Related
Hey guys im new to the touchpad world hopefully you guys can help me out here.
So as everyone knows black friday is coming upon us and there happens to be great deals on the Asus Transformer (Link: http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/748/the-best-black-friday-deals-of-2011/)
I see that the touchpad and the dock that is in the picture above are seperate so im planning on getting both
I pretty much just want to know everything that there is to know about this device, i will of course do my research but would love some input from the xda community who is no rookies when it comes to having one.
What i really want to know is
1. Is it rootable, and if it is what are the + sides of rooting it. i have rooted few phones in my time so now rookie to it either but i dont know how the whole touchepad scenes work.
2. Im getting one for me and my mom from blackfriday and she is a Jehovas Witness and she wants one that she can take out and about with her with all her work on it. Such as some apps that android has for logging in files and keeping track of her hours and such. Does the Transformer have these apps or will i have to jailbreak it for her to make it run android so she is familiar with the market.
3. What is the battery life on this thing/
4. And any other downsides and Plus sides u guys think i should know about this before standing my ass outside for hours before purchasing
Thanks for hearing me out guys and really appreciate even the slightest info. Like i said i am gonna do my own research on top of all this but anything u guys want to chime in on is a plus.
Appreciate it guys, thanks! Happy Thanksgiving as well.
One other thing guys, does a TF have a disk drive to insert cds and download programs? Or even the dock for that matter?
THanks
Yes, it is rootable- there is a one click method for rooting and clockworkmod now! There isn't a DVD drive but there are 2 full size usb 2.0 ports (dock only) mini-hdmi (tab) micro SD (tab) and ful size SD (dock). Also, the docking station adds 8 hours of battery life (16 total) and comes with a trackpad. Rooting the tablet isn't nessecary but if you do, the revolver ROM increases performance, customiazation and battery life. Good luck! hope i answered your questions.
i just got mine transformer and keyboard dock today. It is by far the best tablet out.IMO I had a xoom and kept it for 3 days and went back to best buy and traded for a galaxy tab 10.1 and keyboard dock which the tab doesnt lock into the dock i almost droped my tab off the dock 3 times in one day... so went back to bb today and traded for the transformer.... i love the way he tab locks into the keyboard dock..... less than 15 minutes after i got home with it i had it rooted and CWM installed..... very easy
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Joey_UFC, all your questions can be found by taking the time to read the ASUS Transformer sections. I will give you a hint on battery life, that I created a poll a while back to collect what kind of battery life people get.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
droyd4life said:
Yes, it is rootable- there is a one click method for rooting and clockworkmod now! There isn't a DVD drive but there are 2 full size usb 2.0 ports (dock only) mini-hdmi (tab) micro SD (tab) and ful size SD (dock). Also, the docking station adds 8 hours of battery life (16 total) and comes with a trackpad. Rooting the tablet isn't nessecary but if you do, the revolver ROM increases performance, customiazation and battery life. Good luck! hope i answered your questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, you answered everything i needed. hopefully black friday they dont get snatched up too quick
So after being active in the forums around when ICS was released then staying idle for a month or two, all I come back to is tons of threads with people asking how to downgrade. So my question is, does anyone actually enjoy this tablet? Does anyone open it up or power it on, on a daily basis and enjoy using it?
This is kind of a joke thread but sadly also kind of a serious thread. I personally love this tablet. I get one or two SOD's a day (On a bad day) but everything else is smooth and works well, especially for a year old tablet.
very happy. if xda didn't exist...i think i'd be all sorts of miserable...but since it does exist...found me a custom kernel (the "test" series by guevor) and done. most problems are gone.
i say most because the screen tearing happens every so often...but nothing i can't simply ignore.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
miketoasty said:
So after being active in the forums around when ICS was released then staying idle for a month or two, all I come back to is tons of threads with people asking how to downgrade. So my question is, does anyone actually enjoy this tablet? Does anyone open it up or power it on, on a daily basis and enjoy using it?
This is kind of a joke thread but sadly also kind of a serious thread. I personally love this tablet. I get one or two SOD's a day (On a bad day) but everything else is smooth and works well, especially for a year old tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, this is no joke. I have two 101s, B50 and B70, both 32g and both rooted after the .21 update. Very minor issues like apps need to be re-installed, but none of the major problems associated with custom kernels and roms. Excellent multimedia device, USB adapter connects to external storage including hds, wifi gps and bt are functioning better than the Prime, that's for sure. As compared to the TF300, the only difference is a faster SOC but then again there's no boatload of games that should have been released with the Prime so majority of the apps out there were designed for the Tegra 2.
I will be keeping my 101s for quite a while until the 700 and I expect a major leap in performance and looks, USB 3.0 for one and e-sata without the dock!
I'm happy for the most part. I use my TF101 for several hours each day, and don't have any of the major issues with ICS that some others do. It has never, ever randomly rebooted while I was using it, or locked up, etc. It would sometimes reboot itself during sleep, but this wasn't a major issue for me. It hasn't even done that since the latest update, but I turn it off more often now instead of putting it to sleep. I don't have the dock, so none of those issues apply to mine either.
I am happy with ICS. I was pretty disappointed with the release state of the transformer. MKV playback, battery/dock problems, Android HC software not that great, and all kinds of other little problems. However between ICS upgrade and Asus support, I'm 97% satisfied with my tablet, however HD video playback, web browsing, word processing, and a few other small things could use some work.
Sadly I can't/won't use custom roms as every one I've tried either has minor stability problems or app incompatibility problems. So rooted stock with a custom kernel for me it is.
I'll hold on to the tf101 until Asus releases something with a screen that can rival the Ipad 3. The prime and 700 aren't a large enough increase in specs to warrant an upgrade at full cost.
Ran stock for quite awhile and just downgraded today so that I could root, install CWM, and put on a ROM. Trying Android Revolution right now. I've been very impressed with this tablet. My friends who have iPads are always asking to play with my tablet.
-Daryel
I'm pretty happy- I've gotten a few reboots, but they are relatively infrequent. I am really not a power user, so my tablet isn't on for 8 hours a day.
What I have really enjoyed is the unlocked bootloader and the frequent updates that ASUS puts out- I've really learned a lot about modding and deodexing roms, and generally, how Android is put together. In that sense, it has been a fun device.
in the last month and a half Ive gone through 3 tablets
at first I went cheap with a viewsonic Gtablet that had a screen issue I fixed.
Loved all the ports & price. didnt like the screen.
then i came across a great deal on a galaxy tab 10.1. which I loved. Great screen, super light and an amazing speaker.
for the last week and a half Ive had my 32GB TF101 B70. and as of Friday sold the other tablets.
I got a good deal with keyboard dock and love it so far, though I wish the screen and speakers were as nice as the Samsung, especially the speakers. that little thing could fill a small room with sound.
I made the mistake of updating to the new fimrware on My B70 and ran into issues trying to downgrade but the previous firmware and current have been stable for me with heavy nightly use since I got it.
lots of streaming ect and splashtop HD is great with the touchpad & dock
---------- Post added at 09:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 PM ----------
Just remembered, the only random issue I seem to have is once in a while it seems there is a diagonal split with the screen showing some other image. its not common and goes away in a second or 2 though
I have no real issues with the Transformer or ICS as a whole. Wiping my device before updating to ICS fixed my deep sleep issue & battery drain issue. However I have been experiencing some problems with Opera since the update.
Well I guess talking about it jinxed me. left the room to get a drink, came back and was on the asus booting screen with the circle of dots stuck. had to hold the power button to reboot. never happened before, hope it doesn't become a habit
I use mine all day everyday. Its replaced my laptop as far as Surfing and socializing..I dont have the errors tho.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has had a near perfect experience with this great device.
People asking how to downgrade is a little more noticeable that people doing nothing and sticking with ASUS stock ICS. For me ICS is clearly better than Honeycomb and the odd reboot issue doesn't change that. I use my Transformer daily but still use my Macbook,PC and phone daily too so nothing has really been replaced.
I posted a poll about people favourite Android version and ICS won easily.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1601556
Supremely happy with my TF made my laptop nearly obsolete . Little to no issues occasional S.O.D.'s but its nothing to deter me from using it. These tabs are so versatile I watch movies, play games, hook it up to my TV, get on that fancy inter net thingy, oh and it destroys the battery life compared to my laptop by 1 day lol
I love all three of my tablets, they all run damn near perfect, all rooted running revolver ics.
Honestly,I have read most of the issue/complaint threads and to me it seems like most of these threads are the same people discussing the same issues... Making it appear as though more people are having issues... This is just my observations... I know several people with transformers... None of them have issues, however I personally rooted and flashed custom roms for about half of them... The rest know what they are doing.
I have had my hands hand on dozens of tfs all ran ics fine... Some had bad flashes that need to be redone... All in all it's hard for me to believe that so many are having so many issues. Like with most consumer products, the happy people tend to be less vocal while the unhappy are not... This phenomenon definitely has an effect on the perception of the size of issues. Not to deny there is a potential issue, but so many including myself have managed to make our devices and others very stable.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using XDA App
I'm satisfied with mine. I bought it back in September as my own birthday present. In hindsight, I guess I could have waited for the Prime, but I had been on the fence about buying a tab for months and I didn't want to end up constantly waiting for something better to come out, all the while not enjoying having a tablet.
I didn't buy it for any specific reason. I just wanted something that I would keep around the house. Something to look something up real quick while watching tv. Or read something out in the yard. Or play a quick game. Etc. Just basica stuff you would want to do but not want to lug around a laptop for.
Stock it did everything I needed it to. I did root and overclock. After a while I began to get mad at the amount of apps that didn't work or didn't work right with honeycomb though.
I just flashed ICS the other night. Haven't had any serious issues and I think now the tablet finally performs as it should. Everything is much more fluid and polished and hopefully now there will be greater compatibility with apps. Some things still annoy me that are no fault of the tab...like the lack of availibility of apps like hbo go. It really grinds my gears. I mean really...who the hell still uses android 2.1?
But yes, overall I am very happy with it. Aside from doin what I originally wanted it to do, i've obtained some useful apps that can help me with my work when i'm at home. It's a device I would feel naked without at this point. It's really always with me.
had mine since release. currently on team EOS rom and it's significantly faster than stock ICS, most notably while browsing. i love being able to scroll down a big webpage at full speed and see no lag at all, which stock never came close to doing! aside from the black screen on rotation, i have had no problems.
it saddens me to see so many people having trouble. mine has never rebooted or anything like that, literally everything has worked perfectly. i feel like my transformer will last awhile, it's been a great laptop replacement thus far.
i just wish hulu plus worked on aosp ICS roms. is there a way?
Had mine for over a year already. Still running fine.
Currently running Megatron ROM with guevor's kernel.
No sods and no rr's at all for me
CM9 and Test 17 1.5ghz o/c
My tablet has only ever been off when I have been out for a weekend the rest of the time it is never turned off so it has probably gone without rest for a year all up
Very happy with my tf and it is used everyday in fact i had a accident recently and have had to take time off work so there has been a couple times i have used it all day non stop
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium HD app
I'm quite happy with my TF101 running stock ICS.
At first I had quite a lot of unexplained reboots but that seems to have stopped.
I use my TF101 daily for IM and web browsing which is exactly what I got it for.
It was suggested that those with great Infinity TF700s who are happy with them post about how great their tablet is. I've been saying that mine (32GB Amethyst Grey with the TF700 AG Keyboard Dock) is a fantastic device and I wouldn't trade it for anything currently on the market.
My tab is flawless, hardware-wise: no loose screen, lifted edges, light bleed, dead pixels, scratches, etc. It is rooted, unlocked and has TWRP custom recovery and ZEUS v4 ICS stock-based custom rom, which makes it so fluid and deliciously fast. I'm using Browser2Ram, which seems to have improved browsing (which wasn't bad anyway). I really am not experiencing I/O issues (RL Benchmark shows 19 overall, but random writes is still slow) and antutu scores consistently over 14,000. Navigating the Netflix app sucks, but playback is a delight. The Infinity screen is so nice, it's hard to watch a video on anything else. I do have some issues with apps that are not yet optimised for the screen resolution, but that will come in time. The keyboard dock is just an integral part of my TF700. I can't do without it. I go all day with lots of screen-on time, browsing (much time on xda!) and I've never yet gone to bed without some charge remaining. Standby battery life is astonishing.
I installed Google Now and I keep forgetting that the Infinity is still on ICS. It is performing like a champ and is as good as my three other Jellybean devices. Oh, and I usually operate in powersave or balanced mode! The custom rom and various system tweaks are responsible for this improved performance. In my experience, custom roms/kernels will always trump stock. I understand why people are hesitant to unlock and lose their ASUS warranty, but I bought a 2 year Square Trade warranty with coverage for accidental damage, so I feel pretty good about my unlocked state. It's well worth it.
Well that's my happy story. My advice is: don't put up with bad hardware. Exchange it if there are any major issues or minor issues that will bug you. keep exchanging til you are satisfied. Software-wise, there are many improvements coming your way. Be a bit patient for JB and later updates, or be adventurous and root/unlock and flash the great rom we have now...there will be more to come.
Me too lol.
le rustle face
initially, i started having trouble with slowness and force closes. but after a hard reset, everything seems fine now. I recently had an issue with Maps, but the problem has gone away.
I have some minor light bleeds that I can live with, maybe 1-2 game crash in about a month of ownership, tablet is still not accepting my class 10 microsd 64gb (luckily the dock is fine with it), havent tried the blue tooth and streaming yet. I overall satisfied with it and waiting to see if JB can make it even better.
Me too. I love mine. :lol: No issues what so ever.
I agree 100%
It`s built with perfection, no problem with the screen, dock etc. I have no lag or slugginess. It plays anything i throw at it. I run it just as it was out of the box. I have no problem with battery. Keep it with me all day, wifi allways active, surfing, writing, reading a lot. Heavy email user. Allways runs in "balanced" mode. Medium screen brightness. Only time i really notice any battery drain is when i stream and play my 1080p shows from my windows home server, i watch 4-5 hours at night and then i recharge, very normal for a tab. Browser sucks but thats a software issue.
When i read some of the negative comments and post over the last few days i first thought i was in the wrong forum, this cant be my TF700T they are talking about? But i really feel for thoose of you who have got problems with loose screens etc. Take that unit back to the store asap, thats not how the TF700T should be. And most of them are not.
I owned several tabs and tablet PC`s. I have very high standards and I dont stand for poor build quality, laggy software. Believe me when I say the TF700T is right now one of the absolute best Android tablets on the market. (In 2 months who know..)
I own the european (WW) version with 64mb and the only thing that explains the difference in build quality is there from different build batches in the assembly line.
For anyone that thinking about picking one up I say go for it!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
+1
+1 Here. I am having TF700 for the past one month ( Exchanged my TF201 in BestBuy) . I don't have any problems with it. Very very negligible light bleed ( i can live with it) , No lag at all. No problems with the battery . GPS works like a dream , Wifi is considerably strong and stable ( compared with TF201 ) .
Another happy user here.
Mine is also flawless. The screen's amazing, great for reading and HD video.
This is turning out to be just like the Primes "Positive Thread." With all the negitive post a few have been posting and reposting, it's nice to have a solid thread where people can express there joy satisfaction regarding owning the Infinity. I am also in the positive happy catagory very little to non exsistant LB! Everything is solid even streaming/using my BT headset for audio is great!
JB is starting to pop up as well Can't wait for some JB love!
No bugs here that weren't my non understanding of the OS or features of the tablet.
A few threads about problem devices had me pushing on the glass and thinking my wifi and GPS were under-performing.
Haven't seen any of that after 38 days of tinkering.
Hell I even left Mr Infinity all alone for two whole days!
When I flipped open the cover and pressed the button he woke up and said "swipe me!!!"
Very exciting l tell you.
Color me happy...
i want to love mine but i dont know if i just keep getting unlucky. google play force closes on me a lot ;[ . movies are fine and beautiful make sure u partition ur sd cards right. games run fine that you actually buy. other then that this tablet is sexy as f
Im also very happy with mine its perfect, no light bleeds no loose screen nothing. its also very stable.
I exchanged my Best Buy Prime last weekend for an Infinity and I have none of the issues others are talking about. This is what the Prime should have been all along. No bleed, wifi and GPS both good. Very pleased.
It's good to see a thread like this. It gets pretty discouraging reading those negative threads of problems.
I have had my Infinity since July and am loving it!
No issues with screen, USB SD card or any of the reported problems I have seen.
This 64 Gb tablet has a dock and I have stuffed the SD slots with 32Gb's each.
It just WORKS!
The only thing that hasn't been tried is the HDMI. I have no need for it yet but the way things are going, it should be good to go.
I am so glad I didn't go with an iPad!
Mine became perfect when I read in these forums to turn on the performance mode. Ever since purchasing this tablet i had it in balanced mode and didn't even consider moving it to performance mode. Once I did that the tablet became smoother, faster and were no longer having issues with the tablet. It is like having a new tablet.
I appreciate the info i have gotten in this forum. It has kept me from making a mistake in returning this tablet. I am totally satisfied with the TF700.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
My TF700T with its two TF201 dock keyboards works great. I have had zero issues from the start. I use my tablet with the dock most of the time as a unit. So much so that I purchased an additional TF201 dock keyboard. I keep the second dock attached to my AC power charger awaiting the need to swap out the dock thats currents attached to my tablet. After a heavy day of usage my tablet has some where around 40% remaining with the dock almost drained. At that time I just exchange docks and I am good to go. Both of my dock keyboards are a TF201 Prime version but both were updated from revision 206 to 207 as soon as they had the tablet inserted into them with a wifi network connected. I had a TF101 and a TF201 but this unit is fantastic from my standpoint. I can only imagine how it will perform once Jelly Bean is loaded onto it.
Only problem I have with my infinity is the browsing, but I expect that will be fixed directly. Other than that my device is good to go.
Loving mine as well, netflix works great and the only problem I've noticed is that sometimes I fail to press the h key. Great otherwise, tablet talk works great for it as well. Got a neoprene (roocase) case for it which works great
MovingZen said:
Only problem I have with my infinity is the browsing, but I expect that will be fixed directly. Other than that my device is good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chrome as been wonderful for me, and it renders everything great - havent even noticed im in android tbh
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T
Have infinity for about a month.
No problems so far.
I first got interested in touch screen technology about 4 or 5 years ago when I started college. I faced with the option of getting a powerful laptop, which I was going to need being a computer major, or get a convertible laptop. I studied the problem for a long time and decided that the technology had not progressed far enough to warrant spending so much money on something that had so little real power under the hood. Fast forward a few years and not only has the technology progressed, but is pervasive to say the least. The Infinity is the first tablet I have owned. I know, I might of kinda tried to kill a mosquito with a cannon, but your sure to hit your mark.
I often find myself in conversation with other people trying to justify the money I spent on the tablet with the inevitable question, "Well, what does it do?" I must admit I find myself at a loss of words. I have so many things run though my mind that it can do, i'm just flabbergasted with all the possibilities. I concluded it would be easier to focus on the things that it can not do. The question I pose to you is this, "What can you do on a laptop that you can not do on an android tablet?" We can just go ahead and assume that we are talking about a rooted and unlocked device, because lets be honest, if you find yourself reading forums on a developers website you are probably not your average consumer of electronic devices. I would like to start a running list on this question as I find it is a question I hear a lot from people looking to buy a tablet. At this point, I would say that the caveats of owning a tablet are as follows:
>The obvious answer is less powerful hardware.
>Lots of software is not compatible with Android, but not necessarily a problem, bc there are a host of other android apps that preform almost on par to their desktop counter parts.
> there are limitations on the peripherals due to lack of drivers. (I bring this up, bc, well, I really want to shoot a nerf canon at my dog wirelessly with my tablet.)
>Android does not support writing to external dvd/cd drives, but they can read.
>I pretty sure you can not boot from USB, limiting your ability to run live versions of various os'. I do network security, so I really want Linux Backtrack, and no the virtualized version just does not seem to cut it for me yet, but they are getting closer.
>No room for hardware upgrade
>Weight, I bring this up as a negative, because where there footprint of my device has diminished, I find myself carrying an onslaught of accessories. Stop me if you heard this one:
-Stylus
-USB adapter
-Micro sd card sleeve
-mini USB Hub
-Bluetooth Keyboard, just had one on hand so did not buy dock.
-Headphones
-Charger
-sometimes the micro hdmi cable.
-Small speaker
-screen cloth ( as another member put it, 10" of OCD glory)
-Grid-it Case to orginize all of it
-oh, and a portable surge protector. Overkill you say. I direct you to previous statement about canon.
>No true multitasking, such as split-screen window with to programs, and yes i know you can do it it with some, but your choices are limited in that respect.
>I will need someone to chime in on the next one, but I think you can not use two bt devices at the same time. Someone verify that pls.
>I for some reason can not get this tablet to communicate with my french press no matter how many times it with my Infinity.
I am intentionally omitting the topic of games because that would require a whole different thread. Let's try to stick to utilities and tools. Feel free to point out any mistakes as the goal is to learn.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
lowki said:
>I will need someone to chime in on the next one, but I think you can not use two bt devices at the same time. Someone verify that pls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, you can - for example, I can use my bluetooth mouse while at the same time play music through my Belkin Bluetooth Music receiver.
Also, if you have a keyboard dock, a lot of those accessories aren't needed (USB hub, BT keyboard, Card Reader, charger, etc).
But, most of your points are true. One thing that I've found tough to do on a tablet is use MS-Project files. I do have an app to read them, but it isn't the best (plus, it can't edit them)...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
jtrosky said:
Actually, you can - for example, I can use my bluetooth mouse while at the same time play music through my Belkin Bluetooth Music receiver.
Also, if you have a keyboard dock, a lot of those accessories aren't needed (USB hub, BT keyboard, Card Reader, charger, etc).
But, most of your points are true. One thing that I've found tough to do on a tablet is use MS-Project files. I do have an app to read them, but it isn't the best (plus, it can't edit them)...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try quick office (hd, makes slideshows great)
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T
Midnitte said:
try quick office (hd, makes slideshows great)
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick Office doesn't support MS-Project files...
I think you are thinking of a different Microsoft product...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
Terminal IDE and linux in a chroot
On my laptop I can do serious processing of camera RAW files using Adobe Lightroom (or other processing engines). I have yet to find a true tablet-based equivalent capability.
Dave
No way in recent times can a tablet run like a laptop period.
This is a no brainer...
The latest notebooks are very powerful even in the simplest form.
When it comes to things like; Poser Pro, DAZ Studio, Adobe CS, MS office, Maya, Acrobat, Lightwave, Bryce or whatever you're going to need to lean on a PC or Mac.
Perhaps some day, but not today.
This is all moot
laptop beats it clean.
Heck I was trying to do a simple Google search from the address bar in the Chrome browser on my Infinity tablet. It stalled for a good minute.
In that minute I went over to my PC, launched Chrome, did the exact same action. Boom, it pulled up the results instantly.
I've been wondering how come Chrome works so solid on Windows and lackluster on Google's Android OS until I realized it's likely hardware.
The x86/x64 Intel based CPUs that make of the heart of Windows, Linux, and even MacOS have been in this game for more than a 2 decades and they've been constantly optimizing the CPU for the internet for half of it.
nVidia hasn't, they've making video cards for the majority. I'm starting to think now that had I thought with my old hardware geek mind, I would have never gone with a Android tablet, I should have bought a Windows tablet PC.
Sure, a laptop may be more powerful, but let's see your laptop get over 12 hours of battery life!
For *most* daily tasks, even MS-Office viewing and editing, a tablet can do just fine (at least with a keyboard dock). That's one reason why I bought the Transformer and really won't even consider a tablet without a true keyboard dock option anymore - without the keyboard dock, the device is just too limited for anything other than media consumption.
Add a nice keyboard dock and the tablet can instantly do *so* much more, while still being a great tablet when needed. I just wish there were more options when it came to a tablet with a keyboard dock! It kinda sucks being forced to go with Asus for this type of hybrid device.... But, I think that is slowly changing - it seems more devices with true keyboard docks are on the way. Asus better step up their game in the quality department, that's for sure!
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
the_game_master said:
laptop beats it clean.
Heck I was trying to do a simple Google search from the address bar in the Chrome browser on my Infinity tablet. It stalled for a good minute.
In that minute I went over to my PC, launched Chrome, did the exact same action. Boom, it pulled up the results instantly.
I've been wondering how come Chrome works so solid on Windows and lackluster on Google's Android OS until I realized it's likely hardware.
The x86/x64 Intel based CPUs that make of the heart of Windows, Linux, and even MacOS have been in this game for more than a 2 decades and they've been constantly optimizing the CPU for the internet for half of it.
nVidia hasn't, they've making video cards for the majority. I'm starting to think now that had I thought with my old hardware geek mind, I would have never gone with a Android tablet, I should have bought a Windows tablet PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its only bad optimization on the infinity tablet. As the same SoC, only a slower version, it is extremly speedy on the nexus 7 tablet. We just have to hope for the best with the JB update.
And for Windows tablet PCs, the batterylife is nowhere compareable to ultrabooks and the infinity. So you have that downside.
I think this is at the root of many of the complaints from people. It looks like a laptop so why doesn't it perform like one. For basic tasks this is a really fantastic device but lets face it, your are running an OS based for something meant to be on and in your pocket 24/7. Its getting better but will it have the physical ability to do the things that a device with 20+ years of development? Not any time soon.
For me the always on feature is really awsome, touchscreen, small size and low power consumption help too. It replaces my laptop on travel and has opened the doors to media that I rarely used on my Viao. But the Viao still sits in its dock on my desk and splashtop manages to cover the shortcommings.
I think there would be less complaints if people did more research prior to purchase, not just about the device but also about the OS.
Of course the tablet won't take over the laptop in demanding tasks. The hardware for the laptop is a lot better. But the weight, battery life, portability, etc on a tablet is much better. Different devices for different purposes. But the dock is precisely why I like this device so much. It's still not a laptop, but at least for certain tasks I can make it as fast as one (for input). I definitely won't have to buy a laptop any time soon, since I already have a PC to do powerful tasks.
To each his own, I guess.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T
So, I've spent a couple of months with the ASUS TF700T and its keyboard dock. Time to rant about things I don't like.
1) Startup time. Cold boot takes more than a minute. This is truly sad when Windows 8 Ultrabooks and Macbooks boot in seconds. Slower processor based android phones also boot faster. Why ASUS? What are you doing in this minute?
2) Critical Bugs. By that I mean glitches that cause the tablet to hang, randomly reboot or randomly shutdown. It's not hot. It's not being used for hours. It just crashes the kernel. It should NOT do that ASUS. I don't need that. Crash the app if you have to, not the whole tablet! Similarly with hot-plugging the dock sometimes.
3) Non-critical Bugs. That refers to little things that don't really affect productivity with the tablet but are driving me (and many others) insane.
a) What is this graphics card driver / whatever else issue that causes the random black lines to flicker on the screen at random intervals? What are these lines? ASUS, you can definitely reproduce this. This is not found on any other android device that I own (Samsung and HTC phones and tablets mainly). I realise it may not be a big deal (stuff does not crash at least), but this is a £500 tablet. This should not be an issue. Really.
b) What is wrong with the keyboard driver? Why do I need an independent app (External Keyboard Helper) to enjoy my hardware keyboard dock that you charge £100? How can this guy make such a great app, with no issues with dead keys (you know what I mean - greek 'tonos' or accent), and you, ASUS, after breaking this functionality on Jelly Bean, can't find a fix? Buy his keyboard and bundle it with your tablets, that's my answer. Give up on this ridiculous "ASUS Keyboard". It's a joke needing a separate keyboard for every language, particularly one that does not work properly. Use Google's standard. Use Hacker's Keyboard from the market (free!). Use Swype. Whatever.
4) Missing features. You give us a tablet with a hardware keyboard having a USB slot. What do people use USB for? No, it's not to plug in a keyboard. It's probably not to plug in a mouse either. External storage maybe, but less so in this cloud-ridden world where everything is on Dropbox.
Charging their phones is what they will use it for. Their iPhones, Androids and whatever. Why can't we do that with the tablet screen off ASUS? Is Apple smarter and they can code the Macbook Air circuitry better? Is this not something people want? I may not need 18h of tablet time - just a charge for my phone. Why should I need to keep the tablet on for that?
5) A 3G / 4G / whatever model, priced competitively. I know I can tether. I'd like to save myself the trouble, and my phone's battery since it is so damn difficult to charge with the built in dock anyway. It's not that hard, it will let carriers offer your tablet as a bundle, it will make you money. The iPad does it, Samsung does it. The only tablets that don't do it are Amazon's - and there are 3G Kindles out there.
5 things. Can you fix them?
Note that stuff like "my generation 1 iPad browses and reads email faster" and "X phone / tablet costing half as much is on 4.2.2 already" and "why should I need to void my warranty to install custom ROMs" are left out here. I don't particularly care about these.
I think the TF700T is an amazing feat of engineering. An incredible, sharp screen, a great form factor, a good looking set with the dock keyboard. But I'm sorry, I'm a guy who regularly forks out £600 on tablets or gadgets and my next tablet will be an iPad or a Samsung or a Kindle. It's just not worth it. I have no patience anymore, because I know that I can get my work done more efficiently with a 3rd party external keyboard and any other tablet. Heck, I can even get a phone, a keyboard and a HDMI screen for the money, and even run Ubuntu more stably.
PS: I am posting this on every android forum I know, just in case find a solution for some of these problems...
This has to be the worst post i have ever seen on the tf700 thread...
ronniereiff said:
This has to be the worst post i have ever seen on the tf700 thread...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I did however respond to it when posted in Transformer Forums but this person never replied to anything that people have commented on it.
Tylor
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
ROM: Cromi-X 4.3
Kernal: Hundsbuah's V3.0.5 Kernal
giatros said:
So, I've spent a couple of months with the ASUS TF700T and its keyboard dock. Time to rant about things I don't like.
1) Startup time. Cold boot takes more than a minute. This is truly sad when Windows 8 Ultrabooks and Macbooks boot in seconds. Slower processor based android phones also boot faster. Why ASUS? What are you doing in this minute?
2) Critical Bugs. By that I mean glitches that cause the tablet to hang, randomly reboot or randomly shutdown. It's not hot. It's not being used for hours. It just crashes the kernel. It should NOT do that ASUS. I don't need that. Crash the app if you have to, not the whole tablet! Similarly with hot-plugging the dock sometimes.
3) Non-critical Bugs. That refers to little things that don't really affect productivity with the tablet but are driving me (and many others) insane.
a) What is this graphics card driver / whatever else issue that causes the random black lines to flicker on the screen at random intervals? What are these lines? ASUS, you can definitely reproduce this. This is not found on any other android device that I own (Samsung and HTC phones and tablets mainly). I realise it may not be a big deal (stuff does not crash at least), but this is a £500 tablet. This should not be an issue. Really.
b) What is wrong with the keyboard driver? Why do I need an independent app (External Keyboard Helper) to enjoy my hardware keyboard dock that you charge £100? How can this guy make such a great app, with no issues with dead keys (you know what I mean - greek 'tonos' or accent), and you, ASUS, after breaking this functionality on Jelly Bean, can't find a fix? Buy his keyboard and bundle it with your tablets, that's my answer. Give up on this ridiculous "ASUS Keyboard". It's a joke needing a separate keyboard for every language, particularly one that does not work properly. Use Google's standard. Use Hacker's Keyboard from the market (free!). Use Swype. Whatever.
4) Missing features. You give us a tablet with a hardware keyboard having a USB slot. What do people use USB for? No, it's not to plug in a keyboard. It's probably not to plug in a mouse either. External storage maybe, but less so in this cloud-ridden world where everything is on Dropbox.
Charging their phones is what they will use it for. Their iPhones, Androids and whatever. Why can't we do that with the tablet screen off ASUS? Is Apple smarter and they can code the Macbook Air circuitry better? Is this not something people want? I may not need 18h of tablet time - just a charge for my phone. Why should I need to keep the tablet on for that?
5) A 3G / 4G / whatever model, priced competitively. I know I can tether. I'd like to save myself the trouble, and my phone's battery since it is so damn difficult to charge with the built in dock anyway. It's not that hard, it will let carriers offer your tablet as a bundle, it will make you money. The iPad does it, Samsung does it. The only tablets that don't do it are Amazon's - and there are 3G Kindles out there.
5 things. Can you fix them?
Note that stuff like "my generation 1 iPad browses and reads email faster" and "X phone / tablet costing half as much is on 4.2.2 already" and "why should I need to void my warranty to install custom ROMs" are left out here. I don't particularly care about these.
I think the TF700T is an amazing feat of engineering. An incredible, sharp screen, a great form factor, a good looking set with the dock keyboard. But I'm sorry, I'm a guy who regularly forks out £600 on tablets or gadgets and my next tablet will be an iPad or a Samsung or a Kindle. It's just not worth it. I have no patience anymore, because I know that I can get my work done more efficiently with a 3rd party external keyboard and any other tablet. Heck, I can even get a phone, a keyboard and a HDMI screen for the money, and even run Ubuntu more stably.
PS: I am posting this on every android forum I know, just in case find a solution for some of these problems...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1)startup time : i never shutdown my tab unless thete is no battery so i use the startup very few times and my lifespan is long enough (around 80 years) to wait for 1mn for a non-critical device to start
2)critical bugs : i don't have any. My tab nearly never crash (4 times since august). Maybe you have a broken tab (use your warranty to change it) or maybe you installed bad-quality applications and apply some customization and parameters not very clever...
3)non-critical bugs : i have some but they don't drive me insane and most of them are app related, not from the tab or asus. And anyway remember that nothing perfect exists and you also are doing mistakes in your own job...
4)missing features : you complain that there is a usb port ? It's one of the best reason to buy that tab ! You say the cloub is here but people don't alluse the cloud and on it the capacity is small (few Gb while my external disk has 1 Tb). And you can't put your photo to the cloud without a computer like that tab to connect your camera and extract your photos.
5)3G/4G : a 3G model exist TF700TG. 4G does not exist but it's normal as 4G was not ready when that tab was designed and put to stores. And at that time, there was NO tab with 4G (even the ipad, the 4G version arrived few months later)
PS : You post on every forum ? I call that spam and i know that will not answer to most of all the answers you will get in all these forums. Question : why don't you post that to world-wide newspapers, maybe the UN could decide of resolution against asus to ask them to meet your expectations ?
Please buy an ipad or whatever you prefer and don't bother us anymore with your poor man complains.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
Wait did he just criticse the tablet for having a USB port. I use the USB for external storage...
Thanks for all your comments, some have been helpful.
I realise that I wasn't very clear on what I said about the USB port. I really like it. I think it should be there. I have adapters for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 and my Galaxy Note, (MHL) which I mainly use to connect USB keyboards or thumb drives, or SD readers.
The rant is that there is no constant power to the USB. When the tablet screen locks, USB loses power: thus you can't charge a phone for 10 minutes in your backpack when walking. This is possible with a MacBook Air (that I end up carrying around for this purpose).
Startup time is important, at least to me. It is a major selling point for Mac OS X and Windows 8. People don't want to wait when their gadgets load, that's what I think. Computers do have sleep mode as well (and sadly, they wake up faster from sleep than the Transformer!!!).
I have an iPad as well, generation 1, jailbroken, loaded with 64GB of stuff. The OS must have crashed once or twice in years. Heck, I've even managed to crash a Kindle 3 once in 3 years. I can live with that. But the TF crashes at least once a week. I believe that not that many people experience this issue, so I will RMA mine and hope for the best.
I was not aware there is a 3G version. I have not seen it on sale anywhere. After a lot of googling I realised it's the TF700KL (and it's 4G LTE, which is nice).
Thanks again and sorry if this did not apply to you.
What are you doing to crash it. Even on stock 4.2 I dont remember it crashing?
giatros said:
The rant is that there is no constant power to the USB. When the tablet screen locks, USB loses power: thus you can't charge a phone for 10 minutes in your backpack when walking. This is possible with a MacBook Air (that I end up carrying around for this purpose).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are carrying around a MacBook Air only to charge your phone?
giatros said:
Startup time is important, at least to me. It is a major selling point for Mac OS X and Windows 8. People don't want to wait when their gadgets load, that's what I think. Computers do have sleep mode as well (and sadly, they wake up faster from sleep than the Transformer!!!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only time when startup time is important for me is after it crashed again. Otherwise I leave the tablet in standby mode, and it wakes up in a second whenever I need it.
I agree that all these issues exist and are annoying more or less, but you won't ever find a perfect device - all have their quirks. For me, the only real defect from your 5 points is that it really crashes from time to time.
_that said:
You are carrying around a MacBook Air only to charge your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does work
Standalone batteries are less efficient (plus I forget to charge them)
I have found myself carrying an iPad to tether everything else to sometimes...
_that said:
The only time when startup time is important for me is after it crashed again. Otherwise I leave the tablet in standby mode, and it wakes up in a second whenever I need it.
I agree that all these issues exist and are annoying more or less, but you won't ever find a perfect device - all have their quirks. For me, the only real defect from your 5 points is that it really crashes from time to time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, crashing is the worst. Writing something and losing it is not nice. Even if it's just a paragraph, it's a waste of time.
I have hopes for a perfect device! One that does what I need and is stable enough. I-devices work, most android phones work, Macs work, PCs work, kindles work - why should this be different?
giatros said:
It does work
Standalone batteries are less efficient (plus I forget to charge them)
I have found myself carrying an iPad to tether everything else to sometimes...
Yes, crashing is the worst. Writing something and losing it is not nice. Even if it's just a paragraph, it's a waste of time.
I have hopes for a perfect device! One that does what I need and is stable enough. I-devices work, most android phones work, Macs work, PCs work, kindles work - why should this be different?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My tablet only crashes when trying to download torrents. If I dont attempt to download torrents, then I dont have any crashes. Though the beta version of CROMIX I had a game crash once but that is expected on beta and hasnt crashed since.
Tylor
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
ROM: Cromi-X 4.3
Kernal: Hundsbuah's V3.0.5 Kernal
My tab has crashed a very few times and each time it was while playing a game that was heavely using the GPU/CPU. Maybe your tab has a hardware defect but before sending it back with rma, try a factory reset wich will put back your tab to original configuration (it means you loose your data if you don't save them elsewhere).
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
A factory reset is good, but it can ALSO be a system file corrupted, in which I suggest you factory reset, reflash 4.2.1, then another factory reset.
Tylor
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
ROM: Cromi-X 4.3
Kernal: Hundsbuah's V3.0.5 Kernal
While I do not agree with the OP totally but at least for some parts.
What I don't understand is that people keep defending ASUS as if they are not to blame.
Replies like "This is the worst post ever" I assume you are talking about your own post there.
The black lines are a complete no go for me, if you can't make a HD screen to work put in a low resolution screen, I would have skipped it and maybe be even happy with another tablet. Credits for apple's ipad for that, it is possible guys.
The keyboards menu button is only when your in an app, why is that? Why not in a launcher, where you use menu the most?
And then all these benchmarks, twice as fast as a htc one x, give me a break. My one x really blows away my TF700, it's about performance during the day, not just some numbers.
Installing a rom takes 3 times as long as on my one x...
Maybe it is because most asus fan people have an older smartphone with lower specs but owning a one x does not make things better for the infinity. ;0
The reason for me to keep it is because I bought it in NY for $600 that's about 430 euro incl. keyboard.
If I would have bought it here in Holland it would have been 600+ euro and I wouldn't accept this product as it is.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
J_Dutch said:
While I do not agree with the OP totally but at least for some parts.
What I don't understand is that people keep defending ASUS as if they are not to blame.
Replies like "This is the worst post ever" I assume you are talking about your own post there.
The black lines are a complete no go for me, if you can't make a HD screen to work put in a low resolution screen, I would have skipped it and maybe be even happy with another tablet. Credits for apple's ipad for that, it is possible guys.
The keyboards menu button is only when your in an app, why is that? Why not in a launcher, where you use menu the most?
And then all these benchmarks, twice as fast as a htc one x, give me a break. My one x really blows away my TF700, it's about performance during the day, not just some numbers.
Installing a rom takes 3 times as long as on my one x...
Maybe it is because most asus fan people have an older smartphone with lower specs but owning a one x does not make things better for the infinity. ;0
The reason for me to keep it is because I bought it in NY for $600 that's about 430 euro incl. keyboard.
If I would have bought it here in Holland it would have been 600+ euro and I wouldn't accept this product as it is.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The TF700 out of the box is junk which is indeed only my personal preference. Many people have the stock device and are very happy with it. I also suggest people who compare a tablet with a keyboard to another, then type papers of a phone or a regular tablet without a keyboard and see how long it takes you. It is indeed ASUS fault for their bloated ROM, but if you use CromiX or Cyanogen Mod, It will blow any stock device out of the water. The black lines are no big deal, and dont occur when watching movies. I only see that when using Tapatalk or browsing, and it is rare. If you want a device out of the box go for a different device. The TF700 has gotten better with 4.2.1 as it fixed a lot typing application lag and such, but still dont compare to a un-bloated and tweaked ROM.
Tylor
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
ROM: Cromi-X 4.3
Kernal: Hundsbuah's V3.0.5 Kernal
Tylorw1 said:
The TF700 out of the box is junk which is indeed only my personal preference. Many people have the stock device and are very happy with it. I also suggest people who compare a tablet with a keyboard to another, then type papers of a phone or a regular tablet without a keyboard and see how long it takes you. It is indeed ASUS fault for their bloated ROM, but if you use CromiX or Cyanogen Mod, It will blow any stock device out of the water. The black lines are no big deal, and dont occur when watching movies. I only see that when using Tapatalk or browsing, and it is rare. If you want a device out of the box go for a different device. The TF700 has gotten better with 4.2.1 as it fixed a lot typing application lag and such, but still dont compare to a un-bloated and tweaked ROM.
Tylor
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
ROM: Cromi-X 4.3
Kernal: Hundsbuah's V3.0.5 Kernal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right about that, I have tweaked my One X. But on stock sense it's not far behind the tweaked Infinity.
And let's not forget the One X is even more expensive for me, so you get a lot of hardware for the money(at least what I paid for it)
The concept is brilliant, it's more that I'm slightly dissapointed cause if performance was wat is expected this device would have been the best ever, and I'm sure it could have been if asus at least would have done better I/O performance. But then again, will there ever be a perfect device?
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
The thing is, I don't think the speed should be an issue. I don't play that many games (certainly not power-hungry ones), I don't download torrents on the TF700T.
I have been flashing custom ROMs on devices since my HTC Prophet - and custom ROMs are usually less stable than the factory ROM (they are faster and with more eye-candy). Why this is not the case here I don't know.
I like the tablet to read papers and books (mainly PDF, some ePub), this is why I wanted the high resolution screen.
Screen tearing when reading is distracting and very disappointing.
I try to write papers on the TF700T. I write some forum posts. But the problems there are
1) Can't use a reference manager - there is no cite as you write, or at least I haven't found one
2) Random crashing or flushing the app from memory causes loss of data
3) When I want to write in Greek, I HAVE to use a non-ASUS keyboard app as the ASUS keyboard does not let you put accents in since 4.2.1
The touchscreen is great for reading stuff, underlining etc. But this tablet is problematic; may be just my device (I hope). It certainly feels like a beta product.
I wanted to reinstall the OS as well, however ASUS seems to have pulled the 10.6.1.14.4 from their download site (I get file not found for http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePAD/TF700T/TF700T_WW_epaduser_V1061144UpdateLauncher.zip )
I just wanted to say this:
There is a very noticeable issue with the Tegra 3's 4+1 processor setup that some things (recovery for example) do not handle too well and end up using that power saver core as the main core. For example, in TWRP, on my Droid RAZR the little slider to confirm something is very liquid, as is the loading bar's animation, but on the TF700T, it lags immensely.
That is the one issue I have with it. As far as Quadrant scores or benchmarks, mine have been all over the place even on CM10.1. It doesn't matter that on CROMI it can get a 10,000 if you can't switch between two apps in less than 10 seconds.
Sent from my Transformer Infinity