News Asus ships Transformer hybrid tablet

Does anyone know if the bootloader can be unlocked -- or what's Asus' general policy on modifying their hardware?

Also, can the Asus Launcher/skin be turned off?

 

I heard that Comet is 6th, but others are taking longer to put it in store or online. It's not my dept, so I really don't know precise dates - it's not been like Apple where they get stuff in stock before they announce. We've been shipping out as soon as they come off the production line. They should still be warm from the hands of people putting them together

VyseTheLegend - There's no skin, just widgets and a background. You can turn them off yes.

Hacking it I've no idea about hacking it because it's never been discussed internally to date. I would assume (this is not official policy) that ASUS cant/wont stop you - you only lose your warranty (like any product modification). In much the same way as overclocking a PC "voids your warranty"; If they can see the damage - no dice. I would expect the mod community to find out soon enough

Magnesus - MyDesktop and MyNet are currently only Mac and Windows in everything I've heard. I've not seen an Ubuntu install (yet). Keep checking the website for downloads when it finally launches them: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=gHh4q7I8dvWJzhdV

martino2k6 - Flash 10.2 you just download from Android market and it works. There's a YouTube app in there too. Codec support is what's native to Android. You can find your own video player from the Android Market and use that for a wider variety of codecs. I suggest Googling for 'VLC for Android' and reading the thread about it on videolan forums - apparently it's considerable work to get all the codec support in Re-encoding your video to match the system is still the best solution still.

HDMI - It's only mirroring at the moment. This is an Android 3.0 limitation. Tegra 2 supports 1080p output over HDMI, but right now the product is limited to 1280 x 800 output over HDMI. When the OS update is available ASUS will release its version for the TF101. There was a lot of fuss over this late in the day because the final version of Android 3 from Google we installed on shipping models only arrived about 2 weeks ago. We had to make last minute changes to our marketing materials because we were going on the Tegra 2 capability. I'm sure it's high on Google's to do list, but I suppose the VERY tight schedule + several partners = getting *something* working is better than none. This is not me speaking for Google though.

The TF101 will playback 1080p files, but they'll be downscaled to fit the resolution. The upside is that there is NO software to fuss with - when you plug in the HDMI cable it pops up the mirrored display automatically. I haven't tested when playing video, only when on the desktop or playing Angry Birds.

 

What about the 3G version release date? Any info on that yet?

Thanks Bindi!

 

Nothing has come past my desk sorry.

 

Hi Bindibadgi,

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions,

I have a few more for you if I may.

• will the keyboard connect to the PC in the same way as the Eee pad, with the proprietary connector to USB?.
• Do you think there will be a standard doc that will just hold and charge the Pad, would like a doc but not a keyboard

Rang Comet this morning and the guy stated that the Transformer was not due in warehouse till the 11th

Now cancelled my zoom order so going to commit to the Transformer


Thanks again


Steve

 

Thanks, Bindibadgi.

However, I'm pretty sure Asus is using a different Launcher than the stock Honeycomb one. Why? Because the Back, Home and Multitasking buttons in the lower left corner are different than the one's on the Xoom.

I believe the Asus is on 3.0.1, as is the Xoom. However, these icons are different. I can only assume Asus changed it. See below:



This is why I'm curious if you can disable the Asus Launcher and enable the stock Honeycomb one.

 

True, true... Seeing videos of the boot time and OS in action, it does look like it is altogether snappier. Windows 7 is a bit more tablet friendly and the Ribbon interface in Office is very suited to it. Handwriting recognition is even more flawless.

With OneNote it makes for a very nice package --except battery. 2.5 hours is totally impractical, alas...

However the Transformer is spot on in terms of price-performance, and the Slider looks rather interesting too. Seeing as you are part of the Asus collective now (resistance is futile), could you let the relevant guys know that a guy who predicted the success of the iPad and the failure of the HP Slate and Microsoft Courier thinks they've nailed it perfectly? I'll be buying one.

 

Might be what we're looking for with an eDC system we're thinking of implementing here. : ponders :

 

Can the dock be connected to the screen by a cable? I saw it connected that way in some CES video. So you could hold the tablet and have the keyboard nearby - connected by cable but not attached. It would be useful for using USB ports without having to hold the weight of the dock.
PS. Thanks for the answers.

 

Has anyone found a link for a manual for the Transformer? It would be great to see how some of the software and other features work.

 

Has anyone found a link for the manual for the Transformer. I'd like to see how some of these new apps work, they sound interesting.

 

Bindi,

thanks for the info you've provided, but do you know anything about delays in shipping the keyboard ?

It seems that of the Comet stores that have received the transformer tablet, none seem to have received the keyboard.

In fact comet online have gone so far as to mark the Tablet Keyboard bundle pack as discontined
http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Tablets/buy-ASUS-TF101-1B028A-Tablet/717711

Thanls

 

Roumer has it that the tablet + dock shipments are delayed (due later this month) and that Comet have no in-store stock (tablet only) until later this week, with PCWorld et al getting stock of tablet only next week.
Bit of a shame really if its true

 

^ This.

I'd love to get my grubby little hands on an actual manual.

Bindi, anything out there you can share with the class ?

Cheers,
gpearson1968

 

My 16GB transformer just arrived - I've got to go to work now but I can confirm there is no skinning, and the storage is plug and play drag and drop - plugged it into my win7 pc which detected it as a media player which i can then immediately drag and drop into.

Screen is really nice too

The manual in the box is only a couple of pages, if anyone wants I can scan it and upload it tonight but there really isn't much info in there.

**edit**

oh and bindi can you see how to change the language for mynet? It seems to be stuck in spanish or something and i can't see a menu to change it (tablet is set to english UK).

 

human_error where did you order you Transformer from?

Also has anyone seen the 32GB with Keyboard version anywhere? I'm trying to decided if I want 16GB or 32GB.

 

human_error:

can you confirm if teh microSD card slot works ?

The Motorola Xoom still hasn't got a working SD Card slot and Amazon and Ebuyer both include words along the lines of "functionality requires future software upgrade" on their desciption pages for the Transformer.

Thanks

 

I saw this webpage this morning questioning whether the ASUS transformer actually works with the Micro-SD slot right now as well :

https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/360366

Granted, it's a moronola website, but I'd still like to know.

Cheers,
gpearson1968

 

I got mine from comet online. The keyboards are not arriving in the UK until just before the 18th (they are available on 18th). If you buy the tablet only version asus will be putting info on where to buy the keyboard only section soon.

32GB i think is delayed with the keyboards, so not available until stock levels stabilise.

As for the micro sd card slot working - I can confirm that it works perfectly. It is not in the SDcard location, but in a "removable" directory, but it is working fine

 

I'd be concerned about the docking mechanism. If anything is going to break quickly it's that.