You’ve seen a couple of reviews of the Asus Transformer Pad from me over the last few months. But the ones that I’ve reviewed were all running the Windows 8.1 OS. The Transformer Pad I am going to write about today which is the TF103C runs Android. Specifically Android 4.4.2 KitKat. But I am getting ahead of myself. Here’s a look at this Transformer Pad:
Like other Transformer Pads, you can detach the keyboard and use it as a 10″ tablet:
Detaching the screen from the keyboard is easy. Simply press the button and it detaches easily. It also reattaches easily as it simply clicks into place once you line things up. In terms of connectivity, it’s got what you need. It has micro USB port and a MicroSD slot as well. Not to mention Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS too which is an interesting addition. The 10.1-inch, 1,280-by-800-pixel LCD is bright and while not the absolutely sharpest that I’ve seen, is sharp enough and I doubt you’ll complain. There are two rear-facing speaker grills on the left and right side and they’re decent when it comes to sound quality.
In terms of the keyboard, the keys can feel a bit cramped, but it didn’t take long for me to get used to and it’s better than using any on-screen keyboard. The trackpad is responsive and supports gestures like two-finger scrolling. Though there are some oddities such as the fact that if you want to reposition the cursor, you tap the trackpad rather than click it. That will throw some users, but you’ll get used to it.
Now under the hood you get the following:
- Quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3745 processor
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB Storage
- 2-megapixel camera rear camera
- 0.3-megpaixel front-facing camera
Performance is pretty good with the processor that this Transformer Pad comes with. Nothing that I threw at it slowed it down. Now the 16GB of storage is a bit on the light side given that you can only use 11GB of it, but at least you can expand it via the MicroSD slot. The cameras are average. You can use them for videoconferencing and my tests found the quality in that application to be acceptable. The battery life on this Transformer Pad topped out at 7 hours which is decent for most people.
Asus has packaged KitKat with their custom skin on top. That makes some aesthetic changes and adds a few features on top of the stock Android experience. Icons, settings menus, and default apps are colorful and flat. There’s an Audio Wizard app for tweaking the sound signature, which only really has an effect if you’re wearing nice headphones or using an external speaker. Also onboard is a display color calibration tool, which lets you adjust color temperature and saturation. One handy feature that I didn’t test is that there are a few power saving modes, which limit network connections and background data to varying degrees to maximize the battery life. Being an Android tablet means that you get access to the Google Play library of apps which can be an advantage as you get a large suite of apps to choose from.
So, let’s get to the meat and potatoes. What will you pay for the Transformer Pad TF103? You can expect to pay under $300 USD. Unless you have an allegiance to Windows 8.1 I can’t see a reason why you shouldn’t consider the Transformer Pad TF103. It’s a perfectly suitable tablet with the option for a keyboard that’s targeted lower-end user. Not that that’s a bad thing. In fact, I think it should find some buyers because of that.
Apple Cuts $450 Million Cheque To Make eBook Issues Go Away…. Maybe
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple, Lawsuit on July 16, 2014 by itnerdYou might remember that Apple had sort of put an end to their issues relating to fixing the prices of eBooks. That uncertainty continues with the announcement that they are paying $450 million to make this whole issue go away. The catch is that this is contingent on a pending appeal of a New York federal judge’s ruling last year that Apple was liable for violating antitrust laws. So this might be over, or it might not be. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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