definitely does cause the temperature to go up. Perhaps it didn't crash because in between videos I paused quite a few minutes each time, and in the end did not spend that much time watching HD videos in one session.

XooLoo said:
Shame indeed... I am literally one click away from returning it. As stated, my original intention was not gaming, but after having spent time playing games on this tablet, I find it a crime to not play games on it! And the thought of playing a game and losing it all in the heat of the moment (pun intended) just kills all the excitement for me. It's almost guaranteed to crash as the temperature rises. Also keep in mind that although it didn't crash, watching HD videos on YouTube definitely does cause the temperature to go up. Perhaps it didn't crash because in between videos I paused quite a few minutes each time, and in the end did not spend that much time watching HD videos in one session.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you kindly answer a couple of questions for everyone's benefit?
1. If you launch a game, it crashes after a certain time, coinciding with a considerable heating of the pad's body?
2. If you try to launch the same game right away (without letting the pad cool down), what happens?
3. If you try launching a different (but also graphics-intensive) game right away, what happens?
4. Have you tried uninstalling\freezing the McAfee antivirus, which, as claimed by some, may alleviate this problem (not very believable, though)?
Thank you!

I've been gaming on mine and after turning off unneeded running programs, and turning off unused services (gps, auto sync...) it still gets warm but it never crashes. I've also been watching movies without issues as well. A vent or better heat sink option should have been used to alleviate this problem although I have some ideas....The Asus is not even an option for me due to their attention to detail with the speaker, and all the potential build problems that will likely occur just like their past 3 models.

I can confirm that after shutting down and disabling a few apps, specifically Virus Scanner, WildTangent, Evernote, and Google+. I can play games for quite a while without any crashing. The crashing may be caused by the virus scanner rather than the heat, cause I can run RR2HD for over an hour without a single crash now but the back does indeed get really hot. I'm currently trying to figure out how I might be able to dissipate some of that heat via a case mod of some sort.

Is there a program we can install that will run continually so that we get the tab heating up without just playing a game? Just to let it run and see if it ever crashes the tab?

[Q] Would you buy it again?

Hi guys
Been thinking about buying a tablet for a long time. I have had extensive experience with the motorolla XOOM and a lenovo *forget the name*
Both were just not right.. They could not achieve what I wanted to achieve and the xoom was close but with no USB port to attach camera etc it just isnt right for my use.
I have been using android for a very long time and have thrown many custom roms on my phones etc
I plan to develop some apps, but most importantly I see the device being capable for travelling. Backing up my photos from my camera, taking movies with me for the plane etc.
A must is also the capability to browse Samba shares. I know android file manager apps have improved significantly to improve this.
As such, would you buy the device again? Has it got good developer community support as I am expecting that actual vendor support warranty is a joke like all devices.
Does the stock rom have a lot of crap on it? I currently run CM9 on my phone so i am guesing the answer will be yes. Could this potentially replace the notebook at home with the keyboard dock?
Thanks

if you would have asked me a month ago, i would have said no. But after unlocking, rooting, installing Cleanrom and overclocking, this device is a beast. I had an issue recently that made me want to get rid of it, but i came to find out it was app related. Its a great device. A lot of people have had issues with it, and a lot have it working fantastic. With whats available now, even including the new Google 10, i would recommend this device over everything available.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

timrock said:
if you would have asked me a month ago, i would have said no. But after unlocking, rooting, installing Cleanrom and overclocking, this device is a beast. I had an issue recently that made me want to get rid of it, but i came to find out it was app related. Its a great device. A lot of people have had issues with it, and a lot have it working fantastic. With whats available now, even including the new Google 10, i would recommend this device over everything available.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on!
Took 86 words right from my mouth...
:good:

timrock said:
if you would have asked me a month ago, i would have said no. But after unlocking, rooting, installing Cleanrom and overclocking, this device is a beast. I had an issue recently that made me want to get rid of it, but i came to find out it was app related. Its a great device. A lot of people have had issues with it, and a lot have it working fantastic. With whats available now, even including the new Google 10, i would recommend this device over everything available.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto. I've used it for movies on planes, output to a TV to watch a movie at a friend's house, and instant video review from a GoPro with the SD slot on the keyboard. Have used it to get files into flash drives via the USB as well. The keyboard also makes it perfect for RDP to my server, wherever I might be. I came from a Prime with serious antenna interference that prevented use through one wall at home, and that has not been an issue on my Infinity (though I still get a slight reduction in Wifi throughput while connected to Bluetooth). My biggest gripe until I unlocked was the interface speed, and Cleanrom made it feel like a whole new device; feels like my Galaxy Nexus.
This is my portable computer now; my trusty Thinkpad hasn't been touched since I got my Infinity.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

This device is very quick with Clean rom 2.3 and overclocked kernal. Before unlocking I was a little skeptical however once I unlocked the device has been great! If I was you I would go to best buy and buy it, test it out, then if you dont like it then return it before the 30 day warranty. Just keep it locked if you go that route. It doesnt use its full potential that way but atleast you will get a taste of this goodness. Stock Jelly Bean honestly wasnt that bad either just not as quick as Clean rom.
I also think it can replace a netbook maybe not a notebook like higher end notebook or anything. If you do a lot of game playing on a higher end notebook then its not the same however if you just browse the net then this is perfect for you and some.

Hi,
first of all: Sorry for my bad english. I come from germany.
I use this device for university, and i think i wouldn't buy it now, after using it for approx. 3 months. The stock browser is very slow. Even my Galaxy S2 with stock rom was better. Sometimes i don't believe that there's a quad core inside. It feels to slow. Pherhaps i also have to test a custom rom, but i don't want to loose guarantee.
The Infinity combinated with dock is really great to notice something very quickly. First I tried with an iPad in university and this was horrible. I sold it after 3 weeks. The Infinity is defintly better, but not what i expected to become. I hope that further Software Updates will fix this.
I don't want to be only negative: The micro HDMI is great. I used it several times. Also the possibility to plug in an usb - stick, or a micro sd card is very useful. The quality of the display is also very fine. Apps like dolphin browser, tune in radio ... are working very well. The killer feature against Apples iPad is the flash plattform.
If i have to say it in one sentence: It's to slow and has to much bugs for it's high price (in Germany it's 700€ ~ 905$)

No I wouldn't. Even with CleanROM and other tweaks, all sdcard related operations are too slow. App opening and closing animations are not smooth. Project Butter doesn't work, even on official CM10. Battery life is not good. I get max 5 hours of movie watching time. My old Xoom would give me 8-9 hours. In short, I'm not happy with the Infinity and I wish I'd have gone for Galaxy Note 10.1.

I would 100% absolutely buy the TF700 again. It's a great device, especially if you install a custom ROM (CleanROM *highly* recommended) as well as Clemsyn's OC kernel. Stock is not horrible, but CleanROM/Clemsyn combination is simply amazing. Makes the device crazy fast!
Of course, it's not a perfect device (there is no such thing), but it's by far the most versatile (keyboard dock, memory card slots, HDMI-out, etc), best looking (brushed aluminum), best performing, thinnest, lightest 10" Android tablet available right now.
The worst aspect of this tablet is the (lack of) quality control @ Asus. I would not recommend purchasing the tablet via mail order because of this. I would highly recommend that you purchase at Best Buy, so that you can exchange it if needed (in case you have a hardware issue). Best Buy has an excellent return policy.
I'd also recommend that you spend the extra $87 (with coupon) and purchase a 2-year Square Trade Accidental Coverage warranty. This way, even if you accidentally step on the device and break it, you are covered. Or, if you brick it while trying to install custom ROM's or something - you are covered. It gives you complete peace of mind for 2 years (at which point, you'll probably be upgrading again anyway).
Hope that helps you make your decision!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

no.
cleanROM + kernals and all that developer goodness is awesome, but ASUS should have gotten their product right before releasing it. build quality issues, crappy I/O, yada yada. that said, the IDEA of a tablet with these specs is awesome, and the potential was great. it's just implementation fail.
curious abt the Nexus 10. the resolution on that thing is ridiculous, wondering how the pixel-pushing is going to fare with that new SoC.

No... It's a lazy and very slow so I don't like it..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtOqCQ_I4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from Asus infinity tablet

Warranty invalidation for unlocking the bootloader is the only reason I wouldn't recommend it.

Yes I would, CleanRom has transformed this tablet into a beast and I have no regrets. Those kicking themselves for not getting an N10 will always be sore because technology isn't gonna stop improving just so you can feel better about your purchase. The Infinity has become my daily driver for all things related to the internet and gaming on the couch.

Yes I would, absolutely.
Sometimes, I'm thinking about the GNote 10.1, for example when I need to draw a graph on a PDF, but at the end it's very rare that I need it, my keyboard is so usefull : the battery, the keyboard itself, and to keep the tablet in a right angle in the bed, on the desk, during conferences with small places...
I had no issue with mine. Not at all, and I have locked bootloader (for now).
The best would be TF700 1080p screen with GNote 10.1 PLS technology (stylus and pressure), and Samsung multitasking-multiwindows system when it will be smooth.

I knew that it was overpriced and already outdated when I bought it, but I was too curious how it works with the dock, and the dock really makes it much more useful than a tablet alone (I had a TF101 without dock before).
1 GB RAM and the slow internal storage are not adequate for a high end tablet. And the software is very unstable and feels half-baked compared to a Linux or Windows desktop - even the Play store app crashed in the stock ROM (out of memory exception).
Do I regret that I bought it? No, money was not an issue, it is a nice toy and the screen is great. Would I buy it again? No. Let's see what 2013 brings.

aydc said:
No I wouldn't. Even with CleanROM and other tweaks, all sdcard related operations are too slow. App opening and closing animations are not smooth. Project Butter doesn't work, even on official CM10. Battery life is not good. I get max 5 hours of movie watching time. My old Xoom would give me 8-9 hours. In short, I'm not happy with the Infinity and I wish I'd have gone for Galaxy Note 10.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must have a bad one. Mine is super smooth and fast!
So my answer is YES! Knowing what I know now, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. This thing is truly a beast. I never intentionally leave any of my devices stock...custom roms and kernels give you so much more. A Square Deal warranty is pretty cheap and gives great protection, so who cares about voiding the ASUS warranty?

diggeles said:
...
As such, would you buy the device again? Has it got good developer community support as I am expecting that actual vendor support warranty is a joke like all devices.
Does the stock rom have a lot of crap on it? I currently run CM9 on my phone so i am guesing the answer will be yes. Could this potentially replace the notebook at home with the keyboard dock?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, for sure I would.
It has Dev support and just started getting CM10 nightlies. Check out the Dev forum for more.
I think the stock ROM has some pretty useful tools. Splashtop, Asus cloud storage and even a tool for DNLA although MediaHouse is still the best for DNLA. I don't use the magazine, newspaper and book apps that came with it, but I guess they're useful for someone using them. The only real inclusion in the stock ROM that troubles some people is the stuff relating to the Asus Device Tracker, but you can search and read for more about that. I'm not worried about that given I have a SquareTrade warranty. So I'd get coverage regardless.
Yes, it can replace a notebook when you consider Splashtop. And if all you do is view media, read mail, edit a few files, browse the web and play games, yea it's all you need. If you need desktop specific applications, you can use them through Splashtop, WiFi connected desktop/laptop required .

No. You shouldn't have to root your device and install a custom OS to get decent performance out of a tablet. I am ok with it now that I have done these things, but the stock performance is unacceptable. I would definitely go with a different tablet if I had the choice.
If the stock performance had been good and custom OS's made the performance EVEN BETTER that would be ok in my book.

Hi all,
I didn't want to make yet another thread about should i buy blah blah blah.
please don't reply if you have had a sour experience with your unit as i think the reply will not be a genuine one.
I have looked at this tablet in local stores and tried some basic games and they run fine to me.
However i currently have a acer a510 1280x 800 res 1.3 tegra chip.
I have found all games from asphalt 7/6 nova 3 (even though not compatable) to run fine and smooth on my lower performance tegra tab.
My use will be gaming movies and also want the more laptop experience to respond to online questions while on the go.
Reading through the forum i see people complaining about slow fps and slow internal storage.
however the specs of the aussie version of this tab specifies ssd memory?
So my question is how do you perceive slow and this on all tabs or just some peoples. I.e. some one complaining about it being slow would get the same speed benchmark as some one who perceives it as being fine?
Also do you think it is more a optimization issue for games fps or the fact the res is just that much more? I know alot of games still have issues with tegra games and really for such a powerful company and chipset it really should get more attention than it is.
is the 1gb of ram a bottle neck?
I ask this because i have 1gb of ram on the a510 and have not had any specific issues running low on memory however i can see how a higher res "may require more ram" to run smooth.
I agree with many posts that this tablet really should be 1.5gb or 2gb of ram.
I was even surprised to see the upcoming lte model still only has 1gb of ram.
So i'm kind of stuck on if i should buy it or wait for the next gen hopefully mid next year.

Only the sometimes sluggish IO was a surprise, and not that big a deal to me. Otherwise, I knew the weaknesses when I bought it.
If 'the newest thing' is what you want, then yeah, you'll always be unhappy with what you've got. But if what you want is a little more specific and based on practicality, you can get a lot of life out of a good device, and the Infinity is a good device. I've had my TP2 for 3 years next month. I have no plans to upgrade that, and no device currently exists that I'd even consider to be an upgrade. I know what I want.

malos1984 said:
Hi all,
I didn't want to make yet another thread about should i buy blah blah blah.
please don't reply if you have had a sour experience with your unit as i think the reply will not be a genuine one.
I have looked at this tablet in local stores and tried some basic games and they run fine to me.
However i currently have a acer a510 1280x 800 res 1.3 tegra chip.
I have found all games from asphalt 7/6 nova 3 (even though not compatable) to run fine and smooth on my lower performance tegra tab.
My use will be gaming movies and also want the more laptop experience to respond to online questions while on the go.
Reading through the forum i see people complaining about slow fps and slow internal storage.
however the specs of the aussie version of this tab specifies ssd memory?
So my question is how do you perceive slow and this on all tabs or just some peoples. I.e. some one complaining about it being slow would get the same speed benchmark as some one who perceives it as being fine?
Also do you think it is more a optimization issue for games fps or the fact the res is just that much more? I know alot of games still have issues with tegra games and really for such a powerful company and chipset it really should get more attention than it is.
is the 1gb of ram a bottle neck?
I ask this because i have 1gb of ram on the a510 and have not had any specific issues running low on memory however i can see how a higher res "may require more ram" to run smooth.
I agree with many posts that this tablet really should be 1.5gb or 2gb of ram.
I was even surprised to see the upcoming lte model still only has 1gb of ram.
So i'm kind of stuck on if i should buy it or wait for the next gen hopefully mid next year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO I don't think this tablet would be the best for gaming until...when or if the Android game app market catches up to the hardware.
My wife plays the low end common games on this tab no troubles there.
I used to play Max Payne and Need for speed, those haven't been running too well lately for me.
The Tegra3 games are problematic for some and there isn't a large selection at this time.
Viewing movies in HD is fine for me...can't speak for others however.
Bottom line:
As the tablet stands now, I wouldn't invest the money to game on the Infinity if your Acer plays the intense games to your liking.
Best of luck with the tablet search.
jim

[Q] what should l do?? What should l choose?

Ok, to make a long story short. I handed in my prime for RMA and got offered to alternatives , a TF700 or a samsung note 10.1.
Now , I had really ****ty experience with the prime. Primarily wi fi issues, but the performance in general was rubbish. With that said there were many aspects of the prime that l liked, Such as the keyboard and battery time.
My question is what are the known issues that with the note 10.1 and it's main drawbacks?
Keyboard isn't a must, nor is the pen, though l would love both! I could in short go for either.
It's kinda time urgent , I only have a few days to decide.
Help?
Thanks in advance!

The note is superior to tf700 in every way except screen resolution. I exchanged 3 tf700 then tried the note, the results is obvious. I only regret not taking the 3g version.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD

Could you be a bit more detailed?

There are no drawbacks as the software is more refined in every way and the hardware is solid and future proof atleast for year or two
But there only difference is the body and the screen resolution
Apart from that it is better then prime or any other tablet in the market even N10 once it gets JB the reason being the world class developement done by Samsung on the OS

The screen on tf700 was deformed, not well fixed on edges. Less ram, only 1 gb, no dualband n Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth 4, low end internal storage, not as fluent as the note. Much better battery on the note. A lot of random reboots on stock tf700, none on the note.
I have changed the 3 Asus after using each one for a few days. I admit that the resolution was great, but the note is a better tablet overall.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD

And the price to in India the prime is almost 200 dollars more expensive

the prime? Don't think it factors in as such into my question... Kinda keen on Tf 700 vs Note 10.1
I've read tons of reviews and they go both ways , but it seems the TF700 comes ahead a lot of the time. That's the confusing part. I've tested both in the store, with no clear winner. Screen on Tf is great and they both felt snappy. The pen on the Samsung was fun to use and accurate, but testet a few pens on the transformer and they were pretty good as well. Big issue is 1 gb DDR3 vs 2GB ddr2 , and Tegra vs Exynos. Kinda a bummer considering games and certain apps are tegra focused .
But the old Prime is still in the back of my mind, I\O performance etc...
BUT A BIG DRAW BACK WITH SAMSUNG, I can't plug in a HDMI and USB cable at the same time... kinda need it from time to time ( external drive and HDMI, or game controller and HDMI or...)

I think almost everyone that owns a Note 10.1 went through the same decision. And newer owners are also factoring in the Nexus 10. Obviously the people in this forum chose the Note. You'd get other opinions from forums dedicated to those devices and I suggest you ask and look in those too.
For me, the decision was easy. I dd look at the Asus forums as well as here. In the Asus forums there are tons of post of people having problems. Granted, people with problems tend to find forums. But why do you not see people here posting about problems? The few you do see are mostly folks that tried to either root or flash their units and didn't read the instructions fully. Sure you'll find an occasional legit problem post, but they are so few and far between that it's an effort to find them. That's not the case in the Asus forums.
I spent a lot of money for the Note 10.1. I bought it before any of the recent price drops. I have no buyers remorse at all.

Well good to know. I've posted a similar thread in the ASUS forum just in case, but response has been limited. The big issue l have with the Samsung is lack of ports and weaker battery compared to the ASUS. wouldn't mind a keyboard, but seen that there are dozens of keyboard folios and so on....but again one comes to the issue of battery being drained ( in this case by the bluetooth)
I'm on the fence , 50-50 so that's why I was looking for personal experience with the unit(s). I kinda missed the mark with the Prime , so don't want to mess up again.
BTW I see it mentioned a dozen places, how is the support from Samsung, ie updates etc....?

I owed a prime and had all the bad experiences. I read and read before getting another tablet and everything pointed at the infinity, so I got one. Had it a little over a week and noticed lag from time to time, but nothing major, until I bought the new need for speed... geez, it's unplayable on the infinity. I pulled it up on my note 2 and its flying. So I returned it and got the note 10.1. It flies! The screen is the only advantage the infinity have

I've owned the Transformer Prime for almost a year and I had the Transformer Infinity for about a month before I traded it for a Galaxy Note 10.1.
The memory issues with the transformers is really bad, when you use the browser it constantly hangs and gives ANRs (App not responding). It is basically unusable in the browser. I had the same problem with the Prime and the Infinity, it happens more often when you have multiple apps running.
I debated it for a long time because I really wanted the high resolution, but once I got the Note 10.1 I knew within a day that I made the right choice. Everything works as it should, everything is faster and smoother, graphics intensive games like N.O.V.A. and Dead Trigger actually run better (N.O.V.A was unplayable on the Infinity because it lagged so much). The screen isn't as good, but it isn't worth the issues you have to deal with on the Transformer line.
I used the keyboard dock on the Infinity and loved taking notes in school with it, but since I got the Note 10.1 I started taking notes with the S-Pen and I carry a bluetooth keyboard just in case I need it. I've liked taking notes with the S-Pen so much that I never even use the keyboard anymore.

As a previous prime owner of 8 months, id have to say i have no regrets
What i miss
-usb slot
-full sd slot
-hdmi
-extra battery
What i dont miss
-anr
-wifi/bluetooth issues
-slow playstore install/uninstall
-the cheap buttons on keyboard(one snapped off, too easilly)
The things i wish the note has but doesnt
-a decent port connected keyboard with, hdmi, usb, sd card
The comprimises
-usb/sd card adapter
-allcast(when sammy finally gets its finger out its bum).......stream game over wifi, while using bluetooth gamepad/keyboard/mouse
As a prevoius prime owner yourself, i think your in a position to appreciate this phrase "it just works"......and thats the main thing that makes the things ive lost bearable, trust me its a relief......another thing i like is that it feels more sturdy,
If you can find a tf700 without daily issues, then i'd say go for that, but me i wont trust their quality control on the tablet front for a while
On a side note, battery on the note, even without the extra battery is commendable..........at least 10h constant use on avarage......thats brightness dim, powersave on......by the way powersave is pretty impressive to (limit to1000mhz), no hiccups.

Just to reiterate what banderos101 said,
I'm a former TF101 owner (the original transformer from asus), and I miss the same things he misses. In addition, my transformer often had weird stutterings that may or may not have been associated with the roms I used on it (but it had them on stock too before I rooted and flashed custom roms).
That said, I don't know much about the TF700, but you probably should pick it based on what your primary usage will be. I got the Note instead of another transformer tablet because I take notes using a pen (physics is hard to type notes for) and because it has 2gb RAM. Also, the screen resolution doesn't matter to me much because it didn't put me in shock and awe when I used my friends' iPad retinas and TF700's, but maybe that's because I'm nearsighted.

DeBoX said:
Well good to know. I've posted a similar thread in the ASUS forum just in case, but response has been limited. The big issue l have with the Samsung is lack of ports and weaker battery compared to the ASUS. wouldn't mind a keyboard, but seen that there are dozens of keyboard folios and so on....but again one comes to the issue of battery being drained ( in this case by the bluetooth)
I'm on the fence , 50-50 so that's why I was looking for personal experience with the unit(s). I kinda missed the mark with the Prime , so don't want to mess up again.
BTW I see it mentioned a dozen places, how is the support from Samsung, ie updates etc....?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll come at this from a completely different perspective from everyone on this thread. I have an Acer A500. Had it for a few years. Sunday night, my wonderful children decided I needed a new tablet so they dropped my acer out of the car. Off to the store! LOL! I'm not dedicated to any brand at all. I want cheap and as much bang for the buck as I can get. My 2 contenders were the same as yours. Asus Infinity vs Samsung Note. The real question you have to ask is what do you really want the tablet for? What do you expect to get out of the experience? No matter what you read here, the Asus is a better tablet than the Samsung. It has a visibly better screen. It has more storage for the dollar. IE, the 32gb Asus is the same price as the 16GB Samsung. The processor is slightly faster, but the Asus has a 5th independent low power processor that allows it to run much less power therefore slightly longer battery in real world. Average test is about 8 hours for the Samsung, 10 for the Asus.
The Asus also allows you to add the keyboard with an additional battery in the keyboard as well as full sized USB ports etc. So if you are looking for a laptop replacement, it's hard to beat. Now, you're probably asking, why am I putting all this in the Samsung thread?
I bought the Samsung. Why? Because the #1 thing I need from my tablet is the ability to take handwritten notes in meetings and it has to be easy and fast. Bottom line is, the digitizer system on the Note is unbeatable. Period. The Asus can't touch it. The Note is a great screen versus an amazing screen. It's nearly as fast processor wise, 1.4GHz vs 1.6GHz. So while the Asus in my mind is a better tablet, the Samsung Note is better for what I need. And by better I mean, lightyears better. There isn't a tablet on the market that can touch the Note for writing. It is truly paper and pencil good. But if you don't care about that, the Asus is a little better in a lot of ways.

I get 14 hours on the note on regular use, the record being 16 (talking about screen+ WiFi active, not about stand-by). With tf700 i had 11 hours with the first one, the other 2 devices never more than 8 hours (all without the dock, i did not buy one).

mobiushky said:
I'll come at this from a completely different perspective from everyone on this thread. I have an Acer A500. Had it for a few years. Sunday night, my wonderful children decided I needed a new tablet so they dropped my acer out of the car. Off to the store! LOL! I'm not dedicated to any brand at all. I want cheap and as much bang for the buck as I can get. My 2 contenders were the same as yours. Asus Infinity vs Samsung Note. The real question you have to ask is what do you really want the tablet for? What do you expect to get out of the experience? No matter what you read here, the Asus is a better tablet than the Samsung. It has a visibly better screen. It has more storage for the dollar. IE, the 32gb Asus is the same price as the 16GB Samsung. The processor is slightly faster, but the Asus has a 5th independent low power processor that allows it to run much less power therefore slightly longer battery in real world. Average test is about 8 hours for the Samsung, 10 for the Asus.
The Asus also allows you to add the keyboard with an additional battery in the keyboard as well as full sized USB ports etc. So if you are looking for a laptop replacement, it's hard to beat. Now, you're probably asking, why am I putting all this in the Samsung thread?
I bought the Samsung. Why? Because the #1 thing I need from my tablet is the ability to take handwritten notes in meetings and it has to be easy and fast. Bottom line is, the digitizer system on the Note is unbeatable. Period. The Asus can't touch it. The Note is a great screen versus an amazing screen. It's nearly as fast processor wise, 1.4GHz vs 1.6GHz. So while the Asus in my mind is a better tablet, the Samsung Note is better for what I need. And by better I mean, lightyears better. There isn't a tablet on the market that can touch the Note for writing. It is truly paper and pencil good. But if you don't care about that, the Asus is a little better in a lot of ways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your post, it's nice to "hear" a slightly different approach. The problem in my case is that I'm kinda looking for the Jack of all trades , pref master of all
The pen idea is really tempting and l hear people praising it to high heaven. I have an old Lenovo x 201 Tablet and loved it for years, but it's kinda big and cumbersome to lob around for short trips and meetings / classes .
I'm looking for something that can at the very least cover these areas:
Media machine ( connected to a screen)
Gaming
Productivity (notes in class+ I work as an IT consultant so quick notes at work etc. In this case both have almost equal merit. pen vs keyboard )
Stable ( regular updates)
Connectivity ( ports and connections)
Good performance
HAS TO HAVE GOOD BATTERY ( average use wifi + bluetooth + browsing and note taking + maybe a short vid. here and there)
What l don't really care about
Screen rez.
Build materials ( ok, don't want it China cheap, but don't need super hyper space age Unobtanium)
Still trying to narrow down everything l need it for.
I know I want my cake and eat it too, but let's be honest, why have the cake if you can't eat it??

To be honest that was the note 10.1 out of the box... It really doesn't need constant updates because it just works how its supposed too... I've never owned an Asus tablet but wouldn't constant updates mean it has constant problems that are trying to be fixed?
Gaming is fine, you can run the chainfire 3d app for tegra games, I run with sonic and that works fine and a few other games (NFS most wanted, GTA3, Dungeon Hunters 3 and Assassins creed 3) and have no problem...
Notes are easy to take using the pen, think back to high school with a folder, about the same size and not that heavy.
You can get an adaptor for usb connectivity - Just cant use an HDD as it requires too much power but a thumb drive works fine (mines 32gb), I have a 64gb sd card installed and I got the 32gb 3g version, forgot phone, no problem...
Performance is fine, there's no problem and 2gb of RAM makes it snappy - even when you fill it with stuff, I have around 4gb left internally and about 2gb on the 64gb sd card - no lag or stutter...
There is a HDMI adaptor you can get but haven't tried it. If you have a smart tv from 2012 then you can share your screen wirelessly and you can get the wireless adaptor that plugs into the tv set. For older versions of TV sets freeing up your usb port you can use the wireless adaptor that plugs into the tv instead of the MHL Adaptor.
Screen resolution is fine for what I need, it plays 720P movies very well and I don't care that I can't magnify the screen into infinity when viewing pics or text...
I have had no problem with build quality, mind you most people I know seem to put it into a folder for protection - don't use anything with magnets as it might affect the wacom digitiser.
The S-pen makes it easy to enter notes or data, its a shame that Samsung used a little known format for s-notes but there's ways around that too...
Battery life is awesome, I use it 8 hours a day watching movies, surfing the web, listening to music, writing, taking notes and making calls and still have around 20-25% at the end of the day...
Overall I find it fine for what I use it for, the new JB update makes it so much better....
At the end of the day you will make your decision, if you live in America you might be able to change that decision, but I like my note 10.1. It is the only tab out there that allowed me to make phone calls and that's what pushed it over the edge for me.. That and the bluetooth stylus that doubles as a handset.... :laugh:

ultramag69 said:
To be honest that was the note 10.1 out of the box... It really doesn't need constant updates because it just works how its supposed too... I've never owned an Asus tablet but wouldn't constant updates mean it has constant problems that are trying to be fixed?
Gaming is fine, you can run the chainfire 3d app for tegra games, I run with sonic and that works fine and a few other games (NFS most wanted, GTA3, Dungeon Hunters 3 and Assassins creed 3) and have no problem...
Notes are easy to take using the pen, think back to high school with a folder, about the same size and not that heavy.
You can get an adaptor for usb connectivity - Just cant use an HDD as it requires too much power but a thumb drive works fine (mines 32gb), I have a 64gb sd card installed and I got the 32gb 3g version, forgot phone, no problem...
Performance is fine, there's no problem and 2gb of RAM makes it snappy - even when you fill it with stuff, I have around 4gb left internally and about 2gb on the 64gb sd card - no lag or stutter...
There is a HDMI adaptor you can get but haven't tried it. If you have a smart tv from 2012 then you can share your screen wirelessly and you can get the wireless adaptor that plugs into the tv set. For older versions of TV sets freeing up your usb port you can use the wireless adaptor that plugs into the tv instead of the MHL Adaptor.
Screen resolution is fine for what I need, it plays 720P movies very well and I don't care that I can't magnify the screen into infinity when viewing pics or text...
I have had no problem with build quality, mind you most people I know seem to put it into a folder for protection - don't use anything with magnets as it might affect the wacom digitiser.
The S-pen makes it easy to enter notes or data, its a shame that Samsung used a little known format for s-notes but there's ways around that too...
Battery life is awesome, I use it 8 hours a day watching movies, surfing the web, listening to music, writing, taking notes and making calls and still have around 20-25% at the end of the day...
Overall I find it fine for what I use it for, the new JB update makes it so much better....
At the end of the day you will make your decision, if you live in America you might be able to change that decision, but I like my note 10.1. It is the only tab out there that allowed me to make phone calls and that's what pushed it over the edge for me.. That and the bluetooth stylus that doubles as a handset.... :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me more about the wireless HDMI solution. One of the BIG issues I have with the note is the fact that it's lacking ports and there aren't any docking stations etc with both hdmi and usb . I have several really good LED TV's at home , but non have wireless DLNA or similar setups ( have to buy extra plugs etc) so a HDMI port would have been great...
Another issue is the fact that there seems to be an increase in TEGRA optimized games... somthing that's a major bummer since l actually like using the tab as a mini game console .

KoRoZIV said:
I get 14 hours on the note on regular use, the record being 16 (talking about screen+ WiFi active, not about stand-by). With tf700 i had 11 hours with the first one, the other 2 devices never more than 8 hours (all without the dock, i did not buy one).
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Click to collapse
Is that 14h out of the box, or have you done some tinkering with it?

For the games run chainfire 3d... You can then run the tegra games with no problem...
Allshare cast dongle or Allshare cast hub - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2003478 & http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089VO7MY/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Keep tf700 or wait for tegra 4?

I bought the tf700 about 2 weeks ago from best buy using the 50$ coupon that best buy messed up on. I actually bought it for 419 w/ tax going up to 450 which also includes the dock. Is this a good price for this? Well I have 2 weeks left for a full refund and I'm still debating if I should get a refund and wait for tegra 4 tablets or just keep it. There is slight flex on the screen which makes a clicking noise when I press on it but it doesn't really bother me. At first I was looking into ultrabooks but I gave tablet a try. Besides it's hard to find i5 ultrabooks for under 500. Help me decide!!

odorfreedk said:
I bought the tf700 about 2 weeks ago from best buy using the 50$ coupon that best buy messed up on. I actually bought it for 419 w/ tax going up to 450 which also includes the dock. Is this a good price for this? Well I have 2 weeks left for a full refund and I'm still debating if I should get a refund and wait for tegra 4 tablets or just keep it. There is slight flex on the screen which makes a clicking noise when I press on it but it doesn't really bother me. At first I was looking into ultrabooks but I gave tablet a try. Besides it's hard to find i5 ultrabooks for under 500. Help me decide!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a good price IMO.
I'd say this is a factor of your budget and how much you use your tablet. I got the first Android tablet, a Motorola Xoom, on launch day. I had it for a few months and used it a lot then decided to sell it prematurely in order to wait for the next best thing which in my eyes was an HD screen. Well I ended up having to wait almost a year before I got my next tablet, a TF700. That entire year I was kicking myself for not holding on to the Xoom until I actually had another tablet in my possession.
So I guess you have to ask yourself how important to you is having a tablet? At that price I'm guessing you could probably sell it for a ~$100 loss a few months down the road. Who knows though the next generation of tablets might take longer to come out, like the delay we had on the 1080P tablets. With that in mind, if I were you, I'd keep it!

$450.00 for tab and dock?
I'd say that's a good deal.
If the click bugs you trade that in for one that doesn't click.

Just picked up a TF700 myself and I was literally asking myself the same question. I've got a little less than 60 days to return this to BBY if another tab is announced for release soon.
I guess, there are a few things to consider.
1) Is the better performance/battery life of the new device going to be significant? If they jack up the resolution like the N10, it will probably be closer to par with the TF700.
2) Will a new tablet have any hardware issues (e.g. TF-Prime GPS & Wifi problems)? The TF700 is a mature product and it's limitations are well outlined. If you buy a TF700 now, you know exactly what you are going to get.
3) What new features will be on this Tab, and are they worth waiting for? TF700 has SDXC, mini HDMI, a dock with full USB, Full HD, etc. It's a good feature set. TF700 is a bit low on ram with only 1GB, I'd rather have 2GB. It's missing an integrated LTE modem that is said to be in T4, but TBH, I would always buy the wifi version anyway. Better battery life, I wouldn't pay for the extra data plan, and my phone is now tethering fine (thanks TrevE). N10 like resolution looks impressive on paper, but not so in person. I have good eyesight, and the difference isn't noticeable. It's an advertising point over the ipad. Google needs to stop chasing Apple and build more hardware features into their tablets that Apple didn't already do a year ago, but I digress.
4) Are there any applications you cannot run on the TF700 that a new tab would fix? I picked u the TF700 because my Touchpad (running CM9) keeps crashing skype; which I use daily. I run a somewhat recent nightly, and since the Camera fix (thanks for that Dorregaray) being able to use skype at all is awesome. However, having to reboot the tablet 6 times in a night and constantly mucking up the conversation is real pain. Since using the TF700, I haven't had one hiccup in skype. That is worth a lot to me, but a newer tab won't make it better.
Anyway, those are the things I've been mulling over. I will need to see what the new Transformer will look like before I make any kind of decision.
Edit: FWIW, I paid $468 for the tab & a 32GB micro sdxc card. I think you got the better deal.

Have they given a release date for any Tegra4 device? I thought one was shown at the last electronics show but it was still a development model and didn't mention anything about release times or price. You could be waiting awhile and in meantime if you keep the TF700 start stashing away some money monthly for the next wave of tablets. That could help on any loss you take or cover the difference to a model with more storage.
----------
1 - I don't think anyone can tell what the performance and battery life will be like right now. New devices and cpu's are marketed as more performance while reducing energy needs but the tech community needs products to test before accepting what is said as fact. Are Tegra4 chps supposed to run at the same power that today's Tegra3 chips do but have the better performance? That is a performance improvement while reducing the power needed if they were to make a Tegra3 to equal that performance. Someone may have a better answer regarding power saving but remember a bumped up screen size will probably draw more power anyway.
2 - Again probably hard to answer. Until the product hits the market we really won't know how it performs and what problems it may or may not have. It is a risk you take by buying the next and greatest device. Prime was the next and greatest device and we know how that turned out. We can only hope they get the message after 3 devices that they need better I/O components.
4 - As far as applications I think many people have issue with games that are released or already out and "not supported" by our device. It will take some time once a new device comes out for companies to tweak the code or whatever they do to have the games run on the device. That is done on their whim. Why some haven't not done now on the TF700 (Gameloft and EA) is a question I don't think anyone truly knows. Some guess it's screen resolution and they don't want to change the code to render the graphics properly for our device.
But really you can wait and wait and still not be satisfied because something else is a few months away. This technology is moving fast.

fsured said:
But really you can wait and wait and still not be satisfied because something else is a few months away. This technology is moving fast.
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Click to collapse
Well, I had really wanted a "Wayne" (Tegra 4) device, and was waiting for that to launch to replace/augment the touchpad. The marketing slides showing kepler tech integrated into the SoC is actually a little bit exicting to me. However, I took advantage of a time limited offer to get the TFI at a reduced price. I use google docs for invoicing clients, and the Touchpad wasn't handling that well enough for me to do it on site. I found myself just waiting to get home to do it & emailing an invoice back. The TFI with the keyboard dock provides an excellent solution, and I had considered getting an ultra book for this purpose, but at about half the price of the ultrabook I was looking at, while fulfilling essentially the same purpose, having the same size profile, and better battery life, well it seemed like the better bargain.
That said, if I could get my hands on a next gen transformer within the next 60 days, I'd likely trade this in, in a heart beat.

My opinion the TF700T is viable for a while longer.
Glad the FHD tabs didn't shoot of into a numbers game as quick as I thought they would.
All I can say is after the "lobotomy" lol...my tablet has been a satisfying adventure.
It's smooth no jitters, games well (light gaming), plays my Xfinity downloads without a hitch, wifi connects stays connected, gps is quick,
browser is hanging in there...etc.
Just for a bit of comparison:
I've side by sided the tablet with my 2 year old HP AMD A6 notebook, and for what it is the tab has about the same amount of annoyance that a Win7 notebook has.
Not comparing Windows to Android just noting all devices big and small can of course suffer glitchiness.
Once the system settles in and with a little restraint as far as collecting\installing poorly written apps the Infinity remains a buy at least for me.
Hopefully when the newer tabs start popping perhaps some of us hold-outs will benefit from a much better selection of HD tablet applications.

Toastysoul said:
Just picked up a TF700 myself and I was literally asking myself the same question. I've got a little less than 60 days to return this to BBY if another tab is announced for release soon.
I guess, there are a few things to consider.
1) Is the better performance/battery life of the new device going to be significant? If they jack up the resolution like the N10, it will probably be closer to par with the TF700.
2) Will a new tablet have any hardware issues (e.g. TF-Prime GPS & Wifi problems)? The TF700 is a mature product and it's limitations are well outlined. If you buy a TF700 now, you know exactly what you are going to get.
3) What new features will be on this Tab, and are they worth waiting for? TF700 has SDXC, mini HDMI, a dock with full USB, Full HD, etc. It's a good feature set. TF700 is a bit low on ram with only 1GB, I'd rather have 2GB. It's missing an integrated LTE modem that is said to be in T4, but TBH, I would always buy the wifi version anyway. Better battery life, I wouldn't pay for the extra data plan, and my phone is now tethering fine (thanks TrevE). N10 like resolution looks impressive on paper, but not so in person. I have good eyesight, and the difference isn't noticeable. It's an advertising point over the ipad. Google needs to stop chasing Apple and build more hardware features into their tablets that Apple didn't already do a year ago, but I digress.
4) Are there any applications you cannot run on the TF700 that a new tab would fix? I picked u the TF700 because my Touchpad (running CM9) keeps crashing skype; which I use daily. I run a somewhat recent nightly, and since the Camera fix (thanks for that Dorregaray) being able to use skype at all is awesome. However, having to reboot the tablet 6 times in a night and constantly mucking up the conversation is real pain. Since using the TF700, I haven't had one hiccup in skype. That is worth a lot to me, but a newer tab won't make it better.
Anyway, those are the things I've been mulling over. I will need to see what the new Transformer will look like before I make any kind of decision.
Edit: FWIW, I paid $468 for the tab & a 32GB micro sdxc card. I think you got the better deal.
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How did you get the 60 day refund period? On my best buy receipt it states 30 days hassle free returns. Also it's a little weird that my tf700 freezes and randomly reboots. It doesn't do it frequently but once in awhile it does that.....very weird. This is actually my second tablet because the first one had slight flex but the current one actually makes a small clicking noise too. Honestly it doens't really bother me but ASus def needs to work on their quality control

Personally, waiting for the next tablet from ASUS (I assume you want a Transformer tablet) will be a very painful experience. Our tf700 was announced at CES 2012 (in January 2012), but only became available for sale at least 4 months later (depend on your location). Given the fact that ASUS has not announced any successor to our Infinity yet, I am inclined to believe if there is a Tegra 4 tablet from ASUS, it will only be available to us on the second half of the year. I have been waiting for the Transformer Book for many months but it is still not available. To me, waiting for something that is not even announced yet is a waste of time and effort.

I would strongly reccomend this tab to anyone who needs something with similar functionality to a netbook or ultrabook but I am looking forward to see what will come next. I would love to see something with a little more power hit the same nitch and with about the same price point... I'm actually waiting on the razer edge tablet to see what it turns into. anyways, I plan on hanging on to my TF700 even if I do get an ultrabook or the edge.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

odorfreedk said:
How did you get the 60 day refund period? On my best buy receipt it states 30 days hassle free returns. Also it's a little weird that my tf700 freezes and randomly reboots. It doesn't do it frequently but once in awhile it does that.....very weird. This is actually my second tablet because the first one had slight flex but the current one actually makes a small clicking noise too. Honestly it doens't really bother me but ASus def needs to work on their quality control
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Premier Silver. Drop enough cash at best buy and you get side benefits, like a doubled return period. Most of the the other benefits are less useful. I don't bother with the complimentary Geek Squad services, for example. Even if I wanted or needed their services (I don't), I still wouldn't use it. Mostly, that's just an opportunity for them to come into your home and look for things they can sell you.

Honestly. ...maybe a extra gig of ram would make this tablet perfect for me. The resolution is ideal for me and the speed is great (running CleanRom) and it does what I hope to get from it. And I use my note 2 for the extra stuff (multi window, nfc sharing etc). And to top that, the mobile giants still have not made 100% use of the quad core as it is and until then, asus infinity is a keeper.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Tegra-4-Wayne-Project-Shield-Nvidia-Grid-Fiscal-2013,21082.html
Tegra 4 isn't shipping until QTR 3 2013. Given that time frame, I'm reasonably happy with my purchase. If the SoC isn't even shipping until then, you won't see devices until QTR 4, and that's nearly a year away. No doubt there will be better performers from Qualcomm sooner than that, but even so, I'm happy with the device I have for now.

searched but haven't even found rumors on a successor - had the TFPrime before and since it got nicked I am waiting for sth new to play with.
Have started considering the Samsung Tab Plus (whenever announced) given the higher res. Still seems that the TF700 has enough muscles and the add keyboard (+battery) is clearly a plus...
Anyhow - have there been any news on the TF700 successor that I missed
Its becomming a bit rusty given the time its already in the market :laugh:

nellycruzz said:
Honestly. ...maybe a extra gig of ram would make this tablet perfect for me. The resolution is ideal for me and the speed is great (running CleanRom) and it does what I hope to get from it. And I use my note 2 for the extra stuff (multi window, nfc sharing etc). And to top that, the mobile giants still have not made 100% use of the quad core as it is and until then, asus infinity is a keeper.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
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I have to agree about the extra gig of ram. But in response to the OP's question, yes that is a very good price. You could always dualboot it with rabbits' linux so as to gain some of the functionality that you would get with an ultrabook. The infinity will not become redundant for a while yet in my opinion so I say go for it.

For tablet with awesome dock integration the tf700 cant be beat. You also got a great deal on both. As far at Tegra 4 devices in particular Asus ones, no one knows yet when they will actually release one so you will have to play the waiting game. Vizio is the only one I know of that is coming out with one but not sold in the U.S. and doesn't have a keyboard dock option.
As someone mentioned the tf700 is a good laptop or netbook replacement. So if you're not going to play high graphic games on it like gameloft games then its a good tablet. But I do recommend you unlock and install custom rom on it as it lags quite a bit in stock form.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

The price is good, considering you got the dock with it.
Toastysoul said:
Just picked up a TF700 myself and I was literally asking myself the same question. I've got a little less than 60 days to return this to BBY if another tab is announced for release soon.
I guess, there are a few things to consider.
1) Is the better performance/battery life of the new device going to be significant? If they jack up the resolution like the N10, it will probably be closer to par with the TF700.
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Unless the device has a battery-powered dock, I'd suspect battery life is going to be on par at best -- expect it to be worse. This may not apply if the new device carries one of those funky new battery design which last for a week and are charged in 10 minutes, but those will only get on the market in about two years, they reckon.
2) Will a new tablet have any hardware issues (e.g. TF-Prime GPS & Wifi problems)? The TF700 is a mature product and it's limitations are well outlined. If you buy a TF700 now, you know exactly what you are going to get.
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Obviously true, and very significant remark. Any device will have its issues, and given the fact that the TF201 suffered from some of these as well, I'd not expect the next Transformer to be faultless either. :S
3) What new features will be on this Tab, and are they worth waiting for? TF700 has SDXC, mini HDMI, a dock with full USB, Full HD, etc. It's a good feature set. TF700 is a bit low on ram with only 1GB, I'd rather have 2GB. It's missing an integrated LTE modem that is said to be in T4, but TBH, I would always buy the wifi version anyway. Better battery life, I wouldn't pay for the extra data plan, and my phone is now tethering fine (thanks TrevE). N10 like resolution looks impressive on paper, but not so in person. I have good eyesight, and the difference isn't noticeable. It's an advertising point over the ipad. Google needs to stop chasing Apple and build more hardware features into their tablets that Apple didn't already do a year ago, but I digress.
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And the N10 has both QA and availability issues, for example.
Following your digression for a bit: Apple had already lost the innovation game in the tablet and smartphone worlds a few years ago. All they have done is increase screen size, and (sometimes) resolution.
4) Are there any applications you cannot run on the TF700 that a new tab would fix? I picked u the TF700 because my Touchpad (running CM9) keeps crashing skype; which I use daily. I run a somewhat recent nightly, and since the Camera fix (thanks for that Dorregaray) being able to use skype at all is awesome. However, having to reboot the tablet 6 times in a night and constantly mucking up the conversation is real pain. Since using the TF700, I haven't had one hiccup in skype. That is worth a lot to me, but a newer tab won't make it better.
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If anything, the older device will probably support more apps altogether -- if you have experienced the transitions from Froyo to Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean, you have noticed that we lost a lot of apps along the way that were pretty good in themselves, but just weren't given the TLC to update them to function on the new version. Backward compatibility is less of an issue when the programmer takes it into account when developing his/her app, but too often an app is just hacked together and subsequently, essentially, abandoned.[/QUOTE]

Happy Birthday TF700!

The forum overview page says: "Released 2012-07-01".
So the TF700 has now been on the market for one year, and there are still not many tablets out there that could replace it for me.
I still like the screen most - 1920*1200 and up to 700 cd/m² are great - AFAIK there is still no tablet with a brighter screen. I also think that even higher resolutions are much less important than the jump from 1280 to 1920 was.
I also like the flexibility with the keyboard dock - enhanced battery life, a usable keyboard, and the USB port.
Which distinctive feature of the TF700 do you like most?

I love the fact that I can switch from tablet mode to notebook mode depending upon usage.
I've never kept a device this long so it is testiment to how good a device it is. Eventually I'd love to turn it into a pure Linux box when I finally do upgrade.
Happy Birthday TF700!

I always come back to this tablet. I just formatted it today to start with a fresh Data2SD setup. I really wish Asus would have put better NAND flash with good random read/write in this tablet.

For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's...
Oh... ehum <clears throat>
The screen is brilliant, I love the battery-powered dock. Haedly ever used it in tablet mode -- it's just a laptop for me, albeit with unsurpassed battery life.
Cons are the incredibly bad decision making towards NAND, and the docking feet that broke off during normal use (or even lack thereof, since I pretty much exclusively used it while being docked).
Hope it goes for another year!

I'm not singing...
It's held up pretty well in the market, even considering it's hardly for sale anymore. There have been a few more tab/dock combinations, but none match up to the tf700.
Mine's still cheerfully helpong me survive my day to day commute.
Send From My Samsung Galaxy S3 Using Tapatalk 2

I do love this tablet a lot! I waited for months for the release, got it, and it hasn't let me down yet!

Not to forget the decidedly premium feel the metal make has in your hands... Manufacturing issues aside, it's a really nice tablet to hold and take out
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Well ever since i bought this tablet, been using it as my laptop replacement, it's portable, light, really really good battery life (probably the best in the market) and very nice 1920x1080 screen. It's been my travel companion wherever i go, vacation, work trip, etc (i did say goodbye to my old dell).
Happy Birthday TF700 !

Happy birthday TF700T ! As many of you told before, that tab still does not have found its successor with all its advantages. My only regret is the poor performance for the price but in august my 1-year warranty will be gone and i will unlock it and install cromi-x nd that will be a good start for its second year.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app

I am using this tablet completely stock, locked and still feel very happy about it. Here are a few good things I really like about this tablet:
1. Keyboard dock: versatile and useful, not going to state the obvious.
2. Full HD Screen: I like to read books, manga and watch movies, so the full HD screen is just the right choice. I personally think that 2560x1600 resolution on the new Infinity is overkill, I can hardly tell the difference between the tf700 and the Retina iPad, but obviously other people can appreciate the differences.
3. MTP + exFAT support: To me, without MTP and support for exFAT file system, my tf700 would be useless for watching movies, since most movies I have are well over 4 GB limit. I used to hate MTP a lot (since it could be slow and unreliable), but I changed my opinion because it allows Windows to see Android devices' internal storage formatted as ext4 (which support files larger than 4 GB). It sucks for people who use Mac OS though.
4. Camera: well, what can I say, the best camera is the one you have with you. The camera on my Sensation is just terrible.
I should mention the things I don't like as well:
1. ASUS stock firmware: I used to think that the slow internal storage + Tegra 3 + full HD screen was the only reason for the poor performance of this tablet, but I have come to realise that ASUS' lack of ability to write decent software is also to blame. My roommate recently bought an ASUS Padfone Infinity set (Snapdragon 600, full HD screen, 2 GB RAM, etc...top of the line specs) and it still lags terribly. How ASUS made a Snapdragon 600 stutter is really beyond me. We can use custom ROMs + kernels to fix most of the problems, but there are tons of devices out there from Samsung, HTC that work right out of the box.
2. Tegra 3: poor app compatibility. It may be purely coincidental, but I have never had problem with incompatible apps with Snapdragon chipsets before, only Tegra 3-based devices that have this problem.
Yup, it was a long year, but the tf700 is still a one-of-a-kind device, and with all that being said, I still commend ASUS for being the most innovative Android manufacturer in my book.

huy_lonewolf said:
I
2. Tegra 3: poor app compatibility. It may be purely coincidental, but I have never had problem with incompatible apps with Snapdragon chipsets before, only Tegra 3-based devices that have this problem.
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Good luck getting any THD game to run or even install on a snapdragon without modifications...
That's exactly it: Snapdragon is the most used CPU, and as such all apps are optimized for it. Tegra is a specific-segment device; the common cattle doesn't even look at specs.

_that said:
The forum overview page says: "Released 2012-07-01".
So the TF700 has now been on the market for one year, and there are still not many tablets out there that could replace it for me.
I still like the screen most - 1920*1200 and up to 700 cd/m² are great - AFAIK there is still no tablet with a brighter screen. I also think that even higher resolutions are much less important than the jump from 1280 to 1920 was.
I also like the flexibility with the keyboard dock - enhanced battery life, a usable keyboard, and the USB port.
Which distinctive feature of the TF700 do you like most?
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Click to collapse
I echo the sentiments in this discussion thread. The display is excellent- and somehow I don't think a 1,000 dpi screen is needed in the market place.
The versatility when using the Asus keyboard- whether using a USB mouse, Bluetooth speaker, Ethernet connector, add-on SD Card, etc. is superb. Long battery life when using the keyboard- as well as overall fast charging are also strengths. What I like the most is having the versatility of a netbook for writing- while having the social media, browsing and news capabilities of Android. The device is as comfortable on a desk, using a mouse/keyboard- as on my lap.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD