Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/28/asus_eee_pad_transformer/
Asus prices up netbook-convertible Android tablet
Qwerty will cost you
Posted in Personal Tech, 28th March 2011 09:30 GMT
Asus' tablet-meets-netbook, the Eee Pad Transformer, will cost the best part of £500 when it goes on sale here on Wednesday.
The Transformer is a 10in, 1280 x 800 tablet running Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system - onto which Asus has slapped its own UI, Waveshare - and driven by a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.
The gadget has a front-facing 1.2Mp webcam and a rear-facing 5Mp sensor for snaps and video, for which a mini HDMI port is provided for HDTC hook-ups. The Transformer also has a pair of USB 2.0 ports, and and SD card reader. There's 16GB of on-board storage.
Anyone hoping the Transformer's clip-on Qwerty keyboard accessory, which "transforms" the tablet into a netbook at a click of its plastic latches, is part of the package will be disappointed - it's an "option", making the Asus offering really no more a transforming tablet than Apple's iPad with its keyboard dock accessory was.
There's no word yet on what the keyboard accessory will cost you, but it extends the tablet's battery life to an "estimated" 16 hours "under certain conditions", Asus said. The firm didn't say how much extra the keyboard will add to the 217 x 177mm Pad's 13mm girth. ®
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Pictures
