I think this deserves its own thread, this is the first Android tablet that has the potential to make me down my iPad 2. The keyboard is the best of both worlds and the icing on the cake.. a tablet or an instant-on netbook.

The first proper hands-on review.

That thing looks rad dawg, but I haven't found anywhere that sells it around here.

It aint listed at Digitec, for instance :/

Pretty swell... Timing might be a little tough though, even though it is Christmastime- the market is getting pretty saturated with options, and the iPad2 has soaked up a lot of the demand since March.

The US will be getting them first in December and Europe will follow in January. Amazon, Best Buy etc.. have already sold out their pre-allocated stocks (some 300,000) so you can already see how popular this thing is.

Toppreise has it listed at Topd and Steg for 699.-
http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_249070.html

It does look bloody awesome, I have to say.

$500 a pop, cant beat that with new chip etc. am getting one for sure.

Yea, it is a gangster tablet fa sho!

It looks really nice! I think it's a shame it's not shipping with Android 4.0. This is what annoys me about Android devices sometimes...They have amazing specifications...but then ship with a 6 month old OS, despite a new one being available.

Also this whole US gets it first then Europe malarky. Why can't other manufacturers take cues from Apple and release to several countries with set dates rather than ...US in December 2011 and Europe in Q1 2012.

That at least has already been addressed by Asus, an OTA fw update to ICS is due before the end of the year. Here is a vid of the Prime running it:

The day Castro defends an Android product over an Apple one...well I'll be damned!

well it is possible for everyone to see the light and turn away from the dark side and see what else is available


Have fun

Martin

I wouldn't book your ski holidays in Hell just yet

Not a bad review: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review/

there is also the TC 970 from Le Pan
http://www.lepantab.com/index.php?op...d=20&Itemid=27
http://reviewthetech.com/2011/07/05/...tablet-review/
http://androidforums.com/general-tab...-tc-970-a.html

it is running android 2.2 but a new model should be available soon with V4

I have an Ipad, Idon't like the OS but the screen is great for ebooks and magazines and maps.

it is now showing at digitec, with different options all at 689CHF
http://www.digitec.ch/ProdukteDetail...Artikel=229628

According to Digitec your CHF 689 either buys you a 64GB Tablet or a 32GB tablet + keyboard dock.

Considering the official UK price is 499 quid for the 32GBverison thats not a bad price at all, and will likely drop when stock starts shipping, as per Digitec usual.

Im still torn between whether a 10.1" tablet is too large overall, and if an 8-inch might be more suited to lugging around. The Smsung Galaxy 7.7 is the one I had my eye on, but Samsung are being difficult with the release, with very little info around.

Anyone know when the official release date is in Switzerland? I hear some people in Germany have already got theirs from Amazon.de.

I got my wife the original transformer (android 3.2), and we had to send it back.

As a tablet, it worked fine, no problems. In fact, it was pretty good.

Soon as you attach the keyboard though, you start to use it like a laptop, and that's where things started to go off the rails for us - mainly because text typing/auto correct/editing on a tablet is not the simplicity it is on a normal laptop OS.

The main problem with this thing (again) is that Asus doesn't seem to get their act together at their manufacturing plant. The QC is horrible and many of the tablets sold have issues such as dust under the screen. Combine that with the lousy job SwissIT Repairs tends to do when dealing with issues like that disqualify the tablet for me. After my experience with the first Transformer and after what I've read about the current one, Asus still isn't an option. I'm just glad that their notebooks aren't that sucky.