ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 2

[alex24]

What do we know so far?

Not a lot to be perfectly honest, but this will no doubt be a big launch.

The Transformer 2 will almost certainly be equipped with NVIDIA's new Kal-El chip (aka Tegra 3), which is going to be quad core and clocked at 1.5GHz. Rumour is ASUS have bought up a lot of these chips for use in their new Tablet(s).

The tablet is rumoured for Q4 2011, but it may have been delayed or the schedule altered to coincide with the release of Android 4.0.

The rest of the specifications are purely speculative, but we should expect it to at least equal the Transformer 1 in screen size, pixel density and quality. The major selling point of the Transformer 1 was its versatility, and so perhaps we should expect good connectivity and perhaps even backwards compatibility with the existing dock.

Most of this info is from here, please add any leaks/news items on the Transfomer 2 and we can start to get a good idea of what to expect from the device as it comes closer to being released! I can update this OP as we go along. I couldn't see another Transformer 2 thread.

I was personally looking into purchasing the Transformer, but with the Transformer 2 and other Tegra 3 tablets potentially very close, I may hold off as it's not an essential item. Anyone else waiting for this, or happy with their Transformer 1 for now?

 

[Mr Paul]

Apparently the current keyboard dock is compatible.

 

[alex24]

Got a source for that one matey? I'll add it to the OP.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Anyone else waiting for this, or happy with their Transformer 1 for now?

Well I didn't realise they were planning on making mine feel old and slow this soon!

Depends on the benefits for me. If it suddenly works out of the box streaming 720p/1080p content from my pc without any issues with buffering that'll win me over. Can't think of anything else I can fault mine on currently!

 

[alex24]

Is the issue with 1080p that the processor isn't powerful enough, or just wireless bandwidth or something else?

You know how it is with tech, everything seems to get replaced almost every 18 months now.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Think for me its been a combination. Don't think the Transformer copes with 1080p full stop. 720p is fine playing locally, however when streaming from my pc just the various different steps of encoding seem to bottleneck it. Might just be me though!

Probably the thing I'd like most in a replacement would be even more battery life! It's good compared to my laptop, but nothing on what I'd love it to be like

 

[alex24]

Well if you don't have the dock, that adds another 6.5 hours of life according to ASUS. If you do, is that realistic?

I wonder if the Tegra 3 will be more efficient.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Well the 15 hours they claim on the transformer under actual use is a bit of an exaggeration! Never actually tested it accurately though.

What annoys me is how quickly the dock will drain whilst keeping the tablet topped up to 100% when its not in use.

 

[sarge78]

^ Didn't they fix dock drain with a software update?

Tegra 3 is a bit too late now tbh, it'll be obsolete by the new year (28nm dual core SoCs will just as fast and more efficient)
Maybe a cheap Transformer 1 when the price drops

The second question is....

Windows 8 or Android 4?

 

[alex24]

Having used the Windows 8 Developer Preview, I would say Android 4 would be better for a mobile device like the transformer. Windows 8 will be better for more powerful devices.

 

[DefiantAsh]

^ Didn't they fix dock drain with a software update?

Tegra 3 is a bit too late now tbh, it'll be obsolete by the new year (28nm dual core SoCs will just as fast and more efficient)
Maybe a cheap Transformer 1 when the price drops

The second question is....

Windows 8 or Android 4?

They tried, most have to go back to them for an engineer to change it.

I've sold mine on, but i had to send mine to Czech and they said that the battery drain issue was both software, and some hardware.

They said if the "sleep" mode wasn't working correctly; This meaning when you flip the tab up (whilst docked) the screen would turn on. They wanted it so it would sleep when closed, and then a press on the power button would wake it up.

If you had the first batch primarily, the drain issue is permanent unless you send it back via RMA for repairs.

I think for most of the others the software OTA update fixed it, but mine was one of the first in the UK so it wasn't fixed with that

 

[DefiantAsh]

I think for ICS do be a much greater success, Google need to move their arse and get GoogleTV up and running commercially, similarly to that of AppleTV. It would benefit for streaming from ICS Phones and Tablets .

Which is what AppleTV does, however people seem to not be swayed with GoogleTV which is why i don't think it has lifted off yet, same for that Music BETA they released.

If they can get the streaming done, from Device > Device, or Device > Computer, which a primary app, then it will be great, without the use of all these 3rd party apps with adverts etc.

As for the processor, i think they should have really released the Kal-El chip sooner as sarge is saying its too late, if it was released (TF2) say beginning of august, they would have had a greater platform to work with, in terms of sales, but with the TF1 only released in what, May? And with these new CPU's coming out, i think ASUS as well as other Google TABS need to up their game in terms of Fair battery life with boosted graphical performance and a decent CPU.

That's all

 

[Mr Paul]

Got a source for that one matey? I'll add it to the OP.

Not to hand mate, I read it a few months ago on a few Android sites

 

[kona786]

I'm looking forward to the Transformer 2 - the tablet part needs to be a little slimmer and at around 600g in weight.

Needs to have the long 10+ battery life too and better Soc with support for HP H.264 I hope Kal-El delivers.

A resolution bump would be nice too along with a black/graphite version.

 

[PinkFloyd]

If you had the first batch primarily, the drain issue is permanent unless you send it back via RMA for repairs.

Will have to look into that

Think I'm likely to ignore the next patch of tablets from the sounds of things.

 

[alex24]

Asus Transformer 2 has much better battery

Also some sketchy details on a quad+1 core being responsible for that. Seems like scalability is the key in giving it a longer life.

 

[kona786]

Better info on Tegra 3 - Kal El here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4840/kalel-has-five-cores-not-four-nvidia-reveals-the-companion-core

 

[Glaucus]

Windows 8 or Android 4?

w8, I can't see how android or IOS can catch up even with a year to go. It's just a far superior OS. And if you wish you can switch to a full desktop if you want to do something a little different. Although we will have to see how desktop and metro are implemented on arm powered devices.

 

[chrismscotland]

Will be interested to see what we're going to get with the Transformer 2, but more importantly when! If its going to be out in Nov/Dec I'll happily keep my cash until then but I don't fancy waiting until Feb/March next year to pickup a tablet

 

[SKILL]

w8, I can't see how android or IOS can catch up even with a year to go. It's just a far superior OS. And if you wish you can switch to a full desktop if you want to do something a little different. Although we will have to see how desktop and metro are implemented on arm powered devices.

I've seen you mention this several times, just out of curiosity have you used the developer preview?

I have and it's just not that impressive...

Also worth noting that, afaik, ARM devices (eg the decent small tablets, anything x86 just uses way too much power) will not have the desktop mode, that's for x86 only (as it's literally windows 7 without a start bar). So the proper tablets will only have the metro UI which personally I'm not a fan of but more to the point doesn't really give any benefit over android 3.x and presumably not over whatever 4.x brings to the table...