Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Myself and a friend of mine bought a new Android tablet recently. I was lucky to grab the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Tablet Only) on launch date and he just got the Iconia. Both of us are on the market for at least one, possibly 2 more tablets (me with 2 high school kids and a third catching up fast) so we agreed to swap our new gadgets for a couple of days so we could each better decide what our second Android tablet was going to be. Here's my 2-day evaluation of Iconia vs. Transformer with frequent references to the other better known tablet players such as the iPad and the Xoom. This is going to be a quick and incomplete comparison so do feel free to add your own categories as comments to this review. - FREEDOM (even) - They are both non-iPad tablets that are technologically on par (and here and there superior) with the 'leader' AND reasonably priced AND, unlike the iPad, they don't force us, the paying customers, into some 'ecosystem' mandatory straightjacket. While not perfect, both the Transformer and Iconia offer a great deal when it comes to features and expandability. The Honeycomb is a reasonably open OS. You are free by default as you should be. There's no need to jailbreak because you're free. You can shop on more than one app store, do comparison shopping, download beta code and you can even run Flash. But let me continue with my brief Transformer vs. Iconia comparison. - PRICE (Transformer) - with everything else more or less equal, the Asus tablet beats the Iconia by $50. It can be argued that the Iconia has some advantages - I like its solid aluminum backside - but the Transformer has its own so, on a Dollar vs. Dollar competition, the Transformer wins. They each come with options and expansions but, unlike cars, you can get a lot off the base models. - DISPLAY (even) - Both come with 10.1", 16x9 (wide screen). In my view, they both beat the iPad's 9.7" screen which is in a 4x3 format. Apples has a few more square inches but movies show much better on a 16x9 screen. The viewing angle is quite wide with few distortions and the colors are rich and bright when used in a room under natural or artificial light. Outside, the glare is significant. - RESOLUTION (even) - 1280x800 on both the Transformer and the Iconia translate in 30% more pixels than iPad's and a few more pixels per square inch. - INTERNAL MEMORY (even) - 1 GB is twice as much than iPad's (better multi-tasking) and on par with the more expensive Xoom. - PROCESSOR (even) - 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) is on par with Xoom, clock speed similar with iPad 2. - STORAGE (even) - 16 GB, same as iPad 2 but Xoom comes with 32GB. Both are expandable through microSD. - WEIGHT (even) - they are both slightly heavier than the iPad or the Xoom but only slightly. - CAMERAS (Iconia) - they both come with 5MP rear camera for picture or video-taking but the Iconia has a 2MP front facing vs. the Transformer's 1.2MP. In addition, the Iconia has a flash which the Transformer lacks. Iconia's pictures appeared a little crisper to me. - PHYSICAL BUILT (Iconia) - Transformer's plastic back is not a major concern to me but Iconia's solid aluminum armor makes it the clear winner in this category. The Iconia feels like a solid, well-designed product. - MULTIMEDIA (Transformer) - I had problems with the Iconia accessing content from other media servers on the network while all was more or less flawless with the Transformer. It's a significant plus for the Transformer but my friend is telling me that the Iconia may get a soft upgrade soon that should take care of this. To be fair, I had to update the Transformer before I could use some of the cooler (MyCloud) features. - EXTRA FEATURES (Transformer) - The Transformer comes with a well thought/designed dock/keyboard/expansion option that will effectively 'transform' it into an Android-running netbook. Do people who buy tablets actually want to transform them into netbooks? That's a good question. I'm not sure I do but at least one of my kids believes that he could use the physical keyboard. The Transformer's MyCloud makes it very easy to remotely control other computers and get access to digital content. I didn't have sufficient time to extensively test battery life or downloaded apps but I can say that Kindle and Gmail work great on both tablets. EVALUATION Following the 2-day swap we both agree that The Transformer has the edge at this time and, unless something completely new and unexpected emerges in the next couple of months we are both likely to get a Transformer as our second tablet. However, there is the AVAILABILITY category where, at the time I'm writing this, the Iconia beats the Transformer hands down because you can actually buy one at the list price. This is going to change, for sure. My friend likes the Iconia and so do I but we both like the Transformer more. Let me say this: I missed my Transformer over the weekend. We only wish we could get one or, in my case, a second one. -- >> Brush your teeth, it's the law! <<