Damian and I are at it again with another indepth review of the Asus eeePad Transformer and this time, we decided to throw as many USB goodies at the Transformer [tracking page] and keyboard dock as possible in an attempt to defeat it.
The USB selection included a Samsung USB keyboard with a trackpoint, a rather ancient looking Microsoft USB mouse, an USB Flash drive, a Sarotech ABIGS multimedia hard disk enclosure and a USB SD Card reader.
This video segment was totally unscripted and thus the we were genuinely surprised and excited that the Transformer worked and functioned with every USB device tested.
This is good testimony that the Transformer and the keyboard dock accessory is a real contender to replace the netbook as most of the common USB devices that we rely on for everyday computing will function on the Transformer.
Damian also commented that Asus will be releasing some useful Transformer adapters (including USB) for the tablet really soon which means you won’t need to get the optional keyboard dock in order to tap into the USB goodness!
The next challenge we had for the Transformer was hooking it up to a LCD TV via the HDMI out connection.
Note that the Transformer uses the mini-HDMI which differs from the Acer Iconia A500 that uses the micro HDMI instead. (If you’re looking for HDMI cables, don’t miss our guide on how to avoid getting ripped off)
There were no issues with getting the display mirroring working albeit a ‘gremlin’ moment when the LCD output display froze — this was rectified by detaching and reattaching the HDMI connector on the Transformer.
We tested video playback using 2 sets of 720p and 1080p video files and playback was disappointing on both the tablet as well as the LCD TV display out – both audio and video were terribly choppy and experience dropouts. This was encountered even after the latest Android system update which promised performance improvements which certainly weren’t evident in the video playback.
The system update did deliver some new cool features such as video editing application but that is review for another day, so stay tuned for that!
Wow that device can take any usb device. I am impressed. The 720 videos are disappointing. I wonder how divx plays. Good thing I watch standard def stuff.
DivX is no good in the included video player but plays fine in others like Rock Player or Mobo Player. I’m actually surprised at how few video formats it supports.
Well Tegra 2 does lack Neon so that’s not big surprise at least it has very cool games :-) .it only supports mp4 – h.264 so it’s basically a limited multimedia player..it plays xvid and divx using other players but under 720p. I don’t think things can improve because it’s a platform limitation. I do have a Transformer and I’m very happy with it, the only let down is the video playback. I also have an Archos 70 and a Galaxy Tab and it’s pretty frustrating that those 2 can play almost anything while I have to use my desktop the “mp4ize” videos for the Transformer. But thats life and for now I wouldn’t trade my Transformer for anyhing out there..
It somehow bugs me that you tested with HD *WMV* videos and not with HD mp4 videos. It might be interesting to see the performance with a diferent video format (as WMV is certainly not optimized for mobile device)
You can change a setting in the browser to browse as a mobile phone, tablet or as a desktop so the web pages will load accordingly.
what about a 3g modem stick? I suppose the drivers will be missing.
will there be support for a 3g stick with some later honeycomb update? because that would be the ultimate argument to get (any) android tablet over the pear, no orange, no … apple thingy