ASUS Transformer Prime has been officially announced as the first tablet sporting a quad-core processor. Nvidia Tegra 3 that we have discussed in depth earlier today is the heart of the new superslim – 8.3mm – tablet that can also be docked.
ASUS has unlike most manufacturers of tablets sold quite a lot of the first generation. It is nowhere near Apple’s sales of iPad, but especially ASUS Eee Pad Transformer with its laptop dock has been a very popular model.
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer could be used as a noteboook and besides some lacking software there also lacks in performance if it was compared to “real” notebooks. With the quad-core Tegra 3 processor ASUS hopes to change this and besides 5 times faster processor it has decided to trim the sucessor Transformer Prime in one more than one place.
Fastest and thinnest on the market?
ASUS Transformer Prime is made from aluminum with 10.1″ screen and s8.3 millimeter profile. This can be compared to the precursor’s 12.95 millimeter or for that matter the superslim Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and its 8.6 millimeter. Transformer Prime is simply really thin and despite its metal body the weight stops at 586 gram.
The 10.1″ LCD screen is still limited to 800 x 1 280 pixels, but ASUS claims that the new Super IPS+ panel is a lot brighter than competing models. Together with an oil-rejecting film on the panel Transformer Prime will be much nicer to use outdoors.
Other news is a 8 megapixel camera with f/2.4 aperture and flash, and a chat camera at 1.2 megapixel. Storage capacity is 32GB or 64GB and completed by ASUS’ online solution ASUS WebStorage. We also find Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, G sensor, gyro sensor, light sensor, compass, GPS and loads of many other functions.
| ASUS Transformer Prime | ASUS Eee Pad Transformer | Apple iPad 2 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 | |
| Processor | 1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 (4 x Cortex A9) | 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) | 1GHz Apple A5 (2 x Cortex A9) | 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) |
| Memory | 1GB | 1GB | 512MB | 1GB |
| Screen | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 IPS | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 | 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 IPS | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 PLS |
| Dimensions | 263 x 180,8 x 8.3mm | 271 x 175 x 12.95mm | 241,2 x 185,7 x 8.8mm | 256,6 x 172,9 x 8.6mm |
| Weight | 586 gram | 675 gram | 601 gram | 565 gram |
| Storage | 32GB/64GB + microSD | 16GB + microSD | 16GB | 16GB |
| Price | $499/$599 | $399 | $499 | $499 |
Up to 18 hour battery time
The tablet houses a whole lot of connections where micro-HDMI, microSD reader and combined speaker and microphone 3.5mm connector. Last but not least we have a 25Wh batteri that will bring up to 12 hours battery time.
The docking station measures 10.4mm in profile and weighs 537 gram, and houses an extra battery at 22Wh that increase the maximal battery time to 18 hours. Here we also find a full size keyboard, USB 2.0 connection and a SD memory card reader.
ASUS will ship Transformer Prime with Android 3.2 Honeycomb in December, but announces that an update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is in development. The price is slightly higher than the precursor and the 32GB model is expected to cost around $500 and the docking station at $150. Both Transformer Prime and its tablet will be available in two colors, Champagne Gold and Amethyst Grey.
When ASUS Transformer Prime lands in stores we don’t know exactly, but we hope to see it early next month.
