Asus Transformer Pad TF103C review: This hybrid is better for fun than work

Asus Transformer Pad TF103C $319.00 The Transformer Pad TF103C is a solid tablet for entertainment and other casual uses, but it won't supplant a true notebook if you're looking to boost your productivity while you're on the road.

I enjoyed the Windows-based Transformer Book T100 I tested a few months ago, so I was excited to see how its Android-powered sibling would stack up. The engineers at Asus engineers have now proven themselves to be pros at designing 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrids running in both Windows and Android flavors. But the names they’ve chosen for these two devices are telling: The Windows device conjures the image of a notebook, while the Android device evokes the iPad.

The Asus Transformer Pad TF103C might look like a small Windows 2-in-1 notebook, but it runs the Android OS (KitKat). 

The Transformer Pad TF103C is an interesting mix of what Asus has learned from working both sides of the OS fence. It’s based on an Intel Bay Trail-class processor—the quad-core Atom Z3745—that’s more commonly found in Windows machines (Android devices are more typically powered by ARM chips). The Android OS (Android 4.4, aka KitKat in this case) can live comfortably in 8GB of storage, and it runs well with just 1GB of RAM, which is what the TF103C has. Windows needs at least 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage—and even then you’ll feel pinched when you go to install application software alongside it.

I found the trackpad to be surprisingly useful with Android apps.

Using the lightweight OS enabled Asus to cut back on RAM and storage, dropping the device’s street price to a wallet-friendly $299—including the keyboard dock.

This Transformer feels like so many earlier models in this product family. The tablet half is pleasantly curved, with a soft-touch backing that feels great in your hand. It’s slimmer than earlier incarnations—measuring just 0.4 inches thick—and weighs in at only 1.2 pounds.

The main difference between the Android-based TF103C’s 10.1-inch display and the same-sized display in the Windows-based TF100 is that the Android tablet’s screen has resolution of 1280x800 pixels, where the T100’s screen delivers resolution of 1366x768. I’m a fan of vertical pixels, especially in the context of productivity, so the TF103C has the advantage here. The screen also gets both very bright and very dim, making this bedtime reader happy.

Both machines come in at an identical 2.4 pounds with their keyboard docks. That’s a good carrying weight for a 10-inch laptop, although the T100 has the option of a dock with a hard drive inside if you don’t mind the extra bulk. 

The Transformer Pad has but one USB port, and it's on the keyboard half of the product.

Being an Android tablet, the TF103C doesn’t have as many I/O ports as you’ll find on a Windows laptop. There’s micro USB for charging and a microSD card slot additional storage. You’ll need to attach the keyboard to get a full-size USB 2.0 slot.

Media capabilities include a headset jack, stereo speakers, a rather low-res (0.3 megapixels) front-facing camera, and a 2MP camera on its back. The TF103C supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and Miracast (for wireless video streaming to displays that support that standard).

The keyboard dock is comfortable to type on, with keys that are as well-spaced as they can be for a 10-inch device. I found the trackpad surprisingly useful with Android. As touch-centric as that OS might be, it’s sometimes easier to move your finger to the keyboard deck than to reach across the keyboard to stroke the touchscreen. Function keys are more specific to the OS and are moderately useful as such.

The Intel Atom processor gives the TF103C an advantage over other Android tablets that we’ve tested recently, beating both the Lenovo Yoga 10 and Dell Venue 8 in our benchmark tests. The Asus’s 6-hour and 58-minute run time is on the short side for Android tablets, and it’s far short of the 11 hours the Windows-based Transformer Book T100 delivered.

This is where things with the TF103C started to break down for me. Despite having an iPad, an Android tablet, an Android phone, one or another Linux device, and several MacBooks in my past, I’m pretty entrenched in the Windows world when it comes to getting stuff done. I have several programs I use that are still either Windows-only, or they've only just recently been ported to Android.

For example, I do most of my writing in Microsoft’s OneNote note-taking software. Using the OneNote Android app was not a smooth experience. Clicking and dragging on text does not highlight it. I had to reach up and hold my finger on the screen, then push the cursor around to highlight text. I tried to switch over to Evernote, which works much better on the TF103C, but not with my workflow. If you’re an Evernote user, you’ll be quite happy working in the Android app on the Transformer, especially with the solid keyboard.

The Chrome web browser is pre-installed, but I found that many of the sites I frequent either rendered much more slowly, or defaulted to the mobile versions. You can use bookmarks to make sure the right versions load, but the slow loading will be more problematic. Feedly has a wonderful mobile app that's great for reading news on my phone, but I found it too awkward when scaled up to tablet size. I had to reach up and touch the screen to scroll versus using the keyboard shortcuts I’m used to in the browser.

Android is a touch-centric OS, but the Transformer Pad's trackpad proved to be surprisingly useful. 

I had to abandon some other Android apps that I love to use on my phone, because they just don’t play nicely with tablet-sized devices. I found myself just giving up on the keyboard for browsing and navigating certain apps, choosing instead to pick up the tablet and just use it on the couch rather than pretend I had a laptop.

Which lead to the next issue: The onscreen keyboard is terrible. Perhaps I’m just too used to the Windows 8.1 keyboard or the iPad keyboard at this point, but I really struggled with it.

The Transformer Pad TF103C is an excellent companion tablet, with the potential to be a useful tool if you can find solid Android versions of your favorite productivity software. But dyed-in-the-wool Windows users will be much happier with Asus’s Transformer Book T100, which is street-priced just $40 higher (for the 32GB model; the 64GB model is going for $375).

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Asus Transformer Pad TF300 Review: Value Tablet Delivers A Solid, But Mixed, Experience

The 10.1-inch Asus Transformer Pad TF300 aims to reshape the tablet market by delivering top-tier performance at a value price. It largely succeeds in this mission, delivering performance that's on a par with its pricier Transformer Prime sibling. However, the Transformer Pad had to make some compromises in components and display to achieve its goal. And more worrying than those compromises--which include a slightly heavier weight and different build materials than what's found on the premium Prime--were the frequent glitches I seemed to encounter, with no rhyme or reason, while using this Android 4.0 tablet.

Priced at $379 for 16GB of storage, and $399 for 32GB of storage, the Transformer Pad is the new value tablet in Asus' lineup. The Transformer Prime, which was released last December and was the first Tegra 3 tablet, remains at the top of the pyramid, for now; that model stars at $100 more than the Pad for the 32GB version. (Asus has already announced high-definition, 1920 by 1280 resolution 10.1-inch models, coming later this spring/summer season.)

Those prices also put Transformer Pad in direct competition with the 16GB Apple iPad 2, which is priced at $399. And if you're just interested in specs, the Transformer Pad has the advantages over the iPad 2 in spades, starting with the fact that you can get twice as much internal storage for the same price. Why anyone would consider spending just $20 less for the 16GB model is beyond me, though; for the cost of less than two movie tickets, you can double your storage capacity for your media and apps. The Transformer Pad's extra bang-for-your-buck resets the bar of expectation for other 10-inch class Android tablets, too, since no other tablet offers 32GB for $400.

Transformer Pad: What You Get

Given their shared heritage, it's only natural to wonder how the Transformer Pad stacks up to the Transformer Prime, which is currently our top pick among Android tablets (only Apple's third-generation iPad and iPad 2 rank higher). The answer is simple: They have a lot of shared DNA, but the two tablets are not identical.

Both run on Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor and come with 1GB of RAM; both offer 32GB of storage in addition to a microSD card slot; both have an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera (no flash on the Transformer Pad, unlike the Prime) and 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera; and both have a keyboard dock accessory that transforms the tablet into a compact, netbook-like clamshell. The Transformer Pad comes with Bluetooth 3.0, and it adds Wi-Fi Direct support so wireless devices can directly connect with one another.

Those similar processing specs--the Transformer Pad has a slightly slower clock speed, 1.2GHz to the Prime's 1.3GHz--powered the Transformer Pad to comparable performance results to the Transformer Prime. This means the Transformer Pad ranks among our top-performing tablets. We saw a few minor differences between the two in our testing, but nothing that should impact a buying decision. In a preliminary battery test, the Transformer Pad's battery lasted 7 hours 7 minutes, same as on the the Transformer Prime.

The displays are different, too. Both are 1280 by 800 resolution IPS panels, but the Prime has a Super IPS+ display with 600 nits brightness, while the Transformer Pad maxes out at 350 nits. That brightness edge makes the Prime better suited to those who need to use the tablet outside in sunlight.

I also noticed some other, subtle differences between the two tablets' displays. Neither tablet did better than average in our image testing suite, and the Transformer Pad actually bested the Prime at displaying an image of a Web site, and of an athlete's hand grips. Of the two, the Transformer Pad has a slightly larger air gap between the touchscreen glass and the LCD beneath; this created a slight bit more glare, but it wasn't as distracting as on some competing tablet models. Images overall didn't have as much contrast and detail as on the Prime, though the Prime's display also seemed to be too bright overall.

The Transformer Pad comes with stereo speakers (side-by-side in a single speaker outlet at the speaker back right of the tablet). I found the audio output passable, but unimpressive. Although both models have Asus' SonicMaster audio technology, the Transformer Pad lacks the Prime's sub-woofer—which would explain why I preferred the audio output by the Transformer Prime. I found audio on the Transformer Pad sounds thin and echoey by comparison.

Physical Design

The Transformer Pad measures 7.11 by 10.35 by 0.38 inches, and weighs 1.39 pounds. That makes it a shade thicker than the Prime (by 0.6-inch), and 0.11 pound heavier; and 0.5-pound lighter than the new iPad. I found the Transformer Pad size and weight to be an improvement over Asus' previous low-cost tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 (0.2-inch thicker, and 1.49 pounds). But the Transformer Pad is still heavy enough that I wouldn't suggest it for lengthy one-handed reading sessions.

Unlike the aluminum-clad Prime, the Transformer Pad tablet is made of plastic, with a concentric circle design at back. While I could feel a bit of give in the plastic back, it is still of a far superior design compared to the ample flex in the original Transformer TF101. I also liked the feel of the volume rocker and power buttons; I found them easier to press than those on the Transformer Prime.

The Transformer Pad comes in blue, white, and red. The blue version ships first, available this week, while the red and white versions will follow in June, according to Asus.

One of the big hooks of Asus's Transformer series is that the company's tablets can use the docking port to connect into the optional $149 Mobile Dock. The Mobile Dock, redesigned to match the Transformer Pad tablet, provides a highly portable option for productivity fiends to supplement their tablet with a keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, USB 2.0 port, and SD card slot, plus an additional battery, too. The dock adds another 1.2 pounds to the overall weight of the tablet, but it's still an appealing option if you crave the tactile feel only a physical keyboard can provide.

I really liked the design of the new Mobile Dock. The keys had a bit more flex than I'd like, though, with the keyboard dipping when I touch-typed my way through emails and documents. I did appreciate the dock's new touchpad design, which has an easy-to-press single mouse button. this dock laces (By comparison, the touchpad on the Prime is actually a clickpad pointing device with an easy-to-press single button, combining touchpad with mouse buttons in one.) Unfortunately, when connected though, the dock didn't always seem to work smoothly; the pointer often ended up moving easily without me having intended for it to have jumped location, an effect I had not experienced with other Asus tablet/dock combinations.

Asus outfits the Transformer Pad with a selection of pre-installed software and several welcome Android customizations, such as redesigned menu buttons, and a redesigned settings pop-up that brings frequently used settings to the forefront. Asus also provides its own software, like Asus WebStorage (with 8GB of free storage), MyLibrary ebook reader, MyNet (for streaming media from a PC to the tablet), and MyCloud (for wireless desktop access); and third-party software like Polaris Office 2.0 and SuperNote 1.5 for annotating and drawing.

While using the Transformer Pad, I did experience a few oddities and glitches. Occasionally, I saw a flicker in the display's edge, and had to do a cold reboot of the tablet to regain control of it. I also had apps freeze on me several times. The tablet ships with Android 4.0.3, and Asus says it'll release firmware update in the unspecified near future to support Hulu. Whether this update will fix the random wonkiness I experienced, though, remains to be seen.

In spite of the stability issues I encountered, the Asus Transformer Pad makes for a good, large-screen value Android tablet. The extra storage you'll get will come in handy, but you'll have to be willing to sacrifice niceties like a subwoofer, rear-camera flash, and super IPS display to go with this lower-cost model. If you like the idea of extra storage and saving some bucks, the Transformer Pad makes a good choice.

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Asus Transformer Prime TF201 Mobile Docking Station: Slimmer, Lighter, Better

Like its predecessor, the Transformer TF101, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 tablet is named for its ability to plug into a keyboard dock accessory and become a laptop-like device. Since the Transformer Prime TF201 Mobile Docking Station ($150 as of March 7, 2012) is similar to the original Transformer TF101 dock in many ways, my impressions of the two docks are similar.

Just as with the original Transformer dock, the TF201 fits into this dock's rotating hinge, connecting through a 40-pin dock connector. You slide a release latch to secure the slate. Here, however, I encountered the same problem as I did with the original dock: Despite the various pieces holding the tablet in place, it still had room to wobble, most notably when I folded it down over the keyboard.

This keyboard dock adds 1.2 pounds and just 0.4 inch to the Transformer Prime. Unlike the original Transformer--which bulks up to the size of an average netbook with its dock--the Transformer Prime remains under an inch thick at only 0.75 inch with its dock attached. And you can still take it off when you don't need it, leaving you with a very slim and sleek tablet. When it's time to return to your business reports, you simply plug the keyboard back in. The whole thing folds together neatly, too, a design advantage for when you’re transporting the keyboard/tablet combo or pulling it out of your bag for your journey through airport security, for instance.

Another major advantage of the laptop-like hinge: Since it holds the tablet up, you don't need to invest in separate stands or folding cases. And the hinge rotates down as you lift the tablet "open," which raises the keyboard to a nice angle for typing, and produces a surprisingly well-balanced result. Usually a setup like this, with all the "guts" in the screen, becomes top-heavy and easy to tip over, but the Transformer Prime stayed firmly in place, even as I pushed it back a good ways.

Regrettably, as on the original Transformer dock, typing on the Transformer Prime dock is a mixed bag. Just like the keys on the TF101 dock, as well as on Asus netbooks, the island-style keys here are small and cramped. They're functional, but they aren't as comfortable to type on next to those of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Keyboard Folio Case; I had to do a lot more shifting of my hands to accommodate the spacing. You could get accustomed to the feel over time, but it isn't comfortable from the start. (I have to note, though, that a colleague with similarly small hands had fewer issues adapting, so your experience may vary.) I also found an alarming amount of flex in the keyboard deck, something I didn't expect judging from the solid metal build of the rest of the device.

On the positive side, the feedback is good, neither too mushy nor too springy. Once you get used to the spacing, typing on this dock could be described as workable. When you consider the good-enough typing along with all the other benefits of this keyboard dock, you can see that it's a valuable add-on for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201.

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Asus Transformer TF101 Mobile Docking Station: Great Battery Life, Tiny Keys

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 tablet gets its name from the keyboard dock add-on that transforms the tablet into a laptop-like device. The Transformer TF101 Mobile Docking Station ($150 of March 7, 2012) is a must-have accessory for your Transformer, and not just because it gives you the ability to type on a physical keyboard.

The tablet slots into a rotating hinge at the back, and connects via a 40-pin dock connector. A release latch slides into place to secure it. Despite the large connecting port, the latch, and the wide hinge, however, the tablet still has a lot of room to wobble back and forth. I found this issue most noticeable when I folded the tablet down over the keyboard for transport: Whereas you would expect a laptop to fold solidly in half, with the screen edges sitting flush with the edges of the bottom portion, the Transformer didn't line up as nicely with its keyboard.

The keyboard also adds a lot of bulk to an already heavy tablet--a full 1.4 pounds and 1.1 inches, to be exact. That makes the whole kit similar in size, weight, and thickness to your average netbook. But this keyboard can do one neat thing a netbook keyboard can't: It comes off. So for those times you just want to put your feet up and swipe your way through the Internet, you can leave the keyboard behind. When you want to do some work on your novel, you just plug it back in. And having the whole thing fold together is a design advantage for when you’re pulling the keyboard/tablet combo out of your bag for going through airport security, for example.

Another major advantage of the laptop-like hinge that connects the Transformer to its dock is the fact that it holds the tablet up. You won't need any extra stands or folding cases. The hinge also rotates down as you raise the tablet into the "open" position, which lifts the keyboard to a nice angle for typing. It's surprisingly well balanced. Usually, a device combination like this--with all the "guts" in the screen--ends up being top-heavy and easy to tip backward, but in my tests the Transformer stayed firmly in place, even when I tilted the screen back a good ways.

I found typing on the Transformer dock to be mixed, unfortunately. The island-style keys are small and cramped, practically the same as what you’d find on an Asus netbook. They worked, but were not as comfortable to type on compared with the keys on the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Keyboard Folio Case; I had to adjust my hands a lot more to accommodate the spacing. It's the kind of spacing you could get used to over time, but it didn't feel natural from the get-go.

Luckily, the feedback was good--not too mushy, not too springy. Once you get accustomed to the spacing, typing on this keyboard could be described as workable. When you combine passable typing with all the other benefits of the keyboard dock, you get a valuable add-on for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 tablet.

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Hands-on With ASUS’s Transformer Pad Infinity and 300 Series Tablets

The first tablet the company debuted was its new Transformer Pad Infinity. If the tablet looks a little familiar, than you’ve been paying attention. That’s because the Infinity is essentially a slightly upgraded version of the Transformer Prime TF700T that we saw at CES. So what kind of upgrades are we talking about? Well, how does 3G and 4G data connectivity sound?

Unlike the TF700T, which was Wi-Fi only, the Transformer Pad Infinity will be available in both Wi-Fi only and 3G/4G LTE-capable models. The 3G model retains the TF700T’s quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, in 1.6-Ghz guise, while the 3G/4G LTE version gets a 1.5-Ghz Snapdragon S4 processor. RAM for both the Wi-Fi only and LTE versions stays at the same 1GB offered in the TF700T.

The Wi-Fi only model is available in both 32GB and 64GB models, while the LTE version is available with 16GB/32GB/64GB of storage. Both the Wi-Fi and LTE models will come pre-loaded with Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

There’s little difference between the TF700T and the Infinity in terms of design. Both feature ASUS’s now standard concentric circle design scheme. The Infinity also sports the TF700T’s gorgeous 1920 x 1200 Super IPS+ display. The TF700T and Infinity share the same dimensions, although the Infinity is a scant 2g heavier.

ASUS also debuted its Transformer Pad 300 Series tablets, a slightly less powerful version of the Infinity Series. Outfitted with a 1.3-Ghz Tegra 3 processor, the 10.1-inch Android Ice Cream Sandwich-powered 300 series is available in both Wi-Fi only and 4G LTE versions. The 300 Series’s 10.1-inch display is also slightly less impressive than the Infinity series’s, a 1280 x 800 IPS panel, versus the Infinity’s 1920 x 1200 Super IPS+ display.

The 300 series’s cameras are also slightly underpowered compared to the Infinity’s. Around back is the same 8-megapixel rear-facing camera found in the Infinity, but up front is a less powerful 1.2-megapixel camera. The Infinity has a 2-megapixel camera. The 300 series is also available in three different colors including Red, White and Blue.

Overall, both devices felt solid and performed well during out short hands-on time. We couldn’t see much of a performance difference between the Infinity and 300 series, but that will more than likely change when we run a full series of benchmarks on both devices.

The one thing we disliked was the weight of their keyboard docks. And while the keyboard docks’ key travel was improved over the previous docks’, their touchpads were a bit too sensitive for our liking.

Stay tuned for our full reviews of both of these tablets in the coming months.

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